Introduction to Astrology

Lets clear up one thing quickly - astrology doesn't do anything. Never has and never will. Astrology doesn't make us do anything and is not responsible for any of our actions. But its been noted that astrologers are able to look at certain planetary alignments and draw conclusions. This is beneficial if someone chooses to note the signs and take advantage of them.

So lets start at the beginning : the Maya, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Romans, the Chinese and nearly all other ancient civilizations were aware of the orbit of the earth around the Sun and the Moon around the earth. We have identified record-keeping going back at least 5000 years and it's clear that planetary movement played a social role in time-keeping, festivals, harvests and agricultural events.


History of Astrology

Ancient scientists placed great emphasis in the relationship between positions of the planets and medical conditions to a point that Hippocrates himself was a believer. Aristotle proposed that planetary movements were guided by divine influences. The relationship between astronomy, medicine and forecasting was such a fundamental idea in medieval and middle ages Europe that universities such as Paris and Florence had chairs of astrology ("astrology" - information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the movements and relative positions of celestial objects). Europe up to the 17'th century saw a world in which everything - people, the world, the universe - was understood to be interconnected. Astrology co-existed happily with religion, magic and science.

The Reformation changed Europe in a way that nothing else in history had before. Historians usually date the start of the Protestant Reformation to around 1517. It was a call to purify the church and a belief that the Bible, not tradition - should be the sole source of spiritual authority. Protestantism emerged as the first truly viable challenger to the Catholic churchs' hold on the population. In strictly modern terms, the Catholic and Protestant churches were competing firms in the business of supplying Salvation. As competition for religious market share heated up, churches began focusing on salvation from devilry.   Among both Catholics and Protestants, witch-hunting became a prime service for attracting and appeasing the masses by demonstrating their Satan-fighting prowess.

In the Catholic Catechism 2116, we read "All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to 'unveil' the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honour, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone".   Witches became a target.   Astrology became a target.   Natural healers became a target.   Up to 80,000 people were put to death, most of them women.

it was during this time, that astronomy, medicine and astrology parted company, forced by circumstances, into its unique boxes.   Astrology lay dormant for a few hundred years, until a general revival of spiritualism and later, New Age philosophy. Early in the 20th century Carl Jung developed some concepts concerning astrology which led to the late development of psychological astrology. It was during this time that popular astrology, AKA newspaper horoscopes made its appearance and this was entirely due to a "perfect storm" of events.   Princess Margaret was born a year into the Great Depression and the UK's Sunday Express tried to present a "good news story". That "good news" was a horoscope foretelling the young royals' future, written by Richard Harold Naylor.   This proved so successful, that he was offered the opportunity in 1936 to write a daily column called "What The Stars Foretell".   Unfortunately, there is only so much that can be written on a daily basis.   Repetition became inevitable as did generalisation.   Everyone could read all the advice offered and find something in it that makes sense. However, it sells newspapers and no newspaper worth its salt will refuse a winning topic. Rather sadly, that is what we understand today of astrology - something trivial, irrelevant and largely made up.


What is Astrology

By now, it should be clear that astrology has a very long history. Its survived what today we could call "peer pressure". It has "street cred". But what is it?

Nobody can tell you why it "works" and in fact, it has no working parts anyway. The phrase "as above, so below", has come to describe that planetary movements align with human behaviour. It is not a cause-and-effect, but more a gradual realisation that we are not operating with 'free will'. Not every child will grow up to be a great doctor, fireman or astronaut. Life circumstances can sometimes play a role : poverty, lack of role models or simply not being in the right place at the right time. Limited free will is another discussion, not meant for here. However, looking back at history, we can see indicators and turning points. We can also match those to planetary placements. The purpose of astrology is to identify these turning points coming up and take advantage of them.

Pluto is the planet representing massive change. In 1929, it reached a stationary point on October 21'st. Had you been an investor in October 1929 and known this, you would have been best advised to sell out your portfolio on or before that date. Three days later, the decline began. And didn't stop for many years, wiping away 90% of share valuations. Except that Pluto as a planet was not discovered for another 4 months or so.

Pluto didn't "do" anything. Pluto can do nothing to share prices. But what Pluto does represent is the mass consciousness and group coordination of herd-mentality. People bought because others were buying and getting paper-rich. And sold when others sold because the losses were staggering.

The clever ones sold in advance, hoarded the cash and bought at the trough. If you were an investor in October 1929, which kind of investor would you want to be?


The 12 signs and other noteworthy points

Our forefathers spent a great deal of their time looking upwards at the sky for guidance. They identified bright lights (AKA stars) which formed patterns in the sky and were therefore able to identify specific regions. Leo for example, has a distinctive shape that is reminiscent of the crouching lion. Aries appears to represent a ram's horns. They identified 12 such regions across the sky and these are the traditional signs we know about today.

We understand today, that the rotation of the earth on its axis is not exact. There is a very marginal 'tilt' which causes an effect we call 'the procession of the equinoxes'. This tilt causes the polar position in the sky to change and has a cycle of 25,920 years. So the area of the sky observed and named thousands of years ago, do not accurately represent our own current nightly vision. Nonetheless, we retain the original definitions and attribute the same qualities to them. It is part of the great mystery of life, that we can still use old and now inaccurate constellations and yet still get meaningful interpretation.


Planets that make the difference

In general, we can divide the planets up into three groups. The fast moving planets, the slow moving planets. And the one in the middle. We interpret the relationship between the planets from a geocentric (i.e. from the earth) perspective. The Sun therefore, is represented as a planet around the earth.

Fast moving planets (Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter) are seen as triggers.

Slow-moving planets (Chiron, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto) describe events (or feelings) unfolding.

Saturn is the furthest planet which can be seen with the naked eye. Its role has always been that of the limitation. But also as wisdom because once we get our fingers burnt, we know what our limits are.