Soul Alchemy: The Astrology of Purpose
Uncovering Your Soul Purpose with Intuitive Astrology
Your natal chart is the map of the sky at the exact moment that you took your first breath. With it, we can decode destiny and understand the agreements that brought you into this incarnation.
Auburn Lily is an author and intuitive astrologer rooted in Appalachia. She works in the mystical healing arts, offering readings, leading magickal gatherings in the crystalline coven, & more.
Soul Alchemy:
The Astrology of Purpose
You know you’re here for a reason. You can feel it.
You know in your heart that your authentic expression is crucial, but you can sense that there’s something deeper, something more Divine to uncover in order to embody your highest potential.
I believe your birth chart contains the blueprint, written plainly in the stars.
Your natal chart is the map of the sky at the exact moment that you took your first breath. With it, we can decode destiny and understand the agreements that brought you into this incarnation.
Before we dive in, I want to bring you along the journey that led me to my in-depth research on the astrology of soul purpose.
It’s a decently long walk, but I promise it will be a deep drink of water. By the end of this article, you will be able to begin decoding your soul purpose with astrology.
Want to jump straight into the nitty gritty? Click here to scroll.
It Started with a Dream
When I was 5 years old, I was living in Solomons, Maryland, and had already gained a reputation in my family for being somewhat eerily cognizant, with psychic sensitivity. My mom likes to tell the story of me looking up at her out of nowhere at 2 years old, stating in a daze that “Grace is calling,” and then the phone ringing with Grace on the line.
I consistently had precognitive dreams and visions that prepared me for major changes in my life, but there is one childhood dream that stands out above the rest. Envision 5-year-old-me, drifting off to sleep in my bed in my 3rd floor loft bedroom, with my dozens of stuffed animals tucked into bed surrounding me…
And then, a woman that some part of my soul recognized came into my room, sat on the edge of the bed, and asked me to come with her. She assured me that she was no stranger to me. I was suddenly filled with a warmth and a comfort that I couldn’t even explain to myself, so I got up, tucked my animals back into bed, and took her hand.
Together, we walked quietly down the flights of stairs and out of my house, and into an ancient and mirrored version of my home, except the interior had transformed into a giant, winding staircase, lined with what were sometimes terrariums, sometimes paintings, and sometimes TV screens, yet always depicting something graphic, disturbing, or difficult in nature.
Multiple times, I tried to turn back to go home tearfully, and the woman would console me and urge me to continue. Gently, she held my face in her hands, and she said “Auburn, you must. This is all so that you remember The Way.”
As we made it into what would have been my mirrored closet, the staircase led to a rope ladder, and then to boards nailed onto a tree trunk, as we continued our frightening and difficult ascent through the clouds and up into the branches of the tree. Once we arrived into the fullest part of the tree branches, it opened up into a room where people were gathered, relieved and winded.
I felt the woman’s voice resonate in my body, “It’s your responsibility to help others find their way here. Can you do it?” And I opened my eyes in my bedroom.
There is not a day that goes by since that fateful night in 1997 that I don’t think of this dream, and every single day, I move from the awareness that awakened in me.
It has painted every decision I make in vivid color, and I set out on this quest to understand the soul agreements that we make as we commit to this life on earth.
Do You Believe in Magick?
Fast forward 20 years, and I’m managing a metaphysical shop in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, offering my first professional readings with the Animal Spirit Oracle from the Wild Unknown.
Some days, the readings trickled in slowly like raindrops from the trees after a storm. Others, they were non-stop-jam-packed-start-to-finish-all-day-long. Despite my clientele being completely “random,” I noticed a pattern –
The majority of my readings were about the intersection of Soul Purpose & Magick.
Why am I here?
What should I be doing with my life?
How can I make my dreams come true?
How do I fulfill the longing in my soul?
As I dove into these inquiries with clients professionally, I began taking my astrological studies more seriously.
I started deepening my relationship with the stars and the planets, studying the daily transits and drawing webs of connection in my journal every day, still trying to decode this mystery of why we are here, and how we can live into our highest timeline in such a dense reality.
Enter Virginia Rosenberg.
Learning a Self-Secret Language
Every Sunday, Virginia and I were at the shop – she, offering astrology readings, and I, tending the store. One day, I confided in her that astrology really excited me, and yet, I was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of what you must know to be able to speak about it eloquently and understand it in an embodied way.
What she said next completely changed my life.
She told me that astrology is a self-secret language that reveals itself to you over time. Not to force it. Not to worry about it. But to really be with what’s present for me to learn and to embody.
