Here is the next installment of the series about the Traditional Model of the Cosmos:
For additional information, see:
The Image of the Cosmos
Also, see:
Robert Hand, On Matter and Forum in Astrology
Robert Hand, UAC 2018 Lecture, Fate, Free Will, and Contemplation. An audio version of this lecture can be purchased for $15 from UAC.
Part Two of the series about the Traditional Model of the Cosmos is now ready. This one gives a brief description of the differences between Plato and Aristotle on the subject of Perfect Form.
For further reading, see:
Below is the first installment of a series on my new YouTube channel, Essentialist Astrology, about the Traditional Model of the Cosmos.
It is my intention to have new videos on this channel every Friday afternoon.
Next week’s episode will be Part II: Plato and Aristotle.
Two years ago, I started musing about starting a new school of astrology known as Essentialist Astrology.
For an explanation of my thoughts on the subject, see:
Essentialist Astrology, Defining My Practice
I have started a new YouTube Channel devoted to Essentialist Astrology. My first video is below:
A new comet has appeared in our skies this month. This comet was named Neowise, for the space telescope that first spotted it. She first came into our consciousness on March 27, 2020. At that point, she could only be seen by telescope. This comet spun around the Sun on July 3, 2020, and as always with comets, there was some uncertainty as to whether she would survive this passage. She did, and she is now visible in the Northern Hemisphere with the naked eye. She is the brightest comet we have seen in over 30 years.
Comets were seen as omens and harbingers of important events. Unfortunately, these events were usually tragedies. In most cases, they warned of famine, floods, invasions, war, plague, and things of that nature. They could also indicate the death of a great Ruler and an overthrow of the current power structure.
In the sense that comets are usually considered bad omens, they are like eclipses. On the other hand, unlike eclipses, there does not seem to be any prohibition against looking at them from what I can tell. I think that this may be because eclipses represent a time of choice for Axial Beings.
In contrast, comets are seen as a warning of Divine intention to intervene in worldly affairs. Indeed, there are many stories of kings and rulers who have redoubled their efforts to consolidate their power after seeing a comet and lose it anyway to an unforeseen event. This makes it seem like it does not matter whether we look at the comet or not. Comets foretell an act of Divine Will, not an opportunity to exercise our own Free Will.
The belief that comets represent Divine Intervention and are usually seen as bad omens raises a difficult question. Does Dea intervene to do us harm? This is a particular problem for monotheistic religions and invokes the old paradox, “if God is all-powerful, God cannot be good, and if God is good, God cannot be all-powerful.”
In one sense, all true religious traditions believe in One Ultimate Source. Outside of the Abrahamic faiths, however, many also believe in a pantheon of deities, which can also be seen as aspects of the Ultimate. Not all of these deities are nice or friendly to human beings.
The Deanist/Filianist answer to this is that this is one of the things that we cannot truly understand from an unEnlightened state. Pain, sorrow, and tragedy are a part of manifest existence, and everything other than Ultimate Reunion with Dea is temporary, even Paradise. Death and destruction are a part of life, even though we experience these things as negative.
An astrologer’s job when it comes to comets is to do her best to interpret the Divine intent and help people prepare accordingly. To interpret the meaning of a comet, astrologers use everything about it, including its color, direction, and the constellations and fixed stars in its path.
It can be tempting to get complicated about the interpretation of a comet. Yet, if we understand it to be a message from the Divine, we can probably assume that the Divine wants us to understand it, so at least on some level, the message will be fairly clear.
In traditional times, a comet would be considered to arrive when we could see it with the naked eye. Now, we can detect comets with telescopes much sooner than we would be able to see them in the night sky.
Comet Neowise was first spotted on March 27, 2020. This is when many places around the world started to go into lockdown because of the virus, Covid-19. She went around the Sun on July 3, 2020. It seems that she could have gotten burned up by the Sun, so it was not until after she passed that it was certain that she would come and visit our skies.
She was first visible on Earth on around July 12, 2020, and she will be visible until at least July 23, 2020, in the Northern Hemisphere. She may be visible longer, though. Comets tend to be rather unpredictable, even to modern science. She will not be visible in the Southern Hemisphere.
Comet Neowise is multi-colored, but the main ones are gold, orange, and yellow. With respect to comets, these colors relate to the Sun, Jupiter, and Venus. This comet also has two tails, and the second tail has just appeared. The direction of the comet is downward, and she appears to be falling from the heavens to the Earth.
This comet first became visible in the constellation Argo, the Ship. She is moving retrograde or in the opposite direction of the planets, and her path will take her through Ursa Minor, Ursa Major, and Canis Major.
Of all of the constellations that Comet Neowise will pass through, as a Filianist, the most interesting is Ursa Major, the Great Bear.
Ursa Major is probably the oldest constellation that has been passed down into modern times. In recent times, there is a uniform system of classifications for the constellations, but this was not always the case. Different cultures had different groupings and mythology for the various stars. Ursa Major, however, is uniform throughout many cultures, including indigenous Native American cultures. Almost universally, Ursa Major is seen as feminine.
Ursa Major is one of the circumpolar constellations in the Northern Hemisphere, meaning that she is always up in the night sky, never rising or setting. The southern parts of this constellation can be seen in the Southern Hemisphere as well.
