Cultures and Models of astrology: Antiquity, Renaissance, Modernity
Dr. Patrice Guinard, publisher of CURA, the internet's most scholarly and informed astrology site, has announced the formation of a membership association for those interested in serious astrology. For more information, see:
http://cura.free.fr/assoc.html
The CURA Association's purpose lies in organizing those activities aimed at promoting a serious astrology, documented by all means deemed necessary. Its plans include dialogues with university research departments, the creation of a research library, the development and promotion of the CURA site, and the exchange of important and easily accessible documents among its members. Its research and study objectives are multi-disciplinary and transcultural. Particular attention will be paid to the Renaissance and documents related to the work of Nostradamus.
The association members will have access to all documents and present and future articles published on the CURA site, and by request, texts not available on the site, when possible. Exchanges between members can occur either privately or on an allocated space on the CURA forum, which opened in July, 2007.
Surveys of new articles, texts and documents not publicly available, will now be published on this page.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Saturn Enters Libra: Focus On Relationships and Fairness as Justice is Put to the Test
By Shelley Jordan
Saturn’s itinerary:
October 29, ‘09 - Saturn’s first entry into Libra.
January 14, ‘10 - Saturn goes retrograde, re-entering Virgo on April 7
May 30, ‘10 - Saturn goes direct in late Virgo
July 21, '10 - Saturn makes its full blown entry into Libra, remaining there until October, 2012.
While Saturn has been in Virgo, the sign associated with health, diet and work (as in jobs), there has been a great effort expended by many people to rectify America’s broken health care system. Even more crucial is the job crisis, with unemployment now reaching over 10%. Since Saturn has made its initial entry into Libra we can now add a new set of issues to our “To Be Corrected” list. Think of Saturn as describing assignments that might not be easy, but that yield tremendous rewards and compensation for the effort. Nothing is more satisfying or confidence-building than the premiums that come from fulfilling Saturn's mandates. Some of the world's most successful and accomplished people have a prominent Saturn in their charts. The greatest achievements can occur during Saturn transits.
Saturn travels around the Zodiac like a cosmic building inspector, appraising conditions and providing feedback about the soundness or deficiencies of each of the signs it occupies. Saturn points out weaknesses or problems that need repairing. It takes Saturn 29 years to make its correcting and gratifying sojourn through the Zodiac, remaining in a sign for two and a half years. This journey resounds in the environment and in the personal spheres of your chart. If you know the house that Saturn is occupying in your chart at this time, you can see where your greatest achievements can occur. Saturn symbolizes the bones – the skeletal structure of consciousness, providing opportunities for support, strength and solidity. Just as weight lifting strengthens the bones, efforts of a Saturnian nature strengthen character and life circumstances.
Saturn also has a moral and spiritual quality to it. Transits from Saturn can awaken you to problems that need addressing, at the same time providing spiritual rewards and bonuses for jobs well done. Saturn has a particularly karmic quality, as if the homework it assigns is directly addressed to the soul of a nation or a person. Saturn often describes just what it is that you need to learn at a particular time. Lately, Saturn in Virgo has highlighted the inadequacies of the American health care system, the sad state of affairs in the job market, and the unhealthy consequences of the typical American diet.
As the Inner Adult, Saturn focuses attention on issues and problems that need to be solved. In the birth chart, Saturn represents concentration, responsibility and opportunities for achievement, growth and maturation. Libra is the sign of harmony, justice, equality and relationships. It has a particular resonance with the legal sphere. The same symbol represents the law and the sign Libra – the scales of justice. Libra also describes significant others, marriage, partnerships and close relationships. In the public sector, Saturn in Libra may put the spotlight on the issue of same sex marriage legislation, which will hopefully be resolved before Saturn is finished with its passage through Libra.
Libra is the sign of harmony and peace. As the nation hovers on the brink of increased war efforts, we can hope that the wisdom of Libran nonviolence and mediation will appear in the form of a dove of peace.
Now that Saturn is entering Libra, you can tend to your relationships with greater mindfulness. Your significant others may be among the most important sources of comfort and reward you'll have during these challenging days as the nation gets itself back on its feet. Relationships, especially those built on love and trust, are one of the most effective ways of developing yourself spiritually. Since Saturn is the last visible planet, it represents the gateway to the transpersonal and spiritual realm. By tending to your personal relationships, you can discover spiritual solutions and support for this unprecedented episode in American history. The distractions of excessive spending and wasteful consumption are no longer options now that Pluto is in responsible Capricorn. Extending warmth and support to loved ones provides a much more effective solution to the pervasive angst of this historic moment. Saturn in Libra recommends a tune, oil and adjustment for your partnerships so that they endure, strengthen and evolve. The rewards will be far-reaching and long lasting.
Saturn’s itinerary:
October 29, ‘09 - Saturn’s first entry into Libra.
January 14, ‘10 - Saturn goes retrograde, re-entering Virgo on April 7
May 30, ‘10 - Saturn goes direct in late Virgo
July 21, '10 - Saturn makes its full blown entry into Libra, remaining there until October, 2012.
While Saturn has been in Virgo, the sign associated with health, diet and work (as in jobs), there has been a great effort expended by many people to rectify America’s broken health care system. Even more crucial is the job crisis, with unemployment now reaching over 10%. Since Saturn has made its initial entry into Libra we can now add a new set of issues to our “To Be Corrected” list. Think of Saturn as describing assignments that might not be easy, but that yield tremendous rewards and compensation for the effort. Nothing is more satisfying or confidence-building than the premiums that come from fulfilling Saturn's mandates. Some of the world's most successful and accomplished people have a prominent Saturn in their charts. The greatest achievements can occur during Saturn transits.
Saturn travels around the Zodiac like a cosmic building inspector, appraising conditions and providing feedback about the soundness or deficiencies of each of the signs it occupies. Saturn points out weaknesses or problems that need repairing. It takes Saturn 29 years to make its correcting and gratifying sojourn through the Zodiac, remaining in a sign for two and a half years. This journey resounds in the environment and in the personal spheres of your chart. If you know the house that Saturn is occupying in your chart at this time, you can see where your greatest achievements can occur. Saturn symbolizes the bones – the skeletal structure of consciousness, providing opportunities for support, strength and solidity. Just as weight lifting strengthens the bones, efforts of a Saturnian nature strengthen character and life circumstances.
Saturn also has a moral and spiritual quality to it. Transits from Saturn can awaken you to problems that need addressing, at the same time providing spiritual rewards and bonuses for jobs well done. Saturn has a particularly karmic quality, as if the homework it assigns is directly addressed to the soul of a nation or a person. Saturn often describes just what it is that you need to learn at a particular time. Lately, Saturn in Virgo has highlighted the inadequacies of the American health care system, the sad state of affairs in the job market, and the unhealthy consequences of the typical American diet.
As the Inner Adult, Saturn focuses attention on issues and problems that need to be solved. In the birth chart, Saturn represents concentration, responsibility and opportunities for achievement, growth and maturation. Libra is the sign of harmony, justice, equality and relationships. It has a particular resonance with the legal sphere. The same symbol represents the law and the sign Libra – the scales of justice. Libra also describes significant others, marriage, partnerships and close relationships. In the public sector, Saturn in Libra may put the spotlight on the issue of same sex marriage legislation, which will hopefully be resolved before Saturn is finished with its passage through Libra.
Libra is the sign of harmony and peace. As the nation hovers on the brink of increased war efforts, we can hope that the wisdom of Libran nonviolence and mediation will appear in the form of a dove of peace.
Now that Saturn is entering Libra, you can tend to your relationships with greater mindfulness. Your significant others may be among the most important sources of comfort and reward you'll have during these challenging days as the nation gets itself back on its feet. Relationships, especially those built on love and trust, are one of the most effective ways of developing yourself spiritually. Since Saturn is the last visible planet, it represents the gateway to the transpersonal and spiritual realm. By tending to your personal relationships, you can discover spiritual solutions and support for this unprecedented episode in American history. The distractions of excessive spending and wasteful consumption are no longer options now that Pluto is in responsible Capricorn. Extending warmth and support to loved ones provides a much more effective solution to the pervasive angst of this historic moment. Saturn in Libra recommends a tune, oil and adjustment for your partnerships so that they endure, strengthen and evolve. The rewards will be far-reaching and long lasting.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Pluto In Capricorn: The Movie
By Shelley Jordan
Like an action film that opens with car chase scenes and pyrotechnics galore, the drama of Pluto’s entry into the sign of absolute authority is starting off with a bang. Beginning last year, Pluto launched its 16 year journey through Capricorn, a sign that has not experienced Pluto’s cleansing properties since the American Revolution in the 18th century. When the colonists booted the monarchy out of the New World, a chain reaction of democracies was triggered that resulted in a new world order. What can we expect today?
Consider these sobering circumstances: the polarized state of our nation, the tanked economy, global warming, loss of jobs, the poor condition of American health and the battle over health care reform. These dire areas require immediate attention and healing. Pluto, prone to dramatic large gestures as it cathartically purges and purifies, is heralding an entirely new mise en scène which will occupy us for the next 15 years or so.
Since Saturn rules Capricorn, we can look to it as the front line planetary herald announcing this new Plutonian era. Saturn has been locked in a polarized opposition to Uranus during the past 12 months. Saturn’s aim is to achieve stability and permanence while Uranus struggles for radical change and innovative progress.
We can view this aspect, the Saturn-Uranus opposition, as the dramatic overture while the curtain rises on a new historic period. The music is turbulent and agitated, with a sense of uncertainty and anxiety as it shifts between major and minor keys. This tense and defiant confrontation between conservative Saturn and radical Uranus describes this moment of conflict: seismic confrontations between Republicans and Democrats, the health insurance industry versus the agents of health care reform, women's rights and the suppression of their freedom, the polluters pitted against the environmentalists. We are surrounded by sharply contrasting opinions and policies the outcome of which will shape the future. If we see the victory of President and Nobel Laureate Barack Obama as an indication of the logjam shifting in the direction of change, we can face the upcoming transition with hope and optimism. A Uranian personality himself, President Obama has Aquarius rising with Uranus conjunct his Descendent. He both personifies freedom (Aquarius rising) and is a conduit for Uranian independence and forward movement for others (Uranus conjunct his Descendent).
At this taut moment pregnant with change, Saturn is in Virgo, the sign associated with health, service, diet, jobs and the purity that opposes pollution. Virgo can get bogged down in detail and criticism. Uranus is in Pisces, the sign of compassion, dreams, imagination, universalism, and is the domain of large institutions like hospitals. Pisces can lean toward deception and represents the victim who needs rescuing. The multi-billion dollar insurance industry is spending a fortune every day in its attempts to prevent the radical humanitarian reshaping of health care in America. Together, Virgo and Pisces often represent issues of health care and healing, and service driven by compassion. The combination says “serve or suffer”.
The dates of the Saturn-Uranus opposition bear looking into. The first exact aspect at 18° Virgo/Pisces occurred on November 4, 2008, the day Barack Obama was elected President. The tension leading up to the election was almost unbearable, but hope burst through the membrane of fear and history was made as the University of Chicago law professor became America’s first black president. As someone who lived through the incendiary years of the civil rights movement, this joyous achievement for democracy was almost unbelievable in its positive impact.
Days after the second pass of Saturn and Uranus at 20°Virgo/Pisces on February 5, 2009, the stimulus package was enacted to attempt to reverse the economic meltdown.
The final opposition occurred on September 15, 2009 at 24° Virgo/Pisces. While the congressional vote on the United States National Health Care Act had been planned for September, 2009,which would have been coincident with the third and final opposition of Saturn and Uranus, conflict has delayed the vote until this current month of October. It’s looking hopeful as a surge of support from American voices call out for health care reform and an end to the health insurance-pharmaceutical medical monopoly.
While the Saturn-Uranus overture has set the stage for the Pluto in Capricorn Zeitgeist, we will most likely witness upcoming big purges and power struggles in the realm of corporate America, one of the ultimate incarnations of a Capricornian, pyramidal institution. The Plutonian battleground between the limits of capitalism and the role of government in curbing or fueling corporate greed is just beginning to be defined. Until 2024, the prevailing paradigms of authority, leadership and law will be undergoing deconstruction, cleansing and transformation. Will we see anti-trust laws finally applied to health insurance companies? Will Corporate America itself step in to curb global warming because of the negative impact on its profits, with a global clean-up producing many new jobs? Will Barack Obama become the new paradigm for future American leaders? Stay tuned through 2024 to find out.
Like an action film that opens with car chase scenes and pyrotechnics galore, the drama of Pluto’s entry into the sign of absolute authority is starting off with a bang. Beginning last year, Pluto launched its 16 year journey through Capricorn, a sign that has not experienced Pluto’s cleansing properties since the American Revolution in the 18th century. When the colonists booted the monarchy out of the New World, a chain reaction of democracies was triggered that resulted in a new world order. What can we expect today?
Consider these sobering circumstances: the polarized state of our nation, the tanked economy, global warming, loss of jobs, the poor condition of American health and the battle over health care reform. These dire areas require immediate attention and healing. Pluto, prone to dramatic large gestures as it cathartically purges and purifies, is heralding an entirely new mise en scène which will occupy us for the next 15 years or so.
Since Saturn rules Capricorn, we can look to it as the front line planetary herald announcing this new Plutonian era. Saturn has been locked in a polarized opposition to Uranus during the past 12 months. Saturn’s aim is to achieve stability and permanence while Uranus struggles for radical change and innovative progress.
