Friend to Friend: A Bit of Quaker Astrology

Note to Readers: This week I’m posting the subscriber edition of Planet Waves to the open side of the website. This is the last weekly horoscope of 2010. You can receive these columns by subscribing to Planet Waves (which includes longer articles) or Planet Waves Light (which includes horoscopes only). Happy holidays! –efc

Dear Friend and Reader:

Today is Christmas Eve, so I thought I would do something borrowing from an old Christian tradition. I’ve only mentioned being Quaker a few times on these pages, though it’s a significant piece of my philosophical heritage. I made this discovery as a kid, after attending Friends summer camps for five years (Quaker is old-fashioned shorthand for The Religious Society of Friends).

Photo by Eric Francis.
Photo by Eric Francis.

You can think of Quakerism as a form of Zen Christianity. It’s a religion without dogma, without hierarchy and with few words spoken. Each person is encouraged to develop his or her own relationship to God, the Creator or existence. There is no minister; each person speaks, if moved to do so, in the midst of silent meeting.

There are no set rules or doctrines, only flexible guidelines for living. We’re so used to religions telling us that this is how it’s supposed to be, and this is the law, and you have to do that or God doesn’t love you, that we may lack any concept that something else is possible. Friends’ guidelines for living include being dedicated to peace, doing business with integrity, not swearing oaths, and seeking divinity or the voice of spirit within. Quakers call this the ‘inner light’. It is considered a natural part of the human psyche, not something we have to earn.

One of the notable things about Friends is that we do not go to war, we so not advocate war, and we don’t advocate the cause of war in any form, for any reason. It is that simple. Warfare is unnecessary, immoral and stupid (besides being waged by businessmen and based entirely on deception and greed). We’re the people you come to if you don’t want to get drafted. Quakers saved the lives of a lot of young men who would have otherwise ended up in Vietnam because we know how to make the case against war on ethical grounds.

One of the modes of Quaker discourse is in the form of ‘advices and queries’. This is one of the basic models I use in writing my horoscopes, which I view as an ongoing inquiry about the nature of existence. In this last weekly horoscope of 2010, I thought I would borrow from the Quaker style and present queries based on the recent experience of astrology for each of the Sun signs. By recent, I mean going back as far as seven years for one of the signs, five years for another, and a bit less for the others.

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14 thoughts on “Friend to Friend: A Bit of Quaker Astrology”

  5. Eric, you really nailed the Scorpio and Saggitarius experiences (I have lots of both, so I read both) for the past year. As to my destiny, short term looks like a bit of a confusing slog, I have no idea about the long term, as to the financial Sagg. stuff, well this year I did see a future for myself being more self sufficient and I actually feel that things will improve even though you’d never know it looking at my bank balance. I can’t afford Victoria’s Secret, it’s grannypanties all the way! Very comfortable and you can whip them off and use them for a parachute if you find yourself falling out of the sky…………………………………

  6. susyc – I always thought that’s what hoop-skirts were designed for. (what fits under)
    (I fanticize it’s someone on a skateboard with amazing dexterity of tongue.) Clearly then, they require no Secrets of Victoria.

    Still trying to get off the boat with Pi. Such a highly regarded book and I’ve borrowed it from the library time and time again trying to get through the tedious boredom of that boat ride.

    Besides, how am I supposed to have a spiritual awakening when I already know he surives? LOL! Just joshing with ya susy. Happy hohoho.

  7. Thanks for sharing this. My hair is long and so is my beard as a matter of sensual preference more than appearance. Occasionally someone informs me I look like Jesus. It used to irritate me, cause, well, you know what the dominant culture does to the Jesus by looking at the crucifix. But then I realize that the second coming isn’t one individual like a rock star coming back to become the emperor of the world. It’s the Jesus awakening in the hearts of all who can soften their armor and experience the frequency of love as an anchor or more like a root. So what the fuck…sure, I’m a Jesus just like you, not THE Jesus.

    If enough of us wake up maybe we can kick the crucifixion habit and the war habit- War On Drug$™, War On Terror™, Battle Of The $exe$™…these are carcinogenic systemic crucifixions carried out by the people duped by the real world version of what Sauron’s ring symbolizes. Full Spectrum Dominance is a stated goal of the U.S. military machine. MINE MINE MINE!!!

    We need all the Jesuses we can muster to kick the habit. Spanish speaking people realize this cause you can be named Jesus in Spanish, but they don’t give that opportunity to women and you can’t do it at all in English. You’re supposed to BE the Jesus, not worship him like a rockstar.