Bear worship was common in prehistory, and there is evidence that it was a part of Neanderthal cultures. The Sami in Northern Scandanavia and the Ainu in Japan still worship the bear today.
She can be seen as a Mother/Protector Deity. She can be fierce but her devotion to her children is absolute.
Comet Neowise is thought to originate in the Oort Cloud, meaning that she comes from the very outer edges of the influence of our Sun. The outer edges of the Ort Cloud are 3.2 light-years from the Sun. This makes her a long-period comet. Long-period comets have orbits of thousands of years.
While planets have regular orbits, the orbits of comets can be complicated. There are some, like Halley’s Comet, which have a regular orbit. For others, the passage around the Sun warps and changes their orbit. Some have there orbit changed so much that they fly out of the solar system.
Many articles state that Comet Neowise has an orbit of around 6,800 years. This is not quite accurate. It will be 6,700 years before she will be visible on Earth again, but the last time she was seen would have been around 4,400 years ago. See the Wikipedia Article about this comet.
This means that she would have been visible sometime around 2400 B.C.E. This was the time from which we have the earliest written records of the history of this planet. This is the time when it is currently believed that Stonehenge and the Great Pyramid were built.
The oldest recorded comet is from China in 2296 B.C.E. It is interesting to speculate that maybe this comet was Comet Neowise. The records from that time seem to be vague, though, and I was not able to find any evidence that would either support or refute this speculation.
I think that it is very likely that this comet relates at least in part to the current Covid-19 crisis. She came into our consciousness at about the same time as the pandemic was taking off on a global scale. Her appearance in the sky coincides with the disease spreading like wildfire in many places, including the United States.
Comets are often associated with a change in rulers. Some speculate it might have to do with the current president of the United States. While that may be the case, a comet is too large of a sign to be associated with the regular transfer of power as a result of an election.
I do think that the symbolism is pretty clear that there will be a rise in the Divine Feminine, and that patriarchal structures based on war and military force are going to fall. The symbolism of the Mother Bear deity coming to Earth seems quite powerful.
One of the interesting things about the coronavirus pandemic is that the way to combat it is through mutual cooperation. The most effective tool in preventing the spread of the virus is mask-wearing, but the mask only offers limited protection to the mask-wearer. Instead, we are protected only if others are wearing masks when they are near us. Governments that can convince or compel their population to wear masks for the common good are getting the virus under control. Places that have governments that are unwilling or unable to do this are being devastated.
I also think that this comet is another sign that changes on a scale that is difficult to imagine are coming. We are already headed for a change from an era dominated by Earth to one dominated by Air.
See 2020 – An Earth-Shattering Year
The appearance of this comet that we have not seen since the beginning of recorded history seems to indicate that the changes will be even more substantial and fundamental than I previously thought.
For more information about Comet Neowise from a Traditional/Classical perspective, please see the article linked below which was written by my mentor in Classical Astrology, P. James Clark.
Below are my thoughts and recommendations in light of the appearance of Comet Neowise.
One of the important teachings in Filianism relates to the interaction between the home, or the Hestia, and the marketplace, or the Agora. Both are necessary for us, but in many modern cultures, there is a huge imbalance in how we treat both. The Agora is seen as central and more important than the Hestia. Filianism teaches that the reverse is true, that the Hestia is central and primary and that the Agora is secondary.
In the Filianic calendar, the year starts on March 21, which is the day that we ritually celebrate Eastre and the Equinox, regardless of the day that the Equinox actually falls on, which varies from year to year. The day of the week that this day falls on is the first day of the week, and the Janya, or Great Angel, that rules that day is believed to govern the year.
This year, March 21 fell on Saturday, so the Janya of this year is Sai Rhavë, whose planet is Saturn.
On my astrology site, I talked about the astrological chart for the physical Equinox. If you are interested in reading it, here is a link to that article:
Aries Ingress 2020 – A Time of Testing
Yet, as a Filianist, I also believe that the Janya who rules the year also takes on added significance during the year.
Sai Rhavë is a severe Janya, and She often makes life difficult for us on the physical plane. Even so, She is necessary and a manifestation of Dea. Her lessons are important, even if they are not ones that anyone would wish for.
As we start this year, for most of us, the themes of Sai Rhavë are quite clear. All around the world, people are in quarantine and isolation due to a rampant pandemic that is sweeping the world. The Rhavic symbolism behind this is obvious.
Yet, as is always the case with Sai Rhavë, we can also learn some very important lessons from the experience.
I believe that one of these lessons is the importance of the Hestia, as well as a deepened appreciation for the sectors of life that are traditionally associated with the Feminine Principle.
In the state of the U.S. that I live, we are under a “stay-at-home” order. All businesses, except for those deemed “essential” are closed down. In effect, the Agora has been effectively shut down. It is interesting, though, to learn what business activities truly are essential.
Of course, in this crisis, medical care providers are essential. Yet, the businesses that directly support the Hestia are also essential, such as food providers, store clerks, and sanitation workers. Many of these people do not generally get much respect in our society, but during these times, they have been heroic in helping to provide for our comfort and our needs, risking their own health and safety.
Teachers and those who care for children are also getting new respect as parents are attempting to teach their children at home.
