Principles of Astrology
Charles and Suzi Harvey

Dedication

To all who would hear the music of the spheres.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

1: The Astrologer’s Universe

2: The First Principles

3: The Uses of Astrology

4: The Planetary Gods

5: Divine Dialogues – The Aspects

6: The Circular Adventure

7: The Corners of the Soul – The Houses of the Horoscope

8: Putting it All Together

9: Forecasting Future Trends

10: Learning to Listen – Astrology in Everyday Life

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

About the Author

In the Same Series

Copyright

About the Publisher

1 THE ASTROLOGER’S UNIVERSE

Whatever is born or done this moment of time has the qualities of this moment of time.

C.G. JUNG

Time is the flowing Image of the Eternal … and the planets are the instruments of Time.

PLATO, THE TIMAEUS

THE STUDY OF TIME

Behind the light-hearted horoscopes of the popular press lies a hidden wisdom that can transform our understanding of ourselves and the nature of reality. For real astrology, from which this popular entertainment derives, is a language, science, art and craft that deals with the ever-changing qualities of time. Astrology studies the paradox that in each moment of space-time there is a point of access to the Eternal. It shows that each moment, such as of our own birth, is a seed containing a specific blueprint for the unfoldment of the infinite potential of one facet of the Great Jewel of Eternity.

Normally we take time for granted; we think of it as something neutral and simply a measure of duration. But in fact, according to the astrological and Platonic tradition, time is the great formative dimension of life. It is the dimension of time which, by means of the planetary cycles, dictates and unfolds into manifestation the changing patterns of Divine Ideas that shape our individual mind-set. It is the cycles of time, such as the daily shift from dark to light, and of the seasons, which govern the ebb and flow of daily life and at the same time the rise and fall of civilizations and the evolution of consciousness.

If this is your first astrology book, make a note of the time, date and place you obtained it. As you progress in your study of time, you will be amused and instructed by looking back at a map of this moment of space-time to see how it relates to your own birth chart, the unfoldment of your own consciousness of your infinite yet very specific potential.

A NOBLE SECRET

It is deeply unfortunate that for much of the general public the word astrology instantly means the Lottery’s Mystic Meg and breathless mediums peering into crystal balls. As the great French surrealist poet, critic and philosopher André Breton (1896–1966) lamented:

I see astrology as a very great lady, most beautiful, and coming from such a great distance that she cannot fail to hold me under her spell. In the purely physical world, I see nothing that has assets to emulate hers. She seems to me, besides, to hold one of the noblest secrets of the world. What a shame then, that nowadays – at least for the common masses – a prostitute reigns in her place.

Since Breton wrote that, the media’s trivialization of the ‘very great lady’ has become even more widespread. In consequence, no one who has not studied a book on real astrology could possibly understand why some of the very greatest minds and creative individuals down the centuries have preoccupied themselves with its study. From Pythagoras, Plato, Plotinus and Proclus to St Thomas Aquinas, Kepler, Galileo, Goethe, Ralph Waldo Emerson, W.B. Yeats and Jung and many, many more, the Royal Art and Science has proved to be a source of deep fascination, inspiration and guidance. And, despite the contemptuous guffaws of scientific orthodoxy, it still continues to enthral the minds of some of our finest contemporary thinkers, and to be used, behind the scenes, by some of the world’s leading figures. So what is astrology’s noble secret?

Astrology’s noble secret is rooted in the fact that she preserves an ancient understanding of the temporal cosmos as:

 the flowing image of the Eternal God Thought;

 a living, intelligent, purposeful entity in which part and whole dance together in resonance to the music of the spheres;

 a hierarchy of levels of order in which the higher levels order the lower and in which the apparent random activity here on Earth below can be seen to be orderly behaviour when viewed from the heavens above.

We explore the key principles of this understanding of the cosmos in the next chapter. But first we need to look briefly at some of the key steps in the history of the evolving consciousness of the relationship between above and below, between time and eternity.

A BRIEF HISTORY

Prior to Newton, most thinkers in Western universities, and in most Eastern cultures, believed that all life on Earth was regulated and controlled by the movements of the celestial bodies. This was not a superstitious belief but a position developed from reason and experience over 2,000 years, and one that is still maintained by thinking astrologers today. This does not contradict the laws of physics, which describe the material causes of things, because astrology is concerned with those metaphysical laws that describe the formal causes of things. Whilst some early astrologers certainly thought in terms of physical ‘influences’, the philosophers thought in terms of the cosmos as ‘a living body of ideas’. How did this world view develop?

EARLY ORIGINS – ORDER OUT OF CHAOS

The early history of astrology can be only a matter of conjecture. What we do know is that the very earliest records in most cultures and civilizations reveal an essentially astrological world-view. Around 7,500 BCE in Europe, reindeer antlers were being used to note the phases of the moon, whilst the development of writing in Mesopotamia around 3,500 BCE was initially primarily concerned with recording celestial phenomena and their significance. Likewise, all major ancient buildings, such as the Ziggurats of Mesopotamia, the Egyptian and Mayan Pyramids, and Neolithic circles like Stonehenge, seem to have been constructed to align society below with the heavens above.

As early humankind came to consciousness, what became apparent amongst the seeming arbitrariness of life was the regularity of the cycles of day and night, of the waxing and waning of the moon and the movements of the planets across the star-studded sky. It was seen that these regular and predictable cycles of heaven could be related to natural phenomena such as the recurring seasons, the flooding of rivers, outbreaks of disease and years of feast and famine. Likewise the birth of distinct types of people and different kinds of destiny were observed to correspond with particular patterns of the planets.

Astrology appears to have emerged independently in different cultures around the world. Whilst some of these astrologies certainly cross-fertilized one another, each seems to have had the same basic insight about the intimate relationship between above and below. Likewise the essential significance of the planets and stars is very similar in different traditions. Mars is always associated with fire, anger and war, whilst Venus is seen to be an essentially beneficent creature of beauty.

The earliest written records of astrology are found in Mesopotamia where celestial events such as eclipses and the conjunction of planets were observed to be omens of coming events. The discovery of the cycle of the seasons and the fact that different times were good for different kinds of activities may well have encouraged pastoral settlements. It certainly enhanced the efficiency of agriculture in Egypt as the rising of certain stars just before the Sun could be used to time the flooding of the Nile.

ASTROLOGY IN THE BIBLE

The Bible, which is replete with astrology, preserves the deep understanding of the importance of time. Thus at the outset, Genesis 1:14–15, we find God on the fourth day saying:

Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years …

Much later, in Ecclesiastes 3, we find the view summarized in the 16-line poem beginning:

To everything there is a season

And a time to every purpose under the heavens

A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

A time to kill, and a time to heal;

A time to break down and a time to build up;

A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance …

THE THREE WISE MEN

Astrology is central to the Judaeo-Christian tradition. The Three Wise Men of the Bible who ‘followed the Star’ were of course astrologers, a translation now used in The New English Bible. The particular ‘star’ the Magi were following was almost certainly the dramatic conjunction of the planets Jupiter and Saturn in Pisces, the sign of the fishes. This occurred three times in 7 BCE, which is now agreed to have been the most likely year of Christ’s birth. Such a thrice-repeated conjunction was of especial significance to the ancient astrologers, and the symbology of the fish is ubiquitous in early Christianity. Christ, the ‘fisher of men’, was known as ICTHUS (Jesus Christ Son of God). To this day bishops wear a fish-tailed mitre. What is also clear from the Bible is that there have always been ‘false prophets’ who have used astrology for dubious purposes.

UNDERSTANDING THE COSMIC ORDER – THE GREEKS

Early astrology may have emerged in part from observation, but certainly it seems reasonable to conjecture that the basic insight of the correspondence of above and below will have derived from the intuitive inner illumination of priests and shamans who saw this reality within themselves. The Greeks, starting with Pythagoras (c. 600–540 BCE), who emphasized the importance of number as the basis of the world, began to put in place a systematic model of an astrological universe. This was first fully articulated by Plato in the Timaeus. This ideal, transcendant model, interwoven with its rational, empirical, Aristotelian complement, was the basis of the prevailing world-view until the 17th century.

The history of the progress of this world-view would require another volume. A few of the important individuals and events are summarized below.

Some Highlights of Astrological History

Pythagoras (c. 580–c. 500 BCE) teaches that number is the creative basis of the cosmos and that each planet has its note, together producing the Music of the Spheres.

Empedocles (c. 490–430 BCE), Greek philosopher, proposes that all things, including human personality, are made up of the four elements Fire, Earth, Air and Water.

Hippocrates (c. 460–377 BCE), physician and astrologer, the ‘Father of medicine’, relates the four elements to the four humours as the basis of disease.

Plato (c. 427–347 BCE) elaborates the basis of astrology in the Timaeus; c. 387 BCE founds his philosophical Academy in Athens which lasts until 529 BCE.

409 BCE – First known individual horoscope.

356 BCE – Alexander the Great’s mother instructed by the astrologer Nectanebus as to when to give birth to the future Emperor: 22 July 356 BCE c. 11 p.m. in Mella, Macedonia.

