24 thoughts on “”

1. PT! Thanks for the long look into your healing process. And I know in *your* life subsequent events are challenging, exciting and spontaneous. This reveals that as we begin to emerge from the woods, the *thing* that we could only see through fear-colored glasses is usually awaiting us as we catch our balance and momentum.

   By “thing” I mean: what we are here to do. Specifically.

   I am watching a friend use every imaginable way to keep herself as pacified and numb as possible. When she begins to step away from the sources of her oblivion, she looks to me and asks, “Will Awakening be safe? comfortable? predictable?” To which I shake my head. I hate to be so truthful (which is why we keep talking about the ‘bliss’ of Enlightenment. Hah.) but Not hardly, darlin’…

   Why bother? because waking up is the only way to truly help others. Before that, it is just peeing on the immolated. Not even close to enough to help, and usually gets your tenders burnt.

2. carecare7 – thanks for responding. Re anxiety attacks/panic disorder :- I have been researching/working with this area for around 25 years, and have first-hand experience of the condition.

   Without invalidating the utter distress that your friend (or anyone with this condition) is going through, I am going to take a risk here and suggest that there is no need for your friend to ‘face’ the prospect of life-long dependency on drugs to stabilise her brain chemistry. Obviously, it is up to her what she decides to believe of course, however I would suggest that there are other avenues for managing and ultimately off-loading this extremely frightening and often misunderstood condition. And if she really wants to be rid of it, remaining very open as to ‘cause’ would be helpful for her.

   One of the first things would be to treat the cause and not just the symptoms. Treating the symptoms with drugs often causes the very situation you have described. Depending on the drug given, it is not unusual to have side-effects when starting the drug (similar to anxiety) and the same on coming off them. The whole process has to be managed carefully, and by a practitioner who has good understanding of both condition and drug effect. Not treating the cause is likely to lead to a lifetime with the condition.

   The cause is not outside of a person, but within them. It is unlikely – to be due to an ‘out of nowhere’ arrival of an imbalance in the brain, though it has been suggested that menopause can produce too many hormones – cortisol being one. However, even that passes – no life-time prognosis there.

   Even if it is not immediately obvious, it is highly likely that the cause is emotional in source – anything from an un-resolved past trauma, repression of strong emotions, inability to identify, be aware of or handle strong emotions, powerful negative beliefs about self, feelings of powerlessness at a deeper level, anger, sadness, in the wrong job, in the wrong relationship, loss, bereavement etc. Essentially some sort of emotional overwhelm resulting in physical stress – not unlike what many believe are the precursors of depression. The disconnect internally for this could be significant and so it would not be unusual for someone to believe that, for example, they are not stressed, anxious or feeling any strong emotions other than distress at the physical/mental symptoms of an attack.

   The effect on the body by emotions is powerful in both a healing and destructive capacity. This sort of stuff is enough to set the brain and then the body off in the wrong direction, in this instance, the possibility of fright/flight response which is triggered in appropriately and develops into a seemingly never-ending loop.
   A mixture of therapeutic approaches would probably be required to get in where the help is needed. Persist, persist, persist. The book, A General Theory of Love beautifully compares the world of psychiatry, psychology and psychotherapy – they don’t always agree on approach yet it can make a world of difference for the patient.

   A real life example – I worked in business for many years, successfully, but with this bizarre ailment which started in mild form around 15 years old. It really took off when I got into a very pressurised job that everyone but me could see was not a good match for me, my personality and skills. I eventually braved a decision to change it and find something else…a while later I various choices I made led to a role in, of all things, psychiatric research.

   The change of work and life definitely helped, however I still struggled. Everything in my life affected, social life, relationships, work, the ability to just pop out to the shops… I recall feeling mortified at having to go and see an associate psychiatrist of the organisation I worked for, by this time in desperation at my condition – I’d had it for over 17 years by then, and had not found anything to help. I’d been offered drugs every time I went to the doctor, but I resisted because of what I’d read about them. I’d tried hypnosis, books, homeopathy, Reiki, – the list was long. That is not to say that none of these things work, not true. However, as long as I thought this was something that had been visited upon me and had no belief that I, personally, could do anything about it, I kept looking outside of myself for the answer. And I refused time and again to go and see a psychiatrist lest they tell me that I was indeed mad – I truly thought I was, but didn’t want it confirmed. I considered suicide often as I could not see a way out.

