Alexander Ruperti
~ A Biography ~

by C. Ravin, Esq.
Spring 2000

Alexander Ruperti was born in Germany of Russian parents in 1913, and was educated in both England and Germany. While in England, he attended Alice Bailey's Arcane School and was affiliated with the Astrological Lodge where he studied with Charles E. O. Carter. He began practicing astrology professionally in 1937.

In 1939, he finished his osteopathy and physical therapy training and then moved to Switzerland, where he resided until his death in January 1998. There he maintained a full-time practice in osteopathy, physical therapy, and healing, using the birthcharts of many patients in order to understand the basic problem behind the physical complaint.

Greatly impressed by Dane Rudhyar's pioneering work (The Astrology of Personality in 1936), he began to teach a positive, holistic approach to astrology in 1939 and continued such courses for many years thereafter. He was probably the first person to promote such a modern, psychological type of astrology in Europe.

After extensively touring the United States in 1975, and encouraged by the great interest in his ideas and the excellent response to his lecture, Mr. Ruperti retired from his practice in the healing arts in order to devote more time to astrological writing. Although his articles have appeared in a number of astrological journals, Cycles of Becoming (CRCS Publications, Reno, Nevada, 1978) was his first book to be published in America.

Here is an excerpt from Mr. Ruperti's profound book, Cycles of Becoming,
dedicated to Dane Rudhyar:

To my friend and teacher, Dane Rudhyar, whose wisdom put my feet on a path to the light.

The humanistic commitment is, above all, a commitment to become as fully as possible what one potentially is. Each person is born to express, in as pure a way as possible, the promise contained in his birth-chart. This naturally involves certain problems which must be solved and challenges which must be met. Rudhyar once said that we are all in some way both the expression of a problem and the possible solution to that problem. Therefore, an individual can only solve that problem if he really IS what his chart shows him potentially to be. From a certain point of view this problem is life itself. There are, however, many more specific details to be added to this idea. We are all examples of what a human being can be, while at the same time each of us has something which the other lacks. This is true not only in terms of individual gifts and talents, but more especially in terms of the individual facet of truth which each person has to express. The whole truth will be all of these facets put together. Therefore, each person must find his own way and his individual manner of expressing that truth.

How can an individual use his birth-chart as a guide to gain this new perspective? The first step is to live and work according to the meaning which one may find according to his specific age at that time (the Age Factor). One's individual development is inextricably bound to the age factor, as it expresses the generic foundation for all individual variations. Before the age of 28, each person is trying, consciously or unconsciously, to bring himself up to date. In order to do this, a person must first go through the achievements of his racial and cultural past which have led up to the present moment. However, instead of continuing to live in the way indicated by the past, as so many people do, the humanist will try to USE that past as a starting-point for something new. In other words, he will not simply repeat what he has already done, with only superficial modifications which essentially change nothing. Rather, he will try to add something which did not exist before. The first 28 years of life should, therefore, represent a process of assimilation of the fruits of the past. Thus, an individual must become master of all the functions and talents at his disposal, of everything he possess both outwardly and inwardly, in order to be himself. A person cannot truly become an individual in the psychological sense of the term before that time. A child prodigy is not yet a truly creative individual. He is an expression of his heredity, of his family or soul past, and unless he does something as an individual with his gift when he reaches maturity he will probably be forgotten. The real creative life, as a true individual, cannot begin before the age of 28.

To achieve a true personal maturity is a difficult task at any time, and today it is even more difficult because the whole society is geared to the maintenance of all people in a state of perpetual immaturity, conditioned to buy what the economy has produced. Everything in the modern way of life caters to one's pride and stimulates his sense of greed and envy. It reinforces inherent laziness and complacency, and fosters a basic fear of insecurity. It supports a childish desire to depend on other people or to have one's own way at any cost. Social and moral principles of behavior have lost their authority, and therefore personal contact has become more and more irresponsible. Depth psychology, or a type of astrology which is truly psychological in its orientation, can help an individual to become a more mature person. In this case, astrology will only apply provided that it does not serve, as so much that goes by that name does, as an escape from personal responsibility through an unhealthy emphasis on external "influences" as being responsible for what one is, does and experiences. Humanistic, person-centered astrology is in a position to assist an individual to become mature because it fosters the ability to concentrate objectively on the basic facets of that person's total personality, one after another, without evasion or unnecessary rebelliousness. It enables one to concentrate his attention purposefully on what is revealed astrologically at any time as the main focus of personal development.

