Astrology and Spirituality

I have just finished reading a rather dull book which purported to illustrate the link between the cosmos and the human psyche by means of a comparison of the movements of the outer planets (Jupiter to Pluto) and their conjunctions and oppositions with human thought and activity which took place at the same time. The author did not claim that the planets influenced human behaviour but that their positions in the heavens, as viewed from Earth, were a kind of snapshot of a moment in time, and that the two, outer movement and inner behaviour, could be correlated. The idea is that particular periods have particular qualities which are expressed in both human psychology and planetary positions with these latter almost like the hands of a clock. This is not a new idea and actually makes more sense than traditional ideas of cause and effect, though educated astrologers always had a more nuanced sense of how astrology works than that.

The book is dull because with an almost relentless thoroughness the author produces page after page of lists of what was happening at various points in history during certain planetary configurations. For example, he equates the Uranus/Pluto conjunction with revolution (Uranus) that reaches right down to the depths of consciousness and society (Pluto) and sees this as operative in the 1960s which, of course, was a decade of turbulent change. He goes back through history to the French Revolution when the same factors occurred, and then sees how this particular aspect worked out in the lives of prominent individuals. This is all well and good, and I don't dispute that there is a correlation of some kind, but he belabours the point so much it becomes tedious. He also ignores movements that were occurring at the time of these planetary patterns that do not fit his thesis so the whole thing becomes a little selective.

Another problem from my point of view is that for all the matching up of world events and planetary aspects he does, it all only makes sense with the benefit of hindsight. The archetypes represented by the planets (which I would not dispute) have so many levels of interpretation that, while you can't say anything goes, an awful lot does. They can work out in so many different ways, as is to be expected given the varying factors of human consciousness, free will and levels of awareness, that you really cannot say what will occur at a given time except in the very broadest of terms. Apparently just before 9/11 some astrologers were anticipating the possibility of a terrorist attack but not when, where or how so what's the use? Also, terrorist attacks take place all the time in various parts of the world. Are these all signposted too?

But, more than any of this, I would take issue with the idea that there is something going on here that could be called spiritual. The point of the book was that astrology could act as a corrective to the 'disenchantment' of the universe that came about following the abandonment of the geocentric model of the world and the rise of materialistic science. I absolutely agree that there is an urgent need to come back to the idea of the universe as a creation and one in which the Creator is still ceaselessly active and present but astrology by itself really doesn't do this. It can put a spoke in the wheels of materialism but, unless completely subordinated to a genuinely spiritual view in which God is front and centre, it remains a psychological tool only. There was no mention of God in this book though the usual vague spirituality without religion was there. But this form of spirituality has been around since at least the 1960s and it has completely failed to change anything or anybody unless it has been used as a stepping stone to something more serious and less concerned with human potential or self-fulfilment. It is also powerless in the face of the increasing leftist secularisation of the world, being all too easily absorbed into that.

The author of this book gives example after example of historical events that seem to correspond to contemporary astrological conditions but ends up admitting that all these must be interpreted in terms of archetypes which can be expressed in countless different ways. I think he is right but this doesn't really get us anywhere other than to say that something may be going on but we have no idea what it is. And this is the problem with astrology. It can be fascinating to study, and if you do seriously study it you will see that the basic principles behind it must be correct, but it's actually fairly useless. Yes, you can get a certain amount of insight about yourself and others but no more than you could get by getting to know yourself or others properly anyway with the added risk that you might then try to fit everything about a person into the astrological bottle and thereby actually limit your understanding. If a person must correspond to their horoscope, you are reducing that person to a formula. I know astrologers will say that all horoscopes must be interpreted in context but the point remains. The context aspect mitigates it slightly but it does not remove it.

I have been interested in astrology and written about it a little bit but I don't think it has anything to do with proper spirituality and can actually be a distraction. The reason is that it belongs to the phenomenal world. There are schools that have tried to introduce a spiritual form of astrology and link it to reincarnation but, setting aside the speculative nature of that, there's no real value in it. It's still all to do with the unreconstructed, fallen self. I believe in reincarnation but I don't think knowledge of our previous lives would help us much in this one, interesting as it might be. Spirituality is about coordinating your soul with God and the rest is peripheral. Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven etc.

Despite all I have just written I note that the planet Neptune (the green trident at about 1 o'clock in the chart below) will shortly cross my midheaven (marked MC). The midheaven which is the point at the top of the chart, where the sun would be if you were born at midday, represents your direction in life, your goals and purpose. Neptune is the planet associated with the soul, imagination, mysticism but also, on the negative side, drugs and illusion. It represents ego transcendence on the one hand but also the loss of the sense of self that might occur in psychological breakdown. When a planet touches an important point on the birth horoscope it sets off a reaction (speaking in causative terminology) so I shall be interested to see what happens in the next couple of years. But my point is that knowing that something might happen doesn't matter to me one way or the other, particularly if I don't know what it is or how it might work out. The spiritual attitude is not to be bothered about the future but simply seek to walk in the light of God now. When all is said and done, it seems to me that astrology is mostly of interest to the ego and its concerns.