The Recent Solar Eclipse

 

This is the chart for the recent solar eclipse on 21st September. That also happened to be my birthday and the eclipse was just a couple of degrees off my natal sun (the eclipse was late in the day and I was born shortly after midnight hence the distance between degrees for the same day). That is significant enough but an additional factor is Saturn directly opposite at 28 degrees of Pisces which is even closer to a direct opposition to my sun at 27 Virgo. So far nothing untoward seems to have happened other than a leak from a pipe in my bathroom that went through the ceiling in the room below and did quite a lot of damage. It was discovered an hour after the eclipse. A leak might involve the water sign of Pisces and also Neptune which is conjunct Saturn here but it does not have any connection with an eclipse. However, it is said that the effects of an eclipse may start several days before it takes place and continue for up to three months afterwards. 

An eclipse on your natal sun is supposed to herald new beginnings and potentially dramatic changes. With Saturn involved there can be increased responsibilities and new limitations as well. This was my 70th birthday so you might say all those factors come into play. But then everyone gets to 70 who lives that long and not everyone has this pattern on their birthday so I doubt that is all there is to it. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, goes on in my life in the next few weeks. The energies involved in astrology, whatever they are, can be processed internally if one is in tune with the cosmos and consciously aware of oneself and one's personal shortcomings. If one is unconscious and, let's face it, we all are to some extent or we wouldn't be here, they can manifest externally in the form of events that occur. I intend to be as aware as possible of my thought processes and emotional reactions in the coming weeks. Perhaps this is a good opportunity for me to watch myself more closely than usual and bring things I should be doing anyway, but often neglect to do, into sharper focus.

When I first saw the conjunction of the eclipse with my sun I felt mildly apprehensive. I've had experiences with eclipses before as mentioned in Meeting the Masters. But then the thought popped into my head. "Don't be like the heathen. Trust in God." I don't normally think in terms of heathens but that was the word as it appeared in my thoughts. I take it to mean that I should not be superstitious because of this or that pattern in the sky. The stars (so-called) do reflect the workings of creation but above them there is the Creator and one should always have confidence that whatever may play out in our lives down here on earth is always for our spiritual good. The planets are like the gods but the gods are the servants of God who is beyond them all.

Fate and Free Will

A flaw of Christianity is its refusal to accept the pre-existence of the soul. There may be a reason for this. By focusing entirely on just this one life, you can potentially speed up spiritual development for the more passive form of consciousness that most human beings possessed before the expansion of egoic self-awareness undergone over the last few centuries. Also, the West had a specific path to tread, one that involved that expansion and the full development of individuality. The knowledge that you have a vast period of time to get things right could well lead to spiritual and worldly stagnation as it did in India. There is no sense of urgency.

Nonetheless, though it may be spiritually advantageous to believe this is your only life, it is false. It is also mistaken to think that the 'you' you seem to be now is the real you. Your current self is a composite of several things. We would all accept the genetic element inherited from our parents. There is also the strong influence from time and space, the when and where of our birth. Our experiences mould us in a certain way, and many people would accept the influence from the planets at the time of our birth, though influence is the wrong word to describe the subtle interchange between what is out there in the heavens when we are born and what already exists in our soul as a developmental pattern for the new life.

Behind all these, standing as the light of consciousness which they colour and make into a certain form, is the soul. These influences construct our personality for a particular life but this is not our true and real self. It is what the true self acts through for a period in order to learn the lessons it needs to learn and express itself through service of some kind or creativity or whatever. 

You might imagine it in this way. The soul remains in the spiritual world but sends down a portion of itself to experience life in the material plane. That portion is clothed with the particular characteristics it requires to best develop from where it currently is. Remember, though, that souls are at different stages of development and that they come from different spiritual backgrounds. It is a facile truism to say that humanity is one. Life may be one but it is also very different in its myriad forms, and the same is true for human beings. Souls that are born here come from many different sources. That is one reason we often find it hard to get along.

Our fate is written in our horoscope. The horoscope is not determinant but it is descriptive. It is a collection of symbols, and these symbols can work out or be worked out in various ways. It may be true to say that the less conscious you are, the more your birth chart will describe you accurately and the more it will predict what happens to you. Take someone with Mars transiting their natal Sun. This describes an infusion of energy but whether that energy works in a constructive or destructive way depends on the subject and the degree to which he has mastered the forces within him. If he controls these forces he may be able to channel this energy in a positive fashion. If he is unconscious of them he is at their mercy, and this combination may work out as anger or even externalise itself in the form of an accident. 

The point is that our astrology is our fate but we have the free will to determine what particular form that fate might take. You cannot escape your character nor can you escape your destiny, but within certain parameters you can mould the raw material into any form you wish. You can also choose how to respond to what you are or what happens to you. You are at all times free even if your freedom cannot be expressed absolutely. A materialist might claim that even your freedom is predetermined in that what you choose is dictated by what you are, but that is to misunderstand freedom. Your freedom comes from a deeper level than any character trait or destiny. It is inviolable. Although it cannot always be expressed absolutely, it is absolute.

The birth chart is a formulation of archetypes that describe both your character (for this life, not the quality of your soul) and your destiny, and you will inevitably be an expression of it. That is unavoidable. However, you can express this chart however you wish. Everything has a positive and negative side, and the free will comes in as to how the chart is expressed. Even bad fate can be avoided or certainly mitigated if one is fully conscious of the self through which one operates. The essential point is to know oneself.

Astrology Comes Up Trumps

There's nothing like being wise after the event but no astrologer will be surprised by the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, given the planetary patterns of the time. Below is the chart of President Trump with the transits of the day added. The important thing to note is the Mars/Uranus conjunction in 26 Taurus right at the top of the chart. This is in a direct square to Trump's Mars in Leo and by association, since they are conjunct, his Ascendant which is also in Leo. (Incidentally, Trump both looks and behaves like an archetypal Leo even down to the mane of hair). Mars/Uranus signifies sudden surprises, accidents and even potential violence. When the two conjoined planets form such a close contact with natal Mars all these possibilities are intensified. The square to the Ascendant indicates an assault on the body, and when you factor in that the Mars/Uranus conjunction also sits on the fixed star Algol you have an increased likelihood of misfortune. Algol means the Demon's Head, the demon in this case being the Gorgon Medusa, and is reputed to be among the most violent and dangerous of all the fixed stars with accidents and injuries common when connected to important parts of the horoscope.

So, what saved Trump? If we look at the matter from a purely astrological  perspective we could say that the exact sextile from transiting Jupiter to Pluto in the 12th house might have had something to do with it. It is the 12th house that is being assaulted here and Venus has just made her entry in that house, providing another protecting influence. 

Donald Trump's birth chart must have been analysed many times over the last few years but I have not looked at it before. Having now done so, I am struck at how well his conjunction of Sun and Uranus both trine to Jupiter describes his ebullient, over the top character. I have already mentioned the Leonine qualities but perhaps the most significant factor is combative Mars in Leo sitting right on the Ascendant. Fight, fight, fight indeed. Also to note is the Mercury/Neptune square showing tendencies to lies and deception on the one hand and an intuitive ability to tap into the mystical undercurrents of life on the other. The Sun and Uranus are both in the 10th house as is the North Node, all showing public prominence. Like him or not, this is a chart of a man who makes a mark.