   Anyway, this psychiatrist was brilliant – for the first time I felt heard and understood. He then told me (in response to my embarrassment) that I would be shocked if I knew how many people, some in very influential positions in the city I lived in at that time, had something similar. I saw him once, he didn’t offer drugs instead referreing me to a therapist, and the journey to turn it around began. It’s not an overnight thing of course, but one of the first things I learned in therapy, was to embrace the possibility, that somehow, inadvertently, I was creating this myself. A whole other bunch of stuff come out of that – but it’s long and personal, no need to go into here. Everyone has their story.

   I know every case is different, it is the way we humans are after all. However, I would argue that there are some commonalities in the condition, how it comes about and how it goes away.

   I’ve been attack free for some years now, something I never ever thought I would realise. It is possible, really it is.

   Sent with love and best wishes.

3. “consciousness or unconsciousness are two ideas yet awareness is unavoidable.”
   This is an excellent statement isn’t it great that awareness is unavoidable !!! I really do believe the Universe is eternally working to bring us to freedom. For me the planets emanate energies all of which are outstandingly benevolent. These energies always work together in their differing essences firstly removing the veils of conditioning.

   The impulse or drive for life is central but while operating from this conditioned state a blind persuit of what we believe will provide life in the form of other people and outer circumstances. Blindly misapplying power in the art of manipulation , these futile attempts always end in repeated failure. It is only through this failure that we are able to see the lie , but prior to this awareness, our reality , the course of our life “appears” to be in the hand of Fate. The outcomes are limited , the course rigid , and reactive responses mind numbingly perdictable. Experience of stagnancy, yet the yearning life remains. A very dark place , but a very good place , Saturn , Pluto do their work and to me its Grace at its finest…

   When we become aware and see taking responsibility for our life using all incoming life situations moment to moment turning inward , learning of self from watching how we meet these moments although painful eventually bring focused authentic power changing self gaining humility knowing our limitations.

   Large amounts of bullshit fall away along with conditioned self.
   Reality starts to be seen as well as lived and while problems still exist a lightness remains and the spaceousness of possiblilities occupies what bullshit used to claim. Options expand and you find yourself considering much that didn’t occur to you before .

   The limitations imposed from the outside in our prior experience brought frustration even despair whereas self known limitations are galdly known, bring joy, not impostition but freedom. I think that Fate is what appears to be, how reality plays out when power is other directed. Freewill is obtained when power is self directed .. Do you know what I am saying?

4. Patty,

   She is a very loving and kind mother to her children; I knew that and said so to her because it never hurts to be told that.

   Pale Tiger,

   Yes, she had been on her meds for two years (after the initial diagnosis) and got off of them in May, hoping it was a situational thing but the panic and anxiety came back, making her very upset because it very likely means a lifetime of dealing with this. Now the meds are not working as well. She is having difficulty finding a psychiatrist that can adjust her meds; either they are not taking her insurance or they are not taking new patients. When she came over to see me, it was because her husband, her only support here (besides now me) was out of town for five days for his job. They had just moved here from Florida last February, knowing no one so her usual support system is not here. I had helped her move here (I do that for people like the military provides host families to people that have been relocated to a new place) so she has come to trust me; an honor I keep in mind always.

   She is extremely intelligent, intuitive, caring of others and practices the benefit of the doubt always. I could not ignore her need for compassionate support; how could anyone?

5. Carecare, my sympathy is with your friend and I hope she finds a good doctor to help her. As long as she is loving and kind to her children, they will always be there for her. Mean parents who ridicule their children are the ones who end up alone in the end.

