What is astrology?

Law of correspondences

Almost everyone knows “their” sign of the zodiac, yet almost as many are wondering what astrology is. Let’s start with my definition of the art:

The application of the law of correspondences to the field of astronomy (on a scale of human perception).

What are these “correspondences”? The universe is the expression of a unity expressing itself into multiplicity and each of its parts is in correlation with the others. Concretely, the planet Venus is analogous in our world to the rose (vegetable), the dove (animal), copper (metal), pink quartz (mineral), pleasure (perception), relation (faculty), a dress (artifact), sugar (food stuff), etc. The planet Venus is the physical manifestation of a transcendent principle to which a whole series of relative realities are related, these being in analogy to one another. If anyone is interested in one of them, the examination of the Venusian star in a map describing the flow of time specific to the one who questions will tell us about the state of this specific.

An example in image drawn from a chart of interrogation.

Legitimate sensei?

I wanted to resume my martial art practice after a few years’ hiatus. The choice of the club was important for me because I wanted to train in the long term (each martial art having its own principles of combat, it is good not to disperse). Without being secondary, the style, however, passed after a master knowing his art and being part of a tradition.

After several tries in different dojos, one of them caught my attention. It remained for me to know if, beyond the instructor’s pitch and my feelings, the master (4th dan of karate) was legitimate. So, I cast the chart of the moment of my interrogation. A master in any trade, would it be practical, is represented by the house of… knowledge: the IX. The goal is to learn. In essence, the question is whether the knowledge obtained through a person is good. But why does knowledge lodge there? In their path, the stars culminate in the middle of the heavens, the tip of house X: in the human sphere, it is the moment of visibility within the activity (career, reputation, etc.). Then comes a withdrawal from activity to explore interiority – and thus in philosophical reflection, that being in correlation with the planets losing in preeminence in their cycle.

The sign in which the tip of the IX falls in this chart is Virgo. A sign is a potential. The planet in correspondence with this sign is the active principle (here: Mercury). It is it who will tell us about the quality of the knowledge-the master. Mercury is in this chart in Virgo: in its three dignities. This is an excellent starting point because it means that the master’s skills are entirely in line with the knowledge of karate. To go further in symbolism, as Mercury is the smallest planet, it is in analogy with those who are the smallest in society: the servants (also: humility [virtue], attention to detail [behavior] and other correspondences). Hence: we have a teacher who faithfully reproduces the teaching he has received. Going deeper, Mercury forms an angle of almost 120° with Saturn (a triangle). The angular distances are called “aspects” (Latin for a “glance”). They indicate a relationship between the two bodies that need be assessed. This theme of the quality of knowledge, the aspect will qualify further. Of the visible planets, Saturn is the slowest. She is thus the star of experience, tradition, durability and patience. So, we have a club of “traditional karate”, in the words of the sensei.

In extra, we can look at the planets that occupy the space of the house. The sun is there. A line can be drawn that divides the zodiac into two equal halves from 0° Cancer to 0° Capricorn. Every celestial sees its position reflected by symmetry on the other side of the axis (“antiscion” being the technical term). By body at 14°53′ Virgo, Sol is also at 15°07′ Aries by antiscion, that is to say, so close to the tip of house IV (16°01′ Aries) that it is joined with it. The latter being the lowest area of the chart as well as the first dwelling of the cycle of the houses, it is in analogy with origins. The sun, which in the form of a celestial body, is the energy of the leader and the model to be reproduced, therefore represents the Japanese masters who are regularly invited in Belgium to train the karatekas.

Well informed, I joined the club which met my expectations. I can say today that the description of the situation offered by the dedicated chart cast for that specific interrogation is in every respect in keeping with reality.

Free will and determinism

My understanding of the teaching of Blissful One (Buddha), makes me see in the opposition of determinism and free will a perpetuation of the “original” error (dualistic conceptions) which keeps us in the dark. These two terms are the poles of the activity that generates reality. Like a snake biting its tail in a situation that can endure for a long time, free will is, under a flattering name, the activity that will generate a determination to come which in turn will cause a free will in a mise en abyme.

An enlightened being no longer has free will because they practice good “beyond good”, as my main teacher says. That is to say, the good (helping beings to reach enlightenment) that they practice is not an activity in reference to a value judgment but the luminous nature of being itself expressing without filter. It’s not even a personal act anymore. It’s not even a choice anymore.

If astrology allows you to contemplate a preprogrammed sequence of compound situations (which are the merging together of scattered echoes or imprints of activity) coming to fruition, there can be no answer to the question “What is my destiny?”. The astrological chart is the possible of the native who will express themselves in the form of character, psychological attitudes, acts posed by the native according to their tendencies, but also physical constitution and events “seemingly happening” outside their will.

In forecast work, I propose a reading of the possible due to ripe inscribed at birth with the intention that you integrate them for what they are: engrams that arouse repeated patterned events enclosing in an identification between the mind and them as well as submission to limiting beliefs. We also look at the qualities you bear and which bear you towards the final destination that is enlightenment.

Finally, interrogations are a tool to help an effective decision-making.

A knowledge

Unlike clairvoyance or mediumship, astrology is not innate: it is a knowledge that can be learned.

An astrologer reads charts of the heavens offering to see planetary positions, most often in a zodiac and “houses” (a technical term). It usually follows a methodology or at least refers to a relatively established knowledge.

A wide variety of schools of thought developed over the course of time in the West from the founding Hellenistic synthesis of art (2nd century AD) to exclusively psychological or “karmic” readings of the birth chart.