We can view this aspect, the Saturn-Uranus opposition, as the dramatic overture while the curtain rises on a new historic period. The music is turbulent and agitated, with a sense of uncertainty and anxiety as it shifts between major and minor keys. This tense and defiant confrontation between conservative Saturn and radical Uranus describes this moment of conflict: seismic confrontations between Republicans and Democrats, the health insurance industry versus the agents of health care reform, women's rights and the suppression of their freedom, the polluters pitted against the environmentalists. We are surrounded by sharply contrasting opinions and policies the outcome of which will shape the future. If we see the victory of President and Nobel Laureate Barack Obama as an indication of the logjam shifting in the direction of change, we can face the upcoming transition with hope and optimism. A Uranian personality himself, President Obama has Aquarius rising with Uranus conjunct his Descendent. He both personifies freedom (Aquarius rising) and is a conduit for Uranian independence and forward movement for others (Uranus conjunct his Descendent).
At this taut moment pregnant with change, Saturn is in Virgo, the sign associated with health, service, diet, jobs and the purity that opposes pollution. Virgo can get bogged down in detail and criticism. Uranus is in Pisces, the sign of compassion, dreams, imagination, universalism, and is the domain of large institutions like hospitals. Pisces can lean toward deception and represents the victim who needs rescuing. The multi-billion dollar insurance industry is spending a fortune every day in its attempts to prevent the radical humanitarian reshaping of health care in America. Together, Virgo and Pisces often represent issues of health care and healing, and service driven by compassion. The combination says “serve or suffer”.
The dates of the Saturn-Uranus opposition bear looking into. The first exact aspect at 18° Virgo/Pisces occurred on November 4, 2008, the day Barack Obama was elected President. The tension leading up to the election was almost unbearable, but hope burst through the membrane of fear and history was made as the University of Chicago law professor became America’s first black president. As someone who lived through the incendiary years of the civil rights movement, this joyous achievement for democracy was almost unbelievable in its positive impact.
Days after the second pass of Saturn and Uranus at 20°Virgo/Pisces on February 5, 2009, the stimulus package was enacted to attempt to reverse the economic meltdown.
The final opposition occurred on September 15, 2009 at 24° Virgo/Pisces. While the congressional vote on the United States National Health Care Act had been planned for September, 2009,which would have been coincident with the third and final opposition of Saturn and Uranus, conflict has delayed the vote until this current month of October. It’s looking hopeful as a surge of support from American voices call out for health care reform and an end to the health insurance-pharmaceutical medical monopoly.
While the Saturn-Uranus overture has set the stage for the Pluto in Capricorn Zeitgeist, we will most likely witness upcoming big purges and power struggles in the realm of corporate America, one of the ultimate incarnations of a Capricornian, pyramidal institution. The Plutonian battleground between the limits of capitalism and the role of government in curbing or fueling corporate greed is just beginning to be defined. Until 2024, the prevailing paradigms of authority, leadership and law will be undergoing deconstruction, cleansing and transformation. Will we see anti-trust laws finally applied to health insurance companies? Will Corporate America itself step in to curb global warming because of the negative impact on its profits, with a global clean-up producing many new jobs? Will Barack Obama become the new paradigm for future American leaders? Stay tuned through 2024 to find out.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Astrology and Sacred Nature
by Shelley Jordan
The cosmos is alive - a lavishly intricate, plural and hierarchical unicity. Nature is the vital, multi-layered essential that provides the animated cohesiveness for this cosmic unity. In its ceaseless symbolic narrative of light and dark, birth and decay, Nature is richly generous in its spiritual instruction and revelation. In Nature we discover the ordered, cyclical intelligence of the divine, both magnificent in its creativity and solemn in its inevitability.
Our solar system is clearly part of the larger natural order. It is organized in a rhythmic, numerically intelligent and coherent fashion. The cycles and orbits of the planets divulge the orderly framework and symmetry that is found in the sacred architecture of time and matter. One only has to gaze in silence and wonder to see the beauty contained in the organization of heavenly patterns.
Astrology is mankind's ancient symbolic system that examines this sacred order in Nature and informs our personal relationship to the psycho-cosmic structure of the larger environment. The seasons of the Sun, the tidal forces of the Moon's shifting shapes, the cycles of the planets, are all part of the cadence of the spiritual poetry inherent in the cosmic order.
Hinduism refers to this cosmic order as rta, viewing it as the foundation of the incorruptible laws that regulate the metamorphoses and configurations of Nature. Inherent in the natural order lies a moral and spiritual instruction waiting to be discovered. What is seemingly chaotic on the surface of appearances is revealed, through contemplation of astrological symbols and myths, as the embodiment of divine structure.
Planetary archetypes and activity act out the drama of the sacred. The solar system and the birth chart are the fields of action for the hierophany of supernal truths that, through thoughtful examination and meditation, inspire and elevate the soul, leading it to perfection and illumination.
This inviolate order exists on a massive scale in the universal environment of the macrocosm, as well as on the microcosmic scale in our personal, intimate and interior lives. Consider the fact that the Sun and the Moon are exactly the same size from our Earth, despite the discrepancy in their actual sizes and vast distances. This extraordinary synchronic coincidence of Nature enables us to view total eclipses from Earth, which are among Nature’s most powerful metaphors for rebirth and the inevitable deliverance from darkness. The Moon's 29 day cycle closely duplicates the feminine reproductive cycle in its duration and in the growing lunar light, when its illuminated belly bursts at full phase.
Imagination (related to magnet, magia and imago) is that crucial faculty which permits the symbols, myths and images of astrology to be used as intermediaries for gnostic ends. Imagination itself is an "organ of the soul" through which mankind can intuit the richly inhabited esoteric world, or mesocosm, that links the personal with the universal by means of archetypes, symbols and myth. Imagination enables the mind to perceive the metaphysical light which is the suprasensory essence of the astral.
The birth chart is a miniature diagram of that most immensely vast particle of the divine - the soul. By means of an astrology that makes use of imagination and contemplative "interiorism," that is, meditation on the symbols in the birth chart and how they resonate with personal experience, one can achieve entry into the deeper layers of the self. This process enables the psyche to aspire and ascend towards spiritual knowledge. Life affirming and comforting, the study of the birth chart, celestial cycles and their exposition in our personal lives can assist in the discovery of life’s meaning and purpose, leading us to the promise of enlightened insight and tolerance.
The cosmos is alive - a lavishly intricate, plural and hierarchical unicity. Nature is the vital, multi-layered essential that provides the animated cohesiveness for this cosmic unity. In its ceaseless symbolic narrative of light and dark, birth and decay, Nature is richly generous in its spiritual instruction and revelation. In Nature we discover the ordered, cyclical intelligence of the divine, both magnificent in its creativity and solemn in its inevitability.
Our solar system is clearly part of the larger natural order. It is organized in a rhythmic, numerically intelligent and coherent fashion. The cycles and orbits of the planets divulge the orderly framework and symmetry that is found in the sacred architecture of time and matter. One only has to gaze in silence and wonder to see the beauty contained in the organization of heavenly patterns.
Astrology is mankind's ancient symbolic system that examines this sacred order in Nature and informs our personal relationship to the psycho-cosmic structure of the larger environment. The seasons of the Sun, the tidal forces of the Moon's shifting shapes, the cycles of the planets, are all part of the cadence of the spiritual poetry inherent in the cosmic order.
Hinduism refers to this cosmic order as rta, viewing it as the foundation of the incorruptible laws that regulate the metamorphoses and configurations of Nature. Inherent in the natural order lies a moral and spiritual instruction waiting to be discovered. What is seemingly chaotic on the surface of appearances is revealed, through contemplation of astrological symbols and myths, as the embodiment of divine structure.
Planetary archetypes and activity act out the drama of the sacred. The solar system and the birth chart are the fields of action for the hierophany of supernal truths that, through thoughtful examination and meditation, inspire and elevate the soul, leading it to perfection and illumination.
This inviolate order exists on a massive scale in the universal environment of the macrocosm, as well as on the microcosmic scale in our personal, intimate and interior lives. Consider the fact that the Sun and the Moon are exactly the same size from our Earth, despite the discrepancy in their actual sizes and vast distances. This extraordinary synchronic coincidence of Nature enables us to view total eclipses from Earth, which are among Nature’s most powerful metaphors for rebirth and the inevitable deliverance from darkness. The Moon's 29 day cycle closely duplicates the feminine reproductive cycle in its duration and in the growing lunar light, when its illuminated belly bursts at full phase.
Imagination (related to magnet, magia and imago) is that crucial faculty which permits the symbols, myths and images of astrology to be used as intermediaries for gnostic ends. Imagination itself is an "organ of the soul" through which mankind can intuit the richly inhabited esoteric world, or mesocosm, that links the personal with the universal by means of archetypes, symbols and myth. Imagination enables the mind to perceive the metaphysical light which is the suprasensory essence of the astral.
The birth chart is a miniature diagram of that most immensely vast particle of the divine - the soul. By means of an astrology that makes use of imagination and contemplative "interiorism," that is, meditation on the symbols in the birth chart and how they resonate with personal experience, one can achieve entry into the deeper layers of the self. This process enables the psyche to aspire and ascend towards spiritual knowledge. Life affirming and comforting, the study of the birth chart, celestial cycles and their exposition in our personal lives can assist in the discovery of life’s meaning and purpose, leading us to the promise of enlightened insight and tolerance.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Summer of Our Discontent: Turning Point - Pluto Stationary Direct 9-11
By Shelley Jordan
On the mythically poignant date of September 11, Pluto goes stationary direct at 0° Capricorn. This planetary event could be an important symbolic signpost for the future direction of our nation, which was born during Pluto’s last occupation of Capricorn in the 18th century. For the next 14 years, Pluto will be reminding us of the benefits to be gained from the Capricornian virtues of conservation, self control and maturity. Think about the homilies of the archetypal Capricorn Benjamin Franklin. “A penny saved is a penny earned”. “Kill no more pigeons than you can eat”. Franklin’s practical wisdom emphasized thrift, hard work, and opposition to authoritarianism. Perhaps today his most helpful proverb might be “energy and persistence conquer all things”.
When Pluto goes direct it releases the transformative and cleansing powers that have been accumulating and gathering momentum during its 5 month retrograde. Pluto’s first direction change following its entry into a new sign can be seen as an astrological marker for the upcoming era. In this case, the ethos will be defined by Capricornian issues through 2024. This is occurring at this moment, as Pluto reverses its apparent retrograde motion and begins to slowly plow ahead through serious, sobering Capricorn.
Capricorn represents structure and authority – government, laws, leaders, and the sense of duty and responsibility that comes with maturity. Ruled by Saturn, the planet of achievement and self discipline, Capricorn is also the realm of corporations and business. With a poultice-like action, Pluto brings to the surface anything that festers and poisons the system, be it social or personal. Pluto symbolizes the process of cleansing and purification. This detoxification process often involves an alchemical confrontation with the unconscious Shadow, which then reveals itself and becomes deconstructed, cleansed and integrated into the illuminated whole.
The corporate and governmental implications of Pluto in Capricorn are obvious in the current crisis over health care reform. In the more personal realm, Pluto’s position may resonate with the pressing need to conserve and limit our lifestyle, which tends to be based on consumption and excess. Finding ways of limiting spending, getting by with less and conserving what we have are now issues that are being foisted upon us in true Plutonian fashion. These astrological conditions are ideal for discovering solutions to today’s climate and financial crises, avoidable predicaments that were brought on by unbridled excess. Conservation, limiting portions, expenditures and controlling intemperance will yield positive results. “When the well is dry, they know the worth of water” (Ben Franklin).
Post Script: A recent article in Time Magazine spoke of "The responsibility revolution", an early indicator of the winds of change from Pluto's new direction in Capricorn.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1921444,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily
On the mythically poignant date of September 11, Pluto goes stationary direct at 0° Capricorn. This planetary event could be an important symbolic signpost for the future direction of our nation, which was born during Pluto’s last occupation of Capricorn in the 18th century. For the next 14 years, Pluto will be reminding us of the benefits to be gained from the Capricornian virtues of conservation, self control and maturity. Think about the homilies of the archetypal Capricorn Benjamin Franklin. “A penny saved is a penny earned”. “Kill no more pigeons than you can eat”. Franklin’s practical wisdom emphasized thrift, hard work, and opposition to authoritarianism. Perhaps today his most helpful proverb might be “energy and persistence conquer all things”.
When Pluto goes direct it releases the transformative and cleansing powers that have been accumulating and gathering momentum during its 5 month retrograde. Pluto’s first direction change following its entry into a new sign can be seen as an astrological marker for the upcoming era. In this case, the ethos will be defined by Capricornian issues through 2024. This is occurring at this moment, as Pluto reverses its apparent retrograde motion and begins to slowly plow ahead through serious, sobering Capricorn.
Capricorn represents structure and authority – government, laws, leaders, and the sense of duty and responsibility that comes with maturity. Ruled by Saturn, the planet of achievement and self discipline, Capricorn is also the realm of corporations and business. With a poultice-like action, Pluto brings to the surface anything that festers and poisons the system, be it social or personal. Pluto symbolizes the process of cleansing and purification. This detoxification process often involves an alchemical confrontation with the unconscious Shadow, which then reveals itself and becomes deconstructed, cleansed and integrated into the illuminated whole.