Then, she read my chart, and I understood how clearly the soul’s imprint can be seen in a birth chart. I had been learning in bits and pieces, and learning to flow with the planets on a daily basis, but actually being able to synthesize what’s written in a birth chart felt like alchemy. Like high magick.
Cue what I’m sure will be a lifelong hyperfixation: Intuitive Astrology.
If you decided to skip ahead, it’s time to anchor back in – the following sections are here to guide you in understanding how we can discover our Soul Purpose within the natal chart.
As the years went by, Virginia Rosenberg and I wove closer – she brought me on to manage her blog and mailing list, supporting her renowned bi-monthly Moon Posts. This budding mentorship evolved into an invitation to administrate her intuitive astrology certification program, Sky Scholar.
Fast forward to one of the first lectures in Sky Scholar, during which Virginia orients us to the chart using tree imagery.
Chills ran down my spine.
She shows us the way that together, the Ascendent (Rising) and the Descendent mark the horizon of the Earth at the time of our birth.
That the Immum Coeli (IC) is our root system.
And the Medium Coeli (MC) is the apex of our branches.
Suddenly, astrology fit into this nearly-lifelong dream-woven metaphor of climbing the Tree of Life.
In astrology, the MC represents our public life, the role we play in society, our career, and public influence. Our Legacy.
In combination with the other axes of the chart, the stage is set for how we are orienting to our purpose in this lifetime.
In Placidus, the angles of our chart are major anchor points, initiating the beginning of the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 10th houses – in other words, they have significant impact on the way that we relate to and move through the world, and on our unique point of view, the filter through which we engage with the world around us.
So where do we find the blueprint of Soul Purpose in our chart?
The MC is, I think, the classic place to start, but I could sense that there was something deeper to uncover. I began to work intuitively with birth charts, allow them to speak to me in their own way, and notice which placements in the chart were most vocal around soul purpose.
Over time, I felt the rumblings of my theory taking form. I danced with it. I shared the understanding I was forming in hundreds of 1:1 sessions. And when Virginia revealed that Sky Scholar III would include a research project, I knew I wanted to take part.
As I began my research, which now considers 50+ case studies, I knew that I wanted to answer three major questions:
WHAT is our Soul Purpose?
WHY did we make this agreement?
HOW do we fulfill it?
My approach with my line of questioning was deeply influenced by a world-altering experience I had in 2014. On the evening of my 22nd birthday, I received a vision of myself in a higher plane choosing my parents, and zooming through the stars to become incarnate. To be here, now.
Oftentimes in my life, in the wake of that childhood dream, I felt a tremendous weight of responsibility that I felt had been cast upon me. When I started to work with the knowing that I chose to be here, it then became not just enough to know WHAT we are here to do, I wanted to know WHY we would agree to come here and do it and – potentially even more importantly – HOW on Earth we bring this Purpose into existence, fulfilling our soul contract if you will, within this lifetime.
The North Node as WHAT
The Lunar Nodes create another vital axis in our chart. Although the Nodes are not tangible objects out in the solar system, they have tremendous influence on our direction and evolution.
As we know, the Moon orbits the Earth, and the Earth orbits the Sun. If we trace the Sun’s apparent path through our sky, we find what’s called the ecliptic. There are two points where the Moon’s orbit intersects with the Sun’s ecliptic. These are the Lunar Nodes.
The North Node is the point where the Moon rises above the Sun’s ecliptic.
The South Node is the point where the Moon sinks below the Sun’s ecliptic.
The vision I received around the role of the Lunar Nodes depicts us as the Archer, with our bow drawn and the arrow nocked.
The South Node is where we have drawn back the bow string – in this zone, we are in the realm of our natural gifts, and yet, it is also a place where we must release if we are to fly.
The North Node is not the tip of the arrow, but what we are aiming for, striving for, yearning for. It’s something that we have to take a leap of faith to achieve. It is, beyond a shadow of doubt, what we have come here to live into.
I believe that we come here for both selfless and self-full reasons. That the North Node illuminates the selfless piece – what we have come here to do for others, for the world, for collective consciousness itself. What our legacy, our lasting impression, truly is.
When we consider the sign that rules our North Node, the house that it falls within, and the way it engages the other placements in our chart, we can get a clear picture of what it is you are here to do.
The beauty of it is that it’s something innate. You don’t have to twist and stretch and contort your way into activating this purpose – you are likely living into it right now.
There is, however, a distinct magick in recognizing, claiming, and devoting yourself to it, that elevates your soul journey.
