Are we Subject to Karma and Reincarnation?

Personally, from the point of view of an astrological reading I don’t think it ultimately matters if we think in terms of reincarnation, or whether we prefer to conceptualise the innate characteristics of our chart as having come from our ancestry or our DNA. Maybe it is a combination of all three!

We can certainly see that no-one is born with a blank slate as everyone is born with a unique personality, with its very own way of being in the world.  This is something which is then constantly shaped by our encounters with ‘other’ through our experiences of childhood, schooling, our peers, by our cultural environment and so on. With every event further ‘growing’ us as we negotiate life. This much I think we can all agree upon. 

So, what about the idea that this journey we are taking is part of a much larger picture of reincarnation, where previous lifetimes have led to the accumulation of karma which is to be released in this lifetime... This is a much more complex proposition which usually requires a sense of belief rather than relying upon direct experience. And it often seems that those who subscribe to the mechanisms of karma and reincarnation do so because it is part of their religious or cultural beliefs, or simply due to their spiritual disposition - but even then it is hard to verify.

For myself I have studied many yogic texts over the years and at every stage what I had thought was likely metaphoric turned out to be experientially true, so perhaps as they puport reincarnation is also true?? The ancient yogis had certainly travelled deeply into consciousness and the interplay of subtle energies, knowing for instance that all is spanda or vibration, an understanding western science has only recently come to, so perhaps karma and reincarnation were also seen and therefore known? A couple of prominent masters of meditation with whom I have studied, and trust, have mentioned that at a particular stage of their development past lives were encountered so maybe they are indeed a reality for us?

That said I do think it matters how we think of karma because it is all too easy for karma to become a way of saying that bad action necessarily leads to a bad consequence, so that a challenging or traumatic event in our life is somehow because we previously did a terrible deed. This way of thinking of karma is ultimately unhelpful and is very judgmental, suggesting that someone or something is judging our actions and there must be retribution for our perceived failings. Rather in evolutionary astrology karma is better seen as a kind of ‘patterning’ where we habitually think and act in certain ways. Some of this inherent patterning will be positive, but equally some patterning will not support our growth, hindering it instead. The latter being our negative karma. To paraphrase my astrology teacher ‘it’s not that someone who stole a horse in a past life will have his car stolen in this life, but rather they will see a car idling and think ‘Hey, a free car, what’s not to like’!

Therefore, we can say that for whichever reason we prefer, we enter this world with an energetic imprint where our energies flow in a particular way giving us a unique pattern of possibilities for this lifetime. This means there will be inherent challenges to overcome and unfamiliar areas of life yet to be discovered.