In addition to those who are still at work, we are also learning about what it is that we actually need, as well as the strange things that we think that we need.
Most of those in the U.S. have never really experienced shortages. We might be limited by our financial resources in what we can buy, but there has always been the sense that we could buy whatever we needed or wanted if we could afford it. Now, we are discovering that many things are quite difficult to find.
One of the stranger things has been just how important people seem to find toilet paper, which has now become a scarce commodity. Although, I remember many conversations with my late grandmother in which we talked about a new invention or technology, and she recounted to me that she remembered when they invented toilet paper. I wonder what she would say about all of this.
Now that many people are at home, we are gaining awareness of our own Hestias and our own immediate families. There are those that are experiencing loneliness and boredom, particularly those that live alone. There are those that are having to be together with people that they have spent very little time with. Ironically, for some, such as housewives and stay-at-home moms, this is a time of greater engagement with the Agora, with spouses working from home.
While this is uncomfortable for many people, it is also a great opportunity to really examine our own Hestia and to see what changes need to be made.
This is not just a matter of practical considerations, such as working on our housekeeping or our relationships. It is also a matter of examining our hearts and souls and taking a hard look at our priorities.
One of the things that we are having to do is to find new ways to connect with others. People need contact with other people, and right now, physical contact is dangerous. Yet, for most of us, there are other ways to communicate. Churches are finding that they can have Services electronically. Families can keep in contact through phone calls and video chat. While this might not be as satisfying as being in person, these methods do serve to meet our social needs.
In many ways, we are much more fortunate than our ancestors who had to deal with various kinds of plagues. Even 20 years ago, this level of non-physical communication would not have been possible.
Indeed, I think that this is a large part of the big picture. We are moving from an era dominated by Earth to one dominated by Air. We are moving away from the physical and into the world of ideas and electronic communication. While this pandemic is pushing us faster in that direction, we were going there anyway.
For more information, see:
2020 – An Earth-Shattering Year
Many people are worried about the economy while we are not able to do business in person. That an understandable fear, but I believe that those companies that can adapt are going to survive and flourish, not just during this scary time, but into the future as well.
There will be change and turmoil, and some jobs will disappear. This happens whenever there are advances in technology. Yet, new jobs will emerge, and people will find ways to make a living.
Even after this pandemic is over, our world will not go back to the way it was. For better or for worse, we will all have to adjust to “the new normal.”
In a crisis, the best and worst in people come out. Yet, so far, there seems to be a lot more good than bad.
Yes, some people are selfishly ignoring precautions or hoarding items that we all need. Yes, some politicians and leaders are being less than helpful. This is not the full picture, however.
Some people are doing their best to be good. Performers and entertainers are giving free video performances. People are going out of their way to support and encourage each other from a safe distance. Businesses are doing their best to respond to this crisis by giving paid sick leave and taking other precautions to prevent the spread of the disease.
In the U.S., for the first time in decades, opposing parties are working together for the common good.
Even though the physical borders between countries have closed, all over the world, people are working together to fight the same enemy. Many people are sharing their experiences in quarantine and isolation, and in some ways, this has brought us closer as a worldwide community than ever before.
Like all crises, this is an opportunity for us to call forth our best selves, whether we are heroic first responders, faithful grocery store clerks, or one of the many who are called to protect our own health so we don’t contribute to the spread of the disease or further tax the available medical resources.
This is a time of uncertainty and fear. Yet, this is also a time for us to take a deep look at ourselves and our values. Life has been changing over the last several decades, but this new crisis is pushing us headlong into that change. In particular, we are being forced to examine our relationship to both the home and the marketplace, and examine our priorities…as individuals, as families, as cities, as nations, and as a world.
2020 promises to be a year of big changes astrologically, culminating with a Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction, also known as a Great Conjunction, in Aquarius at the Winter Solstice. This will mark the end of a two-century era in which the Great Conjunctions fell in Earth Signs and the beginning of a new two-century era in which they will occur in Air Signs.
As if this were not enough, before Jupiter and Saturn can come together, they will both have had to cross the path of Pluto. Saturn closed in on Pluto on January 12, 2020, and Jupiter will meet with Pluto three times, on April 4, June 30, and November 12.
For a detailed discussion of the Transits of 2020, see 2020 – An Earth-Shattering Year.
While all astrologers agree that the Jupiter/Saturn Conjunction has great significance, what about the meaning of the conjunctions of both of these planets with Pluto?
Answers to this question will vary widely by who you talk to. A Modern Psychological Astrologer or an Evolutionary Astrologer will attach deep meaning to these transits, while a strict Traditional Astrologer might say that they have no meaning at all.
In order to examine this subject, it might be helpful to take a closer look at Pluto, its history, and the significance that has been given to it by astrologers.
Before we delve into the astrological and metaphysical meanings of Pluto, let us step back and look at what we know about the discovery of this planet, its demotion, and its current place in modern astronomy.
Pluto was discovered in 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh when he was 23 years old. He worked at the Lowell Observatory, and his job was to search for Planet X. A century had not yet gone by since the discovery of Neptune in the mid-1840s.
Apparently, in the late 19th century, some astronomers believed that the orbits of Uranus and Neptune were not what they were supposed to be and speculated that there was another planet causing the anomaly. This undiscovered planet was called Planet X.