Lights that Serve as Signs

 God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times" Genesis 1:14 (New International Version translation).

Despite the presence of the Magi at the birth of Jesus, Christians have always been reluctant to accept the validity of astrology, seeing it as a link to pagan times and gods as well as being incompatible with free will. But then no Christian would deny heredity which could equally well be said to determine our behaviour to a certain extent, and a wiser reaction to pagan wisdom would be to baptise it rather than simply demonise it.

It is understandable that astrology as divination is frowned upon when it is tries to second guess God and undermine his will. But if study of stellar patterns is used as a kind of weather-forecasting, something that seeks to understand times and tides, it is less questionable. I personally think there are too many variables for this to be particularly useful other than in a very broad brush way, but astrology as character analysis can be instructive. I found that studying my birth chart gave me added insight into my own psychological strengths and weaknesses, and was a helpful spiritual tool insofar as it showed truths about myself in an objective, dispassionate way that I might have otherwise been reluctant to accept.

Clearly, we are not meant to know the future and to seek to do so is blasphemous as it is an attempt to replace God's will with our own. Moreover, we are nowhere near spiritually mature enough to deal with such knowledge as, in our current state, to know our future would be to nullify its lessons. But that does not mean that astrology doesn't work or that it is in any sense diabolical. As the passage from Genesis makes clear, it is part of the majesty and beauty of creation. It is a profound system of symbolism that is built into the cosmos, and God speaks to us through the heavens as he does through nature. We can misuse the knowledge we gain thereby but if astrology is studied with the full realisation that it is subordinate to Christ, considering it rather like a messenger of God or angel, then it can enrich our imagination and guide us to a deeper understanding of the universe and ourselves.

This is a horoscope cast for midnight in London on 1st January 1900. In terms of planetary positions and relationships it would largely apply to the whole world. Any astrologer who saw this with Sun conjunct Mars, Moon conjunct Saturn and more or less everything else in a stellium opposite Neptune and Pluto would think that the 20th century was going to be a bumpy ride. Be prepared is the old scout motto. The study of the heavens can sometimes help us do just that.

Eclipses

I have been interested in the astrological effects of eclipses since 1999 when I witnessed the solar eclipse in August of that year and a few days later a friend of mine, whose natal Jupiter was practically bang on the degree of the eclipse, had a heart attack. A few days after that he died. It seemed too significant to ignore. Now there are two more eclipses to consider, a lunar one that took place today (March 25th) and a solar one coming up on 8th April. These two eclipses both connect with the horoscope of someone else I know. The lunar eclipse was directly on the degree of her ascendant at 5° Libra and the solar eclipse, which will be on 19° Aries, makes a very close contact with her natal Sun, North Node and, slightly more distantly, Saturn, these three being conjunct in her chart. I don't know what this might indicate though my suspicion is nothing good, especially with regard to the solar eclipse. 

At any rate, the close contacts warrant study and I shall observe their outcome with interest tinged with a little concern on her behalf. For it seems to me that if the traditional view of the effects of eclipses is correct then this person might be in for some turbulent times. As always, how the symbolism works out in real life terms depends on how much the subject is able to process and integrate the psychic energies brought into play, how conscious she is of herself. Someone who is aware of her personality strengths and weaknesses and who does not deny, suppress or ignore her shortcomings might be able to deal with the forces at play on a psychological level and even channel the energy creatively. Someone in denial might find that the forces manifest externally in life events. But then again there are certain times when the universe will have its way with us regardless for though we have freedom there are what you might call cosmic currents and tides which will take us with them however well we can swim.

It is worth remembering though that even if a cosmic event has what in worldly terms is a negative effect on us it is usually all for the spiritual good. The powers that be do not judge as we do. The heart attack suffered by my friend 25 years ago might have been a spiritual blessing in that it paved the way for his release from corporeal imprisonment and took him home. I'm not saying that all suffering is sent by God. That would be both stupid and unfeeling. But in the larger sense much of it does contain lessons for the soul and if we are the one suffering it is always worth looking for these lessons. It is only spiritual children who expect God to hand out sweets and candy all the time. If an eclipse touches our natal chart there is an element of providence about it, a significant spiritual lesson. 

Added note: I should say that the dramatic effect noted in the example from 1999 does not mean that anytime an eclipse touches a sensitive part of the horoscope disaster strikes. What it probably does do is bring out what is already there so in this case an already weak heart may have been triggered though again I am not saying it is a matter of cause and effect. The truth is how astrology works remains a mystery. We can talk about influences or moments in time having the same quality or the interconnectedness of everything in the universe but really no one knows how astrology works. The fact is it just does.

An Astrological Case Study

 Some 25 years ago I made a serious study of astrology and found, beyond any possible doubt, that it is a true science. I use that word but in reality astrology is a mixture of science and art which is why the materialistic scientist will always have a problem with it. A horoscope requires interpretation which is not to say that anything goes, but astrology is a symbol system and symbols can work out in more than one way depending on the subject. However, anyone who seriously engages with astrology on the more than rudimentary sun sign level will find that it offers a genuine description of many aspects of reality. The branch I found most interesting was that which describes an individual's personality based on the position of the planets at his birth, otherwise known as psychological astrology. Thus you have the Sun, Moon and various planets in the solar system all representing different aspects of human nature, and their position in the sky in the various constellations tells us what form those aspects will take. There is a lot more to it than that and I won't go into detail here. I will just say that of the many birth charts I studied not one was inaccurate as a map of the concerned individual's psyche, and many people expressed surprise that I had described them so well. This was not down to any skill of mine. I just said what I saw in the chart. Knowing my own birth chart has also given me greater insight into and understanding of my own character, and this, I think, is the most useful part of astrology. "Know thyself" is the old maxim. Astrology is one of the best ways to do just that.

I never had much interest in predictive astrology. For one thing, I don't think the current state of astrological knowledge is far enough advanced to be very helpful in this regard but, more importantly, I don't think God wishes us to know our future except, possibly, in the vaguest of terms. And I have no time for the fatalistic, superstitious side of astrology but that is not the fault of astrology itself. It is ignorant, self-seeking human reaction to it. You may as well blame love for jealousy.

Having said that, I certainly do think astrology can be used as a predictive method, and sometimes I have looked at the astrological significators after a particularly momentous event to see if the event could have been foreseen or, better put, was described in the planetary pattern. In my book Meeting the Masters I related how the solar eclipse of 1999 coincided with a heart attack and subsequent death of a friend of mine whose Jupiter was right on the point of the eclipse. More recently I was involved (peripherally) in an incident which also brought out the profound interconnection between the signs in the heavens and events on Earth.

