cdsmiller17

Christopher Hansard (January 3, 1957)

This book was gifted to me by Susan’s cousin, Ann. It’s a wonderful primer for the Tibetan Bon medicine. So, just to be clear, this is not your usual Buddhist writing. It is so much more than that.

Christopher Hansard has written an eloquent yet practical guide to a soulful integration of all aspects of our lives. He contributes a wise and powerful voice to contemporary spiritual thought.

Marianne Williamson (on the reverse cover sleeve)

Meet Christopher Hansard

How’s that for an inscrutable look? His birth details are scant, as well: just his birth date and the country.

This birth chart is totally randomized, and centred on Wellington, New Zealand. So it could be totally wrong, at so many different levels. But his own recounting of how he got involved in this spiritual dimension is evidence of some correct direction by the Universe.

The slow drumming of the drum reached into every part of me, reorganizing the way I was made, making inner space for consciousness, making room for my humanity to grow, creating spiritual bonds with everything I had learned from my teacher since childhood.

This would be the last year of my teacher’s life. He brought many important lessons for me, and I remembered when we first met in New Zealand in 1961. I was on a beach at Rona Bay, Wellington. I was four years old, out for a day by the sea with my parents.

The tide was slowly receding and the sea fell in long gentle shallow water gathering small shellfish to cook for their evening meal. Seagulls wheeled and hung expectantly in the wind as I walked along the beach toward the faded, weather-beaten pier.

All that day I’d felt something important was going to happen, something I already knew but did not have the language to express. My parents called me to leave, to go home. But inside me, I knew I could not go yet.

“I have to stay here.”

“Come on, it’s time to go.”

“No, I have to stay.”

Why?”

I didn’t know what to say. All my words and thoughts were jumbled. I trudged toward my parents. Then, as we climbed up the beach to the gravel road, I saw my teacher standing there, waiting. A rainbow appeared and he laughed.

Urgyen Nam Chuk introduced himself to my parents. He explained that he represented a Tibetan spiritual and medical tradition that, among other tools, used a profound system of astrology. This had suggested that I might be a candidate for education in the Tibetan Bon spiritual and medical tradition.

My parents weren’t impressed at first. But as they got to know Urgyen and understood that he was not looking for handouts of any kind, they felt more at ease. They began to understand how important it was for me, and allowed me to go through the next stage, which was a series of tests and spiritual questions to determine whether the astrological process was correct.

My parents were aware of the Tibetan tradition of incarnating spiritual teachers, but Urgyen explained that he did not regard me as one of these, but as someone who, with training, had the potential to develop rare and special abilities related to medicine, healing, and spirituality in the Bon tradition. I was not regarded as perfect or special and would not be encouraged to think otherwise.

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In his birth chart, this event would have been represent by Pluto @ 0° Virgo in the 4th House.

So, trusting that this timing is correct, that indicates that Saturn is (almost) perfectly inconjunct the Ascendant @ 9° Taurus (and that he’s a definite ‘two feet on the ground’ type of person).

Saturn Inconjunct Ascendant

With this aspect you probably have a rather serious attitude toward life and other people. It may be quite difficult for you to simply go out and have a good time. You want to be serious and to spend all your time performing significant tasks. This attitude may have developed because you were discouraged from enjoying yourself when you were younger. You may have been made to feel that only work is important, that play serves no useful purpose. This is not true, however, because playing has a positive and useful function in the development of the adult mind and body, Not only does it serve to release tensions, but it also helps train you in social and physical skills that will be useful in any work you do later.

You need to be encouraged to believe in yourself and to recognize your personal strength. You have to be helped to realize that you as an individual are worth a lot and that you need to get some satisfaction from life as much as the next person does.

On occasion this aspect indicates frail physical health, which can be corrected only by paying a great deal of attention to hygiene, personal habits and proper diet. However, this aspect may also signify that you worry too much about your health. Try not to be so concerned about it unless a physician has diagnosed a definite problem.

You may find it rather difficult to express yourself to other people. This is another expression of your lack of self-confidence, which will change if you get positive emotional support from the people around you.

And that’s why I titled this post ‘the medium is the message.’