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| Fig. 1 Signs of the Zodiac & the Constellations (modern) |
At the end of November I promised to write a blog entry about astrology. My intent was to work my way through the Marion March's 'The Only Way to Learn Astrology series book one and then discuss it. I have done some of book one, to date, but not a lot and while I would highly recommend this author she is not perhaps the best introduction to the field.
In particular I did not find her explanation of the astrological signs and their relation to the constellations basic enough for my purposes. I opted out of 'The Only Wayseries for the very user friendly KISS Guide to Astrology coupled with the Dummies book (Astrology for Dummies) but will be coming back to March when I feel I have a better handle on the basics.
So what did I learn from these books?
The first observation I would make about astrology is that it is somewhat complicated even without the math! Understanding how it all comes together required (for me) a three dimensional model like Figure 1 above. This is because an astrological chart takes into consideration two discrete planes (the houses and the signs) complicated by the precession of equinoxes. In this article I will do my best to describe my understanding of the signs, and their relation to the heavens.
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| Fig. 2 The Earth's Wobble (More info at oceanworld.tamu.edu) |
Imagine yourself as a speck on the very tip of a wobbling top on your own kitchen table. As you wobble to the left, you see the cabinets, circling around to the right, you see the refrigerator. It is the same, over a much longer period of time, for our view of the fixed stars of the galaxy. This phenomena is applicable to the study of astrology only because the signs of the zodiac are named for certain fixed stars or groups of stars called constellations. It doesn't really matter where the stars are (relative to our location) because astrology confines itself to the influence of the Sun, Moon and planets of our surrounding solar system. It does create some confusion however because the signs are named for these constellations implying a connection that isn't really there.
The zodiac - comprising the twelve individual sun signs we are all familiar with - is an imaginary band which follows the elliptic or apparent path of the sun around the earth (this is the path shown in Fig. 1 which defines the seasons of the year). The band of the zodiac is divided into segments of 30 degrees (30 x 12 = the 360 degrees of circle) and each segment is given a name from Aries all the way around to Pisces (Fig. 1). The signs correspond to the seasons, solstices and equinoxes because of the oval shape of the elliptic in the same way that months of calendar correspond.
What makes this confusing in an astrological sense is the fact that these signs were originally named, some 4000 years ago by the Sumerians and Chaldeans, after the constellations (the cabinets or refrigerator of our wobbling top example) which appeared behind each signs 30 degree spot on the elliptic. 4000 years ago the sign of Aries stood before the constellation of Aries (at the equinox), for example, but this is no longer the case (Fig. 1).
If Leo is not really in Leo (or more correctly the segment of the Zodiac band called Leo does not line up with the distant constellation of Leo), skeptics argue, astrology doesn't work. Modern astrologers believe however that it is the motion of the planets in our solar systems that influences us, not the distant stars. They are concerned with the placement of the planets (including the luminaries of the Sun and Moon) in terms of the signs and houses.
The astrological houses are a second and separate category of placement and I think I'll try to write about that next post. My goal at this point is to develop a solid basic or overall understanding of the components of the birth chart. I am less troubled by the relationship of the astrological signs to the galaxy as a whole but still feel that there is something arbitrary in the inherent structure of the horoscope. It is important to remember that the constellations themselves have no real bearing on modern astrology. In this respect, precession does not necessarily negate the validity of astrology even if it does seemingly misplace the field.
Moving into 2011, I plan to look at Kabbalistic astrology beginning with
This is the weapon of a Jedi Knight. Not as clumsy or random as a blaster. An elegant weapon for a more civilized age. — Obi-Wan Kenobi
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| The Strand Saturday Night |
I had a list of places to see. It included The Strand, a Botanica, a Persian Restaurant, China Town and possibly the Indian neighborhood near a friends' old apartment. The Botanica was first because it was on the way into the city.
When we arrived however, the shop was closed. A second botanica nearby, sold mass produced candles and machine blended oils only. Somewhat daunted, we got an address for a third shop but were unable to locate it.
I bought nothing to sell and nothing to give as a gift. The clock was ticking and we were tired and and hungry and in the end, picking one good book was enough. Being away from my usual routine I didn’t have a strong sense of the day but as I stood in line with my new book it occurred to me that what is open to us and what is closed has meaning.
That was Saturday and we didn't get a lot of news. Still reports filtered in via snatches of CNN playing in the hotel lobby and iPad updates. Things were happening in Egypt. Being on vacation made it seem even further away then it was in fact I think.
Sunday morning found us in the room in front of the television however. We heard that ordinary citizen's were putting their lives on a very literal line to stand between looters and the Cairo museum. Between the lines of courage and sweeping change and life and death, I was reminded how fundamentally important culture is to all of us.
I'm always tired after a vacation and always glad to be back in my little backwater. Still it is nice to feel the shift from time to time!
