The ancient Greeks, to whom Western culture owes so much, taught astrology alongside astronomy as part of the 7 liberal arts, and as a veritable science. Only in recent times has a rift, and subsequent degradation of astrology as dubious mumbo-jumbo, occurred. Contrary to such views that have originated within an extremely narow, hyper-materialistic framework, astrology is a coherent and beautifully logical system, tried-and-tested over millennia, which is now experiencing a new surge of interest from people who feel dissatisfied with a strictly mechanistic, ultimately soulless view of the cosmos and human beings as not much more than flesh bots in a sea of dead matter. “We are stardust…“ says the 1960s song (and some modern scientists), but we are more than merely the dust of stars – “All the gods, all the heavens…are within you“ (Joseph Campbell).
Originally devised for predicting the fate of nations and emperors, today’s understanding of astrology is mostly concerned with individual life paths and characteristics – unfortunately, this has engendered a lamentable descent into a rather juvenile popularity contest for zodiac signs. One of the most prominent traits of the New Age or “pop astrology” school of thought, aside from a fairly polarizing categorization of the signs’ supposed attributes, is the emphasis on “the light” and “love”. However, it appears to me that New Age astrologers tend to over-emphasize the positive, disregard what they don’t personally favor and occasionally outright bash certain zodiac signs, which I find quite noteworthy for a philosophy that proclaims to be all about loving everyone. It also speaks for a lack of understanding what the zodiac actually is: Put simply, with this post’s introductory purpose in mind, the signs of the zodiac are 12 steps on the soul’s path to individuation, 12 basic natural drives, archetypes or “seasons” whose qualities must be understood, incorporated and balanced among each other in order to become a human being approaching the often-praised state of integration. Along this path, there are no good or bad signs, and the interaction of each sign’s qualities with the planets therein and their ruling planets in other signs in aspect to other planets and points, with implications for every area of life,…etc ….makes it a much more complex and multi-layered field into which a “this sign has better attributes than that sign” view is perplexingly ill-fitted.
You can certainly incorporate New Age ideas into astrology, but to me, the question presents itself as to why I should look at the watered-down version of a philosophy that has cherry-picked and reframed elements from ancient teachings, when I can simply look at the original, and learn from people who have a modern mindset but are trained in the “old school” and can bridge the gap between the classical tradition and its modern application for the current age we live in. To me, this is the best and most wholistic approach, and the one I am practicing as a professional astrolger. This is also the reason why I decided to study and hone my craft with the brilliant Fiona Aedgar, who understands and respects the ancient methods and applies them in a contemporary way, without the traps and confusions of the New Age philosophy.
The study of astrology is the study of the Self, capital S, the deeper and grander Self in the deeper and grander scheme of things, expressed in every aspect of one’s life from the most profund to the most mundane. It does not limit people to their Sun sign, and it does not put them in narrowly categorized boxes and, most of all, it is capable of nuanced thought and synthesis. There is no black-and-white thinking, no “cool sign” versus “unpopular sign” or the willful exclusion of Saturn, for instance, that is generally deemed authoritarian and limiting by the New Age school, versus the almost messianic qualities attributed to Uranus that is thought to usher in the glorious Age of Aquarius. It remains to be seen how glorious and amazing this age will turn out to be, but as an astrologer trained in the classical methods with an eye on the current state of the modern world, I am less enthusiastic about an overly dominant Uranian influence (more on that later).
If astrology is deemed “occult“, which means “hidden“, then only because we are conditioned to keep our innermost selves hidden and look anywhere else but within. The Hermetic principle “As above, so below; as within, so without“ reflects what the wise men and women of the past have known for much longer than any modern notion of the cosmos or reality has existed (which is a mere 200 years, give or take): There is a clear and comprehensible relationship between the development of your soul and the “stars”. Astrology can help you bring to light what is hidden, de-occult the shadows and open your eyes to who you are, in conscious light and subconscious darkness.
© Olivia Solner
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