ONE
keywords: energy; symbols; cycles.
Astrology showed me that I have a purpose. We are each here to be who we were born to be. That task is described in your birthchart. Everyone has a different agenda. There are no absolutes
There was a great Jewish philosopher called Martin Buber. One day it dawned on him that when he got to heaven the Lord was not going to ask him ‘Martin, why were you not more like Moses’ Instead he would ask, ‘Martin, why were you not more like Martin Buber!’
This is astrology’s role.
Sometimes you meet someone or read a book or hear a talk – and you have what might be called an attack of insight. When that happens you tend to pin it on the book or the person – “Wow that person or that book was incredible!! “ And you say to your friend – you really must meet so and so – or you really must read this book I’ve just read.....”
But what really happened was to do with your insight when it met with an idea it was ready for!
Astrology has served a purpose since before the Babylonians. Just as electricity existed before we discovered its potential and harnessed it for our uses.
This is what is meant when we read or hear those enigmatic words that everything is already perfect but we just don’t realise it. OR you are already enlightened, you just don’t realise it.
When you are ready to understand something, you will. You are in charge of your own learning..
As a predictive tool it is not possible to tell you exactly what will happen because you play an active part in the unfolding of your life. No-one knows what you will do next, it is up to you. But astrologers can play a helpful role in the decision-making.
In addition to your level of understanding, the astrological interpretation you receive will depend on the astrologer giving it to you! The astrologer has a chart and a life as well. There will be an alchemical exchange of energy between you both which will also depend on your interpretation at that time. Your interpretation will change. You will change. There is one absolute and that is that everything changes!
Astrology is based on the science of astronomy. Indeed the two were one until scientific man separated them fairly recently. We consider ourselves as having made much progress in this modern world. We have in many ways, but it has been at the expense of denying our relationship to nature, our instinctive selves, and our intuition.
Astrology departs from astronomy when it applies meaning to the position of the planets, the Sun and Moon in the zodiac signs.
When astrologers say the Sun is at 1 degree of Aries, for Astronomers , it is still in reality still in the sign of Pisces. This is because after the earth has made a full cycle of the sun it does not return to exactly the same place it started – it has an inherent wobble – it takes about 2000 years to wobble its way backwards through a whole zodiac sign of 30 degrees. And it is this phenomenon that accounts for the Great Ages, right now we are moving from the Age of Pisces into the Age of Aquarius – all because of the wobble.
But astrologers ignore the wobble on a year to year basis and have stuck with the original zodiac the one that was used when ancient man with all his intuition and lack of science made connections with the night sky – about 254BC. When the spring begins at the time of the spring equinox we call this zero degrees Aries despite the fact the earth has been wobbling backwards for 2,250 years.
The point is that we continue to relate to our solar system even though the zodiac has changed over time. We still know that when the Sun is in Aries it feels like the spring. If we change the name ‘Aries’ it will still feel like the spring. It doesn’t matter that the name has changed; the point is that we know what it means.
So for astrologers the zodiac is symbolic. The planets are symbols.
What is a symbol? That which evokes a feeling or memory or some knowledge like holly or a Christmas tree or a deck chair or a swastika.
We use the archetypes and the myths and symbols of the zodiac which have been collected over time – since ancient Greece and the Old Testament - as signposts for our greater understanding. And we use astronomy on which to fasten our interpretations because over long periods of time correlations and correspondences and synchronicities and coincidences have been noted.
When ancient man began to study the stars he would make connections between how he felt and link them to what he saw. He began to chart what was going on in and around him with what he saw happening above.
All life depends on The Sun. Everything is supported and nourished by it in our world. The Ancients worshipped the Sun as a God.
Apart from being the life-giver, in astrology the Sun is the most important symbol - as all the other planets and the Moon are reflected to us by the Sun.
Before the outer planets were discovered……
Uranus- William Herschel in winter 1781;
Neptune – Johann Galle – autumn 1846;
Pluto in 1930 Percival Lowell.
……astrologers used just the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn and the principles associated with them. The consciousness of mankind had not developed sufficiently as yet to understand what Uranus, Neptune and Pluto would come to mean.
In the same way, we now know that there are other worlds and other suns beyond our world. We have ideas about infinity. Before Uranus was discovered Man’s world was limited – this is the keyword associated with Saturn – limitation. So this is how the concept of God fits into astrology – He/It is infinite, unlimited and supports everything in our world and beyond it.
Religions are man-made. We create them when great Masters come to the world to teach us and to point us toward God. We create religion because it is a human need to feel connected to something bigger than ourselves. All the signs, all people can contact God if they want to. If you need to feel connected to something bigger, but you cannot find a religion, then try astrology, it teaches you about yourself, your life and why you are here.
This was how I first turned to astrology. I was in torment, confused, ill. I had been to the doctor but he couldn’t help. I visited different healers and found only short term relief. It was only when I began to understand through astrology that we create our own realities or view of life, that we see things in a certain way for special personal reasons and that energy follows thought -- that I had to re-think my thoughts and attitudes. I had to learn where I was going and where I had gone wrong. That it was all up to me.
I discovered that my problem was in the way I saw things.
I saw life as an ongoing drama outside of myself – stuff seemed to be coming at me - I did not see that things don’t so much happen to us as that we happen to events.
This is the same as saying that we either use our energy or are used by it.
Astrology tells you about this invisible energy. What causes your heart to beat? What is electricity?
Society tells us how we ought to respond, but how we actually respond depends on us. As we each create our own reality there can be no absolutes, because we each see the world in a different way.
Here are some interesting questions:-
At any given time, why are we experiencing this and not something else – or nothing?
How are we experiencing it?