Want to start decoding your personal North Node placement?
Download my Soul Alchemy Starter Guide here.
Chiron as WHY
Envision, if you will, that on some plane of existence, you, embodied as your highest self, were called upon and asked to sign a soul contract: that you must come to Earth and live into your North Node Destiny. That you were shown in vivid detail the trials and tribulations ahead of you. That you understood the density of life on Earth. And that you gleefully and willingly signed anyway…
If you’re anything like me, you’re wondering, Why on Earth?
I believe Chiron is the key.
Chiron is known to the astro-world as the Wounded Healer.
This tremendously difficult thing we’ve come here to heal.
The Unhealable Wound, I’ve heard it called.
I see the way Chiron reflects a potentially lifetimes-old wound.
The way when we are healing a wound, like a scabby scratch or a deep-purplish bruise, we can’t help but press around it every once in a while to see if it’s still sensitive. To check if its healing has progressed.
Maybe sometimes, we apply a healing balm. Maybe sometimes, we ignore it for a while, but we’re reminded it’s there when someone grazes it accidentally.
Sometimes, our Chiron can hold us back, anchoring us into unhealed fear rather than embodied and purposeful expression. When we work with our natal Chiron, we find that the medicine of the placement is its own antidote for the pain. This frees us to continue our journey into the energy of our North Node – what we’ve set out to do, here on Earth.
From a Soul Purpose perspective, I believe Chiron represents what we believe we need to heal to progress on our journey. What we need to have healing experience around in order to embody our highest potential.
We came here to offer something to consciousness at large; we see that in the North Node.
We also came here to heal something in ourselves, and we see that in Chiron.
Want to start decoding your personal Chiron placement?
Download my Soul Alchemy Starter Guide here.
Pluto as HOW
When it came to understanding HOW we are meant to accomplish, alchemize, and fulfill our Soul Purpose, going into this project, I wasn’t quite sure where I was going to be led.
Before the case studies, I had a clear understanding that the North Node and Chiron were major players, and I had an intuitive understanding of how to guide folks in activating their soul purpose.
However, I was not sure where I was looking to glean the information I was seeking – I was simply receiving it.
Was it from Saturn, lord of structure and responsibility?
From Uranus, the revolutionary humanitarian?
Mars, ruler of our will and determination?
The truth came clear in my case studies: look to Pluto, god of transformation and rebirth.
I honestly owe this finding entirely to the lovely human beings who took part in my case studies.
More than half of my case study clients had Pluto on one of their chart angles. It felt like the planet of transformation was screaming at me through the screen, “IT’S ME!!!”
When I followed that thread, what I found was that Pluto is very clearly showing us what we must transmute, what we must transform, what we must alchemize during this lifetime in order to bring our purpose to fruition.
It’s only afterward in discussion with my colleagues that I learned that Pluto is also a centerpiece of Evolutionary Astrology, a branch of study I am not fluent in, yet would be remiss not to mention here.
Pluto reveals the medicinal brew your soul has to offer the world, and how it wants to come forward. Often called The Golden Healer, Pluto lights the path of our purpose with a warm glow, generated and made brighter by a commitment to self-transformation.
When we lean into Pluto’s realm, and truly face what he brings forth for us to alchemize, we land naturally within the resonance of What We Came Here to Do.
Want to start decoding your personal Pluto placement?
Download my Soul Alchemy Starter Guide here.
Dive Deeper
As you begin to orient to the blueprint of purpose in your astrological chart –
The North Node as WHAT,
Chiron as WHY,
Pluto as HOW –
I encourage you to steep in your own knowing.
That’s why I created the Soul Alchemy Starter Guide – a workbook that guides you in creating a framework of understanding guided by your own intuition as well as a vault of astrological wisdom to draw upon.
Want to be supported on your way? In 1:1 sessions, we can explore these themes together. When you purchase a session, you get the guide for free.
Auburn Lily found her home in Appalachia in 2009. A dormant mystic, the magick in these mountains awakened her from a spiritual slumber. Fueled by a curious mind and psychic bloodline, she found herself in a mysterious and beautiful web of mysticism and innate knowing.
After years of honing her craft as a solitary practitioner, in 2017, she found herself managing a metaphysical shop, answering a call to step into deep visibility in her magick.
Now, Auburn is a published author and works in the mystical healing arts, offering Soul Alchemy readings steeped in intuitive astrology, leading magickal gatherings in her community the crystalline coven, and more.
Auburn also supports Virginia Rosenberg as the online business manager & Sky Scholar administrator.