Percival Lowell was a wealthy Bostonian and scholar who was interested in a variety of subjects, including mathematics and astronomy. He founded the Lowell Observatory, and searching for Planet X was one of his pet projects.
Percival Lowell did not live to see his dream become a reality, but one of the glyphs that is commonly used for Pluto has a combined P and L, which in addition to being the first letters for the name of the planet, were also the initials of his name.
Beginning in the early 1990s, barely 60 years into its discovery, Pluto’s status as a planet was beginning to be called into question. Part of the reason for this is that astronomers were finding out just how small Pluto really is. It is about two-thirds of the size of the Earth’s Moon.
Another difficulty is that Pluto’s orbit is quite messy. Like the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, Pluto’s orbit is filled with other space objects and is now known to be a part of a region that has been named the Kuiper Belt.
Pluto’s final fall from grace happened when another body larger than it was found to be further out into the Kuiper Belt. This body eventually became known as Eris, after the Greek goddess of strife and discord.
In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) officially determined the definition of a planet to be a celestial body that 1) is in orbit around the Sun; 2) has enough mass to be round; 3) has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.
Celestial bodies that have only met the first two criteria are now known as dwarf planets, and there are now 5 bodies that belong in this classification, among them, Pluto, Eris, and Ceres.
Pluto’s demotion was highly controversial. In his book, The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet, Neil deGrasse Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium and one of the key players in Pluto’s reclassification, tells the story of the popular outcry. Apparently, Dr. Tyson received quite a bit of mail complaining about the demotion, which included letters from elementary school children. One letter even included a picture of Pluto crying.
It turns out that the elementary school children discussed above may have been right to be concerned about Pluto’s feelings. Unbeknownst to anyone, Pluto apparently has a heart.
In 2006, the space probe, New Horizons, was launched to explore the outer Solar System. This probe arrived at Pluto in 2015 and mapped this celestial body along with its largest moon, Charon. Charon is so large in comparison with Pluto that Charon does not actually orbit Pluto. Instead, these bodies orbit a point between them.
New Horizons sent back a great deal of data about Pluto. Some of the most interesting discoveries were that the most prominent feature of Pluto’s landscape is a large heart-shaped region and that there may be water beneath its surface.
Pluto’s role in astrology has also taken many twists and turns. At the present time, Pluto is just as controversial in the astrological community as it is in the scientific one. For the most part, Indian astrology does not incorporate Pluto or any of the modern planets, but for such a small celestial body, it has become a very big bone of contention among Western astrologers.
Below are some of the views of Pluto based on three of the main branches of Western Astrology.
Strict Traditional or Classical Astrologers ignore Pluto altogether. They also ignore Uranus, Neptune, and all of the asteroids. They primarily use the Seven Traditional Planets and see no need to make room for any of the planets discovered in modern times. This is, in part, because of the doctrine of visibility, which is that only the bodies that are visible have meaning to our lives.
Yet, there are many astrologers, some of them quite well-known, that use mostly traditional methodology and still incorporate Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto in their readings.
In general, though, these astrologers do not assign the planets the rulerships of any signs, and instead, stick to the traditional rulership scheme.
The most common branch of astrology that is practiced in the West can be loosely described as Modern Psychological. Actually, this is far from a unified or organized school of thought, but there are some common themes.
The reason it is often termed psychological astrology is that its primary purpose is to describe people’s personality traits and internal psychological dynamics. Often, practitioners do not try to predict events that will happen in people’s lives but instead focus on a person’s Free Will.
Planets and celestial bodies are often incorporated into the system shortly after they are discovered. Innovation is welcome and even encouraged by practitioners.
In Modern Psychological Astrology, Pluto governs deep internal psychological forces. The associations for Pluto are often quite dark, although, it is also termed the planet of “transformation.” Pluto is assigned the rulership of Scorpio, sometimes alongside Mars, the traditional ruler, and sometimes in place of Mars. Areas assigned to Pluto are the areas of the psyche are ugly, violent, and that most people try to keep buried.
On a global level, it has been noted that Pluto was discovered as we were discovering atomic power, and the element named for it, plutonium, was used in the first atomic bomb detonated in war.
Pluto’s demotion has not changed its usage by most Modern Psychological Astrologers, although some have included other dwarf planets, such as Ceres and Eris, into their readings.
Evolutionary Astrology takes Pluto even further, teaching that it is central to a person’s soul. Indeed, it points to the soul’s karma and its intentions in this present life. One of the major schools of Evolutionary Astrology is known as The Pluto School.
This branch of astrology also combines a sign, its ruler, and the house whose number corresponds to that sign, and gives them all a synonymous meaning. In this system, Scorpio, Pluto, and the 8th House all mean approximately the same thing.
Interestingly enough, this system places a heavy emphasis on Free Will. The chart is just a reflection of your past up until the point that you were born, and you can decide what to do with it in this life.
Even so, in many cases, Evolutionary Astrology often takes a close look at the traumas and unpleasant experiences that one has encountered in this and previous lives.
Last spring, on the Astrology Podcast, hosted by Chris Brennan, there was an interesting episode titled How Did Pluto and the Outer Planets Get Their Meanings. The panelists were Chris Brennan, Kenneth Miller, Sam Reynolds, and Lisa Schaim.