The corporate and governmental implications of Pluto in Capricorn are obvious in the current crisis over health care reform. In the more personal realm, Pluto’s position may resonate with the pressing need to conserve and limit our lifestyle, which tends to be based on consumption and excess. Finding ways of limiting spending, getting by with less and conserving what we have are now issues that are being foisted upon us in true Plutonian fashion. These astrological conditions are ideal for discovering solutions to today’s climate and financial crises, avoidable predicaments that were brought on by unbridled excess. Conservation, limiting portions, expenditures and controlling intemperance will yield positive results. “When the well is dry, they know the worth of water” (Ben Franklin).
Post Script: A recent article in Time Magazine spoke of "The responsibility revolution", an early indicator of the winds of change from Pluto's new direction in Capricorn.
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1921444,00.html?xid=newsletter-daily
Sunday, August 23, 2009
The Celestial Quartet of the Summer of 2009
by Shelley Jordan
This summer's celestial background music resounds with an unusually long, drawn out configuration involving four heavenly bodies: Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune, all in Aquarius, forming a semisextile to Uranus in Pisces. The planetary voices in this celestial Greek chorus sing of the fraternity of humanity that lies at one end of the Aquarian spectrum. Just as loudly, the tragic, shadow side of Aquarius reverberates in counterpoint at the other extreme. It must be remembered that all astrological symbols (like the Tibetan gods) have their peaceful as well as their wrathful characteristics. The demonic side of Aquarius can be seen in the depersonalization and coldness of the frozen human heart.
This wide range of responses to the Aquarian human condition is currently meeting up with Pisces’ own extremes of empathy and duplicity. No more clearly is this being played out than in the current conflicts over public health care in America. The configuration's Chironian influence conveys the notion of health and healing, while Jupiter flaunts the moral and ethical issues, also exaggerating the entire scenario, as Jupiter is prone to do. Neptune brings the idea of trendiness, fashion and public tastes into the picture, as well as the issue of compassion for the epidemic of human suffering which is a very real problem in today's America, as it is no less in the entire world.
This idea of collective suffering, whether from layoffs, poverty, victims of the war in Iraq, or the sick, is underlined by Uranus's position in Pisces. Among the issues that have been in the public eye, to the degree that the press is allowed to discuss them, have been torture, loss, same sex marriage, health care and the faintly whispered official apology for slavery emitted by the Senate over the summer, all problems that demand a righteous outcry of compassion on the part of the American populace.
With so many Americans in a state of declining health, with the majority on some form of prescription medication (Neptune and Pisces), the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies only profit from our suffering, and like the American public, increasingly fatten up (Jupiter). Why can't the people (Aquarius) see that President Obama's agenda of health care for everyone is a gift of compassion? The delusions associated with Neptune and Uranus in Pisces seem to be swaying the citizens most vulnerable to fear mongering and coercion. The use of antidepressant medication in the U.S. doubled from 1996 to 2005, according to a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry. More than 10 percent of the population were sedated with these drugs by 2005. Imagine what the numbers must be now, 4 years later. Considering how difficult it is to get off these highly addictive drugs, the number of people on anti-depressants can only be growing.
Compassion is the key to today's conflicts, even compassion for those souls who deceive certain easily swayed sectors of the American public. These manipulators are the Sarah Palins of our world. Palin, who has a Sun-Mars-Saturn conjunction in Aquarius, has been in Neptune’s spotlight since her alarmingly quick rise into the public arena in 2008, when Neptune began traveling over her Aquarian planets. An incarnation of mindlessness and mediocrity as glamorous ideals, she is an example of the worst side of the Aquarian hive mentality.
Every sign contains a continuum of archetypal experiences. Aquarius, at one end of its spectrum, describes the individual making his or her way in society without the loss of independent thought and action. On the other end of the Aquarian continuum is the herd itself - the social pressure cooker of the hive that imposes ideas, opinions and sanctions onto an unthinking public. “What will people say?” bellows the Aquarian shadow.
Palin is the poster child for the clichéd rhetoric of the right. If something terrible happens to President Obama (and I pray that he and his family remain safe), part of the blame for any harm will fall on the shoulders of Palin and her crowd of lying demagogues. They are the mouthpiece for the opinion machine of Big Business. The religious right, one expression of the hive, are no more than puppets for these cruel and greedy abusers.
How can we rise above the contagious deception and mental viruses being passed around today? What do we do with this time given to us? At their highest levels, Aquarius and Pisces represent the ideals of humanity - kindness and compassion for others, even for those whom we will never know. The big business self interest that is driving today's conflicts over health care are operating out of greed, yes, but also self-destructive ignorance. With open eyes and heart, one can see that health care is a fundamental human right. By denying that right, a nation that presumes to wave the banner of human rights for the rest of the world becomes morally bankrupt.
America was undeniably built on slavery, and the racism that justified using human beings as objects for financial gain is identical to the self justified greed that excludes not only the poor from health care, but many citizens who simply can't afford the enormous cost of medical care. If greed demolishes the social fabric of America, as it is threatening to do, who will big business have left to prey on? They are blindly destroying their own food source. Cruel, yes, but also ignorant.
Uranus is the planet of revolution. It was discovered in 1781 at the height of the Enlightenment. Its appearance heralded industrialization, the American and French revolutions and the march of democracy. The birth pangs of the human rights movement coincided with Uranus's debut into our cosmology. One century later, Neptune made its appearance, as did Freud's discovery of the unconscious and the power of dreams, photography, film and sound recordings that preserved the images and voices of our predecessors. Humanity and the individuals that comprise it took on new meaning in those two pivotal centuries. Uranus and Neptune's emergence into our awareness symbolized this evolutionary leap.
Today's skirmishes over health care are part of a new wave of Uranian revolution that continues the humanization of our world. Just as slavery is morally renounced today (though it is not obsolete), one day the idea of denying health care to the sick and vulnerable will also be morally abhorrent.
The cycles of Uranus and Neptune represent tidal currents of evolution of our humanity. Only apparent to our eyes since the 18th and 19th centuries respectively, these planets emit pulses that release the waves of compassion and heightened awareness that have fueled democracy and the human rights movement.
We have only experienced one conjunction of Uranus and Neptune since both planets revealed themselves. This occurred in 1993 in Capricorn, heralding the rise of the global and egalitarian Internet. With this development came unprecedented possibilities for the once silent voices of humanity to be heard. Empathy for the human condition will not remain suppressed for too much longer.
By their nature, people are capable of love, invention and overcoming cruelty. During the summer of 2009, with its celestial Greek chorus of Aquarius and Pisces planets forcing our eyes and ears on the suffering of so many, we can hope that our innate capacity for good and concern for our fellow travelers will surmount the viral pressures of the hive bosses to ignore our brothers and sisters in need.
This summer's celestial background music resounds with an unusually long, drawn out configuration involving four heavenly bodies: Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune, all in Aquarius, forming a semisextile to Uranus in Pisces. The planetary voices in this celestial Greek chorus sing of the fraternity of humanity that lies at one end of the Aquarian spectrum. Just as loudly, the tragic, shadow side of Aquarius reverberates in counterpoint at the other extreme. It must be remembered that all astrological symbols (like the Tibetan gods) have their peaceful as well as their wrathful characteristics. The demonic side of Aquarius can be seen in the depersonalization and coldness of the frozen human heart.
This wide range of responses to the Aquarian human condition is currently meeting up with Pisces’ own extremes of empathy and duplicity. No more clearly is this being played out than in the current conflicts over public health care in America. The configuration's Chironian influence conveys the notion of health and healing, while Jupiter flaunts the moral and ethical issues, also exaggerating the entire scenario, as Jupiter is prone to do. Neptune brings the idea of trendiness, fashion and public tastes into the picture, as well as the issue of compassion for the epidemic of human suffering which is a very real problem in today's America, as it is no less in the entire world.
This idea of collective suffering, whether from layoffs, poverty, victims of the war in Iraq, or the sick, is underlined by Uranus's position in Pisces. Among the issues that have been in the public eye, to the degree that the press is allowed to discuss them, have been torture, loss, same sex marriage, health care and the faintly whispered official apology for slavery emitted by the Senate over the summer, all problems that demand a righteous outcry of compassion on the part of the American populace.
With so many Americans in a state of declining health, with the majority on some form of prescription medication (Neptune and Pisces), the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies only profit from our suffering, and like the American public, increasingly fatten up (Jupiter). Why can't the people (Aquarius) see that President Obama's agenda of health care for everyone is a gift of compassion? The delusions associated with Neptune and Uranus in Pisces seem to be swaying the citizens most vulnerable to fear mongering and coercion. The use of antidepressant medication in the U.S. doubled from 1996 to 2005, according to a study in the Archives of General Psychiatry. More than 10 percent of the population were sedated with these drugs by 2005. Imagine what the numbers must be now, 4 years later. Considering how difficult it is to get off these highly addictive drugs, the number of people on anti-depressants can only be growing.
Compassion is the key to today's conflicts, even compassion for those souls who deceive certain easily swayed sectors of the American public. These manipulators are the Sarah Palins of our world. Palin, who has a Sun-Mars-Saturn conjunction in Aquarius, has been in Neptune’s spotlight since her alarmingly quick rise into the public arena in 2008, when Neptune began traveling over her Aquarian planets. An incarnation of mindlessness and mediocrity as glamorous ideals, she is an example of the worst side of the Aquarian hive mentality.
Every sign contains a continuum of archetypal experiences. Aquarius, at one end of its spectrum, describes the individual making his or her way in society without the loss of independent thought and action. On the other end of the Aquarian continuum is the herd itself - the social pressure cooker of the hive that imposes ideas, opinions and sanctions onto an unthinking public. “What will people say?” bellows the Aquarian shadow.
Palin is the poster child for the clichéd rhetoric of the right. If something terrible happens to President Obama (and I pray that he and his family remain safe), part of the blame for any harm will fall on the shoulders of Palin and her crowd of lying demagogues. They are the mouthpiece for the opinion machine of Big Business. The religious right, one expression of the hive, are no more than puppets for these cruel and greedy abusers.
How can we rise above the contagious deception and mental viruses being passed around today? What do we do with this time given to us? At their highest levels, Aquarius and Pisces represent the ideals of humanity - kindness and compassion for others, even for those whom we will never know. The big business self interest that is driving today's conflicts over health care are operating out of greed, yes, but also self-destructive ignorance. With open eyes and heart, one can see that health care is a fundamental human right. By denying that right, a nation that presumes to wave the banner of human rights for the rest of the world becomes morally bankrupt.
America was undeniably built on slavery, and the racism that justified using human beings as objects for financial gain is identical to the self justified greed that excludes not only the poor from health care, but many citizens who simply can't afford the enormous cost of medical care. If greed demolishes the social fabric of America, as it is threatening to do, who will big business have left to prey on? They are blindly destroying their own food source. Cruel, yes, but also ignorant.
Uranus is the planet of revolution. It was discovered in 1781 at the height of the Enlightenment. Its appearance heralded industrialization, the American and French revolutions and the march of democracy. The birth pangs of the human rights movement coincided with Uranus's debut into our cosmology. One century later, Neptune made its appearance, as did Freud's discovery of the unconscious and the power of dreams, photography, film and sound recordings that preserved the images and voices of our predecessors. Humanity and the individuals that comprise it took on new meaning in those two pivotal centuries. Uranus and Neptune's emergence into our awareness symbolized this evolutionary leap.
Today's skirmishes over health care are part of a new wave of Uranian revolution that continues the humanization of our world. Just as slavery is morally renounced today (though it is not obsolete), one day the idea of denying health care to the sick and vulnerable will also be morally abhorrent.
The cycles of Uranus and Neptune represent tidal currents of evolution of our humanity. Only apparent to our eyes since the 18th and 19th centuries respectively, these planets emit pulses that release the waves of compassion and heightened awareness that have fueled democracy and the human rights movement.
We have only experienced one conjunction of Uranus and Neptune since both planets revealed themselves. This occurred in 1993 in Capricorn, heralding the rise of the global and egalitarian Internet. With this development came unprecedented possibilities for the once silent voices of humanity to be heard. Empathy for the human condition will not remain suppressed for too much longer.
By their nature, people are capable of love, invention and overcoming cruelty. During the summer of 2009, with its celestial Greek chorus of Aquarius and Pisces planets forcing our eyes and ears on the suffering of so many, we can hope that our innate capacity for good and concern for our fellow travelers will surmount the viral pressures of the hive bosses to ignore our brothers and sisters in need.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Astrology: When the Universal Becomes the Most Personal
by Shelley Jordan
In many ways, astrology resembles a waking dream. Its system of archetypes and images comes from a different reality, far removed from the realm of the waking, the day to day. With astrology, we enter into a domain of mythology and images, where symbols shift and take on their relevance depending not only on their interconnections, but also on their personal meaning in the subjective world of the individual.
While we can say, generally, that for most of us Saturn represents maturity, responsibility, structure and achievement, how we each respond to those demands is a highly individual matter. We cannot determine from the chart whether someone relishes a challenge, rising to the occasion with ambition and self control, or if that person avoids responsibility and thereby endures the consequences.
According to India’s Health Minister, R. Ashok, there were as many as 176 babies born every minute throughout the world in 2006. Even taking into account differences of latitude and longitude, this means that many people share the same chart, the same transits and other astrological conditions. It is simply absurd to imagine that all these people have parallel lives and personalities. Without doubt another baby was born at the same time that Albert Einstein entered this world, and no doubt that baby was no Einstein.