A person I know  was involved in a bad accident. He was cycling round a roundabout when a car drove straight into him and knocked him over. The driver, who was a woman in her 90s (surely, incidentally, such people should not be allowed to drive or, at the very least, have to take regular tests?) was completely at fault. The right of way was his. She had been stationary, waiting for a car to go round the roundabout and presumably didn't see the cyclist directly behind that car and just drove right into him. The person's injuries were considerable. He had to be airlifted to hospital where it was found he had broken his ribs, collarbone, shoulder, femur and hip and in addition his spinal column was severely damaged. He was placed in an induced coma for 48 hours, underwent several operations, one of which lasted for 9 hours, and his chances of ever walking again are slim.

I happened to know this person's horoscope, having once done his chart. It occurred to me that something as life-changing and dramatic as this should be shown in the chart so after it was clear that he was beginning to make some kind of recovery (it would not have seemed decent to do so before) I looked at the progressions and transits for that day to see what they indicated. If astrology had any kind of substance to it they would surely have indicated something. Even with my limited knowledge it seemed obvious that Mars should be involved.

And it was, heavily involved. Before I describe exactly how I should briefly go over just what progressions and transits are for the uninitiated. These are the two main methods of prognostication. Transits are simple. You just compare the current position of the planets with their positions in the natal chart. On your birthday every year the sun makes a conjunction with where it was when you were born as should be obvious since we have a solar calendar. But every planet will have some sort of angular relationship with all the other planets in the birth chart at any given time. The most important are conjunctions (same place), squares (90 degree angle), oppositions (opposite or 180 degrees) and trines (120 degrees). Some of these are harmonious and some challenging but that also depends on the nature of the planets. It is also important to realise that the ways in which interactions may work out often depend on the person and how well or badly he or she is able to handle and channel the energies involved. This is one reason why the same thing will work out differently for different people. Every soul is unique and no two souls react in quite the same way to the same thing.

That's transits. Progressions are slightly more technical but not complicated. The theory behind progressions is that the greater is contained in the lesser and cycles repeat themselves. Thus, in the most usual form employed, every day of your life starting from birth has the same basic pattern as the equivalent  year. So one day after you are born contains the pattern for the first year of your life, the second day contains the patterns for the second year, the third day for the third year and so on. To see what is going on in your 50th year you would look at the chart for 50 days after you were born. Then you would compare that chart to the birth chart or else to the transits for the time in question, what the planets are actually doing now, or else subject it to internal analysis to see how the planets are interacting between themselves in the progressed chart. It would have been quite time-consuming to draw all this up before the advent of computers but now it is very simple even if I believe all would-be astrologers should certainly know how to draw up a chart themselves by hand using an ephemeris. That will give them a better insight into the mechanics of the thing. That, at any rate, was my experience when I started.

Another predictive technique is to use what are called solar returns. This is to cast the horoscope for that time when the sun returns to its natal position, i.e. your birthday, and use that as a forecasting device for the ensuing year. I've never used this before but when I applied it to the present case it did have something interesting to say.

I looked at the progressions for the time of the accident and the first thing I saw was that Mars was indeed very active. It formed an exact (less than 1 degree of difference) opposition to the progressed Sun. Standard interpretations of this would point to a time of anger, irritability and conflict on the one hand and, externally speaking, a tendency to suffer accidents and danger of injury on the other. What makes this worse is that both these planets are square, again to the degree, to progressed Jupiter which would have the effect of blowing up and exaggerating any of these tendencies, Jupiter normally inflating what it touches. In this case, with the 90 degree angle, negatively. The precise placements are Sun at 25 degrees Aries, Mars at 24 degrees Libra, less than a degree off the Sun, and Jupiter at 25 degrees Cancer. This makes a very tight T square, as it is known, which is regarded as one of the most challenging configurations in astrology. 

Now, one has to be careful. In terms of the progressed chart which, let us recall, moves one day for each year, this very close configuration will have been in place for a couple of years and it has another year to run. It may have been even tighter a few months ago. But this just means that psychologically the subject may have felt an inner anger and frustration. I believe this was the case though it wasn't expressed and that may have been the problem. What is bottled up and suppressed (which is quite different to controlled) has a tendency to burst out and manifest externally. But why, if this configuration had been in operation for almost 2 years, did it express itself with such violence on the day it did?

The answer again lies with Mars. I mentioned transits. On the day of the accident Mars was at 24 degrees of Libra making an exact conjunction with progressed Mars and therefore an exact opposition with the Sun and square to Jupiter. This triggered the whole thing and you could not ask for a more dramatic demonstration of the truth behind astrology. Astrologer Robert Hand in his book Planets in Transit says of Mars conjunct Mars that that any repressed aggressive energies, which will be running high at this time, will out "either physically through an accident or by projection: that is, you will experience the energy through another. This means that you may have to endure another person's aggressive acts, which may bring you harm." Another work speaks of violent acts and tendency to suffer injuries. The point could not be more clear. This is just what one would have expected to see. Astrology is not always so precise but here it reveals itself plainly.

Earlier I spoke of the solar return, that being the chart cast for the ensuing year on one's birthday. When I looked at this what jumped out was an exact (to the degree again) conjunction between the Sun and Saturn and, with less than 2 degrees of separation, another between the Moon and Pluto. This speaks without the slightest ambiguity of hardship and trial in the year ahead with deep emotional upheaval and upset involved. It could not be more plainly stated that there will be suffering in the year to come.

Possibly some readers will not be interested in the subject of this post. Some may even disapprove of it. But if the heavens declare the glory of the Lord they also show his wisdom. Astrology is not a substitute for religion or spiritual understanding but it can be a very helpful adjunct to it. The signs displayed in creation are ways to help us engage with it and understand it on a deeper level. At the very least, they can show us that there is pattern and purpose. In this case, the person involved is not a believer in astrology. Indeed, he specifically rejects it as superstitious nonsense, and from a scientific rather than religious point of view. However, it is possible that if, somewhere down the line when he has come to terms with what has happened to him, he engaged with it then it might help him see his new situation in a slightly different light and be able to find a positive aspect to an otherwise wholly negative experience. I hope so while recognising the enormous challenge anyone in this position would face. May God bless him and help him recover from his traumatic experience both physically and emotionally.

Not Going Along with the Aquarian Flow

Over the last several decades since I first became interested in mysticism and the esoteric I have noticed that spiritual seekers who like to think of themselves as in some way advanced and progressive will often define themselves as Aquarians, displaying characteristics associated with that astrological sign. Hence they will be humanitarian, egalitarian, tradition rejecting, happy to involve technology in their spiritual lives, tolerant of sexual abnormalities and so on. This is in line with the idea, now firmly established in even conventional thought, that we are leaving the Age of Pisces, associated with Christianity, and entering the Age of Aquarius in which the spiritual path takes a more universal and inclusive form. Those who can be identified as Piscean in their thinking and spiritual approach will be regarded as outmoded and behind the times. Aquarians are the vanguard of the brave new world.