Zeno (c. 342–c. 270 BCE), Syrian Stoic philosopher, teaches the cyclic nature of the universe and the importance of understanding the birth chart to free oneself from fate.

Berossus (fl. 280 BCE) opens a school of astrology on Kos around 280 BCE.

Hipparchus (c. 190–120 BCE), Greek astronomer/astrologer, discovers the precession of the equinox, develops the rulerships of the parts of the body by the zodiac.

Philo of Alexandria (20 BCE–50 BCE) attributes seven planets to parts of head, soul and body and develops concept of seven-year rhythm in life.

Thessalos (fl. 50 BCE), physician and astrologer, sets out rules for herb gathering.

Ptolemy (c. 100–180 BCE), astrologer-astronomer, writes his Tetrabiblos (c. 150 BCE) summarizing most of the astrological knowledge of his age.

Plotinus (c. 205–c. 270 BCE) – his Enneads, edited by the astrologer Porphry (c. 232–c. 305 BCE), set out the foundations of Neo-Platonism in which astrology can flourish.

lamblichus (255–330 BCE) incorporates the mystery teachings of the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians and Chaldeans into Neo-Platonic thought.

Firmicus Maternus writes eight-volume astrology text Mathesios libric c. 335 BCE.

Paulus Alexandrinus c. 370 BCE writes an Introduction to Astrology.

Proclus (410–85 BCE), philosopher and astrologer. His Theology of Plato elaborates on the role and significance of the planetary gods.

Simplicius (531–79 BCE) writes Commentary on the Enchiridion of Epictetus and about the relationship of the soul to the body and astrology.

529 BCE Closure of the Platonic Academy in Rome by Justinian after 1,000 years forces Neo-Platonists with their understanding of astrology into exile in Asia Minor.

625–c. 700 BCE The rise of Islam and spread of Islamic Empire brings the Neo-Platonic and Jewish and Indian teachings back into the West.

770–73 BCE Caliph al-Mansur has the Indian Siddhanda translated into Arabic, so beginnng Moslem astrological tradition.

Abu Ma’shar (787–886 BCE) writes his Introduction to Astrology.

Al-Biruni (973–1048 BCE), mystical astrologer.

Ibn Junus (died 1009 BCE), produces the Hakemite Planetary Tables.

1010–1027 BCE Liber Planetis et Mundi Climatibus – the first European astrological text.

Guido Bonati (1210–1300), court astrologer to Frederick II, develops mid-points.

Roger Bacon (1216–94) sees the heavens as the organizing cause of all things.

Thomas Aquinas (1225–74) sets out the place of astrology in the scheme of things.

Petrarch (1304–74) reawakens the world to the cultural riches of the Graeco-Roman culture.

1398, 19 September Chancellor of Sorbonne in Paris attacks astrology.

Marsilio Ficino (1433–99) in his De vita coelitus comparanda expounds on the value of astrology in daily life.

Regiomontanus, Johann Muller (1436–61), astrologer and ‘Father of German astronomy’, recovers and translates key Greek astronomical/astrological texts.

Pico della Mirandola (1463–94) denounces the abuses of astrology.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473–1543), founder of heliocentric astronomy, an astrologer.

Paracelsus (1493–1541), doctor, philosopher and astrologer, teaches that medicine without astrology is pseudo-medicine.

Michel Nostradamus (1503–66), physician and astrologer to Catherine de Medici.

Tycho Brahe (1546–1601), astronomer, sought to reform astrology.

Francis Bacon (1561–1656), philosopher and Lord Chancellor of England, advocates the use of astrology in medicine and weather-forecasting.

Galileo (1564–1642), astronomer and practising astrologer.

Johannes Kepler (1571–1630), astronomer and astrologer; discovers laws of planetary motion; works to demonstrate and reform astrology.

Dr John Dee (1527–1608), scholar, astrologer, spy (original 007), chief adviser to Queen Elizabeth I – elects her coronation chart.

William Lilly (1602–81), the first astrologer to write in English, forecasts Great Fire of London.

Placidus de Titis (1603–68), scholar, physician and astrologer.

Elias Ashmole (1617–92), scholar and astrologer, founder of Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727) ends his days studying alchemy, a subject steeped in astrological method.

From about 1700, astrology began to fade from the map of mainstream knowledge, eclipsed by the excitement of discoveries in the material sciences which became the focus of intellectual exploration. The serious study of astrology survived amongst individual students and practitioners rather than in academia, though there were individual intellectuals who publicly espoused it. This was especially the case in Germany where the great German poet, writer, scientist and polymath Goethe (1749–1832) studied astrology and opened his autobiography with details of his birth chart which he considered a good description of his basic nature. The philosopher August Wilhelm Schegel (1767–1854) taught that ‘astronomy will have to become astrology again’, and the last university professor of astrology in Europe, Johann Wilhelm Pfaff (1774–1835), called for its recognition as a legitimate science in his The Rationale of Astrology. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860), the philosopher, moved from a hostile position in his early work to a more sympathetic view in his On Age Difference. In the USA Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82), the philosopher with Neo-Platonic leanings, was sympathetic to astrology, describing it as ‘astronomy brought down to earth and applied to the affairs of man’.

When the study of astrology faded, it was still part of mainstream thought; but when it began to re-emerge as a subject for popular study in the late 19th century, it was as a result of the efforts of relatively few maverick individuals working from outside the boundaries of orthodox study. Throughout the 20th century it has gradually developed and progressed into its present highly sophisticated form as the result of the work of a series of dedicated individuals and organizations. Some of the highlights of this story are shown below.

The Renaissance of Astrology

Richard Garnett (1835–1906), Keeper of Printed Books at the British Museum, advocates the use of astrology.

1880 A.J. Pearce (1840–1923) edits Urania and other journals. His The Textbook of Astrology takes a pragmatic and experimental approach to its development.

Walter Gorn Old/Sepharial (1864–1929) writes many books on astrology.

1888 Paul Choisnard/Flambert (1867–1920) starts statistical research in astrology.

1890 Alan Leo/William Frederick Allen (1860–1917) and F.W.Lacey found the monthly Modern Astrology (1890–1943). Leo goes on to publish a series of books with strong theosophical slant covering most known areas of astrology.

1915 13 July, 7.15 p.m., Alan and Bessie Leo found The Astrological Lodge of the Theosophical Society, the ‘mother’ of British astrology.

1926 The first issue of the Lodge’s Astrology Quarterly edited by Charles Carter (1887–1968), philosopher and experimentalist who wrote widely on astrology.

1928 The first Cosmobiology Yearbook published in Germany. Alfred Witte in Hamburg publishes his Regel für Planetenbilder (Rules for Planetary Pictures).

1930 31 August, Sunday Express publishes R.H. Naylor’s article on Princess Margaret’s birth – the start of astrology in the popular press: soon spreads world-wide.

1936 Dane Rudhyar’s The Astrology of Personality starts psychological astrology.

1939 Karl Ernst Krafft – Traite d’Astro-biologie; American Federation of Astrologers founded (May).

1940 Reinhold Ebertin in Germany publishes the first edition of Kombination der Gestirneinflusse (Combination of Stellar Influences).

1948, 7 June, 7.58 p.m., The Faculty of Astrological Studies founded to provide a systematic education for astrologers – world-wide via correspondence courses.

1955 – Michel Gauquelin publishes L’Influence des Astres demonstrating statistically that planetary positions at birth are related to future eminence in different professions.

1958, 21 June, 8.22 p.m., The Astrological Association founded by John Addey (1920–82), Brigadier General R.C. Firebrace and Joan Rodgers; Rudolf Tomaschek (1895–1966), Professor of theoretical physics at Munich, Chair of Cosmobiological Academy Aalen, publishes Observations on the Basic Problem of Astrology.

1959 The Astrological Journal of the Astrological Association first published.

1970 In London The Urania Trust, Educational Charity, created by John Addey et al.

1973 The Mayo School of Astrology founded by Jeff Mayo.

1974 In the USA, Neil F. Michelsen founds Astro-Computing Services and Dr Gregg Howe founds Astro-Numeric Services for astrologers.

1976 John Addey’s Harmonics in Astrology; Liz Greene’s Saturn.

1977 In the USA, astrology software for home computer from Michael Erlewine (1941– ) and Robert Hand (1943– ); Geoff Dean’s Recent Advances in Natal Astrology.

1981 Astrology ceases to be illegal in Britain with the Repeal of the Vagrancy Act.

1983 In Zürich, Bruno and Louise Huber found the Astro Psychological Institute, API (8 June); in London, Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas (1948–93) found The Centre for Psychological Astrology – CPA (12 June); and Geoffrey Cornelius and Maggie Hyde the Company of Astrologers (14 November).

1985 Jim Lewis develops Astro*Carto*Graphy; first International Astrological Research Conference in London under the auspices of Professor H.J. Eysenck (1916–97).

1988 The Urania Trust creates the Astrology Study Centre in London and publishes first issue of the international Yearbook Astrology.

1990 In the USA, Project Hindsight launched by Robert Hand and Robert Schwarz to recover the ancient origins of astrology by the translated early Greek, Latin and Arabic text.