6. Sorry, should have read – that it is a possible cause. And want to add, that life sentence is the prognosis. H.

7. carecare7 – Very sad to hear about your friend with anxiety attacks – not an easy condition to deal with, very debilitating. I know from personal experience. I am struck by your comment that your friend (or you) describes this, and the resultant depression, as something to do with brain chemistry or that is is a life sentence. Just wondered where that came from as a possible cause – or have I misunderstood?

   Asking with the best of intentions. Hazel.

8. And too often, we forget that WE can learn so much from THEM…our children.

9. Your Baby Zach info reminded me of the conversation I had with a friend of mine that is going through a lot of difficulty right now because she is having panic attacks and anxiety to such a degree that she is having depression and is not functioning very well. She is understandably upset about facing a lifetime of medications to keep her brain chemistry steady and the many “friends” that don’t seem to understand the life sentence this is for her. Her biggest concern was for her children; she has three. She felt they were suffering because of her brain chemistry issues and she was very unhappy and tearful about that.

   I thought about it a minute and then I spoke to her softly…like water gently falling. I said none of us really knows why our children chose us to be their parents and we cannot know THEIR destiny. Sometimes they go through these kinds of sufferings to teach US, sometimes to teach themselves, and sometimes to teach others. I said her children will learn such compassion from living with this and going through it with her. I said (I don’t know where these words come from, really) that maybe they are supposed to go through this because maybe it is THEIR life lesson, not just hers. The knowledge they receive and compassion they gain from it they will spread to others thus positively impacting many people. We cannot know their destiny and we canot rob them of life lessons they may have chosen to be born into.

   She seemed comforted by my words and I was glad. She was shaking so badly when she came over but when she left, she had cried on me several times while I held her and listened. I so agree, it is the adults that often cannot see the bigger picture when it comes to their children. Children come to us with a purpose we may not know but we must not stand in the way of their learning. In our protectiveness, we sometimes forget the larger picture in life about our kids. They are only on loan to us, really.

10. Mystes – I sort of think of the 4th house as being the jump to warp speed – star wars! Big changes coming is what I think.

    As for baby Zach, I hope the story gives some encouragement to people with tiny tots who are sick. They are here because they want to be here.

11. Interesting mention of the 4th/8th house stuff, Pattissima. I am watching Uranus eeeedging up to my 4H –at the IC of course– in March. Presently in late 3rd, hence the spasmodic progress on the Essays (well, that plus recurrent fevering). And with everything hanging by a hair around here, it seems like the Quantum 4th H Leap may be inevitable. (Insert cheering sounds here).

    How much do you think my relics will fetch? I’ve already got the kangling (thighbone trumpet) set aside for my son. Though, with my luck, the body will instantly transmogrify into piles of golddust – the Goddess has such a facetious sense of humor.

    8*^D

    M

12. Patty! “Hope you don’t mind me sharing this Mystes.” Honey I don’t mind, but you make me sound like Sylvia Browne!!

    Now that we’re talking about Zach, let’s just get it out there. Kiddo has a neurofibrosarcoma that has disseminated, but isn’t metastatic (who has time to metastasize when you’re what? two weeks old?). I know that sounds counterintuitive, but that’s his sitch. He’s as tough as a baby rhinoceros, and word is that he *wants* to be here. This is an extremely painful cancer to be born with, but he’s somehow ‘used’ to it.

    I am in awe of this kid. I know this website is read by all kinds of people, the majority of whom are actual humans, so I humbly request that you send a ripple of sanity to the people around him. He’s fine, it’s the cohort that’s wiggin’ out.

    All love,

    M

13. I read about the ‘death’ point last night. The writer said that when you arrive at the point (4th and 8th houses), you either move to another level of awareness and your life changes, or your soul just doesn’t want to make any more changes and decides to withdraw from the physical world. I lost my dad during the saturn 8th house transit. The info I read about uses the solar arc astrology. The death charts the author studied included the charts of stillborn babies that were born during the transit. I’ve heard of babies changing their minds about being born, and choosing to go back to the spirit realm. Maybe they didn’t feel as strong as they originally thought they could be. I’ve been corresponding with Mystes about a baby born to someone in my church that has a vicious cancer. The baby told Mystes that he was stronger emotionally than most 50 year olds so there was no need to worry. Who is he teaching? Us? Not himself, most assuredly. the parents were so wrapped in fear that Mystes noticed it right off, and then a friend of the parents sent a prayer request that the parents would begin respecting each other. Obviously they were blaming each other for something they’d done to harm the fetus. The stories of life play out the same over and over – so do we or don’t we conjure them up in our minds to make them real on the level of form? Hope you don’t mind me sharing this Mystes.

