Quoting from issue No. 3 of the AF “We shall not rush, but rather move deliberately to describe topics important to understanding the structure and intelligibility of the horoscope…” This line was written 12 August 2016. Perhaps, if we are not going to rush, we could pick up the pace?
We may be too accustomed to Western rhythms and schedules to offer any explanation for an interruption of 30 months. Evidently, we are not feeling compulsive. It is nice to be back at it–and to welcome you, again, to the reflections and commentary we call the “Astrologers’ Folio”. Let us proceed.
Today we wonder what it means to consider Astrology a language?
Inner.
Outer.
As we hold a bowl in our hands, can we see Inner and Outer regions of the bowl? We can. Is it useful to think about the interiority of the bowl apart from the bowl defined by its Outer-ness? Are these regions separable? Existentially speaking, we experience a bowl as an integral event–an inseparable combining of convex and concave regions in three dimensions. This coming together to form a bowl (as one event) occurs faithfully–not sometimes, but always. As this happens, the bowl enters our awareness (as idea and object). We then proceed to assume the bowl (take it for granted)–and with this familiarity, the bowl morphs into a tool (outer) for our use and a form for our delight (inner).
Notice how we do not think of the bowl in terms of “up” or “down”—but “in” and “out”.
Two states of awareness, waking and non-waking states, are requisite to form one conscious being. Taken together, these inner and outer states inform both a cosmic and a cultural identity for each individual. Our cultural (outer) identity is shaped by the locus of a waking state; the non-waking state serves as a venue of interactions, perhaps from the womb onward, that comprise the mysterious (inner) realm of the “deep Self” or psyche.[1]
“In my father’s house there are many mansions…”[2]
This famous sacred phrase is a figurative, not literal, use of “words” with common definitions. This is not how waking consciousness thinks about houses or mansions. It is a provocative phrase, but why? On what level does it resonate? What type of experience within our being responds to language thus deployed–language so disconnected with how we think about the world “out there”?
As we engage figurative language (the language of allegory, symbol, revelation and metaphor) we transition from “outer” to “inner”, to a subjective place where we trade “seeing” for “insight”. In this way, what we call counter-intuitive becomes accessible– and we experience an “ability to know without direct (outer) evidence”. When we suggest, “all unity is plural”–we voluntarily remove ourself from a public forum “where moth and rust doth corrupt”–where Time and entropy seem to hold sway. Figurative language is the language of liberation; it is borderless and counter-intuitive. For ages, unity as a plural phenomenon, has been the symbolic gift of Yin Yang.
Can we connect the counter-intuitive and Astrology? Let’s begin by seeking the house with many mansions.
Each horoscope is comprised of twelve domains traditionally described as houses. Each “house” in the horoscope is indeed a “mansion”—representing a portal of immense content in the life of the individual. Within every horoscope there is a mansion for mother and another for siblings; there is one mansion for both romance and children, and another mansion of partnerships; still another conflates higher learning and travel, and even the law! The (12) mansions, or houses of the horoscope, together comprise a rich tableau of associations capable of significant personal instruction.
Astrology, rather than a prognosticative trade language for navigating the world by forecast (job, investment, partner) is far better suited as a means for interpreting the world with its ironies (outer) and counter-intuitive (inner) contours. If traveling amidst the counter-intuitive regions of the psyche–in waking and non-waking states is what is sought–an idiom of choice might well be Astrology and its horoscope.
Do we study Astrology to perfect Western modes of thinking? Since the context of our living is Universe, not West; and, because West is only part of Universe and not its proxy–answer: no.
If we want to set a bone, mind you, one would be advised to seek someone trained in Western orthopedic methods, not Astrology. How the bones “know” to knit themselves back together, since it remains a mystery to doctor and Astrologer alike–we are also well advised to invite the realm of the figurative, the symbolic, the poetic and the sacred with us to the physician’s waiting room….so “Thy will be done.”
We will close with one more topic to illustrate the power of the counter-intuitive perspective.
In the study of Astrology there are two luminaries–Sun and Moon. One radiates light, the Sun, and one reflects light, the Moon.
The Sun must be the prominent luminary? This is intuitive. The Sun is also the gravitational identity for all the orbiting planets acknowledged by Astrology, including Earth. Without the Sun, life as we understand it, would not persist on Earth. Intuitively speaking, between two luminaries the Sun appears to be primary; the Sun the greater, the Moon, the lesser.
In Astrology the watery womb, a non-waking state, is traditionally associated with the Moon. The incarnation of the life in Time, marked by one’s birth, is associated with the Sun–and a Sun sign. Which luminary holds the other?
If we can only ponder the Sun, the Moon is not knowable. When we gaze upon the Moon, the Moon always includes the Sun by reflection. We see the Moon and by extension, infer the Sun for its reflected radiance.
To consider the Sun primary and the Moon a lesser luminary, would be to affirm waking awareness as a superior state of being–when we know what sleep deprivation does to ones’ capacity to channel light in a most attractive manner.
The Moon, the lesser, may be more because it is possible to infer the Sun when acknowledging the Moon. In this sense, the identity of the Moon is plural–it also holds the Sun. It is the Sun, surprisingly, whose identity is intrinsic to the Moon and not visa versa. If we could only know the Moon, we would know the Sun. Does our non-waking state, similarly, hold the waking? We think so. The realm of of the non-waking state, the Moon, is about re-connecting one’s spiritual identity through remembrance, not activity in the world.”
We opened this post with a discussion of the bowl as a way to appreciate how unity is plural–and how inner and outer are inseparable. We close with an image of the “Holy Grail”—a very special bowl–whose power belongs to those who behold it. By tradition the Holy Grail is lost. It likely hides in plain sight–in one or more mansions awaiting our attention.
Until next time, we bid you peace.
Frater A
A musical accompaniment for today’s post–consider one of Frederic Chopin’s Nocturnes; we are suggesting Op. 9: I. No. 1 in B-Flat Minor—keyboard performance by Arthur Rubinstein. Before Chopin would leave us (1849) the planet Neptune (ruler of Music and other harmonic arts) was confirmed in 1846.
A Reference of symbols, charts and definitions important to Western Mystery Tradition studies is listed as Post No. 900. Enter “900” in the Search box to be directed to this location.
[1] Psyche—(2) syllables (sīkē)
[2} John 14:2 (KJV)
[3] image source: https://twinsurprises.wordpress.com/2012/12/07/twins-conversation-in-the-womb
[4] image source: https://www.afponline.org/ideas-inspiration/topics/articles/Details/interoperability-the-holy-grail-of-blockchain
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