1996 The Tenacious Mars Effect by Ertel and Irving confirms Gauquelin’s findings.

1997 Cosmos and Culture – journal for study of astrology in world culture launched.

1998 CPA launches Apollon – journal for psychological astrology.

THE WORK OF THE GAUQUELINS

No history of 20th-century astrology would be complete without mention of the remarkable work of the French psychologist and statistician Dr Michel Gauquelin (1928–91) and his demographer wife Frangoise (1929– ). Between them they gathered many tens of thousands of birth certificates of famous individuals from all over Europe. Birth certificates on the continent include the time of birth. Using this information, the Gauquelins were able to demonstrate statistically that eminent professionals tended to be born when particular planets were:

 close to the eastern or western horizon or

 close to the upper meridian, their highest point in the sky or

 close to the lower meridian, the lowest point.

For example, future champion athletes, eminent military men and entrepreneurs tend to be born when Mars, god of the warrior, is so placed. By contrast, the Gauquelins found that future eminent scientists tend to be born when Saturn, bestower of the saturnine cautious, methodical, intellectual temperament, is prominent. Future actors and politicians tend to be born when self-important, jovial Jupiter is in these positions. Future politicians are also found to be born with an angular Moon, as are future writers and journalists.

Despite attempts by several committees of sceptics to disprove these results, often using dubious methods, the observations have replicated again and again with fresh samples of data. An impartial survey of all the evidence by Suitbert Ertel, Professor of Psychology at Göttingen University in Germany, has concluded in The Tenacious Mars Effect that it is time that sceptics embraced the reality of these results and accepted the challenge they present to the prevailing world-view. Hans Eysenck, (1916–97), Professor of Psychology at London University and a strict experimentalist, came to the same conclusion.

EMERGING FROM ISOLATION

Astrology during the 20th century has been gradually emerging from 200 years of isolation. It is still not accepted by most academics, and encyclopaedias still omit it from the map of 20th century knowledge, or include it with scornful asides. Faced with the upsurge of interest in astrology, sociologists try to explain it as a superstitious reaction to the nihilism of the 20th century. Meanwhile, astrologers have simply got on with their work and have developed the study in exciting and philosophically challenging new areas. During the century, there has been a growing number of intellectuals who have slipped through the ring fence of academic scorn and now experiment with astrology.

The great Irish poet, dramatist and philosopher W.B. Yeats (1865–1939) studied and used astrology daily throughout much of his adult life. C.G. Jung (1875–1961), the great Swiss psychologist, was a pioneer in this area and wrote to Sigmund Freud:

My evenings are taken up very largely with astrology. I make horoscopic calculations in order to find a clue to the core of psychological truth.

Likewise, in Austria, Oscar Adler, the medical doctor and musician brother of the great psychologist Alfred Adler, was a pioneer of modern astrology, and wrote a four-volume work, An Astrologer’s Testament. Also in Austria, the philosopher and painter Thomas Ring (1892–1983) wrote and lectured widely on astrology throughout his life. In Germany between the wars, the traveller and philosopher Count Herman Keyserling (1880–1946) embraced astrology and wrote an important introduction to the subject, whilst his son, Arnold Keyserling (1922– ), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Vienna, and a humanistic psychologist, lectures and teaches regularly throughout Europe on astrology.

The late Dr James S. Williamsen (1941–88), a brilliant American mathematician resident at King’s College Cambridge and the Oxford Computing Laboratory, summed up the nub of the matter. When asked why, as a penetrating student of artificial intelligence, he would stoop to study astrology, Williamsen replied:

If we truly want to create artificial intelligence then we must first understand the operations of the Mind which created our minds. From my studies it seems clear that astrology holds a key to understanding and mapping the workings of what from earliest times was known as the Divine Intelligence.

Such views on the implications of astrology are not only to be heard from questing scientists. Professor Dr L. Cunibert Mohlburg of the Vatican Institute of Archaeology forecast in his book Candi’s Letter to Tschu that:

If we look ahead it is already possible to say that Astrology seems destined to lead all other branches of knowledge out of the blind alley of unspiritual rationalism and materialism … and effect the reconciliation that Science so ardently desires with Belief.

At the present time, a leading contemporary philosopher Dr Richard Tarnas, author of the much-acclaimed history of Western thought, Passion of the Western Mind, has said he believes that:

Psychology textbooks of the future will look upon modern psychologists working without the aid of astrology as being like medieval astronomers working without the aid of a telescope.

OBJECTIONS TO ASTROLOGY
HOW COULD ASTROLOGY POSSIBLY WORK?

Whether you are a true believer, an open-minded enquirer, or a dyed-in-the-wool sceptic, astrology presents us with a problem. How could it possibly work? What possible connection can there be between the positions of the planets at the time of birth and our character and destiny, or between planetary movements and the movements of the stock market, or major political changes?

Astrology certainly runs contrary to the approach of science over the past 300 years and more. Scientific success has bred arrogance, and media pundits with only the dimmest understanding of the history of ideas will speak derogatorily of astrology as a throwback to superstitious un-reason. In fact, of all subjects astrology still addresses the inherent reasonableness of life, as we shall see in the next chapter.

NEWSPAPER ASTROLOGY

Different newspapers give different forecasts from the same information. All too true. Most newspaper columns are light-hearted fun and pour out ‘thoughts for the day’ without too much reference to the cosmic climate. Even the best and most conscientious of newspaper astrologers is faced with trying to reduce a cosmic ocean of information into a single sip. This is soundbites gone mad, and horoscope columns imply that they contain far greater personal information than they could ever supply. That said, a particular period of time will, on average, be more stressful or advantageous for certain signs. Prevailing surges in energy or tense patterns will tend to be picked up by some types rather than others. But for any particular individual, the ‘signals’ are likely to be swamped out by more personal factors.

THE GRAVITY OF THE MIDWIFE

Scientific critics of astrology say that it is absurd to believe that the planets can have any effect on our character or destiny since the gravitational mass of the midwife in attendance at birth is far greater than any possible pull of the planets. This, like many arguments put forward by physicist critics of astrology, assumes that astrology is measuring material causes. In fact, as we shall see in the next chapter, it is clear that astrology measures the unfoldment of formal cause in the cosmos.

For example, the disillusionment with Communism and the impulse for political change which swept through Europe in 1989 as Jupiter opposed a tightening Saturn-Neptune conjunction had no physical gravity. The intellectual gravitas of these compelling ideas was more compelling than any number of secret police or border guards. The ‘ideas of the time’ swept all before them far more effectively than any hurricane or tidal wave. For astrologers, the cosmic configurations of that time ‘birthed’ a decisive new reality for the world.

PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES

The signs of the zodiac used by astrologers in the West are no longer the same as the constellations in the sky of the same name. This is perfectly true and all astrologers are aware of this fact. The Western tropical zodiac is measured from what astronomy calls The First Point of Aries, the point where the Sun crosses the Equator and follows the seasonal cycle. It measures unfolding life in relation to our Earth. The Fixed Zodiac of the Constellations measures out a larger more cosmic cycle of reference. Whilst this book focuses on the tropical zodiac, both frames of reference have their place in a larger astrology. An analogy might be that someone might be a Sun Leo in terms of their local political scene, a king: a big fish in a small pond. But when they graduate to national politics they get measured against another scale and may be a Sun Cancer, and a much less self-assured creature, a crab in a much vaster ocean.

THE STARS IN THE CONSTELLATIONS ARE OFTEN NOT PART OF THE SAME STAR SYSTEM

Astrology is not dependent on the constellations being all of a piece. No-one looking at the constellations and asked to make pictures would see the animals and images that they are supposed to represent. It is clear that the ancients gave the names in order to summarize and symbolize their experience of planets moving through that part of the sky. The signs of the zodiac, whether tropical or fixed, tell a story of unfolding ideas which follows a particular sequence. In fact, there is also a branch of astrology which studies the significance of specific Fixed Stars. Again, the meaning of individual stars is based on observation and is in no way dependent upon it being part of a particular constellation.

HELIOCENTRIC RATHER THAN GEOCENTRIC

Since Copernicus it has been known that the Earth moves around the Sun and not vice versa. It is argued that astrology is Earth-centred and seems to assume that the planets move around the Earth. Astrologers are well aware of the distinction. In practice we live on the Earth and not the Sun, and in terms of the unfolding of planetary ideas for humankind it is therefore the Earth-centred view that is most relevant. There is, however, much to be learned from heliocentric astrology, which is a whole area of astrology in its own right.

Most objections to astrology come from individuals who can think only in terms of physical, material causes. Anyone who has worked in astrology for any length of time knows that astrology has to do with an algebra of meaning and consciousness rather than purely of matter.

Figure 1 The top diagram shows a top-down view of the solar system with the planets orbiting the Sun in the centre. This is the helio-centric view. The lower diagram shows how these same positions appear when seen from the earth as centre, the geocentric view.

PHYSICAL THEORIES ABOUT ASTROLOGY

All that said, there are still some astrologers who can only feel comfortable with material causes. And there is a range of theories that have been elaborated to explain how astrology might work. The analogy of the Moon and ocean tides is often invoked. The human body is over 90 per cent water. Do the planets have minute tidal effects within our bodies?