You can watch this episode on YouTube here.
This was a very good discussion, and I highly recommend it.
One of the more interesting parts of this video was a discussion by Kenneth Miller about a study he conducted regarding the views of astrologers concerning Pluto since its discovery.
According to his research, for the first few decades, most astrologers were unsure of whether Pluto did have meaning and if so, what that meaning was. Sometimes it seemed to impact people and sometimes it did not.
In most cases, astrologers from the early decades of Pluto’s discovery seemed to think that Pluto was only relevant in a birth chart if it impacted other planets or chart points in the chart.
In modern times, however, Kenneth Miller observed that astrologers who use Pluto are convinced that it does have meaning, are confident of that meaning, and see evidence of its influence whether or not it is connected with the more personal planets.
In the episode, he pondered what that might mean, assuming that both the astrologers of the past and present astrologers were faithfully reporting their professional observations. Could it be that Pluto actually is more influential now than it was in the past?
Also discussed in this video was the practice of ascribing meaning to Pluto and other celestial bodies based on the name given to them by astronomers as well as by what was going on in the world during their discovery. The basis for this practice is the doctrine of synchronicity. One of the observations made, however, that there did not seem to be any discussion of the significance of Pluto’s demotion according to synchronicity.
One of the central controversies in astrology concerns the roles of Fate and Free Will in our lives. This is not just an abstract philosophical discussion. For astrologers, it has profound practical implications. Our position on this issue governs how much we think that a person’s astrological chart can tell us and what we believe that we are able to predict by the movements of the planets.
Ultimately, every astrologer must come to terms with this question for themselves, but the different branches of Western Astrology tend to have different beliefs the interplay between Fate and Free Will.
Modern practitioners of Traditional/Classical Astrology tend to fall heavily on the side of Fate. There are a few who go so far as to think that our entire lives can be predicted with mathematical precision from our charts. This is an extreme view and is not held by many practicing astrologers, however.
Astrologers in the Hellenistic Age seemed to have a more nuanced view and in general, believed that some things were fated and some were subject to Free Will. I have found that most modern Traditional and Classical Astrologers would agree with this. Yet, I think that almost all would say that Fate plays at least some role in what happens to us and that we can predict our present and our future to a certain extent from our birth charts.
On the opposite end of the spectrum are Evolutionary Astrologers who do not believe in Fate, but ascribe everything to Free Will. As discussed before, in this branch, our birth chart only reflects the choices that we have made in past lives. Our present and future paths are up to us.
Most Modern Psychological Astrologers fall somewhere in between these two extremes.
For my own thoughts on the subject, I refer the reader to the article below:
Fate, Free Will, the Cross, and Wa
One of the things that I have noticed is that it seems that there is a correlation between how much astrologers believe Pluto and the Outer Planets impact us and how great of a role Free Will plays in our lives.
I do not think that this is a coincidence.
When I first read, The Feminist Universe, by Miss Alice Trent, I learned about the modern poisons of atomization, deracination, and deformation. Atomization separates us from each other, deracination separates us from our Source, and deformation twists and inverts that which is good and beautiful, making it an ugly parody.
If you are interested, you can purchase a copy of The Feminine Universe here.
When I was reading about these poisons, I was struck with how similar they were to the accepted meanings of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto.
I wrote about my thoughts in the article below:
In a later article, I discussed my thoughts on the notion that the Outer Planets were “Higher Octaves” of the Traditional Planets. The article is linked below:
The Outer Planets: the Pseudomythos of “Higher Octaves” and “Transcendence”
Based on these reflections, and in monitoring my own chart as the charts of my clients and others I know, I have developed my own practice as to how I use Pluto and the Outers.
I do believe that they can have an impact on people, but that this impact is almost entirely the result of Free Will.
I believe that the Traditional Planets, which we can see with the naked eye, cannot be avoided. We do have some Free Will with respect to how we interact with the principles they represent, but we are fated to deal with them as Axial Beings in the material world. For example, a mortal cannot avoid Saturn. We will all face the ravages of time and will eventually die.
We can, however, avoid delving into the depths of Pluto. In order to see it, we must go to substantial lengths and effort to do so. I think that is a metaphor for the Pluto principle as well.
On the other hand, no one is an island, and if our society has embraced Pluto, we will be impacted by it at some level whether we want to be or not. I find it interesting that there has been an outcry against the demotion of Pluto, and that many astrologers have ignored it completely.
If synchronicity was involved in its discovery, surely its demotion was meaningful as well. I think that, perhaps, we have been given the choice to reject the principles that have been associated with it. Maybe, over time, our society will be able to make that choice.
Perhaps, we can use this year of changes to stop employing Pluto as a symbol for the principle which encourages us to dig up parts of our psyche better left buried or to take apart the building blocks of matter giving the power to destroy ourselves. Instead, we can let it alone to be a teeny world at the edge of our Solar System. We can enjoy its dance with its partner, Charon, let it have its heart, and speculate about what might be in the oceans beneath its surface.
I think that we have that choice if we want it.
I have been rather quiet on my various blogs recently. This has been a rather busy time for me. During the month of May, I took a course at Kepler College called Crash Course in Indian Astrology, which was taught by Kenneth Miller. The course proper is finished, but I still need to finish the final homework assignment.