As long ago as the 5th century, St. Augustine was arguing against astrology with the observation that it was clearly disproved in the case of twins. He was correct. While he did concede that there was probably some stellar influence on the physical world, two individuals born at the same time could lead completely different lives, in spite of having nearly identical charts.
The chart is not the person. It may tell us little if anything about the specific external conditions of someone’s life, their career, family, economics and health. What a birth chart can tell us is what if feels like to be that person. With a chart, we enter into the realm of interiority, the sphere of the subjective and the deeply personal. There may be some correlations between our internal world and the outside, but frequently, trying to match a birth chart to events and conditions in someone’s outer world can be an exercise in frustration.
Especially in the case of those who are in some way exceptional, either because of their gifts, such as genius, or their personal tragedies, we can run into astrological dead ends. Most of the astrological literature has lead us to believe that astrology will invariably describe the external world of events – fate. So indoctrinated are we with astrology’s prediction factor that to attempt to approach a chart without anticipating the exterior life of objective events and conditions becomes a process demanding the most extreme detachment. We have to let go of what may be years of study of charts and books in order to begin to peer into the inner depths of the human psyche, removed from outer circumstances of material and other concerns. If we succeed, we can understand what it feels like to be another human being, and in that way, have insight and compassion for that person.
While the planets and signs have certain general characteristics that we can assume to be active in most people, at a deeper level each astrological symbol takes on a highly personal meaning, like images in a dream. I might dream about puppies, and have my own personal set of associations with small, furry animals, but another person, who is allergic to or otherwise does not care for dogs, might have an entirely different associative response.
Likewise, in the birth chart we each have our own personal relationship to astrological symbols. As in dreams, where, if we study them over an extended period, we’ll develop our own personal lexicon of symbols, in astrology we have our own personal relationships to the various archetypal principles. If we are secure in our boundaries, and comfortable with intense emotions, we may have a perfectly easy time adjusting to plutonian conditions. If, on the other hand, intimacy and trust are difficult for us, then Pluto may represent challenges that require attention and adjustment. We cannot tell from the chart, only from knowing the person behind the chart.
This is why it is difficult to learn astrology from books. Books deal with generalities, not to mention the biases and blind spots of the authors and of the astrological tradition itself. Only by studying birth charts of people whose lives we have access to in some way, either because we know them or have read a good bit about them, can we understand how the drama of the personal relationship with archetypes will be played out. Each of us has our own particular and often private associations with astrological archetypes, and these can change and evolve over time.
Therefore, it is possible to have an astrology that is flexible and individualized, that is not based on rigid rules of practice, and that does not concern itself with traditional judgments about the conditions of a person’s life. These judgments, which still cling to astrology, usually stem from values that prefer health to illness, wealth to poverty and success to failure. And it is wrongly but frequently assumed that astrology can determine what one’s fate will be in these areas. Karma is now used as an excuse for the supposed suffering that comes from so-called ‘bad’ conditions in the birth chart.
If one studies enough charts, it will be seen that so-called bad conditions can appear at the most delightful times, or allegedly great planetary states can result in nothing at all. Astrology is not rocket science. It’s a symbolic method for interpreting meaning in life, and for gazing into the interiority of the human experience. Trying to use it to predict future earthquakes or political revolutions is a childish waste of a symbolically rich thought system.
No one can judge another person’s dharma, or spiritual lessons. The individual is at all times free to find value in all experience. Who is to say that in illness or suffering one will not develop compassion and understanding for others? Or a difficult event can’t lead to the most wonderful consequences? Even more important than releasing judgments about the life and lessons of another is to eradicate the expectation that these circumstances can be astrologically determined. They cannot.
In order to come to terms with the limits of astrology we need to ask ourselves “what can astrology tell us about the human experience?” The answer lies in each individual’s variable relationship with astrological symbols, and in astrology’s ability to allow us privileged access to the inner world of another person.
In many ways, astrology resembles a waking dream. Its system of archetypes and images comes from a different reality, far removed from the realm of the waking, the day to day. With astrology, we enter into a domain of mythology and images, where symbols shift and take on their relevance depending not only on their interconnections, but also on their personal meaning in the subjective world of the individual.
While we can say, generally, that for most of us Saturn represents maturity, responsibility, structure and achievement, how we each respond to those demands is a highly individual matter. We cannot determine from the chart whether someone relishes a challenge, rising to the occasion with ambition and self control, or if that person avoids responsibility and thereby endures the consequences.
According to India’s Health Minister, R. Ashok, there were as many as 176 babies born every minute throughout the world in 2006. Even taking into account differences of latitude and longitude, this means that many people share the same chart, the same transits and other astrological conditions. It is simply absurd to imagine that all these people have parallel lives and personalities. Without doubt another baby was born at the same time that Albert Einstein entered this world, and no doubt that baby was no Einstein.
As long ago as the 5th century, St. Augustine was arguing against astrology with the observation that it was clearly disproved in the case of twins. He was correct. While he did concede that there was probably some stellar influence on the physical world, two individuals born at the same time could lead completely different lives, in spite of having nearly identical charts.
The chart is not the person. It may tell us little if anything about the specific external conditions of someone’s life, their career, family, economics and health. What a birth chart can tell us is what if feels like to be that person. With a chart, we enter into the realm of interiority, the sphere of the subjective and the deeply personal. There may be some correlations between our internal world and the outside, but frequently, trying to match a birth chart to events and conditions in someone’s outer world can be an exercise in frustration.
Especially in the case of those who are in some way exceptional, either because of their gifts, such as genius, or their personal tragedies, we can run into astrological dead ends. Most of the astrological literature has lead us to believe that astrology will invariably describe the external world of events – fate. So indoctrinated are we with astrology’s prediction factor that to attempt to approach a chart without anticipating the exterior life of objective events and conditions becomes a process demanding the most extreme detachment. We have to let go of what may be years of study of charts and books in order to begin to peer into the inner depths of the human psyche, removed from outer circumstances of material and other concerns. If we succeed, we can understand what it feels like to be another human being, and in that way, have insight and compassion for that person.
While the planets and signs have certain general characteristics that we can assume to be active in most people, at a deeper level each astrological symbol takes on a highly personal meaning, like images in a dream. I might dream about puppies, and have my own personal set of associations with small, furry animals, but another person, who is allergic to or otherwise does not care for dogs, might have an entirely different associative response.
Likewise, in the birth chart we each have our own personal relationship to astrological symbols. As in dreams, where, if we study them over an extended period, we’ll develop our own personal lexicon of symbols, in astrology we have our own personal relationships to the various archetypal principles. If we are secure in our boundaries, and comfortable with intense emotions, we may have a perfectly easy time adjusting to plutonian conditions. If, on the other hand, intimacy and trust are difficult for us, then Pluto may represent challenges that require attention and adjustment. We cannot tell from the chart, only from knowing the person behind the chart.
This is why it is difficult to learn astrology from books. Books deal with generalities, not to mention the biases and blind spots of the authors and of the astrological tradition itself. Only by studying birth charts of people whose lives we have access to in some way, either because we know them or have read a good bit about them, can we understand how the drama of the personal relationship with archetypes will be played out. Each of us has our own particular and often private associations with astrological archetypes, and these can change and evolve over time.
Therefore, it is possible to have an astrology that is flexible and individualized, that is not based on rigid rules of practice, and that does not concern itself with traditional judgments about the conditions of a person’s life. These judgments, which still cling to astrology, usually stem from values that prefer health to illness, wealth to poverty and success to failure. And it is wrongly but frequently assumed that astrology can determine what one’s fate will be in these areas. Karma is now used as an excuse for the supposed suffering that comes from so-called ‘bad’ conditions in the birth chart.
If one studies enough charts, it will be seen that so-called bad conditions can appear at the most delightful times, or allegedly great planetary states can result in nothing at all. Astrology is not rocket science. It’s a symbolic method for interpreting meaning in life, and for gazing into the interiority of the human experience. Trying to use it to predict future earthquakes or political revolutions is a childish waste of a symbolically rich thought system.
No one can judge another person’s dharma, or spiritual lessons. The individual is at all times free to find value in all experience. Who is to say that in illness or suffering one will not develop compassion and understanding for others? Or a difficult event can’t lead to the most wonderful consequences? Even more important than releasing judgments about the life and lessons of another is to eradicate the expectation that these circumstances can be astrologically determined. They cannot.
In order to come to terms with the limits of astrology we need to ask ourselves “what can astrology tell us about the human experience?” The answer lies in each individual’s variable relationship with astrological symbols, and in astrology’s ability to allow us privileged access to the inner world of another person.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Simplified Transits
By Shelley Jordan
The transiting planets trigger a resonant response in the psyche by means of some unknown suprasensory mechanism. This can be compared to a subtle perception of aromas or background music floating through the air and the way these stimuli make us feel. The mind senses these conditions to varying degrees, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. How each person responds to astral resonances is a highly individual matter. Responses to the astral differ not only in degree. The nature of the response to any planet can fluctuate throughout a lifetime, depending on personal and environmental conditions, maturity, wisdom and acquired experience, among other factors.
Another model for viewing transits can be seen in the example of phototropism and plants. Just as plants grow in the direction of the Sun, and respond with photosynthesis, the psyche can be said to respond and grow as a result of the subtle astral light from the planets. What grows in us as a consequence of this celestial stimulus can only emerge from what is already present in the psyche, even from material that is in a dormant or unconscious form. The personality responds to the environment, to physical-emotional conditions as well as astral, but it responds with its own essence.
When transiting planets form aspects to natal planets, there are internal psychic responses of varying degrees to that transiting planet’s signal. How anyone reacts is a combination of free will interfacing with conditions in the environment. Sometimes there will be a noticeable correlation and 'transit effect' from a planet, and sometimes there may be nothing at all. The planets don't force us to behave in certain ways, nor do they 'cause' events in our lives. They are simply conditioning the psychic atmosphere in subtle ways, as well as providing a symbolic narrative that gives meaning to our lives. Many factors beside the astrological shape our experience. Astrology provides some, but not all, of the information about life and its processes. It can provide a helpful narrative and language to describe our experience, if it's used with moderation and a clear understanding of its limitations.
The more simple your astrological technique is, the better. It is more important to have psychological insight into the personality than it is to have elaborate techniques. A simple astrological approach combined with psychological savvy is the most potent tool. The astrologer is the vehicle for receiving and interpreting astrological insight, so perception and wisdom are at least as important as the method of chart analysis. Overly ornate and complex techniques interfere with perception and the communication of astrological content. It is always good to ask yourself "what kind of information can astrology provide? What are the limits of astrology?" If you expect astrology to predict the future you're in for disappointment. Astrology does not address events as much as it provides information about psychic interiority - what's happening inside us.
Here is a sketch of the messages that the planets send to our psyches:
Saturn – work time. Be focused, determined, responsible. Grow up! Be realistic. Achieve something. Find your Inner Adult.
Uranus – seek freedom. Make new contacts, liberate yourself, become more independent. Find yourself.
Neptune – live your dream. Use your imagination, develop compassion; it’s creative visualization time. Seek to express your ideal self. Find your inspiration.
Pluto – let go of the past. Time to release old patterns and make way for new growth. Cleanse and purify. Get focused, deconstruct and rebuild, renew. Find your power and use it to change yourself..
The transiting planets trigger a resonant response in the psyche by means of some unknown suprasensory mechanism. This can be compared to a subtle perception of aromas or background music floating through the air and the way these stimuli make us feel. The mind senses these conditions to varying degrees, sometimes consciously, sometimes not. How each person responds to astral resonances is a highly individual matter. Responses to the astral differ not only in degree. The nature of the response to any planet can fluctuate throughout a lifetime, depending on personal and environmental conditions, maturity, wisdom and acquired experience, among other factors.
Another model for viewing transits can be seen in the example of phototropism and plants. Just as plants grow in the direction of the Sun, and respond with photosynthesis, the psyche can be said to respond and grow as a result of the subtle astral light from the planets. What grows in us as a consequence of this celestial stimulus can only emerge from what is already present in the psyche, even from material that is in a dormant or unconscious form. The personality responds to the environment, to physical-emotional conditions as well as astral, but it responds with its own essence.
When transiting planets form aspects to natal planets, there are internal psychic responses of varying degrees to that transiting planet’s signal. How anyone reacts is a combination of free will interfacing with conditions in the environment. Sometimes there will be a noticeable correlation and 'transit effect' from a planet, and sometimes there may be nothing at all. The planets don't force us to behave in certain ways, nor do they 'cause' events in our lives. They are simply conditioning the psychic atmosphere in subtle ways, as well as providing a symbolic narrative that gives meaning to our lives. Many factors beside the astrological shape our experience. Astrology provides some, but not all, of the information about life and its processes. It can provide a helpful narrative and language to describe our experience, if it's used with moderation and a clear understanding of its limitations.
The more simple your astrological technique is, the better. It is more important to have psychological insight into the personality than it is to have elaborate techniques. A simple astrological approach combined with psychological savvy is the most potent tool. The astrologer is the vehicle for receiving and interpreting astrological insight, so perception and wisdom are at least as important as the method of chart analysis. Overly ornate and complex techniques interfere with perception and the communication of astrological content. It is always good to ask yourself "what kind of information can astrology provide? What are the limits of astrology?" If you expect astrology to predict the future you're in for disappointment. Astrology does not address events as much as it provides information about psychic interiority - what's happening inside us.
