If you look up the concept of Life Review on the current Wikipedia, it is represented as “a phenomenon widely reported in near-death experiences in which people see their life history in an instantaneous and rapid manifestation of autobiographical memory”. The following edited extract from our recent book The Second Time Around takes a much broader view of the process of Life Review and relates this to Astrological Psychology and specifically the use of Age Progression.
Astrological psychology and psychosynthesis share the assumption that life is a spiritual journey. We are born and gradually develop an ego to enable us to function in the world and have a productive life. When we get towards the stage of old age, which appears to be from around age 70 and thus aligns with ‘the second time around’ the birth chart, we become aware that life will not go on forever. And we live from thereon in the shadow of approaching death.
Our task at this stage is essentially spiritual – to prepare for that onward transition, back to whence we came. We need to reconcile with the coming transition and the psychological residue from what happened in our ego-driven years. This involves some sort of Life Review – what were the lessons, the periods of trauma in our lives, what is the residue in our bodymind[1] that we cannot take with us, can we gain the insight into these events and let go, forgive ourselves and others for what happened.
If not dealt with, these things remain a drain on our psyche and our livingness. We will surely face them at the ‘end’, in the whole life review that is well documented as occurring in Near-Death-Experiences[2]. The theory of reincarnation suggests that we will need to go through another lifetime until we have learnt the lessons.
The Life Review process aims for a refinement of character, in James Hillman’s terms[3]. We become the best person that we had the capability to become when we set out on life’s journey.
The Hubers’ system of Age Progression provides a valuable tool to help in any process of Life Review. Of course, we can do a Life Review for ourselves at any age, simply by reflecting on the internal and external events of our lives, particularly times of major psychological change and trauma. Use of Age Progression in its full astrological depth will often provide greater and faster insight, as we become aware of the astrological factors involved at various times of our lives, and their interlinking.
Through the process of Life Review we weave the story of our lives, yet remain open to the questions: What have you still to give? What is life now asking of you?
It is suggested that, moving through this essentially spiritual process, we are preparing the ground for our own death, and also in the process of becoming Elders who can provide the wisdom to guide current and future generations.
Some suggestions on how to go about the process of Life Review are given in The Second Time Around[4].
Featured image is part of the Fountain of Eternal Life in Cleveland, Ohio, by Marshall Fredericks, taken by Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
[1] See eg Van der Kolk, Bessel, The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Viking 2014 and Mate Gabor & Daniel, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture, Ebury Digital 2022.
[2] There are now many books detailing stories of Near Death Experiences. See e.g. Fenwick, Pater & Elizabeth, The Art of Dying, pages 203-212.
[3] Hillman, James, The Force of Character and the Lasting Life.
[4] Hopewell, Joyce & Barry, The Second Time Around, HopeWell 2023, Appendix 1 on page 165.
Astrological Psychology 