14. People ask me all the time about astrology as destiny and where free will fits in. I remember my Astrology teacher, Beth Underwood, explaining it in very easy terms. Twins are born with very similar charts, many times only a minute or so apart. Why, then don’t these twins grow up to have exactly the same lives?
    She put it this way: imagine giving three kids at a playground play screwdrivers. All three get the exact same play screwdriver but one will use it to dig with, one will use it to beat on something and one will use it as a screwdriver. The astrological chart is like that screwdriver; it shows potential but the person uses that potential the way they choose.

    I actually have fraternal twins that were born 8 minutes apart so their ascendants are 4 minutes apart. They are alike in some things but different in others. One is an intorvery, the other is an exrtrovert. both think outside the box and enjoy helping others. Their different lives are free will at work.

15. “It requires allegiance to no perspective other than awareness of the moment and the factors that are influencing our awareness and our ability to choose; and when we’re confronted with astrology, no matter how ‘fate’ based, we always arrive at a point of decision.”

    Very remindful of a quote i recently came across.. in that consciousness or unconsciousness are two ideas yet awareness is unavoidable.

    Ef.. thank you for your often brave writings both on this page and Book of Blue.
    The honesty is unavoidable.

    ljw

16. bk – you are one awesome astrologer, thank you.

    Patty – your questions are way better than most people’s answers. Thank you too.

17. Well, that’s interesting. Richard Tarnas and Eric Francis are probably the two people I would most like to ask this question. I’ve thought about asking other astrologers — I actually have asked other astrologers but the answers never seem to approach the vicinity of what I am talking about.

    What I want to know is — are we narrating our reality, or creating it?

    When you write a movie script you use these devices — you hang dramatic events onto frameworks; time or concepts or developmental arcs. In TV advertising you can make any story up as long as it highlights the product. Human capacity for storytelling is a kind of genius so it’s no problem at all to make up a story, and if you ask your storyteller to make the story be about a princess or a dragon or space aliens: or Martian aggression or Uranian innovation; the storyteller really wants to do that. It is designed to do that, it needs to do that because the device of Story is absolutely essential to our comprehension.

    I know that astrology can be extremely helpful in helping us assimilate reality; especially the reality of change — and this is an evolutionary advantage because we can after some time, after we’ve been able to tell enough stories about the change from old to new, move confidently into the new with a new story. The story helps us with our anxiety. It helps us find the plot.

    But there is another perspective on the inner Story — the “eastern” perspective I guess, that holds that we don’t really need these stories and that they ultimately get in the way of true perception. New Age sensibility — where astrology lives- tells us that while we are telling ourselves a story about our relationship with our mother who has the moon in Aries — we are *creating this reality* and so then invent the problem. The United States is a free country. You have been completely screwed over in life. You can have whatever you want.

    If you accept this idea — that you personally could never accept true Biblical fundamentalism because you don’t want to live inside an ancient story that keeps repeating and never ends and besides there were no girls in it; you could see that others refusal to accept astrology as a defining framework is simply a refusal to buy a story which is just as ancient and neverending. People find other stories that work for them just as well. You could conclude that you don’t really need any story at all.

    So is astrology is the practice of creating reality and is that reality real and is it necessary and will it help.

    Anyway maybe it’s not a story, maybe it’s a song.

18. BK – yes we will. Have a lot of trepidation because of all the other family issues ongoing at present. My nephew and his girlfriend died of a drug overdose at the Leo Eclipse – that night – in August. he was a cancer, but I don’t know his rising sign.

    I was really sorry to read about your kitty too. My daughter’s dog took a turn for the worse with cancer the same time and was put to sleep the same day as your cat. Just seems like the last few weeks have been deadly.