A person who, during any phase of his life, does what is necessary for him to do, will have no time to indulge himself in the antics of a spoiled child. He will not see himself as a perpetual victim of the cosmos, constantly pondering why he was especially chosen for misery. An astrologer must realize that the basic problem for most people today is that they never know what it is that they should be doing. Because of the immense confusion of values in the modern world, life is no longer structured by worthwhile moral ad spiritual principles of moral behavior. It is the task of the psychologist, or the astro-psychologist, to clarify the personal doubts, problems, fears and conflicts which beset 20th century individuals. The humanistic approach can add to this psychological work the knowledge of what an individual is meant to work toward, at any particular time, with reference to the life-long task of achieving full personal maturity. If an astrologer believes that the problems connected with adolescence or menopause are due to the transit of Saturn opposing its natal position at those times, and that it is the "influence" of that planet which is therefore responsible for the suffering and conflicts which often occur, then he will never be able to use astrology in a constructive psychological way. The question in astrology should never be how to employ one's "free will" in order to avoid the biological or individual crisis measured by planetary aspects. An astrologer should know that crises of growth mustevery life. Crises are necessary because they are essential to the development of personality. Individual freedom does not consist of trying to decide whether or not one will have a crisis, but in the meaning a person gives it.

Opportunities for growth which are not fully met leave a residue of unfinished business which must inevitably be dealt with later. That is the real meaning of karma - unfinished business from the past. However, if one does manage to completely fulfill all that life demands of him, there need not be any residue of unfinished business. Achieving this leads to spiritual mastery. Spiritual growth does not stop there, however. If one comes to the point where he has fulfilled everything he was meant to do as an individual, then comes the moment when he will be asked to take on larger responsibilities, to take on the karma of groups, and eventually of humanity as a whole.

The astrologer has a personal responsibility toward his or her client in terms of the way in which that client will respond to (and perhaps follow) the advice given. It should never be a question of trying to "see" from a chart what will happen and then passing that information on to the client regardless of the consequences. That would not be psycho-astrological counseling, but simple fortune-telling, regardless of how sophisticated and "scientific" the means used. In every case, before speaking or writing, the astrologer should ask himself what the client can do with the information presented to him. As every feature of a birth-chart including the progressions and transits can have a positive as well as negative potential, it is not the astrologer's function to crystallize this meaning as being "negative" when dealing with present and future possibilities. He must make the nature of the challenge clearer in terms of the overall life development and purpose. The decision to act positively or negatively must forever remain the responsibility of the client; and when I say "positive" or "negative", I mean a way leading either to spiritual fulfillment or to the loss of self in material values.

Let us therefore learn to use astrology as a means to live more consciously, as a means to be fully awake and aware of what is at stake when moments of decision come in our lives. The critical phases - conjunction, semi-square, square, sesqui-quadrate and opposition - in all planetary and inter-planetary cycles always represent moments of decision, moments in our lives when we should be awake to the need to break away from some attitude or situation which tends to limit our growth, or which keeps us in bondage to the past. We always face life with what, at the time, seems to us the best that we are capable of. Whatever attitude we take, we take it because the total balance of our nature at the time inclines us to act in that way and because we believe that it will be for the best. Through crises and the many partial defeats in all lives, we learn slowly to change this "total balance" of our natures. And so we grow. There is no other way.