Here is a sketch of the messages that the planets send to our psyches:
Saturn – work time. Be focused, determined, responsible. Grow up! Be realistic. Achieve something. Find your Inner Adult.
Uranus – seek freedom. Make new contacts, liberate yourself, become more independent. Find yourself.
Neptune – live your dream. Use your imagination, develop compassion; it’s creative visualization time. Seek to express your ideal self. Find your inspiration.
Pluto – let go of the past. Time to release old patterns and make way for new growth. Cleanse and purify. Get focused, deconstruct and rebuild, renew. Find your power and use it to change yourself..
Saturday, March 21, 2009
The Turning Point in American Race Relations: The Astrology of Brown versus Board of Education
by Shelley Jordan
The election of Uranian Barack Obama represents a milestone in a nation that has suffered bloody conflict over its tormented racial history. This election could not have occurred without the antecedent conditions of the American Civil Rights Movement. One of America's major turning points in its violent battle with racial injustice occurred in 1954 at the closing Uranus-Neptune square. At that time, the Supreme Court struck down the legal sanctioning of separate but equal schools for blacks and whites in the groundbreaking decision Brown versus Board of Education. The revolutionary Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was Piscean Earl Warren, who authored the opinion that resulted in a rare unanimous decision by the Court. President Eisenhower believed he was appointing a safe conservative when he named Earl Warren as Chief Justice, only to discover that Earl Warren was no conservative. The appointment was viewed by Eisenhower as the biggest mistake of his presidency. The announcement of this hotly debated decision was finally released on May 17, 1954, at 1:20 PM, Washington, DC, forever changing the course of history.
Supreme Court Decision to End School Segregation
"News hunger on the matter was so intense that the Associated Press issued a flash bulletin at 12:52 PM noting simply that Warren was issuing the opinion, another at 1:12 PM saying that he "had not read far enough into the court's opinion" for reporters to discern its conclusion, and a final bulletin at 1:20 declaring that the court had struck down school segregation as unconstitutional by a vote of 8-0." Branch, Taylor: Parting the Waters: America in the King Years 1954-63; Simon and Schuster, Inc; , p. 112; 1988
At the moment school segregation was finally declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, the Moon was almost exactly full in Scorpio - the same Moon that has been referred to as the legendary Buddha Moon, under which the Buddha attained enlightenment. The Full Moon made a square to transformational Pluto in Leo in the 12th - children were the topic of this decision, which was fueled by the observed psychological damage done to black children by segregation. Mercury the messenger was poised at the Midheaven in Gemini. This communication was anxiously awaited by millions of Americans and would affect the futures of their children at nearly every level. Uranus was in Cancer (families), making the closing square to Neptune in Libra (justice).
The cycle of Uranus and Neptune was pivotal in the evolution of the civil rights movement in America. This square fell very close to Justice Warren's 7th house Cancer Moon. Saturn in Scorpio was transiting Justice Warren's radical Uranus-Midheaven conjunction (his tenure has been called the Warren Revolution). Mars and the North Node fell across his authoritative Capricorn Ascendant. (Earl Warren: March 19, 1891; 2:00 AM; Los Angeles, California. Rodden rating: A. Source: http://www.astro.com/astro-databank/Warren%2C_Earl)
The Uranus-Neptune cycle traced the evolution of America's racial struggle. Uranus represents social consciousness; Neptune is the vision required to obtain a goal. Their conjunction in 1821 heralded the beginning of the Constitutional debate over race with the 1820 Federal Law on Slave Trade, which prohibited importation of slaves, violation of which would be punishable by death. The opening square in 1868 witnessed the 14th Amendment, guaranteeing equal rights for all citizens. The opposition in 1909 saw the birth of the NAACP, one of the most effective civil rights organizations in the US. The closing square brought the full blown Civil Rights Movement and the rise of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Science and Spirituality: Twin Pillars of Astrological Thought
by Shelley Jordan
Generally speaking, today’s astrology aspires to two realms: the spiritual and the scientific. Anyone who harbors hopes for astrology’s future at the university should consider these distinctly different, complex realms, actually twin pillars of astrological thought. The impetus from these two thought systems will determine where astrology lands - in the sciences or the humanities – if it ever arrives at all.
The spiritual realm is speculative. Research and technical development are less important. Statements made about the sacred often go unquestioned. For many, their authoritative sources give them undeniable validity, as in the Bible or the Qur’an. Intuition is dominant.
In the scientific realm, truth is endlessly questioned and tested for reliability. Techniques are developed, models and procedures are created, measured.
The work of the Gauquelins obviously falls in the category of the scientific. Reincarnational astrology is clearly situated within the spiritual domain. The scientific and the spiritual need not be mutually exclusive approaches, but academia will see them as such.
Even in the domain of the spiritual, claims about past lives should be disclosed as speculative, symbolic, metaphoric, or simply the product of the astrologer’s imagination. To do less is a misrepresentation, because who can possibly know another's past lives with any genuine certainty? By what supernatural power can past lives be comprehended? Call a dream by its name. A dream can have a kind of truth and beauty, but it’s still a dream.
While reincarnation is currently conspicuous in some circles, its acceptance is not a prerequisite for the astrological model. When karma does creep into astrological discourse, it occasionally appears in a somewhat spiritually and intellectually naïve manner.
For instance, the following statement is not only entirely groundless, it is potentially damaging to the vulnerable person seeking astrological information:
“About eighty percent of Fourth House Pluto individuals have a series of prior-life experiences in which their emotional needs have not been successfully met by one or both of their parents".
Where do these numbers come from, the Bureau of Vital Statistics? On whose authority is that statement made?
Discussions of past lives and karma are often confused, baseless and inflated. Originating in the Hindu religious tradition, karma most accurately translates merely as “habit” (Karl Potter, Presuppositions of India’s Philosophies).
It wouldn’t hurt to ask how much do we, in the industrialized 21st century, honestly understand about the operative conditions of karma? Frequently in astrology, just writing a book grants immutable authority on highly complex philosophical topics that otherwise require years of study.
If astrology is to enter the university, it will have to face its limitations. It has enough problems with credibility due to its centuries-long addiction to prediction, which implies a future carved in stone - we’re mere mindless puppets attached to planetary strings. Throwing past lives into serious astrology only muddies up an already fallible system gravely in need of renovation if it’s going to be accepted as an area for scholarly study.
Reincarnational astrology will not survive in today’s universities, except as a cultural artifact. If the university setting is a goal, it must be anticipated that today’s astrology will surely change once it becomes the center of serious academic study. Revision occurs within every academic field. This is inevitable if astrology’s home is in the sciences. If astrology’s destination is the humanities, it will continue to be the focus of historians and sociologists in a field that has only recently developed. Change will undeniably occur, but of a different nature.
Having a realistic vision of astrology’s future at the university level will involve confronting some of the tradition’s most sacred cows, like prediction, exaltations, detriments and the concept of the malefic, to name only a few. There may ultimately be a schism between spiritual and scientific astrologies – between the sacred and profane.
If some astrologers insist on mentioning past lives and presenting themselves as having access to a mystical knowledge that none of the rest of us can retrieve, then they are morally obligated to disclose that they are endowed with superpowers beyond the norm. Accountability is the beginning of maturation. Astrology provides a rich enough symbolic language of the interior without needing to resort to past lives, which are best left to theologians or mystics.
Astrology’s great gift lies in its ability to describe a person’s inner world, what makes them tick. In this aspect, astrology can enhance our tolerance and compassion for other people by helping us understand another person’s behavior. It also aids in self understanding, which is a prerequsite for spiritual growth.
The work of the Gauquelins indicates that astrology may be at an unprecedented threshold – objective study and research could potentially shape an astrology that is unrecognizable one century from today. Knowing the difference between the scientific and the spiritual is a necessary preface to a new astrology, whatever it may be.
-- 'Each soul has its own religion' This means that according to his evolution so man knows the truth and the more a man knows, the more he finds there is to learn. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Generally speaking, today’s astrology aspires to two realms: the spiritual and the scientific. Anyone who harbors hopes for astrology’s future at the university should consider these distinctly different, complex realms, actually twin pillars of astrological thought. The impetus from these two thought systems will determine where astrology lands - in the sciences or the humanities – if it ever arrives at all.
The spiritual realm is speculative. Research and technical development are less important. Statements made about the sacred often go unquestioned. For many, their authoritative sources give them undeniable validity, as in the Bible or the Qur’an. Intuition is dominant.
In the scientific realm, truth is endlessly questioned and tested for reliability. Techniques are developed, models and procedures are created, measured.
The work of the Gauquelins obviously falls in the category of the scientific. Reincarnational astrology is clearly situated within the spiritual domain. The scientific and the spiritual need not be mutually exclusive approaches, but academia will see them as such.
Even in the domain of the spiritual, claims about past lives should be disclosed as speculative, symbolic, metaphoric, or simply the product of the astrologer’s imagination. To do less is a misrepresentation, because who can possibly know another's past lives with any genuine certainty? By what supernatural power can past lives be comprehended? Call a dream by its name. A dream can have a kind of truth and beauty, but it’s still a dream.
While reincarnation is currently conspicuous in some circles, its acceptance is not a prerequisite for the astrological model. When karma does creep into astrological discourse, it occasionally appears in a somewhat spiritually and intellectually naïve manner.
For instance, the following statement is not only entirely groundless, it is potentially damaging to the vulnerable person seeking astrological information:
“About eighty percent of Fourth House Pluto individuals have a series of prior-life experiences in which their emotional needs have not been successfully met by one or both of their parents".
Where do these numbers come from, the Bureau of Vital Statistics? On whose authority is that statement made?
Discussions of past lives and karma are often confused, baseless and inflated. Originating in the Hindu religious tradition, karma most accurately translates merely as “habit” (Karl Potter, Presuppositions of India’s Philosophies).
It wouldn’t hurt to ask how much do we, in the industrialized 21st century, honestly understand about the operative conditions of karma? Frequently in astrology, just writing a book grants immutable authority on highly complex philosophical topics that otherwise require years of study.
If astrology is to enter the university, it will have to face its limitations. It has enough problems with credibility due to its centuries-long addiction to prediction, which implies a future carved in stone - we’re mere mindless puppets attached to planetary strings. Throwing past lives into serious astrology only muddies up an already fallible system gravely in need of renovation if it’s going to be accepted as an area for scholarly study.
Reincarnational astrology will not survive in today’s universities, except as a cultural artifact. If the university setting is a goal, it must be anticipated that today’s astrology will surely change once it becomes the center of serious academic study. Revision occurs within every academic field. This is inevitable if astrology’s home is in the sciences. If astrology’s destination is the humanities, it will continue to be the focus of historians and sociologists in a field that has only recently developed. Change will undeniably occur, but of a different nature.
Having a realistic vision of astrology’s future at the university level will involve confronting some of the tradition’s most sacred cows, like prediction, exaltations, detriments and the concept of the malefic, to name only a few. There may ultimately be a schism between spiritual and scientific astrologies – between the sacred and profane.
If some astrologers insist on mentioning past lives and presenting themselves as having access to a mystical knowledge that none of the rest of us can retrieve, then they are morally obligated to disclose that they are endowed with superpowers beyond the norm. Accountability is the beginning of maturation. Astrology provides a rich enough symbolic language of the interior without needing to resort to past lives, which are best left to theologians or mystics.
Astrology’s great gift lies in its ability to describe a person’s inner world, what makes them tick. In this aspect, astrology can enhance our tolerance and compassion for other people by helping us understand another person’s behavior. It also aids in self understanding, which is a prerequsite for spiritual growth.
The work of the Gauquelins indicates that astrology may be at an unprecedented threshold – objective study and research could potentially shape an astrology that is unrecognizable one century from today. Knowing the difference between the scientific and the spiritual is a necessary preface to a new astrology, whatever it may be.
-- 'Each soul has its own religion' This means that according to his evolution so man knows the truth and the more a man knows, the more he finds there is to learn. Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Antoine Faivre’s Esoterology and the Techne of the Stars
by Shelley Jordan
Orphaned in the wake of the colossal epistemological crisis of the scientific revolution, astrology has long been adrift among the various disciplines of the modern era. In search of a reputable host epistémè to bolster its legitimacy and confidence, astrology has been subjected to tests and analysis, its alleged effects endlessly measured and quantified, all to no avail. Even the tantalizing promise of a 20th century scientific astrology, so thoroughly documented in Geoffrey Dean's meticulous Recent Advances in Natal Astrology, has apparently vanished under closer scrutiny as astrology continues to fail the initiatic rigors of the scientific mentality.
However, at the other end of the intellectual spectrum, in the spiritual arena of human endeavor, astrology readily finds a compatible resonance and a harmonious fit. It is in the rich flow of humanity's spiritual thoughtstreams that astrology has maintained its secured position. With its ancient conceptual roots firmly situated in the great currents of occidental esotericism, astrology has no need for an embarrassed self-justification - its practitioners need only to educate themselves about their discipline's dignified heritage and the metaphysical impetus which fostered its beginnings as one of the world's earliest systems of self-knowledge.
At the forefront of esoteric scholarship, the inestimable work of Antoine Faivre provides the seeker with some of the most rewarding jewels to be found in this emergent field. Faivre holds the chair of Modern Western Esoteric Currents at the École Pratique des Hautes Études at the Sorbonne. For the first time, this innovative discipline, so integral to the vast field of Religious Studies, is being examined as a legitimate area of our Western cultural heritage. With the majority of Faivre's intimidatingly voluminous oeuvre written in French, we are fortunate to have some of his efforts translated into English.