I had wanted to study at Kepler College when it was still able to offer Master’s degrees, but at the time, it was not possible for me. I have also been curious about Indian Astrology for a long time. Unlike Western Astrology, Indian Astrology has a living tradition, so it did not seem fitting to attempt to learn it through self-study. It just so happened that I learned about this course at the same time that we got a nice-sized income tax refund, so I decided to go for it.
At the time, I had no intention of “converting” to Indian Astrology. I was only seeking to learn a little more about it so that I could talk intelligently when asked about the subject by friends or clients. A “crash course” seemed perfect for that purpose. Now that I am in the home stretch, I find that I am re-thinking the entire direction of my practice. Before I discuss this, however, I want to talk a little about the differences between Indian and Western Astrology.
Indian Astrology, or Jyotish, is a different astrological language from Western astrology. It is a related language. Much of the vocabulary is recognizable, but it is used in different ways. Below are some of the main differences that I have learned so far.
Even beginning astrology students usually know that most practitioners of Western Astrology use the Tropical Zodiac, which is based on the Solstices and the Equinoxes. When learning this, students also learn that Indian Astrology uses “the” Sidereal Zodiac which is based on the constellations.
As it turns out, this is not really accurate. To begin with, none of the Sidereal Zodiacs in use by practitioners of Indian Astrology truly correspond to the actual constellations. For one thing, the constellations are not all the same size. The largest constellation, Virgo, is about 3 times the size of the smallest constellation, Capricorn. Just like the Tropical Zodiac, the Sidereal Zodiacs divide the ecliptic into 12 equal parts.
The difference is merely in where 0° Aries begins. In the Tropical Zodiac, 0° Aries begins at the Spring Equinox. In theory, the Sidereal Zodiacs begin at the first star of the constellation Aries in the sky. There is a problem, however. There is no bright star at the beginning of Aries to measure by.
As a result, various calculations of what is known as the Ayanamsa exist. The Ayanamsa is the difference between 0° Aries and the Spring Equinox. Apparently, historically, different almanacs were published in different villages with different Ayanamsas, most of which were calculated using one of the bright stars at the end of the constellation Pisces.
This became a problem not just for astrologers. In India, the dates of most of the major festivals are based on the position of the stars. The different Ayanamsas meant that different villages were celebrating their festivals at different times. To remedy the chaos that this could cause, in the 1950s, the Indian government standardized the Ayanamsa using modern scientific methods. This became known as the Lahiri Ayanamsa.
This did not settle the issue for astrologers, however. Apparently, rather than using stars at the beginning of Aries or the end of Pisces, Lahiri uses Spica, which is at the end of the constellation Virgo, and sets 0° Aries opposite to this fixed star. There is no traditional authority that allows the Ayanamsa to be calculated in this way, so there are quite a few astrologers who reject this calculation.
All in all, it seems like the calculation of the Ayanamsa in Indian Astrology is as chaotic as the quadrant House divisions are in Western, if not more so.
Speaking of House divisions, practitioners of Indian Astrology, by and large, use the Whole Sign House system. This goes a long way in reducing the amount of chaos that the different Ayanamsas would otherwise cause.
This brings me to a different issue. Even though most practitioners of Western Astrology use the Tropical Zodiac, there are some that do use one of the Sidereal Zodiacs. There was a time that I did not have an opinion on this, but now I do. My current opinion is that this is not a good idea.
There is some research that suggests that Vettius Valens, a renowned astrologer of the Hellenistic Era, used a sidereal zodiac along with or instead of the Tropical Zodiac. Even if this was the case, the methodology of Western Astrology has developed using the Tropical Zodiac for almost 2,000 years since that time. One of these developments has been quadrant-based House Systems, such as Placidus or Regiomontanus, and there is no real consensus between Western Astrologers as to which one to use. So, if you combine the uncertainty as to the Ayanamsa with the uncertainty of quadrant-based houses, you are increasing the chaos exponentially.
Even if you use a Whole Sign House System, the methodology of Indian Astrology is very different than Western. For example, Indian astrology does not use the five-tiered dignity system that Western Traditional/Classical Astrology uses. It does use exaltation and rulership. It also uses something that is known as debilitation, which corresponds to Fall in Western Astrology. Aside from that, dignity is based on a system of friendship and enmity between the planets and a complicated combination of other factors, many of which are not considered or are considered differently in Western Astrology. Also, Indian astrology does not use the Ptolemaic aspects. Instead, the only aspects it recognizes are planets that are in the same sign and opposite signs and special aspects for Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Given these differences, in my opinion, it does not seem wise to “mix and match” by using one of the sidereal zodiacs with Western astrological methodology.
While there are major technical differences between these two astrological languages, the most profound differences are in their philosophy. While people of other religions can and do practice Indian Astrology, by and large, it is rooted in Hindu beliefs and religious rituals. This gives it a rich philosophical and spiritual foundation that is mostly lacking in Western Astrology as it is practiced today.
For example, in Indian Astrology, the planets do not operate mechanically. They are governed by Intelligent deities. This means that if you are having trouble with a planet, one of the things that you can do about it is to appeal to the deity of that planet for relief. Hinduism also has rich teachings about karma that explain the interaction between Fate and Free Will in a very profound way.