Related to this theory is Dr Percy Seymour’s eloquent resonance theory, which points out that resonance can give wave forms power out of all proportion to their inherent energy. Classic examples of this are the singer who can break a glass at a distance by singing the glass’s ‘note’ so that it vibrates itself to pieces. Likewise an army marching over a bridge has to break step so as not to set the bridge vibrating to its own natural frequency and make it fall apart. In this model, the planets in their movements are setting up wave forms with which the child resonates and ‘tunes in’, thereby establishing certain types of behaviour.

Endocrinologist Dr Frank MacGillion has put forward endocrine secretions from the pineal gland as a possible mechanism, pointing out numerous studies which highlight the importance of the state of the day-night cycle at the time of birth and its effects on melatonin secretions. Dr Michel Gauquelin, the French psychologist and statistician, whose work is cited above, postulated a genetic predisposition, whereby a baby with a martial genetic make-up would be tuned to Mars orbit.

Such theories may perhaps explain certain very limited astrological phenomena. However elegant some of these theories are, though, they simply cannot explain how it is that a chart set for the moment of the formation of a company can provide detailed information about its likely company style, its development and the kind of people that it will attract to it.

In the next chapter we look at the central philosophical principles upon which astrology is traditionally based. Even if you are someone who would prefer a neat physical cause-and-effect model, you will find that if you engage with these ideas they will provide a framework within which to think about astrology.

THE ANCIENTS SAID IT ALL

The philosophy of the astrological world-view, which assumes an intimate, meaningful connection between the above and the below, has never been more eloquently expressed than by the writings attributed to the wise Egyptian Hermes Trismegistus. In this passage, the relationship of the Cosmic Principles to their Source is being explained to Hermes by the great Pymander: (from The Divine Pymander of Hermes Trismegistus, ed. The Shrine of Wisdom, 1970.)

1 Hermes Trismegistus: Many men have affirmed many and diverse things concerning the Cosmos and God, but I have not learned Truth; therefore, O Lord, make plain these things to me.

2 Pymander: Hear, then, my Son, how these things are of God and the Cosmos.

3 God; Eternity; the Cosmos; Time; Generation.

4 God maketh Eternity;Eternity maketh the Cosmos;The Cosmos maketh Time;Time maketh Generation.

5 The Substance, or Essence, as it were, of God, is the Good, the Beautiful, Blessedness, and Wisdom;of Eternity, is Identity and Sameness;of the Cosmos, is Order;of Time, is Change;of Generation, is Life and Death.

6 The Operation, Energy, or Activityof God, is in Nous and Soul;of Eternity, is in Permanence and Immortality;of the Cosmos, is in Integration and Re-integration;of Time, is in Augmentation and Diminution;of Generation, is in Qualities.

7 Therefore, Eternity is in God;The Cosmos is in Eternity;Time is in the Cosmos;Generation is in Time.

8 Eternity abides with God;The Cosmos is moved in Eternity;Time is accomplished (i.e. has its limit) in the Cosmos;Generation takes place in Time.

9 Therefore, the Source and Foundation of All is God, but the Essence of Substance is Eternity; and the Matter is the Cosmos.

10 The Power of God is Eternity; the Work of Eternity is the Cosmos, which is unmanifest and also ever being made manifest by Eternity.

11 Therefore the Cosmos shall never be destroyed, nor the things in it perish, for Eternity is indestructible, and the Cosmos is contained and encompassed by Eternity.

A CONTEMPORARY SYNTHESIS

At the end of the 20th century, the re-emergence of astrology challenges the Western mind once again to find a framework of thought that can resolve the tension that has existed since the Greeks – between Platonic idealism with its emphasis on consciousness and Aristotelian empiricism with its emphasis on matter. For, of all studies, astrology demands a philosophy and framework of thought that embraces both physics and metaphysics, the temporal and the eternal, the manifest and the unmanifest, the observed and the intuited, the material and the formal. The phenomena of astrology demand a model of the universe that is inclusive of quantity and qualities, matter and consciousness. Hermes Trismegistus’s perspective, above, with its emphasis on the relation of the temporal to the eternal, offers such a resolution in principle. The problem, then, is to translate these insights into a form and language that is intelligible to contemporary thought.

One contemporary thinker who has embraced this challenge is Will Keepin, a nuclear physicist, whose mother and father were both nuclear physicists, who is also a practising astrologer. Keepin has been obliged by the reality of his astrological experience to engage with the resoltion of these worldviews. He finds a meeting place in the work of the late David Bohm, a student of Einstein, who was until recently Professor of Theoretical Physics at London University. In his book Wholeness and the Implicate Order, Bohm pictures the universe as having both an implicate, eternal, ‘enfolded’ order which is unfolded in the explicate order of space-time. Bohm sees each moment of space-time as both an explicit manifestation of a particular part of that implicate order and a point of access and linkage to that Wholeness. This evokes the holographic image of reality that we see reflected in the relationship between cells in a body and the body as a whole. In an interview in The Mountain Astrologer, February/March 1997, Keepin sums up the implications of Bohm’s work and his own thinking as follows:

Any natural science from physics to biology to astrology is basically an enterprise of pattern recognition, which utilizes a naturally existing order to discern replicable truths. So astrology is a science of the order in meaning, and the correlation between the subtle order and the Cartesian order in the physical motion of the planets.

For each point in space-time there is a unique astrological chart. I see the astrological chart as a kind of cosmic indexing of the unfolding cosmos. In this grand evolutionary process, each point in the emergent space-time is characterized by a unique astrological chart. It is almost as if the chart is an index for the creative process of cosmic evolution. And when one is born with a particular chart, one becomes an ambassador of sorts to the rest of the cosmos, representing a unique moment in the cosmic space-time to the rest of the cosmos as it continues to unfold.

Each one of us is expressing a particular aspect of the mystery and bringing it into fluid relationship with the rest of the unfolding mystery. Now in terms of astrology and the implicate order, I see the implicate order as a vast realm of meaning and purpose and all of the invisible and intangibles, including, at its deepest levels, the creative process of love itself.

The implicate order is essentially the whole of the unmanifest realm, and the laws that operate in that domain. Astrology is an attempt to map out some of the elementary workings in that domain, and it works by utilizing the non-Cartesian order and non-material laws that govern that domain.

When Keepin’s perspective is put together with the insights of the great British astrologer, philosopher and mystic John Addey, who also draws on Bohm, as in A New Science of Astrology, a picture begins to emerge of astrology as a systematic algebra of life and consciousness which is entirely compatible with the new physics. But not only is astrology in accord with the new physics, it also has the power to reveal to physics and philosophy a profoundly potent dimension of reality which was familiar to the ancients but which has been all too long neglected and denied. This is the dimension of cosmic meaning, purpose and intention.

2 THE FIRST PRINCIPLES

Nothing exists nor happens in the visible sky that is not sensed, in some hidden moment, by the faculties of Earth and Nature.

JOHANNES KEPLER (1571–1630), FROM DE STELLA NOVA

The Cosmos is a living body of Ideas.

PLATONIC DICTUM

Astrology views the cosmos as an intelligent and harmonious whole. It sees it as being shaped and unfolded constantly by cyclical processes in which we, as conscious, reflective human beings, can participate. Whether we choose to reflect rationally on these cosmic processes or not, we participate in them intrinsically at every level of our being. This is the astrologer’s world view – that we are each a universe in miniature. This chapter gives an overview of the first principles on which astrology is based – those principles which are at work in the world and within us.

UNITY

The great American astrologer Charles Jayne (1917–1989) described astrology as cosmo-ecology. This is very close to the truth, because at the heart of astrology is the concept that all things, from atoms to universes, are part of one another and of one over-arching unity. Part and whole are seen as identical in essence (but not in function), intimately connected and in continual resonance with each other. This cosmo-ecology is seen not only as applying to our Earth within the solar system, but equally to our solar system within our galaxy, around which our Sun carries us in about 230 million years. And again beyond the galaxy to the super-galaxies and super-super galaxies, ‘wheels within wheels’, extending outward to the ultimate oneness of the Infinite One.

This concept of unity is at the core of the words we use to describe the totality of things. The word cosmos comes from the Greek kosmos, meaning an orderly, beautiful harmony, as in the word cosmetics. Likewise the word universe comes from the Latin uni-versum, meaning ‘to turn towards the One’. Hence, an ancient university was a place where one studied everything in relation to the One (i.e. the One Truth, the One Knowledge). In German we find the same concept in their word for cosmos, das All, the All, that which contains everything. Or again in English, we find it in that telling sequence of words whole, hale, healthy and holy, which are all from the same Anglo-Saxon root meaning to be whole, robust, at one with unity.

Plato, the father of Western philosophy, who set out the first philosophy of astrology in the Timaeus, sums up the primacy of this concept of Unity:

Every diagram and system of number, and every combination of harmony, and the revolution of the stars, must be made manifest as the ONE THROUGH ALL to him who learns in the proper way. And it will be made manifest if, as we say, a man learns by keeping his gaze on Unity.

AS ABOVE, SO BELOW

As Above, So Below that the miracle of the Unity may be petuated.