I do not doubt that there are such things as astrological ages which depend on the movement of the vernal point, where the sun rises in spring in the Northern hemisphere, from one constellation to another. Since each astrological constellation spans roughly 30 degrees of the sky and the whole cycle takes around 26,000 years, the so called Platonic or Great Year which is the name for the period during which all the fixed stars return to the position in the sky they occupied at the beginning of the cycle, the sun will rise in each sign for roughly 2,000 years during which time human consciousness and civilisations will be marked by the characteristics of that particular sign. In traditional astrology each sign occupies an exact one twelfth of the whole with Aries always the first sign in spring. However, because of the slight wobble of the Earth's polar axis caused by gravitational pull on the equatorial bulge, there is the phenomenon known as the precession of the equinoxes which means that over time the astrological signs and the physical constellations do not actually correspond any more. But that doesn't matter from the point of view of geocentric astrology because Aries in this sense is not the constellation in the sky so much as the first 30 degrees after the vernal equinox.

But the physical constellation also exists, though no one really knows where one constellation ends and another begins because the boundaries cannot be clearly identified. This is why we cannot know for sure when Pisces ends and Aquarius begins. It is clear, however, that Aquarian characteristics have been emerging since the 18th century, perhaps with the discovery of the planet Uranus which was soon seen as the new ruler of Aquarius, replacing Saturn. So, we may be in Aquarius now or we may still at the end of Pisces. Whatever it is, Aquarius represents the New Age in many people's minds and so to be Aquarian in consciousness is regarded as a good thing, a progressive thing.

However, here's a thought. Why should new be better? If you regard humanity as inevitably moving onwards into a better world then it might be, but traditional thought, whether Western or Eastern, has never seen the world in those terms. Christians have the End Times, Hindus have the Kali Yuga and, I believe there is a similar understanding in some forms of Buddhism and Native American lore. To think in an Aquarian way just means going with the flow, conforming to the zeitgeist, perhaps even limiting yourself to atmospheric conditions that prevail in the psychic world. Might the spiritual person be required to go beyond this or, at least, not allow himself to be bound by it? Is it not just like someone who slavishly obeys society's mores regardless of right or wrong, truth or higher truth? Should you not sometimes stand apart from those who simply go where the wind blows or the current takes them?

Aquarius as a sign has certain characteristics. These are not in themselves good or bad but can be expressed in good or bad ways. They would also need to be balanced by other signs to operate in a spiritually, or even materially, harmonious manner. Thus, Aquarius is innovative, egalitarian in outlook, sometimes radical, scientific, concerned with individuality and freedom. You could justifiably lay all the weirdities of wokeness at its door and some might take this as proof that these point to the future but others, like me, would simply say that this is a perversion of the Aquarian spirit, the reaction to it on a spiritually ignorant level by immature minds.

Let me come to the point. For good or ill we are entering the age of Aquarius. There is no reason though, certainly none that traditional spiritual thought would accept, that this means we are entering a bright new age of love and spiritual insight. Actually, there is little of real spiritual insight in the typical Aquarian mentality. The love is mostly on a theoretical or ideological plane and the mentality involved (Aquarius is an air sign) largely intellectual. Also, we should recall that the planetary rulers of Aquarius are Saturn and Uranus. These are both, to put it completely unscientifically, quite dodgy planets. Saturn is traditionally a malefic planet which means its influence is not regarded as benign. Nowadays, we would qualify that by saying it works for the overall good but through tough love, creating hardship in order to foster development, but still it is not sugar and butterflies. As for Uranus, he stands for independence, inspiration, originality, reform, unorthodoxy, eccentricity and so on which means he can be exciting but also unstable and disruptive. He is not safe or reliable. Consequently, both of these ruling planets have problems associated with them.

The spiritually conscious person must stand above all the influences of the day. He is not to be swept along by astrological mood swings or fall into conventional ways of thinking, whatever the conventions are. He must be centred in the eternal not the temporal. The fact that the world is entering into the age of Aquarius is irrelevant to him. Obviously, he will be affected by this as he is in the world, and to deliberately go against it is just reacting to it on a different level, but his consciousness should not be conditioned by it for it is a psychological phenomenon not a spiritual one.

Astrology is a Signpost to Creation

 Anyone who makes even a half-serious study of astrology will find that the horoscope provides an accurate description of its subject. It's a system of symbols and has to be interpreted in context for the fullest understanding but creative analysis of the chart of the sky at a person's birth will always give insight into the nature and character of that person. No doubt the destiny too but I haven't investigated that side of things. I have looked at many horoscopes from the psychological perspective though and everyone one of them has given an accurate description of the person. In one case I even went back to someone to check if he had given me the right date because chart and personality didn't tally though they did for the year before. It turned out that this person had indeed been born the year before he had said. (I think this was an error on his part rather than a test). When my children were born I made a special case of noting the exact time so I could do the most accurate horoscope possible. This is because it is not just the date and place that matters but the time which is especially significant from the point of view of points on the horizon and zenith, Ascendant and Midheaven in astrological speak, the former indicating  the way you present yourself to the world and the latter showing your direction in life. I studied the horoscopes before I knew the personalities of the children and they have proved extremely accurate. I understand things about myself much better from knowing my birth chart. I believe it would benefit everyone to study their horoscope. They would have a good insight into their character strengths and weaknesses.

In Western astrology every sign of the zodiac, signs being the constellations which serve as the backdrop against which the sun, moon and planets move in the course of a year, is said to be ruled by a particular planet. This is because sign and planet share similar qualities. Thus, Aries was traditionally ruled by Mars, Taurus by Venus, Gemini by Mercury, Cancer by the Moon, Leo by the Sun, Virgo by Mercury, Libra by Venus, Scorpio by Mars, Sagittarius by Jupiter, Capricorn by Saturn, Aquarius by Saturn and Pisces by Jupiter. If you know anything about astrology you will see that some of these make sense and others not so much. You have to perform some mental acrobatics to make them fit. The reason is that there are 12 signs but only 5 planets plus the sun and the moon which are counted as planets for these purposes, a planet in astrology really being something that qualifies and represents a certain energy or, in human psychological terms, character trait. When Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were discovered they were assigned certain qualities which, it was found, fitted much better with the signs Aquarius, Pisces and Scorpio, and this isn't just arbitrary. Astrological practice shows it works. By the way, the discovery of these planets coincided with certain changes and developments in human consciousness so here we can see how astrology is a living system with room for growth.

This leaves two planets with a double rulership which implies that there remain two planets waiting to be discovered, perhaps again coinciding with changes in consciousness. These could either be very far out on the edge of the solar system or very close to the sun.  They could even be planets which are not fully materialised. It seems obvious that Gemini and Mercury go together but Venus has affinities with both Taurus and Libra so that is harder to decide. On the other hand, Virgo seems unlikely to be ruled by Mercury. The two have little in common so I am sure this is one of the signs that awaits its true ruler. That may be the planet known by esoteric astrologers as Vulcan, a so-called veiled or hidden planet. I am undecided about the 12th sign and its true ruler though I expect those more learned in astrology than me have their ideas.