    So you asked Libra what’s up with Saturn and I got 21ºLibra rising and Saturn is opposing my Chiron and squaring my Capricorn sun which is at 14º so that eclipse is gonna kick my ass in some way I don’t know how. The playing field is that I’m recently graduated from college with a degree in art and working my craft as a full time job while getting paid very very little in the form of $$$$’s. I want our culture to get over the idea that time is money, but at the same time people want money from me or I get shuffled around from place to place cause without cash it’s hard to get someone to let you stay in one place long enough to cultivate roots. My current host isn’t gonna kick me out come January, but I’ll have to move into a cramped space in the corner of the basement if I can’t come up with cash. Hey, at least it’s shelter. I can still practice my craft. I guess I ought to quit whining cause having shelter and food is pretty good for a creature on planet Earth right now.

    On the other hand I feel like I have so much to offer my community through my long cultivation of my craft that began as music and branched out to include astrology, martial arts, internal alchemy, meditation, gardening and learning to treat the non-human people of my world with the same respect I show to my friends and family. People who can afford it ought to pay me for sharing this stuff.

    Music itself is being enhanced to a form of social medicine by the power of my health and sanity practices. I’ve been playing drums with an old blues man who lives in my neighborhood, has since my dad was a kid. He teaches me stuff. He’s got a kid whose birthday is the same as my dad’s, April 4. Aries, conjunct my Chiron. As I learn from the old man’s experience, the kid encourages honorable behavior while also helping me loosen up. Maybe I can teach him my gongfu someday. I want to teach kids and women how to defend themselves cause with internal martial arts they can without having to be big and strong.

    Crystalizing a means to get paid has eluded me for all of my life in this world. Is that part of being a Jesus? If I shaved all my head hair would I get paid more often? But that’s bullshit. I’m sick of the discrimination against people who look like the guys who modeled for Renaissance painter’s depictions of Jesus. I shouldn’t have to shave any more than anyone should have to change anything about their bodies that’s good and natural to obey the psychotic authoritarians. My hairs aren’t just cosmetic. They’re a qi storage device that helps me stay healthy without health insurance. They keep me warm in the winter and keep the sun off my face and head and neck in the summer. There’s got to be a way. A way that I can travel and keep my root solid so I can transmit the music to my people in a healthful and healing way and not just spread the disease further.

  11. All of that.

    Astrology is applied science and spirituality. You learn, you help, you create — and heck it comes to us by way of the Arab world.

    Anyway — no did not see that film…

    ef

  12. I loved the Life of Pi. Did you read it? Religion is a movable feast. A context toward which I find it’s good to maintain a healthy disrespect. How many guys ‘n gals can fit under a bourka? Plus size Victoria’s Secret is hard to find.

  13. Well you may as well go the whole distance, including the Victoria’s Secret undies.

    And…it’s challenging to change religions? Um….I would view that as a direct enticement.

    But who needs religion, when you can become an astrologer?

  14. Dear Eric, I think it’s hilarious that you’re Quaker. Only because I thought you were Jewish. But then with your last name, I realized you ought to be Catlik, what with Coppolino being an Italian name and all. I visited a Quaker meeting once in the midst of an existential crisis. But being raised Peskypalian, which is like being half Catlik, I found the lack of structure alarming. Although I did quake and speak up. I like the quiet meditation and the opportunity to speak or not as moved by the spirit. I like your description of the emphasis in Quakerism on ethical living. I consider myself a marginal Peskypalian and may only be one because of relatively comfortable memories of being raised in that church. My earliest spiritual experiences occurred in that context. I have only recently reunited on a serious level with my childhood faith, but find that as my anger with my country’s path has grown, I am drawn to consider converting to Islam. I question changing my religion to make a statement out of anger, but I may move forward to explore the idea. I wonder if I could find a context or denomination in Islam that would reflect my need to be in an open, loving and accepting community. And it’s interesting to reflect that making such a change brings up fears similar to the ones you described in your last podcast re: coming out as a polyamorist. What will the neighbors (and friends, family, and loved ones) think after all? I have discussed this already with my priest. He encouraged me to explore the idea, to learn about Islam, but says that starting from scratch in another religion may be challenging. He mentioned the difference between hot anger and cold anger. I think he was talking about the difference between impulsive versus thoughtful responses. My husband says he’ll be OK with my conversion if I wear a bourka and walk three steps behind him at all times…..Hmmm….

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