I love the fresh-slate feel of a new year, and right now I’m re-reading Atomic Habits by James Clear as I fine-tune existing habits and institute new ones.
This is all in service of focusing more of my time and energy on things that are actually important to me, instead of letting the tsunami of distractions that’re just a click and a scroll away monopolize my life.
If you’ve been with me for a while, you’ll know that I love finding magical ways to address “mundane” problems, and lately I’ve been super curious about the parallels between one of my favorite parts of Atomic Habits and a little nugget from astrology.
Astro-Informed Goal Setting
I’ve shared this passage from Howard Sasportas’ The Twelve Houses before, because it helps me understand how to better apply the insights of my astrological chart:
“The Ascendent may be the way we hatch, but what we grow into is the Sun sign. In other words, the Ascendent is the path leading to the sun…The Sun is why we are here; the Ascendent is how we get there.”
Now, let’s compare this to one of the key takeaways of Atomic Habits, which is, “If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.”
This one requires some elaboration, so let’s grab a few more quotes, starting with, “Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are the processes that lead to those results.”
Clear gives the example of a musician:
“Your goal might be to play a new piece. Your system is how often you practice, how you break down and tackle difficult measures, and your method for receiving feedback from your instructor.”
He then asks:
“If you completely ignored your goals and focused only on your system, would you still succeed? For example, if you were a basketball coach and you ignored your goal to win a championship and focused only on what your team does at practice each day, would you still get results? I think you would.”
I 100% agree. How often, though, do we hyperfixate on the desired outcome (in fact, this is a huge emphasis in many magical teachings, which is a topic for another time!) without having a clear sense of how we intend to get there?
For instance, I wanted to write a book for ages. I loved kicking around all sorts of fun ideas with friends and fantasizing about my future author life, but I never went so far as to establish when I would actually write, how often, and where.
Not surprisingly…very little happened on the book-writing front for a very long time.
However, when I set up my morning writing time and ensured that my butt consistently met with the chair at the appointed time…I “suddenly” had a finished book on my hands.
A goal isn’t enough to get us where we want to go. As Clear writes, “Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.”
Compare this to what Sasportas says about your sun sign versus your ascendent
Here’s that passage again:
“The Ascendent may be the way we hatch but what we grow into is the Sun sign. In other words, the Ascendent is the path leading to the sun…The Sun is why we are here; the Ascendent is how we get there.”
Doesn’t the sun sign sound an awful lot like a goal, whereas the ascendent is more in line with a system? This is an area of active curiosity for me, as in, I don’t have it all figured out, but I’m very excited to play with this concept.
One thing this suggests to me is that we could use our Ascendent to inform how we set up systems, and we could look to our sun sign when setting goals.
For example, my sun is in Libra, so what clues does this give me about the types of goals that I, personally, will find most inspiring?
Well, for starters, beauty and harmony are big satisfiers for me, so if I’m going to be all-in on a project, I have to feel like the result will be something that ticks those boxes. If something seems like a hot mess right from the start, I will procrastinate until the end of time, because I’m already not invested in the outcome.
This very same energy can veer into perfectionism, so I need to be mindful of not setting sky high, all-or-nothing goals that keep me in a perpetual state of futzing and never finishing.
Libra energy, with its emphasis on balance and fairness, is prone to analysis paralysis and the illusion of finding The Perfect Way, which can lead me to seek a million “expert” opinions instead of checking in with what I value and what I want to do, and then experimenting until I figure out what works best for me.
I feel like 2023 was an unintended crash course in how to navigate the push-pull between being motivated by beauty and perfection and allowing things to be good enough.
With my romance novel, I began to see that, no matter how many revisions I do, it will never, ever be perfect. Are there things I can do to improve the book and myself as a writer? Oh, most certainly. But even still, I will never reach a finish line of “and now everything is just right, forever and ever, amen.”
Past Me would have died a little bit inside at the mere thought of releasing a book that wasn’t perfect, but now it is abundantly obvious that perfection is an illusion. It’s not an actual goal I can set and meet.
What about my Sagitarrius ascendent? If this relates to the system that will help me reach my goals, what clues does this sign offer?
Well, Sagittarius energy loves to philosophize and probe for deeper truths, it loves to explore and be on the move, and it can be…shall we say, a bit blunt at times.
My personal experience of this, as it relates to creating systems, is that I need to have a clear and energizing reason for why I’m doing something. When I used to work for other people, something I haven’t done in decades, one of my biggest frustrations was witnessing an inefficient process and being told “this is just the way it’s done.”
Nope. No can do. So, when creating my own systems, I have to be fully on board with the why.
This ties into my Libra sun in an interesting way
If my Libra energy is out of whack, I then become obsessed with finding The Perfect Way. This leads me to canvass a million “experts” in search of a mythical method of perfection, and to assuage my anxiety of not achieving perfection, I’ll convince myself that following one of these experts to a T is the right (and only) way to succeed.
Um…I can’t think of a better way to agitate my Sagittarius energy, causing it to rebel in search of freedom and a more personally meaningful why. In actual practice, this will often manifest as procrastination; getting lost in my head instead of taking action; or jumping from one idea to another to another, never gaining any traction.
This dynamic between your sun sign and ascendent is so interesting to explore using Internal Family Systems (IFS). This spring, I’m creating a course that combines my decade-plus experience with IFS and the many ways I incorporate it into my magical practice (such as working with inner parts to cast more effective spells). I can’t wait to share more as the course comes together!
Your turn:
If you explore the interplay between your sun sign and your ascendent, what clues do you uncover about how to create more energizing goals and systems? Try playing with these prompts to get the insights flowing.
My sun sign is _____________, and some qualities I associate with this sign are _______________.
A goal that captures at least some of these qualities is likely to feel inspiring to me. Here’s an example of a goal that reflects those qualities: _______________.
If I created a system to reach that goal, what are three components this system might include? For example, if I want to save money, my system could include setting up an automatic savings draft, instituting a 24-hour waiting period before $100 purchases, and unsubscribing from marketing emails.
______________________________
______________________________
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My ascendent is _____________, and some qualities I associate with this sign are _______________.
I’m more apt to stick to a system that honors these qualities. Are there any tweaks I can make to the above system to align with my ascendent?
______________________________
If you love pairing magic with habit-setting, this month in The Portal we’re exploring different ways to create a personalized magical practice you actually want to stick to. I hope to see you there!
Melissa xx