All this indicates that astrology is still a work in progress. New ways to analyse the chart are always being developed and tested but there are also new astronomical factors astrologers take into account such as the minor planet Chiron. This is not an anything goes approach because everything has to work. Nothing is arbitrary. But we are dealing with a wisdom encoded into the structure of the universe and it would be very foolish to think we have uncovered all its details.

Many Christians reject astrology as a fundamentally irreligious practice. This is a mistake though perhaps understandable given the human tendency to lapse into superstition and fatalism. Astrology is certainly not a religious practice nor any kind of substitute for proper religion but it is an excellent tool for looking at creation and understanding the psyche, and if regarded in the light of the Creator has many positive contributions to make to human development. Astrology is a signpost to the fact of creation.

Jupiter and Saturn Conjunction

Towards the end of the last century I made a study of astrology. I happened to be living in a place where I could get a good view of the night sky without too much light pollution and so I became interested in astronomy too, and the one fed into the other. Previously, I had a rough knowledge of astrological principles, enough to know there was certainly something in it, but never looked at the subject seriously. When I did and examined horoscopes of people I knew well, I discovered that a person's birth chart was an extremely accurate portrayal of that person's character. When you took all the different aspects of the chart into account, the signs the planets were in, the angular relationships between the planets and so on, you could build up a good description of that person although, as this was as much an art as a science, the symbolism in the chart still needed to be interpreted in context. Which is as it should be since human beings are not machines. It means that materialistic science will always have a problem with astrology (the sun sign nonsense in magazines doesn't help either), but it nicely illustrates the tension between freedom and destiny that marks human nature.

December 21st will see a very close conjunction between Jupiter and Saturn when the two large planets will appear to form a single 'star'. Astrologically, this conjunction, not infrequent in itself but rarely this close, is a curiosity because the principles behind these planets are exact opposites. Jupiter is the principle of expansion, of generosity and benevolence but potentially of excess as well. Saturn is the principle of contraction, old age, caution and fear, but also discipline and structure. Their coming together could be seen as each balancing the other and could be creative or not depending on how things work out plus, as always, other factors in the overall picture. Interestingly, this conjunction takes place right as the very beginning of Aquarius, Saturn being already there and Jupiter just about to move into that sign.

Here are some events that took place on previous occasions when this so-called 'Great Conjunction' occurred. This comes from the Daily Telegraph.

7BC: Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, also a period estimated to have seen Christ's birth. It was at this time that Augustus' second census recorded a total of 4,233,000 Roman citizens across the empire.

March 4, 1226: The last time a ‘Great Conjunction’ occurred that was as easy to see as this year’s. That year the English town of Nuneaton was granted chartered market status by King Henry III and King Sancho II of Portugal launched a large offensive against the Muslims, taking the city of Elvas.

July 16, 1623: The last time Jupiter and Saturn were as close as they will be on Monday. In the same year the "First Folio" edition of William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies is published and the English settlers at the Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts celebrate their second Thanksgiving.

As listed, nothing of particular earth-shattering importance happened. Nuneaton granted market status? Excellent for local traders, I'm sure, but, on the scale of important world events, hardly significant. 

However, there is something about those dates which is interesting. The first of course is around the time of Christ's birth and the fact that the conjunction this year is on the day of the winter solstice, which is possibly one reason for Christmas being when it is, is intriguing. But the second could be seen as the beginning of the High Middle Ages when the world of Christendom really began to mature and express itself in a myriad different ways. And 1623 is as good a date as any for the start of the modern era. The colonisation of America, the rise of science, these are what makes our world today what it is. Obviously, such enormous changes cannot be pinned down to a date but it is, at the least, interesting that previous Great Conjunctions have occurred at times of significant change.

This means, if it means anything, that nothing dramatic should be expected immediately but the Great Conjunction may signal the beginning of a new stage in human existence. It is one sign among many that point to the current times being out of the ordinary.

Astrology and Spirituality

I have just finished reading a rather dull book which purported to illustrate the link between the cosmos and the human psyche by means of a comparison of the movements of the outer planets (Jupiter to Pluto) and their conjunctions and oppositions with human thought and activity which took place at the same time. The author did not claim that the planets influenced human behaviour but that their positions in the heavens, as viewed from Earth, were a kind of snapshot of a moment in time, and that the two, outer movement and inner behaviour, could be correlated. The idea is that particular periods have particular qualities which are expressed in both human psychology and planetary positions with these latter almost like the hands of a clock. This is not a new idea and actually makes more sense than traditional ideas of cause and effect, though educated astrologers always had a more nuanced sense of how astrology works than that.

The book is dull because with an almost relentless thoroughness the author produces page after page of lists of what was happening at various points in history during certain planetary configurations. For example, he equates the Uranus/Pluto conjunction with revolution (Uranus) that reaches right down to the depths of consciousness and society (Pluto) and sees this as operative in the 1960s which, of course, was a decade of turbulent change. He goes back through history to the French Revolution when the same factors occurred, and then sees how this particular aspect worked out in the lives of prominent individuals. This is all well and good, and I don't dispute that there is a correlation of some kind, but he belabours the point so much it becomes tedious. He also ignores movements that were occurring at the time of these planetary patterns that do not fit his thesis so the whole thing becomes a little selective.

Another problem from my point of view is that for all the matching up of world events and planetary aspects he does, it all only makes sense with the benefit of hindsight. The archetypes represented by the planets (which I would not dispute) have so many levels of interpretation that, while you can't say anything goes, an awful lot does. They can work out in so many different ways, as is to be expected given the varying factors of human consciousness, free will and levels of awareness, that you really cannot say what will occur at a given time except in the very broadest of terms. Apparently just before 9/11 some astrologers were anticipating the possibility of a terrorist attack but not when, where or how so what's the use? Also, terrorist attacks take place all the time in various parts of the world. Are these all signposted too?

But, more than any of this, I would take issue with the idea that there is something going on here that could be called spiritual. The point of the book was that astrology could act as a corrective to the 'disenchantment' of the universe that came about following the abandonment of the geocentric model of the world and the rise of materialistic science. I absolutely agree that there is an urgent need to come back to the idea of the universe as a creation and one in which the Creator is still ceaselessly active and present but astrology by itself really doesn't do this. It can put a spoke in the wheels of materialism but, unless completely subordinated to a genuinely spiritual view in which God is front and centre, it remains a psychological tool only. There was no mention of God in this book though the usual vague spirituality without religion was there. But this form of spirituality has been around since at least the 1960s and it has completely failed to change anything or anybody unless it has been used as a stepping stone to something more serious and less concerned with human potential or self-fulfilment. It is also powerless in the face of the increasing leftist secularisation of the world, being all too easily absorbed into that.

