I’m not necessarily a Jungian, yet I love Carl Jung’s relationship with astrology.

I’ve begun to look at how the unconscious speaks to us and how we can address the unconscious in ourselves. I believe that the unconscious doesn’t speak English. It speaks to us in pictures or images in our dreams. When we perform rituals, the images mark our intention.

An example: I placed a small bowl of water and a lit candle on an informal altar in my home. In between them, I selected a photo of a male figure and next to it I placed a picture of myself. I imagined the unconscious, suddenly aware of this movement of energy and unspoken intention declaring:

“Oh, she wants to work on the merging of the internal male-female dynamic, moving us toward the divine marriage in metaphysics. Okay, we can do that.”

And so would begin that inner process, drawing upon the outer world to educate and verify what I knew was my next piece of transformation. Not everyone is into ritual, yet many people perform simple day-to-day rituals and might not realize how they can use them for manifesting the life they want to live.

When Pluto was square my Sun (an astrological aspect) years ago, I knew it was time to face my fears and let go of those parts of myself that were outdated. Since Pluto takes away the superfluous and unneeded parts of us, I decided I would consciously work with the Plutonian energies.

I searched for a picture of a dragon with an open mouth, something that chews visibly, but chanced upon a drawing of a Black Tara from the Buddhist tradition. I placed her on my altar. Then I spoke with Pluto, stating that my children, shelter, clients and income, and my car were sacrosanct. Everything else was fair game.

The next morning I stood at the altar, putting my hand to my heart and made a sweeping gesture to the picture.

“Today you can have my stubbornness to chew on,” I said. I did the same the following morning, suggesting my self-indulgences were Pluto’s food for that day. And on each morning of those five weeks, I performed that small ritual.

In this way, I felt I was a co-creator of the transformation that was upon me. I was not at the mercy of Pluto. I voluntarily relinquished all that I already knew didn’t serve me and I did it consciously with intention. By the end of the aspect, I felt renewed, lightened, and certainly more empowered by letting go of dysfunctional behaviors.

Intentional ritual is a way to speak directly to those deeper parts of ourselves so that we can consciously move along our own evolutionary path.

Jyoti Wind is an astrologer and writer. She has self-published six books: poetry, meditation and prayers; a childhood memoir; and several anthologies. Her new book, The Creative Arc: An Anthology on Writing, will be available this month, Nov. 2012. A mother, grandmother and great grandmother, she lives in Boulder, CO. You can reach her at [email protected].

Like elephant journal on Facebook.

Assistant ed: Catherine Monkman

Ed: Brianna Bemel