Astrological Knowing
Lately, prompted by various synchronicities, I've been thinking about how we know what we know, how much we mean believe when we say know, and by extension how astrology works. Of course, most people in Europe or the USA, the so-called west, believe - or "know" - that astrology is rubbish, at least until they've had a few drinks. I think this is partly because of the tendency of modern western science to take everything literally, so they assume that astrologers believe that planets thousands of miles away have a literal effect on earthly existence. Modern science also relies on cause and effect, and even believers in astrology will say 'Mercury retrograde made my train get delayed'. But to me, and to many astrologers, it's not that simple. It's more like a correspondence - there is a physical planet out there in the solar system called Mercury, and there is an archetypal construct in our collective unconscious which mirrors or links to the physical planet. It's the archetype which affects us, and the mysterious links between the archetype and the physical planet allow us to make predictions based on the movements of the planet. The literal planet, and our subjective experience of that energy, are connected, but not the same.
The strength of astrology, compared to other forms of divination such as tarot, is that it gives an objective method of predicting timings. If Saturn is going to conjunct our Sun, we can expect some manifestation of those energies around that date. We may not be able to predict exactly what will happen, given the many layers of symbolism carried by an archetype and the many manifestations of our own free will in creating or reacting to circumstances. But we can be on the alert for those energies. Even better, we can seek them out, make them our own, align ourselves with the flow of our own astrological weather. If we know that Saturn is going to be affecting us, we can incorporate more structure into our lives, for example, rather than simply reacting when we find ourselves paralysed by fear or blocked into a corner.
The standard paradigm of reality in the west wants to see reality as fixed, something we can describe with a theory, clear and predictable. But the symbolic world view of astrology is not so black and white, more a way of shining some starlight into the grey areas of life. Astrology helps us to understand our relationships, families and careers - real life tends to lack clear theories and absolute truths, and to be rich in grey areas! The air (intellect) and earth (physical reality) aspects of modern science are also part of astrology - an astrologer uses her intellect to calculate a chart based on the physical reality of where the planets are at any one time. But fiery vision and watery intuition are also necessary, so it could be said that astrology is more holistic form of knowledge, allowing us to draw on all of our senses and skills. When I do an astrological reading, I don't tell the querent every single piece of information there is on a transit or planetary position. Instead I tell them what I instinctively feel is right, and relevant to them, based on their chart as a whole and on what I know about them. Ideally, I will be guided by their questions and responses. It's about finding the symbols that resonate for that individual, the symbols that are "burnished on their soul" as one of my astrology teachers used to say. That's a different kind of truth to empirical test results, but it's no less true. Astrological knowing is a wisdom born of experience, translated into universal symbolism. This kind of practical experiential wisdom informs how we live and who we are - we don't need science to tell us, for instance, when we love somebody. A good astrology reading draws on this wisdom, by looking back at past transits to understand those still to come, and looking at the symbols which resonate for us personally. Astrology helps us to put our life in context, connects us to a personal mythology, to our own deep truths and our own part in the Story.
The strength of astrology, compared to other forms of divination such as tarot, is that it gives an objective method of predicting timings. If Saturn is going to conjunct our Sun, we can expect some manifestation of those energies around that date. We may not be able to predict exactly what will happen, given the many layers of symbolism carried by an archetype and the many manifestations of our own free will in creating or reacting to circumstances. But we can be on the alert for those energies. Even better, we can seek them out, make them our own, align ourselves with the flow of our own astrological weather. If we know that Saturn is going to be affecting us, we can incorporate more structure into our lives, for example, rather than simply reacting when we find ourselves paralysed by fear or blocked into a corner.
The standard paradigm of reality in the west wants to see reality as fixed, something we can describe with a theory, clear and predictable. But the symbolic world view of astrology is not so black and white, more a way of shining some starlight into the grey areas of life. Astrology helps us to understand our relationships, families and careers - real life tends to lack clear theories and absolute truths, and to be rich in grey areas! The air (intellect) and earth (physical reality) aspects of modern science are also part of astrology - an astrologer uses her intellect to calculate a chart based on the physical reality of where the planets are at any one time. But fiery vision and watery intuition are also necessary, so it could be said that astrology is more holistic form of knowledge, allowing us to draw on all of our senses and skills. When I do an astrological reading, I don't tell the querent every single piece of information there is on a transit or planetary position. Instead I tell them what I instinctively feel is right, and relevant to them, based on their chart as a whole and on what I know about them. Ideally, I will be guided by their questions and responses. It's about finding the symbols that resonate for that individual, the symbols that are "burnished on their soul" as one of my astrology teachers used to say. That's a different kind of truth to empirical test results, but it's no less true. Astrological knowing is a wisdom born of experience, translated into universal symbolism. This kind of practical experiential wisdom informs how we live and who we are - we don't need science to tell us, for instance, when we love somebody. A good astrology reading draws on this wisdom, by looking back at past transits to understand those still to come, and looking at the symbols which resonate for us personally. Astrology helps us to put our life in context, connects us to a personal mythology, to our own deep truths and our own part in the Story.