Faivre orients the reader in the vast landscape of esotericism by mapping out the three major rivers of thought which nourish this ensemble of discourses. These fertile rivers are the three traditional cosmological sciences: astrology, alchemy and magic (as in Renaissance magia). Faivre observes that these three great rivers, far from running dry, have flowed well into the present era, and should not be perceived as a reaction against today's dominant epistémè. On the contrary, he speculates that the esoteric quest might be a fervent expression of one of the two poles of the human spirit's efforts to actualize itself. These poles of thought, positioned at the extremes of the intellectual spectrum, are the mythic-poetic and the scientific-rational, the former category being the domain of the esoteric impulse.
While Faivre is not an historian of the astrological, and in fact, only minimally addresses astrology , his transdisciplinary work and ideas on esoteric thought provide a beautiful context and set of criteria for the practitioner of astrology hunting for an intellectual and cultural framework within which to place the techne of the stars. The esoteric is not a specific genre. Rather, it is a form of thought that directs the mind towards unrevealed, spiritual sources of knowledge by means of symbol or myth.
Esoteric insight tends to rely more on a deciphering process of interpretation, employing, through individual effort, an evolutionary elucidation of higher planes of knowledge and wisdom. Gnosis, the secret knowledge of these restricted realms of the sacred, is achieved by ascending the ladder of secret knowledge through successive stages of consciousness. Esoteric thought is an individual and introspective form of hermeneutics - a method of exploration of the interior territory covered in the spiritual quest. The value of this subjective and goal-oriented discourse lies as much in the process of ascent as in the final objectives, which are the acquisition of spiritual knowledge, and the personality's subsequent radical transmutation, which is the supreme goal and consequence of the quest.
The four intrinsic Elements inherent in the Esoteric
Faivre outlines the four intrinsic elements essential to esotericism, which are illustrated below. "We shall regard the esotericism of the modern West as an identifiable form of spirituality because of the presence of fundamental characteristics distributed in varying degrees within its vast concrete historical context. Four of these characteristics are ‘intrinsic'... There are two others, which we call ‘relative' or non-intrinsic ..." (Antoine Faivre, Modern Esoteric Spirituality, p. xiv; Crossroad Publishing Co., N.Y. 1995). Later we will examine these characteristics as they pertain to a comprehension and definition of the specifically astrological mode of thinking.
I. Correspondence. This method of thought is based on an elucidating form of analogical thinking which sees symbolic and/or real correspondences and meaningful connections between all aspects of the visible and invisible universe. The cosmos itself is perceived as an animated and integrated reticulum teeming with information that is waiting to be interpreted and decoded. Our hieroglyphically encoded universe is heavily laden with meaningful content, at once concealing and revealing its own mysteries. The ancient idea of the microcosm and macrocosm is fundamental to this view of nature-cosmos existing as an organic totality, unified through subtly interconnected symbolic links.
II. Living Nature. The cosmos is alive - an intricate, plural and hierarchical unicity. Nature, which is multi-layered and vitally essential to cosmic unity, is rich in potential spiritual revelation, waiting to be interpreted and read as one reads a book. The universe is an integrated living, breathing network of sympathies which bind and unify Nature. A palpitating fire circulates throughout Nature, permeating it with a pulsating life force. This fiery quality animates Nature, which in itself is an expression and incarnation of the throbbing energetic power of a conscious cosmos. Therefore, Nature, saturated with meaning and spiritual content, participates in the esoteric quest for salvation, providing a mystical path for soteriological gnosis.
III. Imagination and mediation. Imagination (related to magnet, magia and imago) is that crucial faculty which enables symbols, myths and images to be used as intermediaries for gnostic ends. Imagination itself is an "organ of the soul" through which mankind can access a richly inhabited inner world, or mesocosm. By means of this "interiorism," one can achieve entry into the deeper layers of the self, by which process the psyche can aspire and ascend toward spiritual knowledge. Symbols, myths and "signatures" of the world operate as mediators which allow the various levels of reality - from the visible to the invisible - to be linked. Here imagination takes on an ontological dignity, and is distinguished from mere fantasy, which is the lower expression of this faculty. Understood in this sense, imagination becomes a vehicle for spiritual practices and inner knowledge.
According to Paracelsus, God created the universe by imagining it; man, in his turn, created in God's own image, has analogically similar creative powers at his disposal. Through the sacred creative potency innate to the imagination, the human mind can visualize and access the meaningful content inherent in nature's endless hieroglyphs. For Paracelsus, the imagination is the intermediary which lies between thinking and being. (Antoine Faivre, Theosophy, Imagination and Tradition, pp. 102-103, State University of New York, Albany, 2000).
By establishing a rapport with the mundus imaginalis, that vivid inner world which connects the personality to the secret spiritual knowledge concealed in mediating symbols and images, the personality advances to ever higher levels of awareness. Imagination is then a vehicle which facilitates gnostic illumination of the self, the world and of myth. It pierces the surface world of appearances, heightening perception of those secreted invisible connections that unify the cosmos, suffusing it with meaning.
IV. The experience of transmutation. Without the potential outcome of transmutation, Faivre states, all the threads of the esoteric would spin out as mere speculative spirituality. There must be some purpose served by the pursuit of that illuminated knowledge which leads to gnosis and a "second birth". The concept of transformation is inadequate to describe this process of moving from one plane of reality to higher levels of being.
More accurately, spiritual gnosis leads to a process of metamorphic transfiguration reminiscent of (I would say) Richard Wagner's conception of "Verklärung" - a redemptive rebirth following the dissolution and cleansing of old forms. The specific goal and function of the esoteric process lies in this regeneration, which is often described in alchemical symbolic terms: nigredo (death, decapitation); albedo (whitening); rubedo (reddening, philosopher's stone). Faivre notes the similarity here to the three stages of the traditional mystical path: purgation, illumination, unification.
Astrology as an Esoteric Technology
In this section, I will apply some of Faivre's criteria for the esoteric as they relate directly to a spiritual application of astrology. In addition, I will add my own opinions and commentaries.
Correspondence lies at the very heart of astrological thinking. The foundation of this system of thought is the analogical perspective, which postulates the strong internal cohesion of the cosmos. This organic integrity relies on an intimate association between the spiritual and the material planes of existence. Planets, states of consciousness, and the world of material objects are analogically linked because of their shared symbolic and meaningful content within the unifying network of universal sympathies.
In spite of several centuries of failed efforts to ‘scientize' astrology, it remains consistently and comfortably congruent with this kind of spiritual language and impulse, a viable alternative modality of comprehending the cosmic reality. While the degradation of its tradition and obfuscation of its nobility of character and impulse cannot be denied, astrology is, at its heart, a cosmological philosophy of another order, one which addresses a primordial and divine essence buried in the depths of mankind's being.
When Nature is seen as a manifestation of the sacred, the solar system itself becomes a hierophany. The tropical zodiac, an information-rich energy fabric, is generated by the cyclical processes of Nature. The planets, as part of our living cosmos, are inhabitants of our expanded natural world. Extending the Gaia hypothesis, which poetically views the Earth as an animate organism imbued with consciousness, planets take on a functional vitality and an inherent life-force, which, in their interactions with the living, vibrating milieu of the zodiac create a generative cosmic placenta, spiritually and energetically nourishing to all life forms. (Nasr traces the idea of Earth as a living organism back to Plato, who, in the Timaeus spoke of Earth as a "great animal", which tradition was repeated by "numerous medieval philosophers and scientists in the Islamic world as well as among Jews and Christians.", Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Knowledge and the Sacred, p. 117, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1989).
Seen from this vantage point, astrology becomes a spiritual philosophy of nature. The value of astrology lies in its potential aptitude for expressing the language of the interior experiential subjective realms. In this capacity it acts as a mediating vehicle for introspection, encouraging that inner enlightenment which is brought about by an encounter with the authentic Self as it unites with the sacred groundwater of its own being.
Sensitive and prudent interpretation of astrological symbols can stimulate and exercise the higher, intuitive faculties of the mind, leading to insight and the singular phenomenon which is essential to the esoteric experience - that particular revelation of the sacred essence within consciousness which leads to transfiguration. The rewards of such spiritual awakening are wisdom, a sense of meaning in one's life and place in the universe, and ultimately, liberation. "He who knows himself knows everything" (Hermetic Definitions, 9.4)
Here we are addressing an astrology which is far removed from the divinatory, the scientistic or the psycho-pathological, all of which are current trends in modern astrology. An incorrect use and abuse of astrology can actually exacerbate anxiety, superstition and a form of spiritual bigotry which is a remnant of its ancient biases, still present in today's astrological world. (see my "Repression of the Feminine in Astrology", http://cura.free.fr/decem/08jordan.html) This indulgence in the almost morbid side of a fatalistic astrology only serves to increase the neurotic alienation and helplessness already symptomatic of this modern era.
The delusional idea of ‘good' and ‘evil' rays emanating from the heavens is untrue, counterproductive, and is, like its divinatory claims, an unhealthy, tenaciously adhering artifact of an early, misdirected astrological theory. Fabrications such as these harbor primitive fears of the demonic. These infantile remnants corrupt the truth of astrology as well as discourage many individuals from exploring its possibilities. It is easy to dismiss a fraudulent predictive and paranoid philosophy of fate. A spirituality void of evil offers a healthier viability, and an exploratory environment free of fear.
The merit of what can be gained from the astrological experience is measured almost exclusively by its subjective rewards - the benefits of a personal and spiritual disclosure, which, in its most successful achievement, leads ultimately to a radical transfiguration of self. We are not speaking here of a common, mundane astrologia vulgaris used for betting on horse races. This is an entirely different matter, a corrupt hallucination of the masses, relegated to the philosophically empty world of a bankrupt materialism irrelevant to the spiritual path. By the time astrological symbols reach the level of pop culture, they experience a decay of meaning, and a loss of their spiritual currency.
As the seeker of inner wisdom exercises the symbolic, inspired language of a purified astrology for the sake of exploring one's personal inner geography, the initiatic power of the imagination (in the sense in which it is described by Faivre) is activated during the translation and interpretative process. The astrological realm is that mundus imaginalis in which occurs a philosophical contemplation of spiritual symbols rich in meaningful content. The dynamic process of symbolic deliberation stimulates the associative, interpretive penetration of the mythic layers of consciousness.
This form of spiritual revelation must by necessity be accomplished through a special intellectual intuition accessed by seeing through the opened "eye of the heart". (Scientia sacra is the phrase used by Nasr to describe that "intellectual intuition which involves the illumination of the heart and the mind of man ... the sapience which the Islamic tradition refers to as ‘presential knowledge'..." It is through this intellectual intuition that certain individuals are capable of direct contact with the spiritual. Knowledge and the Sacred, p.130).
The initiatic strengthening of the imagination through the active use of sacred symbols, within which images of psyche and cosmos are mirrored, paves neuro-associative pathways to that spiritual center of wisdom which is the ultimate object of this reflective, mythopoeic process. Jñana, the Sanskrit term for wisdom, is etymologically related to gnosis and knowing, all referring to that special kind of numinous awareness which is the gift of the spiritual path.
The degree to which astrology is successful as a mediating gnostic technology of the sacred is relative to the innate affinities and predisposition for such processes within the individual seeker/astrologer. If only the rational faculties are readily available within a given psyche, the consequential results probably won't be of much benefit. For the average reader of the popular, mass-market cookbook, this rarified astrological exploration of the spiritual is likely to be completely alien. The astrological path of gnosis is not for everyone.....
Imagine for a moment the value to be gained by the musically uneducated in viewing the highly intricate musical score of Don Giovanni. Even listening to a full-length recording of that work - exquisitely performed by a virtuosic ensemble - would not do much for an ear unaccustomed to that kind of musical experience. Likewise, perusing astrological symbols without some degree of aptitude and well-informed experience in their interpretation would be a hollow exercise. To take this example one step further, a performance of Mozart's masterwork by a third-rate group of musicians would also never yield the transcendent beauties inherent in that opera. In a similar fashion, many well-intended writings by today's typical astrophile, however pure their motivation, provide an inadequate view of the dormant powers lying latent in astrology's symbolic discourse.
In its highest manifestation, the process of exercising the symbol-interpreting faculties of an educated receptive mind by means of astrological images and ciphers, provides a link-forming pathway to inner knowledge. The continual practice and internalization of this type of symbolic thinking strengthens and empowers the psyche's potential for self-revelation.
As the various facets of self are realized and integrated, the wholeness of the microcosmic psyche can begin the process of transcendence and union with the greater whole - the macrocosmic universal. A path towards the oneness of existence is begun with the realization and integration of the fragmented self - a conscious assessment and fusion of the disparate facets of the psyche represented by the factors in the birth chart.
Astrology, in its most elevated form, is a sacred technology which can lead to gnostic illumination of the soul and its unique relation to the cosmic environs. The use of astrological analogy provides a means of metaphysical seeing, a way of grasping the inner meaning of spiritual existence beyond the body and the physical world. One key to the supernal ordering principle lies in the symbolic discourse of astrology.