How will it help us in our purpose?
Are you on course?
If you are ill, in pain, suffering, do you know why this is happening to you?
Astrology can explain:
why you react to things the way you do.
why you feel a certain way on certain days or at different times.
CYCLES
Our lives unfold in cycles. Astrology is very good at telling you about where you are in terms of the different cycles in a life.
Planet cycles:
Sun - 1 year – 1 month in each sign
Moon - one month - 27.25 days – 2 days per sign
Mercury - 88 days – 7 days per sign
Venus - 225 days/9 months – 18 days per sign
Mars - 687 days - nearly 2 years – 2 months per sign
Jupiter - 11.86 years – give or take 7 months – 1 year per sign
Saturn - 29.46 years - 2.5 years in each sign – give or take 8 months.
Chiron – about 50 years; just over 4 years in each sign
Uranus - 84.02 years - 7 years in each sign
Neptune - 164.79 years - 14 years in each sign
Pluto- 248.4 years - approx. 15 - 30 years per sign
When you were born all of the planets, the sun and the moon were in a certain sign - This tells the astrologer something about you. A chart is like an X-Ray of the psyche – it can help pinpoint problems because it describes the way you process your experiences.
Jung’s theory of synchronicity: whatever is born or done at any particular moment of time has the quality of that moment of time.
This helps explain how we are all linked. We are not the way we are because of our charts. We coincide with the chart that describes us – and everything else that began at that moment in space and time.
Genetic inheritance can be read in the chart as well. The new born baby comes into the world predisposed to process experience in a certain way.
TWO
There are many different kinds of energy at work in the world. We are infused with energy. We might call the energy: 'Mars mixed with Uranus' - and we will radiate Mars/Uranus energy. We carry the energy of the energy that comes to us.
As above, so below, means the planets in their zodiac signs influence us. As below, so above, means our interpretation of what is going on outside of us. As without, so within; as within, so without. In the end, we create our own reality with the balance of energy we have available to us.
Synchronicity, uncanny events, serendipity, coincidences can all be explained when you think of the world as a mass of moving differentiated energy. Energy = vibration.
We vibrate at different speeds at different times. We resonate with certain people or events at certain times. We attract into our lives what we need at any given time.
The astological chart is an energy map.
Your natal chart is like a photograph - it shows and describes all the energies you were imprinted with at the moment of your birth – when you took your first breath and began to interact with the energies on this planet, Earth. After that birth-moment the planets, the Sun and Moon kept cycling and the interaction of the planets ‘now’ can be measured in relationship to your personal chart to show what and how you are experiencing now. These are called, transits.
This is Sacred Geometry.
Using Astro-synastry you can see how you are compatible or not with someone else.
Using astrocartography you can see how you resonate with any place in the world.
Everything is degrees and shades of energy – healing is energy – healing energy comes from the source of energy. Healers act as channels for the energy. They are good at letting it flow through them. Good at tapping the source and becoming re-charged.
Depending on the sort of receiver you are will depend the sort of energy you make.
Depending on the sort of energy you make will depend the sort of energy you transmit and receive from others. So it is a circle. Or a cycle.
Everyone is like a ball of energy – some people seem to sap our energy – others energise us.
The energies in the world are changing all the time and no moment is ever the same as the one before and we are never the same and although life gets boring, really it is always changing and so are we.
Astrology answers 5 simple questions:
Who? This is answered by the Sun, which generates its own system.
What about the Who? This is answered by the Moon and the other planets which reflect in different ways, the light of the Sun.
How? This is answered by the 12 signs, which modify the above.
To what degree? This is answered by the aspects or geometric relationship among the planets.
Where? This is answered by the 12 houses, which give us the locale in the outer and inner world and represent the stage-sets upon which the drama of a lifetime unfolds.
THREE
The astrologer can tell you when it is a good time to do something because he or she can see on your map or chart the sort of energy around.
So how is this done?
1. By examining the chart – the 360 degrees and the angles between points.
2. The Signs – including the elements; the modes; positive/negative.
3. The Planets – as symbols.
4. The Houses - areas of life
5 The Aspects - hard or easy
6. Transits and Progressions - the probabilities
There is an alchemy at work. A process of distillation.
The Sun represents your spiritual job.
The Moon is the receiver through which your life experiences are distilled. The Moon shows the way you respond to the world how you react, how you receive on a daily, rhythmic, emotional level. It is also the past, your mother and early conditioning.
The Circle:
Looking at it you’d think you could know its area. But it is 'pr squared' which is indefinable and limitless. This is the primary symbol – a mysterious paradox of order, containment and unity filled with potentially limitless diversity - a symbol for wholeness rather than completion. And an eternal symbol for God and for the individual psyche.
Degrees:
360 degrees.
Division of the circle by one = conjunction (eclipse).
Division of circle by two = opposition – 180 degrees apart – 6 signs apart
Division of circle by three = trine – 120 degrees apart – 4 signs apart
Division of circle by four = square – 90 degrees apart – 3 signs apart
Division of circle by five = quintile – 72 degrees apart – 2 & 2/5
Division of circle by six = sextile – 60 degrees apart – 2 signs apart
Division of circle by eight = semi-square – 45 degrees apart – 1 ½ signs apart
Division of circle by twelve = semi-sextile – 30 degrees apart – 1 sign apart.
It is a fact that the sun breathes/heaves every 6 minutes (6x60 = 360!))
All events, people situations and problems are opportunities for soul development. Astrology helps you understand yourself better – as well as others – it creates tolerance. When you know your son is a multiple Aries you suddenly realise he ‘can’t help it’ and you can then begin to find ways to help him based on your knowledge of his limitations and gifts.
