Author: Charlie Obert

Myth Is Not Enough

Memorial Day weekend, 2019. by Charlie Obert

These reflections were triggered by an interpretation I saw of the upcoming conjunction of Saturn, Jupiter and Pluto in 2020.

Being a traditional astrologer I think of this as the Grand Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, moving into a series of conjunctions in Air signs. Pluto can tag along if he wants.

The piece talked about the myth of the elder god Saturn being overthrown by his sons Jupiter and Pluto. This myth was then used as the basis for a prediction of the 2020 US presidential election. I happened to know the person and their political preferences – and somehow their prediction exactly matched their preferences.

This got me thinking about the use of mythology as a main predictive technique. I want to take some time here to make some observations about mythology in modern astrology, and how it affects one planet in particular – Saturn. Continue reading “Myth Is Not Enough”

Using Two House Systems

This post started with a discussion I had with Anthony Louis, who wrote this piece about using multiple house systems.  He uses quotes from Masha’allah that refer to houses in two different ways – by whole sign, which were referred to as ‘by counting’, and by a quadrant house system, probably Porphyry according to Anthony Louis, which he referred to as ‘by measurement’, meaning measurement from the two angles, Ascendant and Midheaven.

Quadrant house systems take the Ascendant as the cusp of the first house, and the Midheaven as the cusp of the 10th house. For a long time they have been by far the dominant form of house system at use in Western astrology until fairly recent times. Placidus, Koch, Regiomontanus, Porphyry and many others are all examples of popularly used quadrant house systems. They all agree about the four quadrants of the chart, and each have different methods of dividing up the space between the angles to find the intermediate house cusps.

I have been aware for some time that both kinds of house systems appear in the works of Masha’allah, Sahl, Abu Mashar and other Arabic astrologers. References to both kinds of house systems appear widely in their works including those translated by Ben Dykes, and in a conversation with Ben I confirmed that the two kinds of house systems, by counting and by measurement, are all through their works.

What fell into place for me here, was the notion of using both kinds of house systems at the same time. Prior to this I had thought in terms of these astrologers sometimes using one house system and sometimes the other.

That was the new piece that set me on fire. It helped me realize I have been heading in that direction in my own practice for a long time, without really realizing it.

Prior to this I thought along the same lines as Ben Dykes, Demetra George and other traditional astrologers, that whole sign houses signify topics and quadrant houses signify angularity and relative strength. I do think that relative strength, angularity, is best measured by quardrant house.

What we are doing here is something beyond that, using both house systems for topic symbolism, at the same time.

Continue reading “Using Two House Systems”

Astrology and Science

Some time back I wrote an essay where I argued that astrology is not a science in the current understanding of the term. I still agree with what I wrote there – but I would now emphasize one particular part of that statement – astrology is not a science as we currently understand the word science.

For astrology to be viewed as a science we need to rethink what we mean by the word, and what that says about the world, and about what is real.

Most people don’t realize that the meaning of the word science has changed drastically over the past two hundred years. That is what I want to look at here.

This involves going back into the history of our language, and recovering some of the meaning of the term Science that has been lost in the last century.

I want to give an example here of an older text where the use of science is obviously different from how we currently use the term. Continue reading “Astrology and Science”

Astrology and Theurgy

Astrology as a Divine Path

I have been practicing astrology for many years now, and it has become an integral part of my spiritual path. I feel an increasing need to place astrology within a coherent philosophical and spiritual context, a way of thinking about astrology that makes sense of my entire world. This involves re-thinking the nature of reality from the ground up, since the normal kinds of assumptions we make in 21st century world culture have no place for astrology to make any sense.

In its origins astrology was part of a larger worldview. For practitioners, the study of astrology was part of an overall disciplined way of life. Here in the 21st century we run into trouble when we take astrology by itself, out of context, and plunk it down in the middle of our fragmented and materialistic modern world.

Astrology is neither superstition nor magic; it is part of a coherent universal order. If astrology works then we need to come to terms with that order. I think that astrology as it is currently practiced largely lacks a coherent philosophical basis, so we end up trying to explain our work by borrowing concepts from the world around us without understanding their implications.