    All of the entries here have been so thoughtfully written. I usually end up going back to Edgar cayce for a bit of wisdom too. He states that “While on Earth, we are influenced in strong ways by desires that originate from our bodies. These desires not only affect our bodies but our soul as well and how we deal with these influences can determine our level of spiritual development. Through meditation and prayer, one can unlock the doors to the many dimensions, the many mansions, of God’s kingdom. But the door must first be unlocked here on this Earth realm.’

    “Jesus taught that the kingdom of heaven is within us. We seek God and his kingdom by looking within ourselves. Our bodies are temples for the very Spirit of God both as the place where we may meet him and as an instrument of awareness through which we may attune to him.” He goes on to explain that our souls spend time in various after-life realms while waiting to return to earth and said that earth is the place of testing. Once we pass all of the tests, our souls move on to the after-life realms and even to other solar systems where other souls are learning the same lessons..

    It is a lot to think about, but I do sense the collapsing of time – sort of. It seems like we sleep and then dream what is going to happen the next day, and that a wrong decision very quickly brings some sort of retribution, or a moment of kindness is similarly rewarded almost immediately. I never used to be aware of a bad mood affecting my life to such a degree, but now I find that if I fail to show a bit of grace and forgiveness, a punishing moment is almost immediate.

19. I am drawn to Foucault here. His critical theory developed Nietzsche’s ‘will to power’ emphasis into an expression of the same in terms of ‘the will to truth’. Foucault examines the underlying history of the development of concepts of truth from early 2nd millennium jurisprudence and how this gradually morphed itself into human psychology.

    Unquestionably, the whole Latin West’s credalism: “I believe… a raft of cognitive propositions to be true…” was exacerbated by the idolatry of truth, outlined by Foucault. The impact that this has had on our epistemological lust for veracity can hardly be understated. This has little to do with any discipline’s protectionist imperatives in defending its boundary and retaining its pre-eminence.

    There has been an underlying rabid unction for knowledge ABOUT (descriptors) that are deemed to offer the level of facticity or truth that we have been conditioned to believe is the only route to the certainties we crave.

    Epistemology of this type has been ASSOCIATED with virtually all disciplines and this is largely what postmodernism has attempted to debunk.

    Of course, meaning-making per se has been utterly taken prisoner by this idolatry. It is largely a red herring to juxtapose disciplinary paradigms as offering ‘superior’ access routes to truth (all are equally misled in their foundationalism).

    Therefore, it isn’t about disciplinary superiority. However, there may be an important point about disciplinary scope – some disciplines may prove more conducive to liberated modes of meaning making than others.

    If you think about it; the establishment of a thing as a fact, or as having a truth value, is largely meaningless. In so far as, in the arena of APPLIED knowledge, actions based upon inaccuracies may be unhelpful; it is true that accuracy is preferable to inaccuracy. But in most matters of what comes down to conjecture among humans on a daily basis, facticity is relatively minor in significance (or SHOULD be).

    The epistemological realism by which we are enslaved is a dinosaur and needs to be recognised as the anachronism it is.

    Usefulness trumps accuracy any day. The best kind carries organising power to explain our experiences of our world(s) and the relations we uncover within it. These relations are, in terms of paradigm shifts that Eric posted about earlier, it seems to me, better understood analogically than logically.

    For me, astrology seems to offer a means of ordering our experience analogically, rather than in terms of the old idolatries of the will to truth; which usurped our disciplines and confounded our quests for meaning. A human being, in such a scheme, is a ‘nexus of flux’, much along the lines that Richard Tarnas alludes to in his epilogue excerpt.

    Although these evolutions of understanding can render us insecure for a while, and though we may find that we need to update our neuro-psychology as an urgent and demanding challenge; ultimately, stepping into the flux of learning to live with personal ontological uncertainty, is the way that humans will find the door to their freedoms in the 21st Century.

    Eric’s take on astrology, in this project, is hopefully assisting many to find the courage to embrace this vision of reconfigured personhood. For that it what it is; using the symbolisms of astrology as a powerful tool on the journey.