It is also a common practice for Jyotishi (practitioner of Indian Astrology) to say prayers to the planetary deities before reading a chart. Our instructor began each class with one of these prayers.
As I said, when I started the course, I did not intend to “convert” to Indian Astrology. Now, I am not so sure. Obviously, I do not know enough after a “crash course” to switch at this point in time. I will still be offering my services in Western Astrology for the foreseeable future.
On the other hand, I have been working on developing what I have been calling Essentialist Astrology. Essentialist Astrology is more of a philosophy of practice rather than a methodology. After learning about Indian Astrology, I wonder if this is not a fool’s errand.
Much of what I have been trying to do in Essentialist Astrology is a regular part of the practice of Indian Astrology. Indian Astrology is patriarchal, of course, but not as much as one might think. For example, the planetary deities are all masculine, but the stars and the deities of the Nakshaktras (the Indian version of Lunar Mansions) are all feminine.
Also, while Indian Astrology is mostly rooted in Hinduism, there are many practitioners of other faiths such as Buddhism and Jainism. This is one of the reasons that the instructor prefers the term Indian Astrology to Vedic Astrology. When I asked what practitioners of other religions do, I was told that it was perfectly acceptable to substitute the angels or deities from one’s own tradition for the Hindu gods. Apparently, Buddhist practitioners use bodhisattvas or aspects of the Buddha, and Christian and Jewish practitioners use the Archangels.
So, substituting the planetary Janyati for the Hindu gods does not seem like it would be a problem either.
Given all of this, it seems like it may be more productive to study Indian Astrology than it would be to keep struggling with Western Astrology. I do not know yet, but it is something to seriously consider.
One of the things that I have done is to make a new shrine, which is on the top shelf of the desk that I work at. In Filianism, it is encouraged to use images for Dea and the Janyati from living traditions rather than historical ones whenever possible. This is because with living traditions, we have more confidence that we are using the images correctly. I was able to stick to this practice with my new shrine, as you can see below.
In this shrine, Our Lady of Guadalupe is Sai Raya (the Sun). Quan Yin is Sai Candre (the Moon). Sri Durga is Sai Vikhë (Mars). According to the Chapel of Our Mother God, Sri Saraswati can represent either Sai Thamë (Jupiter) as the Divine Musician or Sai Mati (Mercury) as the goddess of Wisdom and learning. I chose to have Her represent Sai Thamë.
I had originally planned to use Sri Lakshmi for Sai Sushuri (Venus), but I could not find a statue that I liked. Instead, I found a lovely image of Green Tara. I had a difficult time with the image to use for Sai Rhavë (Saturn). Many of the images associated with Her, such as Kali, are rather difficult. In Filianism, She is loosely associated with the Dark Mother, who is God without Form, and thus has no images. In researching, though, I discovered that White Tara bestows longevity and compassion for earthly suffering. If nothing else, it seems like it is appropriate to go to White Tara for Rhavic difficulties.
Surprisingly enough, I had the most trouble with Sai Mati. I thought I might use an image of Sophia or even a historical image such as Athena, but I could not find one I liked. I found an image of Uma in a catalog, and I kept being drawn to it. I did some research, and I discovered that She is a mountain goddess of Wisdom. I found a story about Her that I really liked in which She taught Agni, the god of fire, and Vayu, the god of wind, about humility. This reminded me of The Sermon of the Apple Seed from the Feminine Scriptures, which I try to keep in mind in all of the work that I do.
So, the question is, now what? Where do I go from here? The answer to this is that I do not really know. I guess the first thing is to finish the last assignment from my class. There are a few books that the instructor recommended that I have not had the chance to read yet, so that will probably be the next step.
I guess after that, I will let the Janyati lead the way and see where that goes.
There are some topics in Western Astrology in which there is a widespread consensus. The meaning of the Moon’s Nodes is not one of them. This article will talk about what the Nodes are and discuss various approaches taken by Modern, Classical, and Indian Astrology. Finally, I will talk about the approach that I have developed in my own practice.
From the Earth, it looks like the Sun travels through the sky in a circular path which is the same every year. This path is known as the ecliptic. The other planets, including the Moon, all have orbits that vary somewhat from the ecliptic. The Moon’s path varies about 5°. Because the path of the other planets varies from the ecliptic, they all cross the ecliptic twice along their orbit. The places where they cross are known as the planet’s nodes.
Of the planetary nodes, it is the nodes of the Moon that are of the greatest significance. This is because, from the perspective of the Earth, the apparent size of the Moon is the same as the apparent size of the Sun. Thus, whenever there is a New Moon near one of the Nodes, there is a Solar Eclipse, and whenever there is a Full Moon near one of the Nodes, there is a Lunar Eclipse.
In recent years, the most commonly used interpretation of the Moon’s Nodes is that they relate to personal karma. In this interpretation, the South Node relates to one’s past lives and the North Node relates to one’s future. A complex version of this method of interpretation is put forth by Steven Forrest in his book, Yesterday’s Sky. In this method of interpretation, Steven Forrest explains how he uses the South Node’s sign, house position, and ruler as well as the planets that aspect the South Node to tell a story about a person’s past life. He makes no claim that this story represents a factual past life. Instead, he claims that the themes of the story are what is important and that by understanding these themes, one can heal from one’s karma. From this idea, he has developed an entire branch of astrology, known as Evolutionary Astrology.