Whenever we work with astrology we are working with the Gods, living spiritual intelligence. I want to meditate on what that means for our practice and for our lives. The is my attempt to get at the spiritual underpinnings of working astrology as a spiritual path, as a way of life, and as a way back to divine union. Continue reading “Astrology and Theurgy”

Consulting the Divine – The Practice of Astrology

This post is a meditation on the purpose of astrology, what conditions need to be in place to have a good and valid reading. It is also a description of how I go about doing a reading.

I do not think astrology is primarily about prediction or fortune-telling. I also do not think that astrology is something that the astrologer does as a solo performance, putting on a kind of miracle show while the client just sits back and watches.

I am convinced that astrology is not well suited for for vague “tell me what’s going to happen to me” readings. Astrology is a sacred art, a consultation with the Gods, and we can use this predictive tool because the ordered and symbolic movement of the heavens mirrors the divine order. When we study astrology we are contemplating divine order – we are peering into the mind of the Holy.

Astrology works best in response to a heartfelt need for guidance from the Gods. The medieval astrologer Guido Bonatti lays this out very clearly in the first sections of his 146 Considerations chapter from his landmark compilation, The Book of Astronomy, and William Lilly echoes that in his little book that is an earlier translation of Bonatti, The Art of Astrology.

Here is what Bonatti has to say – this is quoting from the Ben Dykes translation of Bonatti’s 146 Considerations.

“…he must observe this manner of asking, plainly that he ought to pray to the Lord God, from Whom every good beginning leads, and to entreat Him (with all devotion and with a contrite spirit) that it should fall to him to reach an understanding of the truth of those things about which he intends to ask. Then with this truth he ought to go to the astrologer with intention concerning that about which he is going to ask, …and the intention for which he retains in his heart for a day and a night (or more), not touched by just any motion of the mind.

…the beginning statement of which, however, is always the name of the Highest; for certain people sometimes do otherwise, and for that reason they come to be deceived in themselves, and they sometimes pressure the astrologer – or rather, they often lie; for a stupid querent makes the responding wise man deviate sometimes; and men, not knowing the folly of him who asks poorly, sometimes defame and revile the astrologer when the astrologer is not guilty…”(p 265)

Consider the implications of this lovely statement of Bonatti’s.

Continue reading “Consulting the Divine – The Practice of Astrology”

The One and the Gods

When I started writing this post I thought the subject was the One and the Gods and how that applies to astrology. I very quickly figured out that I wanted to write about religious and political tolerance, especially the latter. I’ll get around to how that fits in with astrology and the Gods, but I need to give some context first.

One of the most spiritually dangerous things that a person can do is to be convinced that you are Right, that you have found the Truth, and that everyone who disagrees with you is Wrong. It is a corrosive spiritual poison.

In some ways I think we all do it – I know I do. There are certain sorts of religious or political opinions that are enough to send me into an instant blind rage, a push-button intolerance that kicks in a lot faster than any conscious thought. I recognize it in others, and I sometimes recognize it in myself. I blindly attack, just as I have been blindly attacked.

It’s easy to spot that sort of intolerance in others – not so easy to spot it in yourself. I am trying to train myself to watch for situations where my quick first response is to attack, or respond with anger, or scorn, or some kind of dismissive swearing. That is my signal to pause for a minute and consider what is setting me off – what am I finding offensive, and why.

Interestingly, I seem to be most susceptible to that sort of push-button intolerance on subjects where I am changing my mind – and I am confronted with a position that I used to hold but I am not quite free of, one that now fills me with blind rage and aversion. The negative reaction is a reflection of my own unsureness.

I used to be Christian, and I spent a couple of years in seminary when I was younger, convinced I was called to be a priest. I left both the seminary and the church a very long time ago – but after all these years, some topics related to Jesus or the church are enough to send me into a blind rage – I’ve got a sore spot there, after all these years, and there is a certain kind of Christian judgmental intolerant righteousness that makes me mad enough to want to kill… because I used to do it. I am not yet healed there.

