You are a star among stars,
you are part of My body.
Feel yourself emerging from My body,
the living body of darkness.
Feel yourself surrounded by the cape of My love,
the cape of the night sky. Continue reading “Mother of the Gods”
Journal
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.
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.
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.
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.
Eclipse! Go Inside!
Traditional wisdom says that an eclipse is a good time to go inside. This was thought to be especially important for pregnant women. The eclipse is a time to avoid any activity, and just get quiet, get still.
I think there is a great deal of wisdom hidden in that saying, and I’d like to take some time to meditate on it here and draw it out.
American God
This is being written in August 2017, on the eve of the Great American Eclipse. In this post I want to talk about what this event means, and how we can learn from it.
Whatever else an eclipse is, it is a point of intense focus. The zodiac degree of the eclipse itself is highly charged, energized. Eclipses also connote covering and uncovering, hidden things being brought to light, facades being pierced and shaken up. It is as if the Gods are using a big flaming pointer and saying, Pay Attention at this point!
The part of the world where the eclipse reaches its greatest totality is considered to be the focus of its action, where it is most intensely felt. The United States is the central focus of the track of this eclipse, since it passes pretty much through the heartland of the county.
The United States is a focus of the eclipse in another way – the zodiac location of the eclipse is at around 28 Leo, which is pretty much dead on the ascendant of Donald Trump, our current President. So Trump, and America, are what the Gods are pointing to here.
This is very apt, since it reflects the media’s total obsessive focus on the man – all conversations lead back to Donald Trump, and you can’t have the radio on for more than 5 minutes before he becomes the focus of attention. Trump is Galactic Center, and the entire rest of the known universe revolves around him.
It is common practice in mundane astrology to have the king or leader of a country be the symbolic representative of the country itself – so, for instance, Pope Francis effectively is a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church as a whole, and his natal chart, and the chart of his election as Pope, are a very good mirror of the state of the church today. Francis IS the church today.
In this eclipse, Donald Trump IS the United States.
![By Dhruvnv (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](https://studentofastrology.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Roaring_Lion_by_Dhruv-crop.jpg)
Trump is a symbol for everything our country stands for today. The more I consider this, the more I think Donald Trump is a damned near perfect symbol for the acting values that drive the United States – not the values we pay lip service to, but the values that actually drive our government and our economy, the powers that be. The state of our country now is the logical result of the values embodied by Trump.
Donald Trump is a very wealthy business man – money, and the power and attention that money buys, is his highest value.
In this post I want to examine just what it means to make money your highest god, and look at the ways America reflects that. I think this is what the Gods want us to consider and learn from here.
Return to the Source
This is my first blog post since back in March, when I decided to take a couple of months off from writing about astrology. My birthday is in early March; in astrology terms, this year I have transiting Pluto conjunct my natal Ascendant in my Solar Return chart, and that will continue for the next couple of years.
Pluto, the Cosmic Roto-Rooter – major change, major cleanout, major transformation – it kind of feels like the psychic equivalent of having one of those drain cleaner thingies shoved up my butt. I think of myself as being Closed for Renovations this year. Along with some major shifts in diet and lifestyle, this includes my needing to re-think my attitude towards astrology, how it works, and how it fits in the world today, in this period of global instability and national decline.
Putting in bluntly – why bother studying and practicing astrology in the first place? How do I make sense of astrology in a 21st century world, and what good does it do?
I have don’t the answers down yet, but I do have a sense of direction and where to look, and I have a sense that I am being guided in my search.
In this post I want to start to define the questions, and give you an idea of where I am looking for the answers.
Astrology (Not) A Science
“Not only is the Universe stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.”
– Werner Heisenberg
Is astrology a science? The short and simple answer is, No. (Sounds of people rushing for the door.)
Is anybody still here? Okay, let’s chat.
The slightly longer, slightly more inclusive answer, goes something like this:
Science is able to map part of the order of the Universe. It is not sufficient to map all of it. There are other forms of valid order besides the scientific. Another way of stating that – the current scientific model is too small to contain all of the Universe, which includes ALL of human experience. The scientific model has its limitations and its problems, and a model that makes sense of astrology can address some of those problems.
Let me underscore that point – the current scientific model does not include all of human experience, and some of the most important dimensions are left out.
Astrology works, it is valid, and I think it is demonstrable to anyone with a reasonably open mind. Astrology works, but it does not work the same way that Science does. It is pointing at a different kind of order that is bigger, weirder, stranger.
I’m going to paraphrase the quote by the scientist Werner Heisenberg that I used to start this piece.
Not only is Astrology stranger than we think, it is stranger than we can think.