HERMES TRISMEGISTUS, THE EMERALD TABLETS

Astrology studies the arrangement of planets in the solar system at a particular moment in order to determine the potential of an individual or other entity born at that moment.

In terms of current Western thought, this seems utterly irrational. Viewed holistically, it is entirely reasonable, for the universe is not only a unity in itself, it is a unity of unities. And, as the Platonists pointed out, ‘all unities are identical in essence’. In this way, as the legendary Hermes indicates, ‘the miracle of the Unity is perpetuated’.

The Cosmos itself, and each part of the cosmos including we human beings, is ‘made in the image’ of the ONE, the ‘God Thought’ which thinks creation into existence. In this way, the essential pattern of the ONE is both literally and metaphorically present in every part of Creation, from super-galaxy to solar system, to man, to a cell in the body, to an atom and to the last and least of things. Everything, in this sense, is a metaphor of the primary music of the One and the gods, the original Word.

These sound like very elevated ideas, and one might ask how we get from this sublime oneness down to the rest of the mundane world. That question belongs in another book, but suffice it to say that the ONE expresses itself at each level of creation in very different ways. We see this principle at work in genetics. Hence the possibility of cloning and the re-creation of an entity from a single cell of the original whole, an idea which was exploited to such dramatic effect in the film Jurassic Park. Every cell in an organism contains the instructions for making the whole organism. A blood cell and a skin cell and a hair cell contain identical genetic information, although their actual manifest functions are quite different. At the most basic level, they are each made ‘in the image of the one’, and yet each just gets on with its own job. The ‘wholeness’ of the body needs each cell to do just that.

Likewise, in the life cycle of, for example, a butterfly, it is impossible to see any obvious resemblance between a butterfly’s egg, the caterpillar, the dried-up brown chrysalis, and the colourful new butterfly. Yet each phase leads on in an ordered, intelligent way to the next, and finally to the flowering of the whole organism; genetically each phase contains identical information.

By analogy, a galaxy and a solar system and a man or woman may look very different. But in real terms each is a different expression of the same basic ‘God Thought’. This is what is meant by such cryptic statements as ‘man is made in the image of God’, ‘man is a solar system in miniature’, ‘microcosm and macrocosm are identical in essence’, and what Origen (AD 185–254) meant when he said ‘Thou art a second world in miniature, the Sun and Moon are within thee, and also the stars.’

This invisible bond between Above and Below is invoked every day around the world in the words of the Lord’s Prayer: ‘Thy will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven.’ This is the key to astrology. By studying the orderly movements of the planetary ‘gods’ of the solar system, which contains Earth and all its life, the astrologer is studying the conditions of the Above, in order to understand what is going on Below in the individual ‘cells of consciousness’, such as you and me.

MIND AND MATTER

‘In the beginning was the Word.’

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JOHN, OPENING WORDS

Astrology describes the ebb and flow of the primary, divine, creative ‘ideas’, the ‘mind stuff’ which shapes and informs all of life and consciousness. For everything in the cosmos is essentially ‘mind stuff’. All around us we see matter which is embodying particular ideas. Whether we are looking at a book or a flower, we are looking at the effect of ideas.

We can readily see this with human creativity. From making a dress to building a house, a railway or a computer game, each project starts with an idea in someone’s mind. This idea is then translated into some kind of raw material. The materials are always vitally important to the end product, but nevertheless they are secondary to the idea. It is always the idea that in-forms the materials, and never the other way round. Destroy every last car in the world and the idea of a car is sufficient to create a new one. No amount of raw materials will ever create a car without the concept. And the creative, in-forming power of ideas equally applies in nature. A rose starts life as an idea written in genetic code. The DNA code then in-forms the raw materials of earth and water and sunshine and, voila! You have a rose bush.

The same is true in human lives: the thing we want to make, that finished creation visualized in the mind, is always the last thing to be manifested. Anyone who has done any creative cooking knows that the finest meal, whilst being prepared, generates a great deal of apparent chaos as raw materials are chosen, peeled, chopped, cooked, mixed with herbs, and so on. Creation is messy, and we have to keep our gaze – the mind’s eye focused – on that final creation, not to mention the recipe, if we are to believe that all the parts will come together in the right way.

Our personal lives can seem very chaotic, too, if we cannot see the underlying plot. This is what astrology provides – a sense of the plot. The birth chart, as John Addey suggested, is a kind of ‘contract with time and space’; and referring to the contract to remind ourselves of the overall game plan can help us to turn chaos into cosmos. Through studying the birth chart, we find out that what feels like chaos is really overemphasis or imbalance in certain areas – too much water (emotionality), too little earth (not enough practicality), an angular Mars (fullsteam ahead all the time) – and we then are in a position to make more informed choices which further the plot intelligently. Another analogy is the picture on a packet of seeds: it helps to know ourselves from the horoscope’s view of wholeness – are we a delicate fritillary, or a ceanotha which doesn’t like too much sun, or a camellia that hates lime, or a hardy honeysuckle that is happy anywhere? By knowing what suits us we can better grow and flourish and actualize our potential.

Astrology is an algebra, a symbolic language which enables us to read the contract, understand the plot, and imaginatively view that unique picture on the packet of seeds which is our life. By engaging imaginatively with the gods within us – the miniature cosmos – we are better equipped to inform the ‘matter’ of our lives, to grow up and blossom in the way that is best for us. In an essay entitled ‘Civilization’, Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) expressed a sentiment very close to the idea that astrology encourages. He wrote:

Now that is the wisdom of a man, in every instance of his labour, to hitch his wagon to a star, and see his chore done by the gods themselves. That is the way we are strong, by borrowing the might of the elements … If we can thus ride in Olympian chariots by putting our works in the path of the celestial circuits, we can harness also evil agents, the powers of darkness, and force them to serve against their will the ends of wisdom and virtue.

TIME AND ETERNITY

Time is the flowing image of the Eternal.

PLATO, TIMAEUS

Time and space define the field of our existence. They constitute the dual matrix of our astrological calculations. Astrology’s perennial questions are: When and where were you born? When and where did this happen? Paradoxically, the astrologer plots out a picture of the cosmos for a particular moment of space-time in order to study the pattern of the primary and eternal archetypes for the moment.

One image that conveys a sense of the relationship between the temporal and the eternal is the phenomenon of a video tape. The tape contains the whole picture, complete with soundtrack, special effects, the lot. It is all there. But in order to experience the video, we have to unfold it frame by frame at a particular speed. Time is the medium through which we experience the unfolding of what is already all there. The big difference is that the cosmic video (i.e. your life) is unfolding potentialities for each moment. It is for us to express and experience those potentialities. The more conscious and aware we become, the deeper and richer and wiser will be that expression. So yes, there is a strong element of predetermination about this model. But no, it is only the music that is predetermined. How we dance to it, in and through time, is up to us.

SOUL

The birth chart has been described as ‘a map of the soul’, so a grasp of the concept of soul, or anima, is crucial to understanding the position of astrology. Soul is often used interchangeably with spirit; in fact, the two are quite different concepts. To put it simply, spirit is undifferentiated essence, that eternal ‘god-stuff’ which substands the whole world and everything in it. Opposite to spirit is matter, the temporal stuff which is ‘informed’ by spirit and which we see coming in and out of manifestation throughout our lives, e.g. bodies are born and die, forests grow and then burn down (but yes, as Einstein told us, matter is indestructible – it just changes form). But between spirit and matter there is soul, that mysterious principle that brings something to life and personally animates it. The soul is the guardian and channel of our individuality. As already mentioned, the late astrologer John Addey referred to the horoscope as the ‘soul’s contract with time and space’, which emphasizes the uniqueness of each individual life, and that uniqueness is bestowed through soul. The poet Keats spoke of our life on earth as ‘the vale of soul-making’, which illuminates and makes realizable the precious potential with which we are each born. The birth chart, for those who learn to read it, is an encoded image of every detail of that specific potential. And it is the soul that brings it to life.

The whole world is en-souled; that is, it is alive, growing, dying, and being reborn, all creatures within it being in relationship with and influencing each other. But man is en-souled in a quite unique way, for via the soul he is endowed with the powers and virtues of the whole cosmos. Through soul man forges an individual relationship with the gods and makes a journey through life discovering what he is. Through soul, man has choice and becomes the protagonist in his life drama.

THE PLANETARY GODS

The planetary gods are the main actors in the great mythological stories and in our own life dramas as well. They are the characters that keep the energy and the plot moving along. Each god or planet has distinct attributes, needs and personality. Every chart contains all of them, although the particular way that they appear in each chart is what reveals our uniqueness. The planets of our solar system, with the Sun at the centre, are Mercury, Venus, our Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Between Mars and Jupiter is the asteroid belt which includes hundreds of smaller bodies. In addition, there are various other bodies, such as Chiron between Saturn and Uranus, and the Centaurs which circle out beyond Pluto. Some of the planets, such as Earth, also have Moons.