I am currently having similar experiences with political opinions. The past year I have been going through some serious changes of viewpoint on political subjects – and when I mention some of these changes of mine to old friends I am shocked and hurt by the level of blind misunderstanding and hostility I sometimes get. There are certain kinds of opinions that it is just not okay to change – and otherwise friendly and tolerant people can get very intolerant and nasty when you cross the wrong line.

I’ve been badly hurt there, and I’m not healed yet.

Continue reading “The One and the Gods”

Hypnotic Realities

Many years ago I used to to be a character at the Renaissance Festival. Along with entertainers of all sorts there were also tarot readers, and for people who worked in that area it was a good venue to do a lot of readings in a very short period of time. Some readers I know made a good part of their living by doing festivals like this. From my experience, these were people who were committed to their craft and tried to practice it in a useful and ethically responsible manner.

I clearly remember one day there was a man who was out at festival, who was going around among the festies and asking where the tarot reader was who had done a reading for his wife the previous weekend… it seems the reader had told the woman that her husband was cheating on her. The man said this was not true, and he was seriously angry for this reader wrecking his wife’s trust of him. He was out at the festival that day looking for revenge.

Adultery… a very dangerous subject to touch in a reading. Especially if you get it wrong. I am assuming that the reader made this statement in good faith based on what she was seeing in the cards. Assuming that man was telling the truth when he said it was false, that reading might have wrecked a marriage. That woman was looking at her husband and seeing a man who was cheating on her, and anything he said to deny it would just look to her like he was lying. Once that idea was accepted by her it became self-validating. If I were that man I’d be ready to kill that tarot reader.

Continue reading “Hypnotic Realities”

Timing the Shooting

This is the kind of stuff that keeps astrologers awake nights.

Whenever there is any sort of major event, one of my very first instincts as an astrologer, is to ask – do we have an exact time? Can we get a timed chart of that?

One of the main rules of astrology timing, is that any major event should show multiple significant correlations pointing at the event, and the more major the event, the more correlations there should be.

Another main rule is that the angles – the Ascendant and Descendant, Midheaven and IC – are the places of action, so that an event timing should show significant planetary triggers at angles.

These correlations should not be subtle – they should be significant, redundant, and tight. In your face.

With the mass shooting that took place in Las Vegas last Sunday, we have a very exact time – news sources say that the call to the police dispatcher was at 10:08 pm, so the shooting must have started a few minutes before that. I am using 10:05 pm.

Yesterday, word came out that we have a reliable timed birth chart for the shooter, Stephen Paddock. The astrodienst site gives his birth time as April 9, 1953, at 11:05 am in Clinton, Iowa, and cites reference to a birth certificate, which is considered the highest level of reliability.

What I want to share here is just a couple of the most striking of the correlations that I found, analyzing this data in the light of the traditional timing techniques that I use. In the last couple of charts that I will present here, they are tight enough to be kind of spooky, and I felt shivers down my spine when I saw them.

Continue reading “Timing the Shooting”

Astrology, Geometry and Politics

One of the most useful things I have learned from studying astrology is contained in the following simple but powerful insight.

Thinking has shape.

Our entire reality, both the physical world around us, and the mental world of our consciousness, shares a single basic structure, a structure that can be expressed in terms of mathematics and geometry.

Traditional astrology is all structured on the basis of the symbolism of the first four numbers – 1,2,3,4 – their corresponding geometric shapes – point or circle, line, triangle, square – and the energy dynamics they represent. The elements, the planets, the signs, the houses, the aspects – the basics are all there, contained in the meaning of those four numbers, and everything else in astrology builds on their foundation. (More on that in future posts – much, much more.)

The structure of astrology, including the geometry, is a way of mapping the structure and dynamics of human experience, including our thinking. Once you really understand those basic numbers and structures, you can use it to make sense of the different dimensions of human life – including politics.

What is the shape of our thinking? And, how is that shape playing out in the politics of the current situation here in America? That is the question I want to explore here.

Continue reading “Astrology, Geometry and Politics”