Employed in this way, and not as a mere form of philosophically empty divination, astrology becomes an esoteric vehicle for spiritual insight and unfolding - a form of spiritual self-therapy. As such, it might be seen as a gnostic alternative to science or religion, which are the doctrines which dominate today's thought systems. While astrology seems to fall short in its efforts at dealing with the physical world of material causes, in its most serious application, it is an esoteric device with which one can speculate on the ‘book of nature' within the human psyche - a gnosis-oriented technology of the sacred. ("The Quran often calls Nature a book which is the macrocosmic counterpart of the Quran itself and which must be read and understood before it can be put away.", Seyyed Hossein Nasr, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, p. 2, footnote 2, Shambala Publications, Boulder, Co. 1978).
Increasingly, the scholarly world is awakening to the third unrecognized pillar of western tradition. It has long been acknowledged that religion and rational science are the two primary supports of western civilization. The currents of the esoteric thought system are now being recognized as a third major contributing source to our cultural heritage. (See van den Broeck and Hanegraff, eds., Gnosis and Hermeticism, p. vii, State University of New York Press, Albany, 1998).
The desacralizing rationality of a secular science has not only banished the spiritual from the modern world, but as an intellectual instrument itself is incapable of comprehending it. Science's reign of cultural sovereignty and its unjustified claim that it is "the" only authentic knowledge persecute a degenerate astrology, still enmeshed with palmistry, tarot and the like. This decayed and tired astrology today has barely the strength and resources to justify itself, so crippled is it in thought and language by its own obsolete dogma. (See Nasr's discussion of René Guénon , whose "greatest criticism of modern science was its lack of metaphysical principles and its pretension or rather, the pretension of those who claim to speak from the ‘scientific point of view' to be the science or the way of knowing, whereas it is a science or a way of knowing concerned with a very limited domain of reality", in Knowledge and the Sacred, pp. 101-110).
And now, as the immense weight of science attempts to crush the life out of it, astrology faces the necessity of undergoing a purification and transmutation all its own. This vajrayana path of cleansing and rebirth can only occur if astrology willfully and vigilantly examines itself, with an eye towards eradicating the moribund baggage of the centuries of superstitions which thwart its advancement to its next level of purpose.
The Birth Chart of Antoine Faivre
My sincere thanks to Professor Faivre, who kindly shared his birth chart with me. I was curious to see if his chart revealed any affinities with his area of work.
The predominant themes in Professor Faivre's chart are Mercurial and Neptunian. His Sun is in Gemini, his Moon in Pisces. Mercury and Neptune, which are in sextile, are the planets closest to the angles of his chart. Mercury is in Neptune's house (the 12th), conjunct the Ascendant and aspecting Neptune, which is in Mercury's sign and house (in Virgo in the 3rd) . Neptune also aspects his Sun - both Neptune and the Sun are in signs ruled by Mercury.
The ruler of this historian's Cancer Ascendant is his Pisces Moon in his 10th house of authority and career. He has Neptune, the ruler of his MC in Virgo - the sign associated with work, detail and the analytical function - in the 3rd house of the intellect and communication, amplified by its conjunction to his IC. Mercury, the ruler of his 4th and of his Gemini Sun, is in the 12th house, the imaginative realm of dreams, images and symbols.
Professor Faivre's sensitive and sublime discussions of the imagination (Mercury-Neptune) are a splendid fit for understanding the Neptunian function in the human psyche. Neptune represents the faculties of imagination, dreaming, and inner spirituality, as well as the capacities for inspiration and ecstatic experiences of beauty. Neptune is often seen in prominent positions in the charts of highly gifted individuals, and there is no doubt that Professor Faivre is one of the most gifted scholars I have ever come across. This Neptunian facility, when combined with high intelligence, describes a kind of immense conceptual melting pot, capable of internalizing and processing huge amounts of information and of managing numerous strands of thought.
Gemini is also well-represented in the chart, certainly illustrating Faivre's intellectual curiosity, flexibility, and literary talents. The Pisces-Gemini, Mercury-Neptune themes focus on his attraction to intellectual topics that have symbolic, mystical, artistic and philosophical content. This mutability explains his predisposition to the highly diversified study of esoterology, a complex field which is at the "crossroad of various fields."
In Faivre's own words, Mercurius "is the god who stands at the crossroads, who bridges the gaps; he is the interpreter par excellence - the interpreter of signs, of texts, and he is therefore instrumental in enabling Man to pass through various levels of Reality." (Gnosis and Hermeticism, pp 109-110).
While Professor Antoine Faivre has no "theological, metaphysical, esoteric (or in one word, crypto-religionist) agenda whatsoever," nor do his works "aim at spreading, fostering or encouraging esoteric worldviews, whichever they might be" (personal correspondence), he nonetheless has a remarkable and atypical aptitude for contributing to a better understanding of particular long-neglected ideas from our western cultural heritage. As only "like can know like", we can appreciate that a Neptunian spirit such as Faivre's would rediscover, comprehend and translate the traditions of the sacred for us.
"Since only the like can know the like, the secularized reason which became the sole instrument of knowing in modern times could not but leave its mark and effect upon everything that it studied. All subjects studied by a secularized instrument of knowledge came out to be depleted and devoid of the quality of the sacred. The profane point of view could only observe a profane world in which the sacred did not play a role. The quest of the typically modern man has been in fact to "kill the gods" wherever he has been able to find them and to banish the sacred from a world which has been rapidly woven into a new pattern drawn from the strands issuing from a secularized mentality." (Nasr, Knowledge and the Sacred, pp. 43-44)
See the Bibliography of Antoine Faivre's Works in DOC format.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Captain Chesley Sullenberger: Chiron in Action
By Shelley Jordan
Chironian Captain Chesley Sullenberger has currently been in the news for his heroic, safe landing of his US Airways plane on the Hudson River.* All passengers survived.
A former fighter pilot with two masters degrees, one in industrial psychology and one in public administration, this highly educated, travelling Sagittarius rising hero has Chiron conjunct his Ascendant. An exemplary pilot, Captain Sullenberger also runs a safety consultant firm. As a true representative of the Chironian archetype he is an educator, role model and mentor for others. He has Sun in scientific Aquarius in the financial 2nd house, exactly trine a balanced, authoritative Saturn in Libra in the long distance 9th house – in air signs, no less. Venus, the ruler of his professional 10th, is also in Aquarius in the 2nd house, exactly trine Neptune, lord of the watery realms, in his 10th. I don’t know how a chart could be more descriptive of a gifted sovereign of the air. Completing the themes of travel and education, Jupiter, the ruler of his Sag Ascendant, is in the 3rd house (it was an airbus) trine the ruler of humane Aquarius, Uranus in the 7th. All his passengers were safely escorted off the soggy plane.
Where’s the perceptual precision in his chart? Mercury is in realistic, responsible Capricorn in the 1st, opposite Uranus, quickening his reflexes. Mercury is also square Saturn in the 9th, enhancing his powers of concentration and disciplined focus. Mercury’s aspect to the 9th house Saturn also describes Captain Sullenberger’s educational achievements. I’ve seen this combination of Mercury with Saturn and Uranus in the charts of intelligent, intellectually disciplined people with fast, analytical minds. Mercury’s sextile to Jupiter in the 3rd, gives him a perspicatious view of a given situation.
Born at the Full Moon in heroic Leo, Captain Sullenberger is currently in the limelight while Jupiter and the recent solar eclipse in Aquarius are near his Sun in the 2nd . At the time of the crash, Jupiter was conjunct his Sun. Uranus was conjunct his 3rd house North Node in watery Pisces, a transit which could only enhance his already alert, focused mind. This recent event can’t hurt his business, which is all about safety. He’s literally a walking (or flying) advertisment for his own product.
Let’s hope this recent heroic close call is a metaphor for all of us and together we’ll have a collective safe landing from this current crisis.
*(January 23, 1951; 5:06 AM; Denison, TX – thanks to Pam Young for the birth time; airbus landed in the Hudson on January 15, 2009 at 3:30 PM, 6 minutes after takeoff, according to Newsday: http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/nation/ny-ussull256012022jan25,0,829112.story))
Friday, February 6, 2009
The Astrological Charts of the Aquarian Octuplets
By Shelley Jordan
A fascinating but controversial event has occurred following January’s solar eclipse in scientific Aquarius. A single mother in California has recently given birth to the second surviving set of octuplets in the United States, thanks to in vitro fertilization. As any mother knows, a new born baby is a lot of work. The job of taking care of eight of them is mind boggling. Called a “grave error” by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, the pregnancy ended prematurely with the live delivery of the eight babies.
These infants were born right after the solar eclipse on January 27, only five minutes apart, according to the Kaiser Permanente Hospital spokeswoman. The first was born at 10:43 AM, the last at 10:48 AM in Bellflower, California.* The babies were born by Caesarian section to Nadya Suleman, a single, unemployed mother of six, who lives with her own mother. These circumstances are raising a public debate over the ethics and lack of controls in the unregulated fertilization marketplace during the current Saturn-Uranus opposition. Saturn, representing the law, limits and responsibility, is currently facing off independent, scientific and rebellious Uranus.
Pubic debate is productive, and usually occurs as a consequence of disagreement and conflict. A number of physicians who were interviewed about this event are in opposition to the lack of controls that led to these risky births in an already dangerously overpopulated world. Normally, in vitro fertilization procedure would not permit the gestation of as many as eight embryos, which would cause risk to both mother and infants.
The charts of the infants are interesting: while only born within 5 minutes of each other, the first has pioneering Aries rising (!), while the slowest one hanging out in the back of the uterus has deliberate Taurus on the Ascendant. Using Koch houses, there are no differences in the house placements or degrees of the planets – only the Ascendant shows any remarkable distinction, with a sign change from Aries to Taurus, and a one degree difference on the Capricorn Midheaven.
The Suleman octuplets have a massing of planets in Capricorn and Aquarius in the 10th and 11th houses, reiterated by the Saturn-Uranus oppostion. Saturn rules Capricorn, Uranus rules Aquarius. No doubt they will be high profile, and in the news for years to come because of their Uranian uniqueness and the ethical debate they’ve sparked. Like the first test tube baby, these infants are the result of science on the cutting edge. Their planets in Aquarius resonate with their scientific origins, and their undoubted place in the public’s view. These babies will belong to the masses, both in their story and in the controversy their birth has stirred. They will also possibly rely on financial support from taxpayer dollars in a threatened economy. One article described the mother as a “professional student” living off grants and parental support.
The octuplets have Mercury retrograde, which often indicates a mind which thinks for itself. These children will have to make up their own minds about a lot of things, since much about them may be under the public and medical microscope. Further, this Mercury is conjunct Mars in paternal Capricorn at the Midheaven. They will be the object of much lively discussion among law makers and physicians. There was no information in the press at this time about any actual father figure in the lives of these babies, although birth records have revealed the name of the father of the first four, and possibly all of Suleman’s brood. With Pluto, the Midheaven, Mercury and Mars in Capricorn, the father archetype will probably be something that bears some weight in their lives – either through one appearing in the family, or in their quest to fill the father’s role, or in their internalization and invention of their concept of what a father’s role is. Perhaps there will be intervention from some outside authority.
In addition to planets in Capricorn, the Suleman octuplets have a conjunction of Sun, Jupiter and the North Node in the 10th in Aquarius. Saturn is in Virgo near the 6th house cusp, aspecting Mercury-Mars in Capricorn and Neptune in Aquarius in the 11th. The Virgo-Aquarius combination can represent social service. Their mother, who was described by her recently hired publicity spokesman as “very bright and engaging”, has a degree in psychology and hopes to continue toward a master’s degree. One has to wonder how a single, unemployed mother can puruse education while raising 14 children, one of whom is autistic, according to the media. The state may have to intervene in the form of social workers to lend some support and structure to what sounds like a sadly chaotic situation.
Their Moon is less than one degree from Neptune in individualistic Aquarius. How realistic was this mother, who sought more children than the 6 she already had? Even her own mother said “obviously, she overdid herself”. Suleman is hoping for a television career as a child rearing specialist and is said to be juggling book deals and other business offers. Clearly hoping to raise her brood in the public eye, it is a good thing these children have so much Capricorn and Aquarius, indicating a solid work ethic, and group and community orientation. They form their own little Aquarian tribe of eight.
Suddenly the most sought after mom in the world, according to one Fox news report, Suleman has thus far been relying for the most part on the support of her own parents, who have themselves fallen on hard times, and had to leave their home in California. In addition, the grandmother has had to seek the help of a psychologist to deal with her daughter’s obsession with pregnancy and having children. However, another Fox news article said that the prolific mother is receiving some harsh criticism and no support or sympathy from companies and a public who often shower unusual newborns with money, services and gifts.
The mother of the babies, while raised by traditional parents, is described by her own mother as having been obsessed with having children since she was a teenager, but has always refused to get married. The grandmother says that she herself was raised in a traditional way. The planets in Capricorn and Aquarius describe both a traditional and a rebellious or individualistic approach to life. This dynamic is underlined by the Saturn-Uranus opposition. Since Capricorn and Aquarius are the signs of maturity and the experience of old age, perhaps these children will have a great deal of contact with their grandparents or other older, responsible adults or family members, although Suleman’s father has recently said he is returning to his native Iraq.
From interviews in the media, the mother of the octuplets sounds somewhat unstable and seems to be suffering from some kind of mental/emotional disorder, similar to obsessive-compulsive disorder. She’s turned herself into a virtual Grand Central Station for souls. Her own mother, whom she has leaned on with a kind of aggressive dependency, has threatened to leave home when her daughter returns from the hospital with her huge, new litter of babes. One can only send thoughts of sympathy and compassion to these new little ones and their mother, and hope that some kind of stable structure and family life will appear for them.