Down the ages the planetary principles (which in Plato’s view were ‘the first born thoughts of God’) have collected many different identities. They are:

 the gods of the different world mythologies;

 the Forms or Ideas of Plato which in-form matter and consciousness;

 the Archetypes of contemporary psychology, the primary templates that shape our psychological growth and relationship with the world;

 the chrono-crators (time-markers) of all historical, philosophical, religious and political movements which inspire, shape and dissolve cultures, nations and empires;

 the hopes and fears of business and economic cycles;

 the movers and changers of the ‘flavours of the month’ and what is ‘in vogue’ in the world of art, fashion and the media.

Whether we call them gods or archetypes, forms or ideas, these principles are the fundamental formal causes which weave the tapestry of living Creation out of the passive potentiality of matter. They are the diverse instruments which sound out the cosmic symphony of life in all its harmonic and dissonant subtleties. And they are in us. And the more we come to know the gods in ourselves through understanding our astrological make-up, the more can we make sense of the hopes, the fears, the themes and the events of our life story.

Astrology has no unique claim to understanding these universal formative principles. The patterns of these same ideas are expressed and explored in all the mythologies and theogonies of the world, in fairy tales and dreams. Myth and astrology share the same early origin. Myths express the nature of these archetypal forces in story; astrology maps out their ordered cycles in time. Studying the mythologies of ancient cultures will enrich your understanding of the planetary gods.

Equally, these principles are the basis of all forms of divination by which the underlying processes and purposes of the Cosmos may be approached and glimpsed, such as in numerology, the I Ching, the kabbala and the tarot. Where astrology is unique, however, is in its identification of the way in which the movements of the bodies of the physical solar system mirror, or plot out as on a huge cosmic clock, the moment-to-moment processes of life. Armed with this fundamental insight, astrologers over the centuries have been able to develop a remarkable science and art for studying the creative potential of any moment of space-time, be it past, present or future.

CYCLES

Plato tells us in the Timaeus that the planets are ‘the instruments of Time’, the heavenly bodies whose circular journey around the solar system unfolds the workings of fate like ‘clockwork’. A cycle is defined as ‘a series that repeats itself’, indicating the sense of completeness, as in a circle, as well as a sense of infinity, for once completed the cycle repeats again and again. However, when a planetary cycle repeats, it will never be the same again in relation to the other planetary cycles. Hence, we have a continual unfoldment of cyclical patterns which together weave the loom of Creation.

Every cycle of the heavens and every process of manifestation unfolds itself through a number of distinct phases, each with its own characteristics. This archetypal process was encapsulated by early astrologers in the cycle of the zodiac, or literally the ‘circle of the animals’, from the Greek zoon, as in a zoo.

This cycle describes twelve distinct phases of any cycle. Each phase is given a different ‘sign’, usually an evocative animal symbol (see Chapter 6) that encapsulates and acts as an aide memoire to the essential meaning of that phase. As such this zodiacal process was projected on to the pattern of the stars, the constellations, to mark out the phases of the primary cycle in ‘the Above’. This sequence of signs was probably first used to describe the cycle of the seasons, which followed the apparent annual movement of the Sun around the Earth. This cycle, measured from the Spring equinox or First Point of Aries, is still the primary circle used by astronomers.

So that when an astrologer is asked ‘what sign are you?’ she might answer ‘I have the Sun in Capricorn, the Moon, Mid-Heaven, Venus and Jupiter all in Aquarius and Gemini rising’. This identifies the phases of this universal cycle that are being emphasized by each the different dimensions of the individual.

Apart from the zodiac which describes the basic cycle of seasonal manifestation, each fixed star has its own cycle of rising and culminating. The times in the annual cycle at which specific fixed stars, such as Sirius, rose and set just before or after the Sun were considered very important. The nature and significance of each star was studied in great detail, though this is beyond the scope of this book.

The main focus of astrological study focused upon the wandering stars, the planetary gods. Each planet has its own specific cycle. Indeed all our normally used time frames are related to planetary cycles:

 a day is the time it takes for the Earth to rotate on its axis;

 a week is a quarter of a lunar cycle;

 a month is a Moonth, or the time from one New Moon to the next;

 a year is the time it takes for the Earth to go around the Sun.

Even if you are not aware of the association, you are already familiar with some of the principles of astrology. The seven days of the week, which are part of the very foundation of the way the whole world organizes its time, are named after the seven planets known to the ancient world:

 Sun-day, the day of the Sun

 Mon-day, the day of the Moon

 Tuesday, – in French Mar-di – the day of Mars

 Wednesday – in French Mercre-di – the day of Mercury

 Thursday – in French Jeu-di – the day of Jove or Jupiter

 Friday – in French Vendre-di – the day of Venus

 Saturday – the day of Saturn

The English names are the Teutonic equivalents of the same gods.

The birth chart appears to be a static ‘thing’ that endures for a lifetime, but the cycles of the planets unfold the chart’s potential. A planet returns to its original position at birth when it completes a cycle, although the planets complete their journey around the zodiac in different periods of time. Jupiter’s cycle, which unfolds our search for meaning and expansion, is about 12 years long. Saturn’s cycle takes about 29 years to complete. The famous Saturn Return is a time of growing up, taking responsibility, and making commitments. The second Saturn Return, which occurs at the age of 58, takes us into the last chapter of life when we must examine what our life has achieved and when we must face the inevitability of our death. The Uranus cycle is 84 years long. During the half-way point of this planet’s journey around the zodiac, at the age of about 40 (give or take a few years due to orbital eccentricity), people have their mid-life crisis when repressed desires erupt to bring either a chaotic or newly creative period. In a very dramatic way, life may never seem the same after the Uranus opposition.

In a sense, life is never the same after any of the planets complete their cycles, and this is because the chart has unfolded more of its potentialities, during which time choices have been made, directions have been taken, doors have been opened – and closed.

LEVELS OF EXPRESSION

It is important to recognize that the planetary archetypes express themselves in different ways throughout all levels of cosmic and human life. To take an example, the planet Mars will express its assertive, potent, territorial, separative, propelling nature:

 in the physical world as heat, energy, fire, explosions;

 in the plant world as thorns, poisons, acids, stinging species such as nettles;

 in the animal kingdom as territoriality, predatory activity, the mating instinct;

 in the body as the immune system, and also in the occurrence of accidents, cuts, bruises, inflammation, and fever in the body which harm – and which activate the immune system;

 at an emotional level as anger, retaliation – saying ‘no’

 at the level of will as self-assertion, competitiveness, the will to win, courage;

 at the level of intellect as singularity, cutting out superfluous thought, emphasizing, and decisive communication;

 at the mystical level as the sword of truth.

These principles, gods, archetypes and myths show and express themselves at every level. In the physical world they can be detected at work in the ever-changing climate and the occurrence of storms, floods, earthquakes, natural disasters. In the individual, they can be observed in life themes and in the output of one’s work. For example, Queen Elizabeth, with Saturn exactly conjunct the uppermost point of her chart (status, public responsibility), has stood for tradition and the supreme rule of monarchy. The comedian Spike Milligan’s life, with Uranus exactly rising in Aquarius, has expressed the opposite: eccentricity, anarchic humour, poking fun at the class system, rules and bogus certainty. As you become more familiar with the planetary archetypes, you can begin to see the body of the cosmos and the body of man alive and expressing the interplay of all these energies, as in a great mythological drama.

NUMBER

The ancients spoke of the Creator as the Great Geometrician. This is because the greatest minds in all the ancient cultures observed that all living entities developed, or emerged from potential into manifestation, through an ordered, logical and numerical process. Pythagoras was the first to develop the science of number to a sophisticated level. He and his followers learned to think in numbers, to reflect upon realities in their progressive states. And to these progressive states they gave the names of numbers.

The Pythagoreans believed that the first 10 numbers contained the secret of all things, and that each of the first decade of numbers was a primary creative principle in the Cosmos, indeed a God.

Number in the deepest sense relates to the creative processes of the cosmos. With regards to the birth, flowering, and death of any entity, number describes the archetypal relationship between part and whole.

Archetypal number is at the heart of astrology. We come to understand ‘two-ness’ in the two-fold division of positive and negative signs, in the ascendant (self) – descendant (other) axis, which divides the chart into an upper horizon section (more extrovert) and lower horizon section (more introvert). We grapple with ‘three-ness’ in the three modes of expression – cardinal, fixed and mutable; and with ‘four-ness’ in the four elements – fire, earth, air, water – and also in the four angles of the chart, ascendant (east), descendant (west), midheaven (south), and immum coeli (north). The 12 signs of the zodiac are made up of the three modes and four elements. And the unfolding cycles of the planets express themselves through number in the aspects. The study of astrology is the study of the rhythms of the universe as they relate to the individual, and rhythm is number. From this point of view, astrology connects us to the inner reality of things, if we are sufficiently sensitive to perceive the mystery unfolding before our very eyes.

FATE

Astrology has always had a reputation for encouraging a sense of determinism and predestination. People often express apprehension about looking into astrology, for they are frightened they will learn what fate awaits them. The I Ching tells us that the destinies of men are subject to immutable laws that must fulfil themselves, but that man has the power to shape his fate ‘according as his behaviour exposes him to the influence of benevolent or destructive forces’. But notice our emphasis of the word ‘behaviour’. We can use the knowledge of ourselves we gain from astrology, and simply from our experience of life, to act in accord with a more desirable outcome. To benefit from astrological insights, one must exert effort. That is where the real free will lies. (As Schopenhauer said, ‘We may have free will, but not the will to use it.’) A person having Saturn transit their Sun will know that it is not a time to take risks or to try to expand in adventurous directions, but rather a time to consolidate one’s material and professional position, a time to carry current responsibilities successfully.