Read Mr. Ruperti's Tribute to his mentor, Dane Rudhyar

Mr. Ruperti saw the "cycles of becoming" largely as a function of Saturn's transits, and enumerated them into seven-year periods, as marked by the four phases of Saturn over its 28-year revolution of the zodiac. Here is his analysis of one of these cycles, the first pre-Saturn-Return cycle, the period of the twenties:

Age 21 to 28: The Social-Cultural Level - Choice of associates and of one's type of social participation. Establishment of the basic attitude towards the fruits of the personal and social-cultural past. Rebellion against family and/or society.

This 7-year period is linked astrologically to the first waning square of Saturn and the waxing square of the Uranus cycle. The latter aspect coincides with the effort to break through (waxing square) into the professional, commercial, and cultural world. The Saturn aspect, on the other hand, points to the need to cut oneself off from the past (waning square) and from the attitudes which were based on the carefree life typical of the school years. Many of the ideals and aims previously held must be examined in a new light and adapted to the realities of day-to-day adult existence. This may be difficult and strenuous for many people. Youth tends to cling to its adolescent, emotional attitudes, and would like to continue to act as if life was a field for the unrestricted expression of Self according to strictly personal desires. In this fourth phase of the life-cycle, the last remaining vestiges of youth are shed.

The experiences of this age period reveal very clearly the difference between a waxing square and a waning square. The crisis described by the waxing square is extroverted and exists on the level of activity. It is often accompanied by a sense of elation and adventure or excitement, as the individual rushes out to meet the difficulties which life puts in her path and to work out her own destiny in an objective and concrete manner. The waxing Uranus square affects the young person in this way and directs her attention toward the future - to the goals she will set herself to accomplish. What lies ahead for her are new and interesting opportunities. Concurrently, the waning square of Saturn directs the attention inward toward an assessment of the past, pointing to these things which must be left behind, or at least modified and reconsidered. It challenges one to break with established habits and ideals, often a very difficult task. The crisis described by this waning square is introverted, demanding growth in personal maturity. Such personal needs, however, can only be fulfilled by attending to the needs of society. Thus, the principal lesson of this waning Saturn square will be to realize the necessity to act in a responsible manner in all types of relationship, whether they be interpersonal or social. The success of the Uranian effort to blaze a new path as an individual will depend on one's success in breaking away from old attachments and attitudes under the Saturn square, and the success in interpersonal as well as social relationships will depend on the strength of an individual's will to attain psychological maturity.

Astrology clarifies the point that one's personal success in later years will depend almost entirely on the way in which an individual manages these two squares between the ages of 21 and 28. The astrologer should also look to strong progressed or transit aspects to the natal chart during this period. These will show the specific opportunities or confrontations which will enable the young adult to break out of the psychic womb constituted by the parental influences of childhood, as well as by the emotional and intellectual attitudes built into the ego by a particular socio-cultural and economic environment. These attitudes and influences form the barriers to one's true experience of Self, and until one can recognize them as precisely that and not confuse them with the "I", one will not be able to assert her true individuality.

Everything experienced in life prior to the age of 28, therefore, revolves primarily around one's relationship to her family - or whatever may have substituted for it. A person must grow and discover herself - her own truth and life-purpose while living within a family environment. At the same time, the individual must make an effort to grow out of the family and separate herself psychically from its predominant influences if she is to become a true individual. As one emerges from the state of dependence upon parents and family patterns if not physically at least spiritually, the problem takes on a new and different form in her life. After the age of 21, people generally seek to rebuild their own families - they train themselves for a job, they marry, and they have their own children. The majority of people have experienced these things before reaching the age of 28, or at least they know the way in which they want to organize their lives. What happens after 28, until the next major turning point near age 56 to 60 (second Saturn Return), will be the result of the options taken and the attitudes adopted before the age of 28. What must be clearly understood, therefore, is that whatever is done before the age of 28 will represent, psychologically, the various ways adopted in the effort to emerge from the family matrix and from the pressures of the social environment. The alternative to this is a passive adjustment - quietly accepting and following the established family and social patterns.

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