The author of this book gives example after example of historical events that seem to correspond to contemporary astrological conditions but ends up admitting that all these must be interpreted in terms of archetypes which can be expressed in countless different ways. I think he is right but this doesn't really get us anywhere other than to say that something may be going on but we have no idea what it is. And this is the problem with astrology. It can be fascinating to study, and if you do seriously study it you will see that the basic principles behind it must be correct, but it's actually fairly useless. Yes, you can get a certain amount of insight about yourself and others but no more than you could get by getting to know yourself or others properly anyway with the added risk that you might then try to fit everything about a person into the astrological bottle and thereby actually limit your understanding. If a person must correspond to their horoscope, you are reducing that person to a formula. I know astrologers will say that all horoscopes must be interpreted in context but the point remains. The context aspect mitigates it slightly but it does not remove it.

I have been interested in astrology and written about it a little bit but I don't think it has anything to do with proper spirituality and can actually be a distraction. The reason is that it belongs to the phenomenal world. There are schools that have tried to introduce a spiritual form of astrology and link it to reincarnation but, setting aside the speculative nature of that, there's no real value in it. It's still all to do with the unreconstructed, fallen self. I believe in reincarnation but I don't think knowledge of our previous lives would help us much in this one, interesting as it might be. Spirituality is about coordinating your soul with God and the rest is peripheral. Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven etc.

Despite all I have just written I note that the planet Neptune (the green trident at about 1 o'clock in the chart below) will shortly cross my midheaven (marked MC). The midheaven which is the point at the top of the chart, where the sun would be if you were born at midday, represents your direction in life, your goals and purpose. Neptune is the planet associated with the soul, imagination, mysticism but also, on the negative side, drugs and illusion. It represents ego transcendence on the one hand but also the loss of the sense of self that might occur in psychological breakdown. When a planet touches an important point on the birth horoscope it sets off a reaction (speaking in causative terminology) so I shall be interested to see what happens in the next couple of years. But my point is that knowing that something might happen doesn't matter to me one way or the other, particularly if I don't know what it is or how it might work out. The spiritual attitude is not to be bothered about the future but simply seek to walk in the light of God now. When all is said and done, it seems to me that astrology is mostly of interest to the ego and its concerns.

The Age of Aquarius

Do you remember how this used to be presented as a dawning new age of harmony and enlightenment for humanity? How we were moving forward into a bright future in which all men would be brothers, and spiritual benevolence would be everywhere? The idea never made much sense. Given how unenlightened we were at the time, such a radical transformation, even if initiated by rays of cosmic power beaming down onto the Earth, as was occasionally postulated, seemed very improbable. Furthermore, it was not in the tradition of any of the major religions, most of which seemed to anticipate a spiritual decadence at the end of the age, not the precise opposite to that.

More on Albion Awakening.

Astrology, The Practice.

In the previous post I spoke about astrology from a general point of view, explaining why I believe there are strong grounds for thinking it has some validity, particularly when it comes to character analysis. Here I would like to go into the nuts and bolts of it a little more, and to set out how it actually works by which I mean how an astrologer translates the pattern of the planets in the heavens into a description of how a human being manifests him or herself. I say him or her deliberately because astrology, like many occult or esoteric sciences, is very much based on polarity. All planets and all signs can be conceived in terms of masculine and feminine, whether it be Sun and Moon, Venus and Mars, Aries and Virgo, Leo and Cancer and so on. The fundamental principle of the manifested universe is duality and everything is built up from that basic structure. Astrology reflects this. 

The horoscope is a picture of the sky at the moment you were born as it appeared where you were born. So it would be different if you were born in London or New York even though it might have been at exactly the same time. This is because of the axial revolution of the Earth which makes the planets appear at different positions in the sky from the perspective of a person on the ground. Think of how the sun rises at different times depending on where you are and this should make things clearer. The planets will be in the same signs, which are represented in the outermost circle, because that is the backdrop of the constellations, and they will form the same angular relationships to each other. However, depending on our location, they will be in different houses, these being the slices of cake going from the inner to the outer circle and numbered from 1 to 12. The houses are calculated from the cusp (dividing line) of the first house which is the thick line in bold on the left of the chart pointing to AC and signifying the eastern horizon at birth. The others follow in anti-clockwise direction. The houses represent areas of life in which the planets within them operate while the planets in the signs reflect character attributes or the way in which the psychological principles represented by the planets act. The first, fourth, seventh and tenth houses are regarded as the most important ones though proper astrologers take them all into account. These are denoted by the thick black lines which point towards the AC (1st house - Ascendant), its opposite in the 7th house the DC (Descendant), the IC which is the 4th house at the bottom (Imum Coeli or Deep heaven) and, at the top, the MC (Medium Coeli or Midheaven). These are all important points as they represent the way you present yourself to the world (AC), the type of partner or 'other' you might favour (DC), your deepest sense of home and where you feel you are coming from (IC at the bottom) and your destiny, career, vocation (MC at the top). Planets in close relationship to these points are significant.

This might sound a little complicated but if you imagine the Earth as the little circle at the centre you can see that the AC is the point on the eastern horizon where the sun would be at sunrise, the MC at the top is the highest point of the chart where the sun would be at noon and the DC (western horizon) and IC are their opposites, the points of sunset and midnight respectively. The lower half of the chart, under the AC/DC axis is therefore the dark side and the upper, the light. This is my chart and I was born just after midnight (British Summer Time so 11.30 GMT) so you can see that the sun, whose pictorial symbol or glyph is the circle with a little circle inside it, is approaching the thick black line which points to midnight. As the Earth rotates in a counter clockwise direction the planets seem to move clockwise in the chart. If I had been born at sunrise the sun would have been on the line of the Ascendant. The same hold true for all the other planets but, of course, the sun is the most obvious.

I should point out that the signs in astrology, which are depicted by the 12 glyphs in the outermost circle, starting in this case with Cancer on the Ascendant, are not the same as the constellations though they have the same name. Roughly 2,000 years ago they would have coincided but because of the precession of the equinoxes they no longer do. Doubters seize on this to say that astrology is nonsense but the point is that Aries (for example) is not the backdrop formed by that constellation of unrelated stars but the 30 degree distance from the vernal equinox point with Taurus forming the next 30 degrees, Gemini the next 30 and so on in a circle. So astrology is really based on the solar system not the distant constellations at all. These form a backdrop used for purely descriptive purposes.

The main things in a chart are as follows.

Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars and their signs, houses and aspects they make to other planets. Then there is the Ascendant and Midheaven. Saturn is also important. Where the outer planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, are concerned, these mostly have significance in the angles they make to personal planets. 

The Sun sign is usually the thing everyone knows. I'm a Leo, we say. Astrology is a geocentric system (which does not invalidate it as it describes how things are from the perspective of the Earth) so this means that the Sun was between 120 and 150 degrees from the vernal equinox when you were born. The vernal equinox is the point when the sun on the path of the ecliptic crosses the plane of the Earth's equator at spring in the northern hemisphere, making day and night of equal length all around the world. So around March 20th. The ecliptic is the apparent path of the sun, and all the planets, round the Earth during the course of a year. Projecting the Earth's equator up into space gives two points of intersection with this at spring and autumn, and these are the equinoxes.

