Chapter 8
ASTROLOGY
Astrology is the art of foretelling a person’s possible future through the position of the planets in our galaxy — something that at first seems quite childish, bizarre, even stupid, but I can assure you there is a lot of truth to it, especially when done correctly. Note that to properly cast a person’s astrological chart, it is necessary to take into account not just the day and month of birth, but also the year, the time, and the place; without this additional information, the chart is incomplete. Another point often misunderstood is the sun sign (the main sign): the sun sign is where one is heading, so the younger, or less progressed, a person is, the less their sun sign will seem to fit. For example, say your sign indicates that you are good at music, but you do not know how to play any instrument and have never even thought about it. What it is really saying is that if you do take it up, you will be good at it — that it will come much more easily to you than to others who do not have this in their chart.
Astrology is assured of recognition from psychology, without further restrictions, because astrology represents the summation of all the psychological knowledge of antiquity.Carl Jung
A 15th-century astrological woodcut. www.alchemywebsite.com
This is one of the main reasons I recommend you become familiar with your astrological sign: it will give you tips about yourself that you have not even thought of. Then there is the aspect of the constant changes for each sign — energies that constantly shift, nudging you to act in some new way, usually felt as a desire to do something different: a new food, a physical activity, education, travel, business. It even affects your sexual mood and appetite, and often puts you in challenging situations with others.
Signs interact with one another in many ways throughout the day; in fact, astrology is so accurate that it can predict one’s moods even by the hour. Here is an example I personally experienced and found quite fascinating. My astrology once said that women of the Gemini sign were going to be extremely attracted to me for a period of a few weeks; that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to interact with women of this sign, and to enjoy it — but it gave a warning that this was very temporary, that as quickly as they fell in love and were all over me, they would not give me the time of day once the astrological influence passed. Was this true? You bet it was. In just one day, three Gemini women almost begged me to go out with them; it was amazing how true it was. In fact, I fell hard for one, had a great time, and wanted it to become a long-term relationship — but sure enough, a few weeks went by and she would not even give me the courtesy of a simple hello. It was exactly as my astrology had said. Knowing well ahead of time what to expect made it all fun, and spared me a broken heart. This is a good example of how to use astrology to your benefit: it simply helps you know ahead of time what to expect.
But astrology goes much further; it also gives you a very good insight into what to expect from others. Take Geminis again: Geminis are very interesting and fun people to befriend — but just not all the time. So if you have a Gemini friend, as I do, you learn when to quickly back off and give them their space. I know quite well NEVER to plan a date with a Gemini more than a few minutes (not even hours) ahead of time; they simply change their minds about everything far too often to commit to doing something with you. On the other hand, that same energy that keeps them changing all the time makes them quite interesting people, since they will have dabbled in all sorts of subjects.
If you want to know how to make someone happy, what gift to give them, or how to get along with them better — and, most important, to learn more about yourself — astrology is the tool to use. For example, never give imitation (fake) jewelry to a Capricorn; they will simply be insulted. Capricorns appreciate only the finer, more expensive things, like fine jewelry, top-choice clothing, and perfumes. On the other hand, do not waste your time expecting them to be good travel companions, or to have a technical conversation; it is simply not in their interest. Capricorns are very clean and tidy in their appearance and throughout their homes, but very disorganized about keeping documents in order; do not expect a Capricorn to quickly know where they left a document. I predict that the Capricorn sign will one day be divided in two, since it has several opposing features that no other sign has — but that subject is well beyond the scope of this book.
By the way, it gets a bit more complicated, because everyone has the ultimate free will to change as they see fit, and the environment in which they were raised influences who they are. But overall, you will find that knowing the basic traits of a sign gives you huge insight into who a person is and why they act the way they do. It will help you tremendously — not only in knowing yourself much better, but also in knowing how to deal with others, whether at home, at school, or at work.
The way it works is that there are more than 300 subtle energies radiating from the entire universe all the time, passing through our bodies. A very good explanation of these energies can be found in the personification of the Greek gods (the archetypes) in mythology. The Greeks were quite elaborate in creating all sorts of stories that personify these energies as gods. The strongest ones come from the planets in our galaxy, and those are the ones most identified and used to chart a person, or an event, in astrology.
Most ancient civilizations watched the heavens for patterns in the sky that told them when the seasons changed, among other things. They built great stone monuments — celestial observatories such as Stonehenge — as celestial clocks to mark these events and the passage of time. They believed their gods lived in the skies, and named them, and the constellations, after them. This is why astronomy, astrology, and mythology all follow the same patterns. In the end, the answers are in the sky, since they come from above. In metaphysics we call this moving into a higher frequency than we experience in our third-dimensional bodies. Our creators are from higher realms; they have powers that are lost to us in the physical body.
Astrology is a large and far-reaching subject. As such, it does not lend itself to quick, precise answers, mathematical equations, and other succinct descriptions — and especially not to the quick-and-dirty prognostications found in the local newspaper’s daily horoscope. (Virtually all professional astrologers abhor those horoscopes!) Instead, one sees many astrological influences — sometimes contradictory — operating in a person’s life, and it becomes a matter of weighing the potential influences to grasp where the individual is going.
Science, by contrast, likes to eliminate all the side effects and distracting annoyances and limit itself to the single most blatant effect — the “active ingredient.” But it is in the side effects and the asides that the real part of life resides. Such is astrology.
Any study of astrology must ultimately be an extensive one. Thus, this very brief treatise is really only enough to whet the reader’s appetite. I highly recommend these two websites for beginners: www.astro.com and www.astrologyzone.com.
Zodiac: according to the Doctrine of Correspondences in the Emerald Tablet (“As above, so below”), the stars must find expression on earth and in mankind. In alchemy, it was essential to consult the zodiac before commencing any of the major operations.
The Emerald Tablet is an ancient artifact that reveals a profound spiritual technology, which has survived to this day despite centuries of effort to suppress it. Encoded within its mysterious wording is a powerful formula that works in very specific, comprehensible steps on all levels of reality at once — the physical, the mental, and the spiritual — and shows us how to achieve personal transformation and even accelerate the evolution of our species. The source of alchemy and the Hermetic sciences, the tablet’s universal approach made it forbidden knowledge, condemned by patriarchal powers for thousands of years — from the Egyptian priesthood, to the medieval Church, to our modern politicians and religious leaders. To ensure the survival of such “dangerous” principles, which guide people to higher states of consciousness, the ancients concealed their knowledge in a succinct declaration that has become a time capsule of wisdom for future generations.