Certain parameters are fixed in life. That is the nature of reality, for man cannot live in a vacuum. The contract with time and space is signed and sealed at birth; the parents and family we were born to and the society and historical period in which we gain our identity cannot be changed; the life drama we have chosen is ready to be played. But within the matrix of our given life parameters, we have the freedom to make choices. It is the unique combination of fate and free will that provides the psychic soil out of which we grow and live our lives. That same psychic soil grows heroes and heroines. In fact, man is free only in his mind, his inner attitude. Changes in fate are made according to inner attitude – that is what determines the wisdom of our choices, and ultimately our fate.

3 THE USES OF ASTROLOGY

Astrology is Astronomy brought down to earth and applied to the affairs of man.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

Astrology is best known for its power to describe character and for its ability to ‘look into the future’. These are certainly two important applications. However, the basic principles of astrology can be applied to almost every area of life. In this chapter we will look at what to expect when consulting an astrologer and some of the many and diverse areas in which astrology can be applied to obtain a fresh perspective and dynamic understanding of life.

CONSULTING AN ASTROLOGER – WHAT TO EXPECT

Most astrologers in the English-speaking world work with western tropical astrology, as taught in this book, although there is now a growing number of Vedic astrologers in the West who practise sidereal astrology following the ancient Hindu tradition. The work of this rich tradition is beyond the scope of this book.

As astrology tends to be a subject which, like psychology, benefits enormously from life experience, few astrologers qualify before their Saturn Return, when they are about 30 years old. About 80 to 90 per cent of astrology students on most courses are women and probably 80 per cent of practitioners at the present time are females. This is probably because women usually have better access to the right-brain functions associated with poetry, imagination, the metaphorical and the symbolic, and a natural interest in people and their psychology. These are essential qualities for working fully and effectively with astrology. An increasing number of astrologers will also have some kind of additional training in counselling.

Like doctors, astrologers usually undergo broad training, which familiarizes them with most branches of astrology. Then, when the astrologer sets up in practice, she will tend to specialize in one particular area, and will probably undertake additional training. The great majority of practitioners now work in the area of psychological astrology and character analysis. Most psychological astrologers will also undertake work on chart comparison and relationships, including parent-child relationships and family dynamics in general.

Astrologers usually work by personal consultation, usually from an office within their own home and sometimes in alternative health centres. Very few astrologers are sufficiently affluent to have their own secretary or receptionist, so the consultation is normally booked directly with the astrologer herself, who will take the preliminary details and possibly some case history.

THE ESSENTIAL INFORMATION

The information required by all astrologers is the date, time and place of birth. The time of birth is essential, but this can be problematic as in Britain the time is only recorded on the birth certificate in Scotland, except in the case of multiple births. If you were born in a hospital or a nursing home your time of birth will be on your original birth records, which the authorities are obliged to keep until you are 21. After that your records may be less readily accessible or even destroyed.

Astrologers vary a lot as to whether they want to take a detailed case history before the consultation. Some astrologers prefer to work ‘blind’, allowing the chart to speak for itself in terms of its pure potential. They will then relate that potential to the actual life history later in the consultation. Most astrologers will ask you the reason for the consultation and any special issues that you would like them to consider.

THE CONSULTATION

A typical first consultation or reading of a natal chart with an astrologer will last between 90 minutes and two hours, and sometimes longer. Prior to your arrival, the astrologer will probably have spent at least an hour preparing your natal chart, usually with the help of a computer, looking at current trends and probably making notes. If it is a first consultation the astrologer may well have prepared the chart several days earlier and have had it mulling over in the back of her mind for some while.

When it is not possible to meet in person, some astrologers work very effectively by phone. Some will also supply a reading dictated on to a cassette. A few astrologers will provide written reports. These, however, are very costly as a full written report would be unlikely to take less than one full day to prepare and write up.

FEES

Fees vary considerably. A first consultation is unlikely to cost less than £50 with a follow-up hourly rate of £20. A top astrologer in London will charge at least £40 per hour which, allowing for preparation time, will mean that the first consultation could be about £90 or £100.

CHARACTER ANALYSIS

At the simplest level, an astrologer can interpret your horoscope as a pattern of character traits, aptitudes, strengths and weaknesses. This approach is purely descriptive, the astrologer attempting to sketch out a personality profile in words and images. If you have a lot of fire in your chart and a strong ninth house, you will be seen as impulsive, energetic, intuitive, idealistic and mentally adventurous. If you have a strongly placed Saturn in the first house as well, you will also be described as serious, self-doubting, ponderous, but reliable and conscientious too. These and other contrasting features of your character will be identified, together with the inner tensions and creative potential they involve. It will then be up to you to go away and draw your own conclusions.

PSYCHOLOGICAL ASTROLOGY

An astrological consultation will reveal valuable insights about your personality and the dilemmas you experience in life, but it will not change deep-seated behaviour patterns or heal psychological wounds overnight. However, since we humans are blessed with the faculty of self-reflection, we can choose to go beyond a mere description of our character and actually engage with this knowledge in a deeper way. If you find that the beauty of this language really speaks to you, astrology becomes a kind of wisdom path which can lead to empowerment and desired life changes. This takes time, commitment, and the development of self-analysis.

Some people are natural self-analysers. Others will benefit immeasurably from the experience of psychotherapy where someone else analyses and, over time, teaches you to self-analyse. Add astrology to this activity and you suddenly have a much more powerful experience of understanding what is going on. In this way, astrological insights can help us work through negative conditionings and to see that when it comes to forming our inner attitude, there is a choice.

When the astrologer moves from giving descriptions of personality to relating energies in the chart to the actual personal experience of the individual, the astrologer is also acting as a counsellor. Increasingly now, astrologers undergo some kind of therapeutic training which enables them to listen effectively and to manage the emotional responses of clients, rather than just impart information. If you wish to work more deeply with astrology as a tool for self-awareness, it is important that the astrologer you choose has experience and training in counselling. The Faculty of Astrological Studies offers a two-year Counselling Within Astrology course, and the Centre for Psychological Astrology offers a broad base of knowledge in psychological theory and requires students to be in individual therapy for a minimum of one year.

Some astrologers are beginning to work with astrology as a framework for longer-term therapeutic work. C.G. Jung’s daughter, Frau Gret Baumann Jung, was a great pioneer of this approach. Each of her therapeutic clients was given an introductory book on astrology and asked to study the basic principles so as to be able to work within that archetypal framework. She believed that the value of inner work was greatly enhanced by astrological symbolism, and that it encouraged within her clients both a sense of responsibility and a desire for self-knowledge. Astrology’s ability to enrich the meaning-making process makes it a central tool for all people who seek a greater experience of freedom in their lives.

LIFE TRENDS – FORECASTING THE FUTURE

What will happen to us? What is our destiny? Astrology can never answer these questions in absolute terms. The astrologer looking at a chart cannot see ‘events’ and people written on it. The astrologer sees in a chart combinations of energy and patterns of ideas which experience has shown are likely to manifest in certain ways. By studying the chart it is possible to see the kinds of issues that are likely to arise in a person’s life. If the astrologer knows how an individual has responded to certain kinds of patterns in the past, and also knows the current circumstances, it becomes more possible to make reasonably reliable inferences about the way that things may develop.

By the same measure, knowing the kind of energies which will be to the fore at a particular time, the astrologer will suggest ways in which they can be most constructively be directed. Thus planetary patterns which an astrology textbook might associate with the breakdown of a relationship may in practice express themselves as a ‘breakthrough’ which transforms rather than breaks the existing relationship. Ultimately, how the chart expresses itself is not preordained but a matter of individual consciousness and choice.

Almost everyone who decides to consult an astrologer wants to know what will happen to them. But destiny is, in fact, simply another expression of character. To the astrologer, they are one and the same thing. To take a simple example, a person with the planet Jupiter prominent will tend to be optimistic. Because he is cheerful, people will like him. This jovial type will tend to see the opportunities in any situation and people will be inclined to help. Thus he appears to be ‘lucky’ as ever-new vistas open up for him. By contrast, someone with Saturn in a dominant position at birth will be inclined to pessimism. The saturnine type will focus on life’s problems and may spend much time and energy defending against ‘what may happen’ and in becoming self-reliant. In the longer run, the eternal optimist may start too many ventures and finish none of them, take too many risks and waste his resources. By contrast, Saturn’s disciple, who has carefully put aside resources for a rainy day, and who has finished each project as it comes along, may well end up as a person of substance who has made a real tangible difference to the world. In each case, however, character has led the way and an astrologer merely reads the signatures of character and its implications.

Astrology cannot ‘foretell the future’ as such. It can, however, look at the qualities of a particular period and, like a weather forecaster, make intelligent conjectures about the kind of issues we are likely to be facing.