In any event, the whole issue of fertility treatment and regulation is now in the foreground as of the Aquarius solar eclipse in January. The Saturn-Uranus opposition in Pisces-Virgo speaks to the medical and psychiatric dimensions of this controversy. Since Aquarius is not only science, but also adoption, perhaps this can help direct people’s attention to all the parentless children already living who need loving, nurturing homes and families.
* http://living.oneindia.in/insync/2009/octuplets-birth-290109.html
Monday, January 26, 2009
Presidential Oath Take 2: Mercury Retrograde is at it Again!
By Shelley Jordan
In a quintessential demonstration of the slippery Mercury retrograde phenomenon, President Obama and Chief Justice Roberts executed the presidential swearing in ceremony a second time, due to the minor botches made by both men in the previous day’s formalities. Astrological legend relates that actions performed during Mercury retrograde periods will have to be repeated. A kind of cosmic spellcheck, these little episodes of which the Presidential swearing in is a typical example, can occur during the three annual intervals when Mercury backs up and retraces its steps through the Zodiac for purposes of review and assessment.
I frankly love the chart for the repeated oath, which occurred on January 21, at 7:35 PM. The first degree of impeccable Virgo is on the Ascendant. Nothing less than perfection will work for our alert new President, who has Mars, the warrior planet, in Virgo. Capacity for detail is one of his most effective weapons. This kind of attention to precision, seen in this careful honoring of the specifics of the Constitution and his contracts, not to mention being prepared for the nitpicking attacks from right wing demagogues, originates in President Obama’s exacting Mars in Virgo in his contractual 8th house. Currently, Saturn, the solar system's chief executive officer, is lingering directly over the Presidential Mars, making sure every i is dotted and t is crossed. In fact, Saturn in perfectionistic Virgo is prominently positioned in the 1st house of the chart for his repeated oath, monitoring the whole process.
The Moon in the chart of this second run at the oath is in Sagittarius in the homey 4th house. This time President Obama swore his loyalty to the Constitution right in his own new abode, in the Map Room of the White House. The Moon is traveling through the closing phases of its last lunation, making plenty of dynamic aspects in the process. So those who may have had some angst over the initial oath’s Void of Course Moon at the final degree of Scorpio won’t have to worry any more. The lively Moon for the retake is preparing for its upcoming lunation, when it makes its conjunction to the Sun on January 26. This will not only be the New Moon that launches the current, cutting edge administration. It will also be a potent Solar Eclipse. This scintillating, impending New Moon at the forward-looking North Node is conjunct an erudite Jupiter in Aquarius, very close to President Obama’s own optimistic, brilliant and populist Jupiter, which is also in Aquarius. The expansive New Moon douses his Jupiter return with a healthy shot of pristine and fresh vitality, reiterating his faith and confidence in the people of the United States.
The impending Solar Eclipse in scientific, rational Aquarius also characterizes the first online presidential administration we’ve ever had, not to mention our first technologically literate President. Open to the public and accessible via the Internet, President Obama’s administration will continue to invite everyone to view and participate in our government. This is the change we’ve needed, and its time has arrived.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Harmonious Alignments: The Charts of President Obama, Martin Luther King and the 2009 Inauguration
By Shelley Jordan
I was stunned by the uncanny similarity of alignments between the birth charts of President Barack Obama, Dr. Martin Luther King and the positions of the planets on Inauguration Day 2009. The birth of the new presidency began at the moment the oath of office was administered at 12:08 PM. It’s as if, all along, the benevolent spirit of Dr. King has been presiding over the unfolding of this miraculous phenomenon from some protective, celestial vantage point. The Inauguration even followed Martin Luther King Day, a metaphor that was lost on no one. All three of these charts share highly specific astrological details that illustrate the principles of idealism, compassion and community that link these men and their commitment to advancing the human condition.
The precision that underlies the shared planetary placements in these three charts is an astrologer’s dream. The Inauguration is the event that links the mission of Martin Luther King to the remarkable election of Barack Obama. To begin with, the Ascendants for the Inauguration and for Dr. King are only degrees apart in tenacious, peaceful Taurus, where values persist with moral fortitude. Will the Obama presidency embody the same tireless perseverance and resolve in the face of adversity that Martin Luther King displayed in his role as leader of the American civil rights movement?
The Inauguration chart and Dr. King both have planets in compassionate, visionary Pisces in the 11th house of community. Dr. King’s Venus is conjunct the Moon in Pisces in the 11th; the Inauguration chart has Venus conjunct Uranus in Pisces in the 11th. Inaugural Uranus is even in exactly the same degree in Pisces as Dr. King’s Moon. This election fulfills Martin Luther King’s Piscean Moon dream of a desegregated society in which an African-American could be elected to the highest office. The Uranus transit to Dr. King’s Moon describes the swift and unexpected ascent of Uranian Barack Obama to the nation’s highest office. President Obama has Aquarius rising with Uranus conjunct the Descendent.
Dr. King’s Sun is in exactly the same degree as President Obama’s executive Saturn in Capricorn, a sign admired for its responsibility and leadership. Dr. King and the Inauguration chart have the Midheaven in the same degree of Capricorn, where prudence and industry attract positions of leadership. Capricorn and Saturn represent the father archetype. As the pater familias of the civil rights movement, Martin Luther King may be a spiritual father to the fatherless Obama.
Dr. King’s brilliant, oratorial 10th house Mercury is in populist Aquarius. It is close to the inaugural chart’s Mercury in Aquarius, which is also in the 10th house. In the chart of the Inauguration, Mercury is closely conjunct the Sun, Jupiter, and the nearby North Node. President Obama’s “Yes We Can” Jupiter is in Aquarius in exactly the same degree as Inaugural Jupiter in Aquarius. The Inauguration precisely marked President Obama’s 4th Jupiter return to the very degree.
The Inaugural Moon is only 1° from Dr. King’s South Node of the Moon in Scorpio. Both Dr. King and the Obama presidency inherited circumstances necessitating urgent transformation, and both promised a rebirth from repressive, crisis conditions. Emotional intensity ran high during Dr. King’s tenure and during the events that lead to President Obama’s oath of office.
Last, one has to take note of the infamous Mercury retrograde in the Inaugural chart. Astrological legend relates that actions performed during Mercury retrograde will have to be repeated. Will President Obama have to be sworn in all over again? He already has! The day following the Inauguration, when he flubbed the lines of his oath of office, he and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. decided to retake the oath of office - just to be on the safe side.
The Inaugural Chart is a declaration of liberty and humanity that echoes the idealistic societal dreams reflected in Dr. King’s 11th house visionary Moon-Venus in Pisces. The Inaugural chart, with Mercury, Sun, Jupiter and the North Node all collaberating in Aquarius at the Midheaven, describes the new President – a unique leader with intellect, vision, and a progressive outlook. Those qualities are echoed in President Obama’s Ascendant, Jupiter and South Node in Aquarius, with Uranus at the North Node and Descendent. These leitmotivs of freedom, intellectual brilliance and global egalitarianism are the consummate ideals of Neptune’s current transit of Aquarius.
Looking at the similarities in the charts of Dr. Martin Luther King, President Barack Obama and the 2009 Inauguration bring to mind a stream of humanitarian consciousness and idealistic lineages such as seen in the great succession of Dalai Lamas and other leaders of compassionate and altruistic traditions. This newborn presidency gives rise to optimism and hope for a fresh stage of social evolution.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Putting it to the Klan: Sagittarian Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center
By Shelley Jordan
Along with the election of Barack Obama, another victory for progress occurred during last month’s dramatic Saturn-Uranus opposition. You may have heard news reports about the November 14th legal trouncing of the Imperial Klans of America, a white supremacist hate group that models itself after the Ku Klux Klan. That battle was fought by invincible civil rights attorney Morris Dees and the Southern Poverty Law Center. A crushing $2.5 million verdict was won against Klan leaders for the brutal beating of a Kentucky teenager, an American citizen of Panamanian descent.
I contacted the SPLC asking for Mr. Dees’ birth information, which they kindly and promptly supplied: December 16, 1936; 9:30 PM; Shorter, Alabama. When asked about the source, his executive assistant said that she believed that the information provided by Mr. Dees himself came from his birth certificate.
What are the characteristics we’d expect to see in the charts of successful trial attorneys? For one thing, they have to be confident and entertaining, with a gift for the theatrical. It’s no easy task to keep the judge and jury engaged and focused. Morris Dees has Leo rising, with the Sun in principled Sagittarius. The Sun’s radiance is amplified by its conjunction to Jupiter in Capricorn in the 5th, and is further strengthened by its conjunction with the North Node and a trine to the Ascendant. This is a lionhearted personality, larger than life.
This emphasis on the Sun and Jupiter immediately limns an expansive solar hero with an epic mission – a fiery leader, with self confidence, warmth, an outgoing personality and the heart to back it up. Sagittarius seeks meaning in a life often defined by a quest or calling. The Southern Poverty Law Center, founded by Morris Dees, has had numerous victories over the Klan and other hate groups, obtaining huge money judgments for their clients, consequently bankrupting these festering malignancies. Using the law as his weapon, Morris Dees has the grit and resolve to obtain money for his clients, fighting for equality armed with his 2nd house Mars in Libra.
Charismatic Neptune in Virgo is in his 1st house in a service oriented dynamic with Saturn in Pisces in the 7th. The Saturn-Uranus opposition of his recent November victory fell right across this configuration. Transiting Jupiter in Capricorn was trining his Neptune at that time, helping to fatten up the enormous judgment he won for the Kentucky teen, whose unfortunate injuries will follow him throughout his life.
A great trial lawyer has to have verbal and intellectual gifts, so it’s not surprising to see the element air and Uranus in high profile. Along with Mars in Libra , the Moon, Venus and the Descendent are in Aquarius, with Uranus square Moon-Venus. This square is characteristic of intellectual gifts matched by profound, individualistic personal will and a dogged stubbornness.
Law school is challenging enough, but that’s only the beginning of an attorney’s grind. An effective lawyer has to be quick, analytical, disciplined and able to retain enormous quantities of data. Morris Dees has Mercury in structured, determined Capricorn in a conjunction to Jupiter – here is loquacious brainpower that grasps the big picture; Mercury is also in an electric trine to Uranus in Taurus in the 9th house. Innate business acumen contributes to the success of the SPLC.
With his Mercury-Jupiter conjunction in the 5th house, Morris Dees is an engaging story teller and moving orator. Boyishly handsome, he emanates intelligence, his soft spoken southern drawl and modest, gentle demeanor invoke instant likability, giving the impression of great inner strength, and a casual, perceptive wit.
Where would we see the humanitarian, populist tendencies that drive Morris Dees to run his non-profit civil rights law firm? Look to the potent configuration involving his Aquarius Moon conjunct Venus in the 6th house of service – evidence of tolerance, fairness and sympathy to the human condition. This benevolent, folksy Moon–Venus forms a defiant T-square involving Uranus in the idealistic 9th house (a belief in freedom). A fearless opposition to Pluto in the collective 11th completes the configuration.
This combination underscores the intellect. It also describes a philanthropic, emotionally powerful and independent but kind nature with a strong drive for reform and a natural attraction to power struggles. The Uranian personality, especially in combination with Sagittarius, can lean towards outrageous behavior, and a personal fondness for shocking people. No one can tell them what to do.
Moon-Venus in Aquarius in the 6th must find heartfelt emotional satisfaction from his work and the rewarding relationships and social networks he forms through his dedicated service. Home and family are intimately connected with his work; coworkers may enjoy a familial bond with him and he may virtually live at work, which could be his second home.
Punctuating the altruism of Morris Dees’ Aquarian Moon-Venus, compassionate Neptune in Virgo is in his 1st house opposite Saturn in Pisces in the 7th. The Southern Poverty Law Center was founded on the dream of equality championed by Dr. Martin Luther King. Mr. Dees was already independently wealthy at an early age from his publishing company when he started the SPLC.
Morris Dees, who can be moved to tears by the plight of his clients, has made many sacrifices in his fight for the underdog. Constant threats are made on his life by the hate mongers that he relentlessly pursues. His office was firebombed in July, 1983. A wall of body guards surrounds him and his home. His Aquarius planets may help him emotionally detach from the ongoing threats and hostility that spew from threatened racist scum.
Neptune is square his Sun, an aspect frequently seen in the charts of gifted and inspired individuals. Saturn and the Sun both represent the father. Their conditions in this birth chart indicate some influence from the father on his humanitarian work. Mr. Dees grew up on a modest farm in the deep south. His father whooped him when he was 6 years old for making a racist remark about a field hand. His father also supported the efforts of black farmers while the Jim Crow era of flagrant racial hate and segregation raged in the South. Neptune opposite Saturn in Pisces and square the Sun in Sagittarius describe a sensitive, idealistic, possibly vulnerable father image. His father encouraged him to study law, and he himself is an educator. He runs a national program that teaches tolerance to school children.
Morris Dees is one of the great heroes of the American Civil Rights Movement. This Sagittarian crusader is clearly a person operating on a higher plane, fighting for human rights, fairness and the greater good. He fearlessly puts his life on the line so others can have their rights.
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Morris Dees at CSU Sonoma State University:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7C3T7mtQhUw
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