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.

An astrology reading is ultimately seeking guidance from God, the Gods, the Holy, the Order of the Universe – I don’t care what you call it, the Principle and the Reality is the same. As such, it is a sacred endeavor, and not to be taken lightly.

The quality of the reading depends as much on the client as it does on the astrologer.

Focused intent produces a focused, quality reading. Fuzzy intent produces a fuzzy reading. A hostile client who walks in with a chip on their shoulder, looking to pick holes in what the astrologer does, is likely to have their expectations confirmed, and end up with a garbage reading. This is important enough that both Bonatti and Lilly have a series of Considerations Before Judgement that are designed to help weed out hostile clients.

The astrology reading is a sacred transaction, and both astrologer and client must prepare themselves and step into the sacred space together.

Given a good intent on the part of the client, I have developed my own procedure to maximize the potential for a quality reading.

I always start here –

Step One: Get the Agenda from the Client. This is prior to the reading. For me it happens before I put a date and time for a reading on my calendar. I ask for feedback on what is on their mind for the reading, what are their main concerns, their questions – what is the purpose of the reading. The more focused this is, and the more detailed, the better I can prepare, and the more useful they likely will find the reading.

The question from the client provides the focus of the reading. That provides the frame within which the symbols of astrology make the most sense. A good question acts like a lens that helps the astrologer know where to look, what factors to weigh up.

After I have that starting point, I draw up the charts and listings I use. The details of this will vary between astrologers depending on their school, their style, and how much detail they like to work with. I take the question and focus I have from the client and go through the charts and listings to see how their issue emerges.

All of that analysis is preliminary work. This next point is important.

After I have gone through the chart material, I come out of it with a list of questions that I am ready to ask the client during the first part of the reading.

Underline that – I come out of the preliminary analysis with more questions than answers. I need those questions in order to be able to take the general and symbolic language of astrology and see how it matches to the shape of their world. The client provides the data that lets me go from the general to the specific, from what I see happening in the chart, to what is happening in their life.

How I phrase the questions will depend on how well-versed the client is with the language of astrology. There is an art to this, and I find it takes a bit of preliminary probing to get a sense for what level of technical talk the client seems to want.

The questions are something along this line:

I see that, two years ago, Mercury stationed and turned retrograde. This was likely a time when you had a major change in how you use your mind, and may have become more withdrawn or introspective, or more drawn to your inner life. Can you tell me how your life changed around that time?

or

Last year at your birthday the area of home and family was coming up, and this was likely a major focus in the year. Is that correct? How did that play out?

I start with a series of leading questions like this, focused on a previous period. I try to phrase the questions in a way that is inviting rather than demanding. I am trying to give them a safe space within which they can share at the level they feel comfortable.

My purpose of doing these questions for past periods is to get a feel for how the planets have acted in their particular life, and that helps me get a feel for where things are headed. This process also typically builds a great deal of credibility – if a person can say, Why Yes, here’s what happened then and it was like this, then you have shown that these predictive techniques do work. Making a relevant statement about the past builds confidence in what you will say about the future.

For the great majority of clients, I find that they are more than eager to talk about what is happening to them since I have provided an undestanding framework within which they are welcome to talk about what is most important to them. There are precious few areas in most people’s lives where we get permission to talk about what really matters to us, so this is welcomed by most people.

The more information the person is willing to share, the better the reading goes, and the more useful feedback I can offer. Given their sharing I can then take the language of the astrology symbolism and map it to how it plays out in the details of their life.

I think that is key. The astrology, and my questions, provide a shape, a framework, a way of making sense of what they are going through. The actual reading of the details is done by the client, and as astrologer I am just helping to tie it together. Astrology can help them perceive the pattern.

That framework also helps to determine which upcoming directions or transits are likely to be important. That helps me give them upcoming periods that are likely to be significant.

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Another very important point – clients often come for help in making a decision. My job is not to make the decision for them, but to provide them the data and framework they can use to make the decision for themselves.

That gets tricky, because sometimes clients come in wanting me to tell them what to do. I gently try to turn the question back on them, present the data, and help them realize they must choose for themselves.

I have to present the data as I see it mirrored in their chart, rather than give them my own opinion. I have figured out from experience that astrology knows more than I do. More than once I have seen the client’s question and thought, wow, that won’t work – and then looked at the data to see the charts pointing in a very different direction from what I would have said on my own. That is an ongoing challenge and art for me, separating out what the chart is saying from what I think should be happening.

Very often it feels the the answers to the client’s questions emerge from the astrology data. The work of the reading happens in the interchange between my knowledge of astrology symbolism, and the client’s knowledge of their life situations and their desires. That is where the magic happens.

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There is one last thing I need to add – I always try to start the actual sessions with a brief period of quiet and inner alignment, and a prayer for guidance, and then end with another centering and a prayer of thanksgiving. (The prayers are private and internal, before and after the client meeting.) I am very serious when I say that astrology is an art involving consulting with the gods, and the more I practice this art, the more aware I am that there is no way that I could do this without divine guidance. It really does help to consciously place myself in the divine presence.

When the session works well I sometimes have the feeling that I am allowing the gods to speak to the client through the reading, and my job is to provide a sacred space, a kind of magic circle, within which that can happen. I have done my homework by studying the details of the symbols of astrology in general and of this particular group of charts, and I offer that language to be used by the gods.

When you approach astrology, remove your shoes and take a moment to compose your heart; you are walking on sacred ground.

Introibo ad altare Dei…