RELATIONSHIPS

Relationships make up a crucially important part of most people’s lives. Indeed, the world’s literature, film and media industry, not to mention the work of psychotherapists and psychiatrists, would shrivel to almost nothing without the challenge of human relationships. So, not surprisingly, there is a whole branch of astrology devoted to the study of the way people are likely to get on with each other.

Known as ‘synastry’ (literally ‘combined stars’), this branch of astrology provides a powerful means of studying the dynamics which are created in all kinds of relationships, be it between lovers, teacher and pupil, business partners, parent and child, and so on.

By comparing and combining the different birth charts, the astrologer can provide valuable insights about the way in which people are likely to get on with each other and the kind of dynamics which will probably emerge in the relationship.

This type of comparison goes way beyond the grossly over-simplified sun sign ‘compatibility’ charts, beloved of popular articles on astrology. Whilst different sun signs can be more or less compatible with one another, the comparison of charts is much more complex. In fact, a compatibility of moon signs is usually much more important than sun signs for a long-term relationship of any kind. Likewise, the idea that different astrological types will have different kinds of relationships is essentially sound.

Whether it is our relationship with a lover or a colleague, with our parents, our brothers and sisters, with friends, employers, fellow workers, our own children or with society at large, astrology will have something to say. The principles of astrology can be used to understand the kinds of things we will seek in a relationship and the kinds of issues that relationships are likely to bring up for us.

We can also learn why different relationships bring out different sides of our personality, why we feel upbeat and optimistic with some people and down or awkward with others.

VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE

Astrology can be an invaluable adjunct to helping decide the kind of work or career someone might find most suitable and rewarding in relation to their innate skills. The birth chart cannot say that someone will be a musician or a social worker or an accountant. It can, however, indicate that, say, music or the care of others, or the effective and creative handling of resources, are likely to be things they will enjoy and at which they have a good chance of finding personal satisfaction and success.

Equally, the birth chart can indicate areas of work and finances which are more likely to bring problems or upsets. The individual in whose chart Uranus features strongly may find it difficult to work in a subservient position and find themselves constantly at loggerheads with authority figures. The strongly Neptunian type may be drawn by their deeply compassionate nature to helping others, yet find it difficult to look after themselves and protect their own boundaries and resources.

By drawing out and clarifying different talents and aptitudes, the astrologer can help the individual to obtain a larger picture of the kind of work and career they are likely to find really satisfying, and in which they will feel motivated to work hard to succeed. Or, in the case of workaholics who are determined to make life tough for themselves, astrology may help to identify those areas where they may benefit without so much stress and strain.

MEDICAL MATTERS

In the ancient world and until the end of the 16th century, astrology was always a central part of a doctor’s university training and medical practice. If you studied medicine you automatically learned astrology as a means of helping you with both diagnosis and prognosis. Rightly so, for the affinity between each part of the body and the planets and signs of the zodiac can give a medically trained astrologer invaluable clues as to underlying tensions and stresses and the weak areas of the body where problems are likely to manifest.

By studying the chart of an individual and the chart of the moment when he or she was taken ill, or took to their bed, the astrologer can make deductions as to the kinds of issues that are likely to be involved in the illness and the likely critical points in the days ahead. Likewise an astrologer with a medical background and training can use the birth chart to help better understand the kinds of physical problems an individual may experience, the kinds of precautionary and dietary measures to take, and the kinds of therapy that may be most beneficial to them.

However, no one without some kind of medical training should attempt to use the birth chart in this way. Just as an ill-informed reading of a medical encyclopaedia can quickly make one believe that one has typhoid fever, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s, so too can novice astrologers immediately believe the medical worst of difficult patterns in a chart, or of difficult times ahead for themselves and their nearest and dearest.

All major transits and progressions to sensitive points in the natal chart can express themselves in part through the body. The transits of Saturn, Chiron and Neptune are particularly prone to express themselves in physical terms.

An astrologer with a knowledge of medicine can use astrology to understand the processes going on within an individual at both a psychological and a physical level. For example, someone with a prominent but poorly integrated Mars in their chart is likely both to be prone to unnecessarily forceful, aggressive behaviour and to be accident-prone and run fevers.

CHOOSING THE BEST TIME

To everything there is a season

And a time to every purpose under the heavens

ECCLESIASTES 3

If you want to launch a boat it is usually simpler to wait for the tide to come in and float the boat off the shore than to push the boat down the beach and across the shingle. Astrology can be used to elect – that is choose – the optimum time to start any particular project. Hence this branch of astrology is technically known as ‘electional astrology’. The principles of electional astrology can be applied to any enterprise that has a definable starting moment.

Choosing the right time for undertakings has always been a major role for the astrologer. It is now public knowledge that President Ronald Reagan never made any major initiative without optimizing the chances of success by getting the timing right. From his first inauguration as Governor of California to his declarations for the US Presidency, none of the major decisions in his life were taken without astrological advice. As Reagan’s aide Donald Regan testifies in his autobiography, the time of the signing of the Test Ban Treaty with Gorbachov was arranged to chime in with the heavens, rather than procedural convenience, much to the chagrin of the military.

As a result, someone who was generally considered to be a relatively simple soul managed to win almost every contest he entered, and to succeed in putting bills through Congress despite being head of a minority Government.

MARRIAGE

Getting married is a major venture for anyone, and if you have a choice, it makes good sense to plan the timing of this event. This will have implications for years to come, and can optimize the chances of mutual understanding and a long-lasting and happy bond. Indeed, throughout the Indian sub-continent and much of Asia, few couples will get married without first ensuring that the day is a propitious one for them. In this case the astrologer will look at the possible dates and see:

 which dates and times yield the most harmonious charts;

 the relationship between the chart and the charts of the bride and groom.

Likewise if success is going to hinge upon the wellbeing of one or two key people, then it is a good idea to choose a time which will bring out the best in them and minimize the sense of stress and strain.

BUSINESS PROJECTS

The time to start any particular project will depend both on the nature of the work being undertaken and the chart of the people most closely involved with it. If you are starting a project you want to develop quickly and to catch the public eye, you will need to choose a different kind of time from a project which requires plenty of peace and quiet and a slow, steady approach.

By analogy, if you are arranging a mail-out and want to optimize the chances of it going smoothly and your communication being read, it is a good idea to ensure that Mercury, planet of communication, and the Moon, which rules the mood of the moment, are well placed. The kind of placement the astrologer will choose will be dependent upon the kind of mail involved. If the desire is to encourage a sense of optimism and wellbeing the astrologer will want to choose a different kind of climate to one which is suggesting that people enrol on a course of study, or purchase life insurance.

No matter how good the starting chart for a venture, it cannot of itself make up for lack of sound preparation and good management.

CHOOSING THE BEST PLACE

We are each born at a particular place on Earth, and our birth chart is normally calculated for that place. But there is a sense in which each one of us is also incarnated on to the Earth as a whole, as part of the world soul. This may sound like a poetic flight of fancy. In practice, this is found to be an extremely valuable reality. For example, we may have been born in Britain at midnight, placing our sun in the fourth house (see Chapter 7), the position of a home-loving individual who tends to a private rather than a public life. If we move to the other side of the world to New Zealand, where it would have been midday when we were born, and recalculate our chart for Wellington, say, we will find the Sun will be in the tenth house, of public affairs and personal career achievement. Suddenly, from having been a relatively retiring, domestic individual, we are likely to find ourselves out in the limelight, perhaps seeking public office and playing a more authoritative role within the community. And for everyone there will be places in the world where the Sun comes to the fore, and places where it can hide away and obtain some peace and quiet. In short, there are different places where different faces of the soul can thrive.

Such Relocation Charts, as they are called, have been known about since early this century. If you were trying to decide whether to go to Malaga or Corfu for your holidays you could relocate your chart to each place to see what aspects of your chart are brought to the fore at each resort. It would then be possible to choose the place that looked more likely to bring out the kind of energies you would find enjoyable for a holiday.

However, you may be a businessman or woman and want to know which areas of the world are likely to be especially advantageous for you or for your company’s products. To calculate a chart for every major city of the world would be out of the question. Happily, with the advent of the computer, the brilliant American astrologer Jim Lewis was able to develop a program, known as Astro*Carto*Graphy, which plots the positions of the planets at the time of birth on to a map of the world. This, and other imitation astro-locality programmes, enables the astrologer to identify immediately where in the world different planetary energies will come to the fore.

Using astro-locality techniques, it is possible to find parts of the world that will assist in one’s enterprises and self-knowledge, both generally and at particular times in your life. However, such methods need to be used with caution. If your birth chart shows that you have a strong but problematic Jupiter, which makes for joviality but also for over-optimism and extravagance, it may not be advisable to go rushing off somewhere where you can practise your generosity to the utmost! That said, the use of astro-locality can reach parts of your personality and potential that other methods cannot. If a change of scene is as good as a rest, astro-locality can be invaluable in helping us choose the optimum scene.

JUDGING THE MOMENT

Someone may already have decided that they are going to start a particular course, or go on holiday at a particular time, or have got married. There may be little choice in the matter. In such cases the astrologer can highlight the main kinds of issues that are likely to arise and point out where the greatest potential and problems are likely to be.

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