The Sun in a chart represents your basic sense of self. It signifies will, consciousness and individuality. It is the masculine principle and though, of course, possessed by both men and women, is traditionally stronger in the former as its nature coincides with theirs. Let us say that it is, as in this example, in Virgo. This implies that the person is methodical, orderly and discriminating but also can be critical and even a bit of a fusspot. The fundamental tone of Virgo is purity and this quality will be very important to anyone who has a strong Virgoan influence in their chart. But the subtleties of astrology mean that even the basic tone of something as normally dominant as the sun sign can be diminished by other factors in the chart if these go a different way. This is why a proper interpretation must take the whole into account. Again, doubters don't like this because it can seem that you are saying that if it works, it works, if it doesn't then something else is acting hence anything goes. But it is not saying that at all. Everything will have its reason and the reason can be given. It's just saying that astrology is subtle enough to take into account apparent contradictions in a person's character. If a Virgo Sun goes with a lot of Leo and Aries, fiery signs both, then Virgo will still be there but much less than if it went with, say, Pisces and Cancer. Incidentally I call Aries and Leo fiery signs because each one of the signs goes with one of the four elements so there are three signs assigned to each element. The weight of the elements in a chart should also be taken into consideration in an interpretation. 

When you interpret a planet in a sign you must also look to see what aspects it forms with other planets. The triangle at lower left shows the table of aspects, and the blue and red lines in the chart also show aspect connections. Aspects are angular relationships between planets in the context of the circle which is the map of the skies at birth, and are said to bring the qualities of the planets concerned into particular focus and show how the psychological functions that the planets represent relate. The main aspects are formed when planets are conjunct, opposite, at 60, 90 or 120 degrees of each other, and they can either bring the powers of the planets together harmoniously or cause them to clash, sometimes both. That's what the blue and red lines indicate in the horoscope. Blue meaning harmonious interaction, red more challenging but then blue can lead to too much ease of expression whereas red, because it challenges, can be more stimulating and potentially creative. So blue connections, which is some conjunctions, sextiles (60 degrees) and trines (120), can mean a smooth exchange of energy and show talents that come easily to us, while red can show a connection is made between planetary principles but it might be a difficult one, requiring effort to resolve and take forward though in the process there is the opportunity for learning and growth. I find aspects one of the most important parts of astrology. In this example there is a conjunction of the Sun and Venus which, other things being equal, tends to bring out charm, taste and artistic sensibility. Here it will moderate some of the more severe and 'puritanical' Virgo characteristics.

The Moon represents our habits and instincts. Along with Venus it denotes emotion but Venus is primarily about relating whereas the Moon is more to do with fundamental feelings such as those connected to childhood and our sense of security. It also speaks of the unconscious mind, the mind below the surface of everyday rational thought and ego sense. As this would imply, it tends to relate to the past and a more collective sense of self. In this chart the Moon is in Scorpio, in conjunction with Saturn and square (90 degrees from) Pluto. Traditionally this would not be regarded as a good placing. Scorpio gives intensity and power to what it touches but can be extreme and even destructive. This shows someone who has strong feelings but keeps them controlled. The square to Pluto (which rules Scorpio in modern astrology) just increases all these tendencies, giving powerful feelings which could manifest for good or ill depending on the subject's ability to control and/or transform them. The conjunction the Moon makes with Saturn could help here, giving the subject a degree of self-control and a sense of responsibility which nevertheless could also reveal itself in inhibition and emotional distance to others. Shyness in childhood is indicated as, figuratively speaking, the cold hand of Saturn chills and suppresses the emotional self represented by the Moon.

I'll go through Mercury, Venus and Mars quickly, just to give an idea of what they mean in a chart. Mercury reflects the way we think and communicate. Here it is in Libra, conjunct Neptune. The placing shows someone who is reasonable and tries to be diplomatic and fair, to see both sides of an argument. There is a suggestion of laziness. The aspect with Neptune shows an imaginative temperament, definitely someone who responds more to intuition than cold reason and logic. Not a fool (intelligence is not shown in a chart, merely the way we think) but someone more drawn to poetry and vision than hard science. With a challenging aspect there is the possibility of self-delusion and a confused mental state but that is not the case with the positive qualities to the fore.

Venus shows how we relate, what gives us pleasure and attracts us and how we express these things in the context of our personality. It is also supposed to have something to do with money. For example, Saturn tends to inhibit and restrict what it comes into contact with (see above) and a Venus Saturn conjunction is the typical indication of a miser though it might be fairer to call such a person someone who has a deep fear of scarcity and lack where money in concerned. In this chart Venus is in its own sign of Libra indicating someone who values grace and harmony and prefers to respond with courtesy and tact in most situations rather than abrasiveness or confrontation.

Mars indicates our drive and assertiveness. In a woman's chart it is said to show the sort of man she might be attracted to. Strongly placed by sign or aspect or closeness to the angles of the Ascendant or Midheaven, it would show positive qualities of courage and determination but, if functioning in an unbalanced way, then bad temper and aggression would be to the fore. Unless, as always, this was countered by other factors in the chart.

The sign positions of Jupiter out to Pluto (which by the way is still a planet in astrology) are not very relevant on an individual level as these planets appear to be so slow moving that their impact is generational. The way they interact with other planets in the chart is important though. Saturn's influence is always something to look for as it shows where we feel constricted or inhibited or where our fears and lack of confidence might lie. In the 7th house, which is the house of our relationships, it might indicate an older partner or a late marriage. Jupiter is the opposite. It reflects optimism and growth and tends to expands what it touches, sometimes over-expand. A conjunction of the Sun with Jupiter, for instance, would indicate jollity and generosity. Father Christmas must have one of these!

There's so much in a chart it can take a long time to go through it properly. I've just scratched the surface. But it's not hard to get a basic understanding once you learn the symbols and master the language. Also, I should say that astrology only indicates basic psychological types. Somebody could have been born at the same time as Shakespeare but wasn't a great playwright. Genius is not indicated in a chart nor is spiritual maturity nor wisdom nor goodness. Hitler's chart was not that of a bad person and I doubt that Jesus's chart would have indicated who he was. There is the innate quality of a person and there is the way that is expressed. Astrology only describes the latter. 

I don't regard it as a spiritual activity. However it does have much to reveal on a psychological level and gives an insight, I believe, into the workings of the inner universe. And though I say genius cannot be detected in the birth chart I should add as a proviso that this is with our current understanding of it. There may well be more to it than we now know. There are many things I haven't mentioned here such as midpoints between planets, connections to fixed stars and other sensitive points in the chart which are not clearly delineated by having a planet sitting on them such as the nodes of the Moon. Also, the aspects to the outer planets can have deeper meaning. But this all takes it into quite complicated terrain, and the truth is nobody really knows how far you can take it.  I do think, though, that it describes the outer self and its expression rather than the inner soul. Which would make sense since it is depicting who we are in this life, starting at birth and ending at death. It's a bit like a piece of music. Astrology might say that you are a symphony rather than an opera or a concerto or a folk song etc, but it doesn't say whether you're a good, mediocre or bad one.