20. Patty,

    Sometimes we draw blanks and sometimes we find pearls when we look inside for answers. It can be frustrating, frightening, breath-taking and simple, depending. I too look to the eclipse of the moon in Cancer with trepidation, as it will conjunct my Sun in the 4th house. Can attest to the power of the 4th house; like you, when Saturn was last there my mom died and for the last 6 years I’ve been transitioning from that ending to a new beginning just over the horizon. Perhaps you have hit the very thought to be garnered from this eclipse to your husband’s Saturn. Fate and free will combined make each of us unique and what we make of all the eclipses and transits and progressions that have our name on them affect the world around us as well as our individual destiny.

    As for this event, you can consider a few things as you make your so-called poorly thought out decisions. For example the Winter Solstice on Dec 21 features the Moon at 27+ Aquarius, therefore conjunct the U.S. Sibley-chart Moon. As you are aware, it will also mean a conjunction with Neptune, Chiron and Jupiter in the solstice chart, along with the Sun conjunct Pluto and square Saturn. This chart will influence us all for the three months before the Sun enters Aries. This will certainly be meaningful to you and your husband as a citizen of the United States.

    In the eclipse chart for December 31, there are two “positive” aspects; one is Pallas Athene who will trine the Moon and sextile the Sun and Venus (& Pluto) from 7+ degrees of Scorpio. The 2nd aspect is a sextile from Virgo to the Moon and a trine to Venus and the Sun (& Pluto).

    The big “negative” continues to be the Pluto, Venus, Sun square Saturn, forming a t-square in cardinal signs with the Moon. (a cardinal cross if you count Juno in Aries!)

    I am anticipating the help of these two independent goddesses in my dealings with the challenges of the eclipse and am so glad to be conscious of their presence and purpose. They will equally benefit you and your husband for the 6 months to a year this eclipse will be in effect. Look to the goddesses in your life to keep your inner fire burning and to plan, weave and negotiate with the the gods and goddesses who would make things uncomfortable. As you noted, the difficult times lead to great and even unexpected rewards.

    Whatever those challenges are to your husbands Saturn, they are meant to increase the flexibility and adaptability you will both need as the future cardinal squares and oppositions move closer. I think of it as a preview of coming events and as practice in the tests they will manifest, and therefore a gift to those of us who seek to upgrade our awareness as well as the planet’s other inhabitants. With such a lineup in Capricorn I am expecting government and other institutions “opposition” to my (your) personal planets, but with the Moon in the shadow of the earth during the eclipse, I can only guess how it will play out.

    We must report back here what we learn from this experience, okay?
    be

21. Science is rapidly accepting the concept of the multiple-universe/reality. Maybe free will, in such a system, functions somewhat like the famous Schroedinger’s cat experiment; where the cat, either dead or alive, “materializes” within a particular “universe” upon being observed. This would not, however, discount the possibility of the alternative occurring in any alternate universe(s).

    Perhaps free will can coexist with “fate”, in that time and space could conceivably encompass ALL alternatives simultaneously. Such a concept would require literally limitless time-space “alternatives”. As time and space is currently believed to loop upon itself, the proposed system would exist at both the beginning and end of time, simultaneously; the proverbial Alpha and Omega. This system would, arguably, approach most persons’ view of God. Didn’t he say “I am that I am”?

    The planets simply mark time in space, similarly to a clock. To paraphrase; “For everything there is a time, and a season for every purpose under heaven”.

22. Seems like that even when I know a challenging aspect is in place, I still make the poorly thought out decision that causes a 30 year impact, neither good or bad – it just is what it is and whatever the result is from the free will decision is what i live with. It always seems bad at the time, and usually is – but the end result is always something rather mind-blowing.

    I have one coming up – the cancer moon eclipse on December 31 is conjunct my husband’s saturn nearly exact and on the 4th house. What does that mean? BK if you are reading could you help me? In my experience, the 4th house has been one of huge changes – life altering endings – but also beginnings. When saturn was in my 4th house I dreamed about my daughter and began the search for her. We were reunited under some other of worst possible astrological conditions much later – but our result better than I could have imagined many years earlier.

