Example astrology chart, showing planetary relationships to each other, and to the earth (geocentric view).
Interpretations and conclusions are drawn from charts such as these:
Interpretations and conclusions are drawn from charts such as these:
This section on astrology is really a section on the more important question of fate. Because that's the real question, isn't it? Our lives are either determined by fate, by free will, or by some combination of the two. How are we to know what the correct mix is? Interestingly, for those who believe that our lives are fated, astrology becomes a non-issue, a done deal, a guaranteed part of reality. That is because, if the planets swing through their courses in fated fashion, and we do the same: well, then, the only question left is how to find the connection between the two parallel paths. Because, you see, our world is becoming more correlative than causative all the time. The word for that is synchronicity. The planets don't "cause" things to happen in human or world affairs in some 19th century Rube Goldberg fashion. They simply follow a correlative pattern alongside us. They correlate with archetypal patterns that resonate with our human consciousness as it has developed over the millennia. The purpose of astrology is to attempt to read those correlations. Astrology is hardly an exact science, and is full of surprises. Perhaps that's because fate isn't guaranteed, but only suggestive. Do we have free will? It certainly feels like we do; and yet whether we turn left or right, we run into previous factors or conditions that have brought us to where we are. So what's the answer? What's the mix? These speculations are too far-reaching to go into here; they require more room to breathe, room for the deepest meditations and questioning that humans are capable of.
Some quotes from The Dance of Astrology:
"Which is stranger: the ideas that the universe appeared initially perhaps from pure mathematical quantum possibility, arising from an infinitesimally small point, and is dilating outwards due to the creation and expansion of space itself; that nothing is fixed in the universe, but is subject to relativity of reference frame, laws of chance, and observer participation; that not only light but also matter are simultaneously two completely incompatible concepts, waves and particles, and that our measurement may determine which; that we can’t find 95% of the universe that’s right in front of us and we’re comfortable with that; that an electron on the other side of the universe can instantaneously “know” the results of our lab experiments; or that we are somehow in sync with or influenced by the solar system around us, the system that includes our own sun, powering all life on earth, aka astrology? Just a question."
and
"Astrology, like physics, can’t seem to decide whether our lives are ruled by free will, or by fate. Astrology has traditionally had a very fated quality to it; but then again, so has physics: the clockwork universe lasted a long time. But physics has moved on to quantum uncertainty, and astrology has moved on towards the mainly “humanistic” position that it occupies currently, which presupposes some level of choice and input from us towards the stars as well as the time-honored reverse path. So which is correct? Is it all one or all the other, or might there be some sort of hybrid?"
and
"It is a partnership, fate and free will, working together in conjunction with both the universe and with our own consciousness that “determines” what will happen in our lives. As the particle and wave duality of matter hint that there is a deeper level to physics than we have yet discovered, so too does the seemingly incompatible duality of fate and free will in our lives hint that there is a deeper level to reality itself, beyond physics, than we are used to considering."
***
By the way, things that seem impossible happen all the time. Later in the quotes below, you will see some pictures of balanced rock art done by a young man named Michael Grab (@gravityglue.com) I, too, would have thought these impossible (photoshopped, glued together, or whatever) had I not come across Michael himself sitting in Boulder Creek one day as I crossed over it on a bridge during an enjoyable fall bike ride. I had never heard of him or his art before, and was taken by surprise. Transfixed, I stood and watched him for an hour or so as he worked on 6 or 7 simultaneous towers of rock emerging up from the creek, each about 3-4 feet tall. Seeing the photos below, skepticism might understandably be a natural reaction. It is almost too difficult to believe that he could do this, unless you were there to have experienced it yourself.
It's the same with astrology, or with synchronicity. Both of these seem too fantastic to be taken seriously. But the thing is this: once someone has had an experience of them, all doubt goes out the window. We don't know how they work but they work. There it is: as simple (and complicated) as that. We are always presented with life as it is, not how we think it "should" be. It is up to us to make sense of that.
The world is a mysterious and miraculous place. Physicists get to take part in the wonder, and so do astrologers. In our stumbling forward towards understanding, more will always be revealed. We have likely barely scratched the surface.
Some quotes from The Dance of Astrology:
"Which is stranger: the ideas that the universe appeared initially perhaps from pure mathematical quantum possibility, arising from an infinitesimally small point, and is dilating outwards due to the creation and expansion of space itself; that nothing is fixed in the universe, but is subject to relativity of reference frame, laws of chance, and observer participation; that not only light but also matter are simultaneously two completely incompatible concepts, waves and particles, and that our measurement may determine which; that we can’t find 95% of the universe that’s right in front of us and we’re comfortable with that; that an electron on the other side of the universe can instantaneously “know” the results of our lab experiments; or that we are somehow in sync with or influenced by the solar system around us, the system that includes our own sun, powering all life on earth, aka astrology? Just a question."
and
"Astrology, like physics, can’t seem to decide whether our lives are ruled by free will, or by fate. Astrology has traditionally had a very fated quality to it; but then again, so has physics: the clockwork universe lasted a long time. But physics has moved on to quantum uncertainty, and astrology has moved on towards the mainly “humanistic” position that it occupies currently, which presupposes some level of choice and input from us towards the stars as well as the time-honored reverse path. So which is correct? Is it all one or all the other, or might there be some sort of hybrid?"
and
"It is a partnership, fate and free will, working together in conjunction with both the universe and with our own consciousness that “determines” what will happen in our lives. As the particle and wave duality of matter hint that there is a deeper level to physics than we have yet discovered, so too does the seemingly incompatible duality of fate and free will in our lives hint that there is a deeper level to reality itself, beyond physics, than we are used to considering."
***
By the way, things that seem impossible happen all the time. Later in the quotes below, you will see some pictures of balanced rock art done by a young man named Michael Grab (@gravityglue.com) I, too, would have thought these impossible (photoshopped, glued together, or whatever) had I not come across Michael himself sitting in Boulder Creek one day as I crossed over it on a bridge during an enjoyable fall bike ride. I had never heard of him or his art before, and was taken by surprise. Transfixed, I stood and watched him for an hour or so as he worked on 6 or 7 simultaneous towers of rock emerging up from the creek, each about 3-4 feet tall. Seeing the photos below, skepticism might understandably be a natural reaction. It is almost too difficult to believe that he could do this, unless you were there to have experienced it yourself.
It's the same with astrology, or with synchronicity. Both of these seem too fantastic to be taken seriously. But the thing is this: once someone has had an experience of them, all doubt goes out the window. We don't know how they work but they work. There it is: as simple (and complicated) as that. We are always presented with life as it is, not how we think it "should" be. It is up to us to make sense of that.
The world is a mysterious and miraculous place. Physicists get to take part in the wonder, and so do astrologers. In our stumbling forward towards understanding, more will always be revealed. We have likely barely scratched the surface.
As true for astrology and consciousness as it is for physics and cosmology. This is the truest statement of reality
that can be formulated, and brings in an appropriate level of humility that is often missing.
that can be formulated, and brings in an appropriate level of humility that is often missing.
Really, how can one not be amazed at the world as it is, and the mysteries that may lie ahead?