Regarding the chart interpretation here, I have done what a proper astrologer would never do. That is, I have taken the constituent parts of it bit by bit rather than interpreting them in the context of the overall character of the chart. A good astrologer would look at the individual parts and then try to see them in the framework of the whole. Some bits might be subdued because of the overall tenor of the chart. Others might be emphasised. In this case the Moon would be regarded as important as it is the ruling planet of the chart. This is because it rules the sign of Cancer which is on the Ascendant. But I have not been interpreting this chart so much as using it to illustrate how astrology works. 

To sum up, Sun, Moon and Ascendant are the main things in a chart. Then Mercury, Venus and Mars. Saturn is important as is the Midheaven as it shows one's path in life both by sign and through planets which may aspect it.  But everything depends on what else is going on. Planets can be made stronger if they are near angles or in signs or houses they rule or emphasised in other ways, by aspect for example. Aspects are always important but they do depend on how tight they are. If the angular relationship is exact the influence is stronger but it can still operate up to several degrees apart, though the further away, the weaker the influence.

That may seem to be hedging my bets but it is true. And it's also true that one can do a better interpretation when you know a person because then you perceive how the influences work out in that individual. The element of individuality is always important since we are not machines. Inherited characteristics are also significant in a person's make up, of course, but these may be incorporated in the planetary positions which are probably best thought of as offering a description of a person not actually forming the nature of that person though, as I say, we just don't know. What we do know is that there is some connection between the position of the planets at birth and the form a person's character will take. I really do think there is enough evidence to say that we do now know this.

Astrology, The Theory

I was recently asked about my approach to astrology and thought it might be interesting, not least to myself, to express my understanding of it here.

My attitude to astrology is mixed. I believe there is a correlation between the position of the planets at birth and a person’s character but I don't know what is at the root of this, and I don't think anyone else does either. But I believe there is this link because I have seen evidence for it in many cases, starting with my own and then moving on to people I knew well and then to people I didn't know at all. In one case I did an astrological interpretation of the birth chart of someone I knew only as a friend of a friend. I hadn't met her and didn't even know her name though I did know her age, of course. She was surprised at the accuracy of it and that was certainly not down to any skill I might have had but was the power of astrology itself. I simply translated what was there. Inevitably some of what I said was off target but that's because we all manifest our horoscope in an individual way. Human beings are not machines and there are other factors involved in our make up besides the astrological. Specifically, heredity, environment and upbringing and also the pattern and quality of the soul or higher self which, as far as I know, is not revealed in astrology. As this higher or pre-incarnate self is generally not even acknowledged, that's not altogether surprising. Still, despite all these other influencing factors of which I was unaware, there was apparently more right than wrong in the interpretation. There was certainly enough for the person to recognise herself.

What this amounts to is that astrology is as much an art as a science. It definitely contains elements of both. So to do a proper interpretation of someone’s chart it helps to have context, i.e. to know a bit about the subject. Then you can interpret the symbols, and astrology is basically a symbol system, in the way that is applicable to that particular person. And that will be unique. So the planets in their signs affect him but he also affects the way they affect him. It is not a deterministic thing but a blend of freedom (the individual) and necessity (the planets in the signs, houses and so on), and the astrologer has to work out how these interact, using his intelligence certainly but also, and to a degree, his intuition. No wonder this seemingly loose way of doing things perplexes those who restrict themselves to a purely rational view of the world. Astrology is not something that is universally repeatable and means the same thing in the same way every time, but something that works more on an individual basis, though this does not mean anything goes. Rather it's a question of seeing how the specific elements revealed in the horoscope adapt themselves in a particular context.

As for how it works nobody really knows but the fact is it does appear to do so. I would say the evidence for it is strong but it is not overwhelming and it is unlikely ever to be proved in the way that science likes proof, though some have tried using statistics, probability and such like. The results are suggestive but never entirely convincing, and consequently one can't deny that there is an element of choice as regards belief or disbelief. But then that is true for many things and, on the whole, the evidence for astrology is good enough to have convinced many by no means stupid people (who have actually made a serious study of it) that there is something in it.  But, as I say, how it works is a mystery. Whether it's because the planets influence us through some psychic equivalent of a force they give out like magnetism or gravity. Or because each moment of time has a particular quality of its own which is reflected in both the planetary positions and the mind of a new-born child so the position of the planets would be like the hands of a cosmic clock, telling the time not causing it. Or is it something else entirely that provides the link?

My initial interest in astrology was on a poetic/mythological level. The beauty and sense of cosmic order it possesses are most impressive, and when you explore its symbols you see they have an archetypal quality that can lead us into deeper levels of meaning than are normally accessible to the rational mind ploughing its own furrow. Thus astrology can be a key to opening up the imagination and revealing the treasure trove within. So merely as an art form it is worthwhile. But then when I explored it as a means of character analysis I found that it really does help to explain a person, and to understand that person's motivations and ways of being. How he expresses himself, how he approaches the world, how his emotions work or don't work and all sorts of other things, including how he might respond to other people and the nature of his relationships. This is most useful in terms of getting to know oneself, and, because one's birth chart is an objective fact (and this is undeniable as it shows the pattern of the sky when you were born), you can't just dismiss it as you might be able to do if someone told you an unpalatable home truth about yourself. If you have a lot of Leo in your chart you must accept that you could sometimes be a bit bossy and dominating and therefore watch out for that. If you have the Sun in hard aspect to Neptune you must accept that you could have escapist tendencies and so be on your guard against those. These placings also have their positive side so this is where you could use an astrological understanding of your birth chart creatively. By understanding what it means you can cultivate the good and watch out for the, shall we just say, not so good. Astrology is actually quite complicated when you bring all the elements together and it can even take into account the contradictions in a person’s character. Once you understand these areas of conflict it can help you to deal with them. So I do think it can be a very effective tool of self-understanding.

That's astrology as far as character analysis is concerned. The other side to it is prediction and this seems to be what most people want from it. But I don’t have any interest in this branch of astrology. For one thing, I'm not sure it is right to try to know the future in this way. It seems an irreligious attitude. My feeling is that God gives us what we need from within and to try to use technique or technology to force the issue is an unspiritual approach akin to trying to steal fire from heaven. It's a wicked generation that looks for a sign and all that. But also, and on a more practical level, I just don’t think predictive astrology works very well. Maybe if we understood a good deal more about the techniques involved then it would but even then I think it could only predict potential patterns not actual realities. We shouldn't forget that astrology is a symbol system and symbols can be interpreted in many ways, all of which may be true in an inner sense but could be wildly different in their external workings out. From a personal perspective I have found that certain events in my life do seem to have been reflected in the planetary movements of the time but many others have not. There have been times when apparently major events in my life have occurred but there's been nothing untoward going on in the heavens, and there have also been significant transits of planetary conjunctions to natal positions when nothing significant seems to have happened. So both from the point of view of spiritually correct behaviour and from that of simple accuracy I would not put too much faith in the predictive side of astrology. 

In terms of character analysis, though, I do believe astrology has much to offer and I shall go into that aspect of it a little more in a future post.