    I like the move, ‘Oh God’ too. In it God explains free will. John Denver asks him why he allows starvation in Africa, to which God replies “I don’t allow it, YOU do.’ He asked him if it really only took 6 days to create the world, and God replied, “No – actually I thought about it for 6 days and created it all at once.” If God is our universal mind working together, are we creating things as we go, unknowingly in our world of form? Am looking inside for answers, and drawing a blank.

23. Hi Eric,

    This is a rich topic, and although I am under the gun right now with deadlines, your message came in just as I turned on the computer this morning, so I am going to quickly respond.

    I agree with you that philosophy and theology have not, as contemporary disciplines, addressed the issue of astrology as a question or an observed phenomenon (though one major exception is the Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness program at CIIS!). And I agree with your characterization of one particular astrological perspective — a perspective I obviously share — as recognizing the interplay of fate and free will in a way that honors the participatory complexity of real life. I agree also with your characterization of the actual drama of human life.

    However, I disagree with two points: First, that astrology is unique in this recognition, and second that this issue is why astrology is controversial. The exact same interplay of fate and free will is recognized and fully explored by philosophers, ethicists, and scientists in the area of genetics, for example, and the interplay of genetic determinism and human choice (as in the relationship of dietary choice, or quitting smoking, vis-a-vis genetic factors that can be activated one way or another). This complexity is familiar territory in contemporary non-astrological philosophy, science, and ethics.

    There are many reasons for astrology being controversial — philosophical, scientific, religious, historical, sociological. But I believe the most fundamental factor is astrology’s cosmological assertion that the Earth is a center of cosmic meanings and purposes as determined by positions of the planets and apparent constellations of stars, in a universe that is understood by modern science to be fundamentally centerless and void of intrinsic meanings and purposes. Astrology depends on, and affirms, an ensouled, purposeful cosmos, but modern cosmology is disenchanted.

    But in support of your larger world view and philosophy of human life, let me cite this passage from the epilogue of Cosmos and Psyche, while signing off —

    “There are many possible worlds, many possible meanings, living within us in potentia, moving through us, awaiting enactment. We are not just solitary separate subjects in a meaningless universe of objects upon which we can and must impose our egocentric will. Nor are we blank slates, empty vessels, condemned to playing out passively the implacable processes of the universe—or of God—or of our environment, our genes, our race, our class, our gender, our social-linguistic community, our unconscious, our stage in evolution. Rather, we are miraculously self-reflective and autonomous yet embedded participants in a larger cosmic drama, each of us a creative nexus of action and imagination. Each is a self-responsible microcosm of the creative macrocosm enacting a richly, complexly coevolutionary unfolding of reality.”

    Warmly,
    Rick

24. “It implies both autonomy and also participation in the larger dance of life.”

    And for me this is exactly why astrology does NOT deny an absolute adherence to God or science or logic or mysticism. For me God (by whichever name one chooses to call Him/Her) created the Universe and all that is. Science is the exploration of that ordered Universe to the extent where we can predict outcomes based on observed and codified phenomena. therefore, everything is potentially a science. Mysticism is no longer mysterious once we understand how things work. I do not separate the material from the spiritual. And because we are the sum total of all of our existences and perhaps those yet to occur (and this includes not only past lives, but genetic memory, DNA, and everything else), we cannot necessarily predict how we will respond to predictable phenomena. We have free will. We can grow and change as we will, or not. I consider astrology to be God’s roadmap. You know what is coming up. Will you turn right or left? will you go straight ahead? What you choose depends on your growth, on your understanding, and on the choices you’ve made previously that will either help or hinder that understanding. One of the most powerful statements I’ve read about astrology (and I can’t remember who wrote it, perhaps Grant Lewi) is that if you’ve done the inner work prior to a challenging aspect, the Universe doesn’t have to push you or prod you during one. I saw things much differently after that. And the different perspective leads to more tolerable experiences.

    Just my five cents