Not all Modern astrologers go this far, but the use of the South Node to indicate past lives and the North Node to determine one’s future direction has become widespread.
While the karmic interpretation of the Nodes seems to be extremely popular in the present day and age, it seems to be a relatively recent one. For example, in an astrology textbook from 1971, The Compleat Astrologer, by Derek and Julia Parker, there was no mention of the karmic interpretation. In this book, the North Node was described as beneficial and having characteristics similar to Jupiter, and the South Node was described as adverse and having characteristics similar to Saturn.
In her book, Classical Astrology for Modern Living, by J. Lee Lehman, Ph.D., Dr. Lehman discusses a Nodal Cycle that seems to have been derived from Dane Rudhyar. This cycle traces the Moon’s path along the ecliptic as it travels across the North Node, reaches her Northernmost point, travels South, crosses the South Node, keeps going until she reaches her Southernmost point, and then travels North again. Dr. Lehman gives complete delineations for each of these stages when they are found in a Nativity Chart.
There seems to be a fair about of confusion and ambiguity about the meaning of the Nodes in the Western Tradition. In Book 1 of Christian Astrology, William Lilly reports that “the Ancients” considered the North Node, or the Head of the Dragon, to be of the nature of Jupiter and Venus and a Fortune. According to him, the Ancients taught that the North Node was good when conjunct good planets and evil when conjunct evil planets. In contrast, the South Node, or the Tail of the Dragon, is evil when joined with good planets and good when joined with evil planets.
After this description, William Lilly disputes with this interpretation, saying “upon what reason grounded I know not.” He says that he as always found the North Node to be the equivalent of the Fortunes and that:
when joined with the evil Planets to lesson their malevolent signification; when joined with the good to increase the good promised by them. For the Tail of the Dragon, I always in my practise found when he was jointed with the evil Planets; their their malice or the evil intended thereby was doubled and trebled, or extremely augmented.
He then wrote that when the good planets were joined with the South Node the good that was promised by them was disrupted and often came to nothing.
In his book, Hellenistic Astrology, Chris Brennan discusses a variety of approaches to the Nodes taken by astrologers in the Hellenistic Tradition. Some viewed both of them as negative because they were the places that eclipses formed. This was particularly true when either of the luminaries was found with them. The approach of “the Ancients” that William Lilly described seems to have been recorded as far back as Rhetortius of Egypt in the early Sixth or Seventh Century.
In Vedic Astrology, the North Node is named Rahu and the South Node is named Ketu. Rahu and Ketu are considered planets in their own right. According to myth, the Devas and the Asuras worked together to churn to the ocean to create a substance called Amrit, which was a nectar that would grant immortality. The Asura stole the Amrit for themselves, but Lord Vishnu took an incarnation as a beautiful woman, Mohini, to distract the Asura and take back the Amrit.
Mohini then went to the Devas to distribute it. One of the Asura, named Svarbhanu changed his appearance to obtain some of the Amrit. He sat between the Sun (Surya) and the Moon (Chandra), but they recognized him and exposed him to Lord Vishnu, who severed Svarbhanu’s head. Svarbhanu had already received a drop of the Amrit, and thus, did not die, but remained forever split in two. The head is Rahu and the tail is Ketu. Since that time, they have taken revenge against the Sun and the Moon by swallowing them, but as the Sun and Moon are also immortal, they always emerge intact.
Rahu is the head and has a mouth with no stomach. This means that Rahu can never be satisfied. Rahu is what we desire but can’t get enough of. In contrast, Ketu represents the things that we have no interest in and that bring us no pleasure.
Given the diversity of opinions on the Nodes and what they do, as a practicing astrologer, if one is to use them, one must work out what to do with them. For myself, the one thing that is clear about the Nodes is that they are the places where eclipses form.
Metaphysically, eclipses are the temporary triumph of Darkness over Light. As such, I view both of the Nodes as malefic influences. In a birth chart, if a person’s Sun is within 16° of either Node, that person was born during an Eclipse Season. The person is also likely to experience one or more eclipses by secondary progression in their lifetime.
In my own research, I have noticed that people who were born into eclipse seasons tend to be heavily impacted by larger social events or movements on a personal level. This impact is not always traumatic, but it often is. If they were born between eclipses, this impact will influence their entire life, but its power will dissipate somewhat when they progress into an un-eclipsed Lunation (New or Full Moon). The direct effect will largely subside at the first uneclipsed New Moon, although they will still bear the scars. If a person progresses into an Eclipse season, the impact will begin at that time rather than at birth.
For those who were not born during or progress into an Eclipse season, I treat the Nodes as collective karma rather than as individual karma. I look at their position in the chart and their interaction with other planets to determine where and how collective karma impacts the native.
In addition, I have considered integrating the principles of Rahu and Ketu, and I have seen some positive results in my initial research. On the other hand, I am a little dubious of “mixing and matching” principles in this way.
In my last article, mentioned that I had started a new project, a website called Quiet Heroines. This website will feature the stories of women who have led extraordinary lives, but whose voices have been lost to history.
The first heroine is on the site Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton, and the main article is:
Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story
The Wisdom of Our Grandmothers 