The new year is coming and I've been thinking a lot about time and cycles and beginnings and endings. Astrology seemed like a good topic numerically for the 12th month of the year, as well. I am going to do a couple of charts and hopefully learn a few things that might be of use to others.I'll be referencing The Only Astrology Book You Will Ever Need by Marion D. March. (I'm hoping that neither book is really the only way to learn and that they will complement each other.) I can tell already that Marion March's book is hard going. Though I don't doubt that a person would learn from it.
I read Isaiah today. The Chaldean sky scanners were not well thought of by the prophets. That's a fact but there is probably more to it. than just that fact. There are tons of things I don't know about the Chaldeans (commonly called Babylonians) and the Jews had plenty of reasons to dislike them.
I haven't done much with Astrology recently however and I'm thinking of changing that. A section in the book I'm currently reading (The Choice by Mike Bara) makes some interesting points about our solar system and has reawakened this old and very dear interest.
Be that as it may, I have decided to get my birth chart done again. I will post highlights when it's complete.
The word scry (to see) found in reference to divination in several medieval texts including a 1549 narrative calling Thomas Malfrey and an unnamed woman "scryers of the glasse" (Oxford English Dictionary).
But the practice of scrying is much older, going back thousands of years to the land of ancient Egypt as evidenced in the biblical account of Genesis and beyond.
Genesis 44: 1. And he [Joseph] commanded the steward of his house, saying: 'Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth. 2. And put my goblet, the silver goblet, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, and his corn money.' And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. 3. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses. 4. And when they were gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward: 'Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them: Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? 5. Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby he indeed divineth?.
Unfortunately, scholars are not in full agreement in regard to the linguistics making it difficult to speculate about the way they were used but it's likely that using these items was a variant on the ancient practice of casting lots which is still used today when working with the runes.
Moving forward into the book of Exodus, a possible, albeit tenuous, association between pooling water and biblical prophecy appears in the story of Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses, called Miriam the prophetess (Exodus15:20).
Though no details of Miriam's prophecy in the biblical narrative, Jewish oral tradition (as contained in Sefer Ha-Aggadah) tells several such stories. It also tells of the Well of Miriam. Traditionally described as a literal portable source of water, which followed the Israelites through the desert for the forty years of their wandering. We are not told how transporting this portable well is done or why the well was associated with Miriam.
Did Miriam, or any other biblical figure for that matter, scry? The research is, as I see it, inconclusive. The cup of Joseph was I think, only a cup, and we have no idea how the Urim and Thummim of the high priests of ancient Israel were employed. The Well of Miriam, while fascinating, seems to me a remnant of a story told outside of the biblical text as we know it today. I consider it a mystery that is almost certainly lost, and probably best understood symbolically.
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| The Queen of the Night Relief |
First drawn on prehistoric cave walls, the owl can be associated with religion as early as 2000 BCE as evidenced by the The Queen of the Night Relief, a 4000 year old terracotta base relief presently located in the British Museum in London. The relief depicts a winged Sumerian goddess flanked by two large owls and the owls are not decorative but highly symbolic.
or 'Divine Lady Owl'. She was strongly linked to the underworld through 'The Descent of Innana' a story which some modern scholars see an as allegory to the movements of Venus, Mercury and Jupiter.The myth is related on a series of clay tablet from the Queen of the Night period and tells of Inanna's descent into the underworld during the dark of the moon. She was to associated with the planet Venus and known to the as Ishtar. Though there is no direct connection, authors such as Cashford and Baring
have associated Inana with Lilith whom the ancient Hebrews.
- while in other cultures the symbolism centered on the soul. In Australia the aboriginal people believed owls to be the souls of women while the Ainu of Japan held the Eagle Owl to be alternately a a divine ancestor or a messenger of the gods. In Romania, folktales say that forgiven souls fly to heaven in the guise of Snowy Owls. 
, was often depicted with owls and the Hopi god of death was believed to be an owl. In Mexico, the Little Owl was called "messenger of the lord of the land of the dead", and flew between the land of the living and the dead. In the Sierras, native peoples believed that the Great Horned Owl captured the souls of the departed and carried them to the underworld. Several different Native Northern American traditions including the Mojave
, said that the soul turned into an owl at death.The mythology of multiple cultures places the symbolism of the owl firmly in the spirit world. His mythic role however is largely positive. As a messenger of the gods he is sacred, a bearer of divine knowledge and a facilitator of communication between the worlds. As a guide, he bridges the gap between life and death, but more correctly: the space between this reality and the next.
Update: Have actually decided to keep the owl brooch for a time so it will no longer show up as inventory in the shop. Reasonable offers always considered, however.
After the Owl article, I will try to do one on my own direct experience with birds.
The word divination has three meanings, per the Oxford English Dictionary. One has to do with Roman law. The other two are inclusive of everything, I think, that divination can be and its interesting to note that the word does not necessarily imply a connection with divinity as in God.
The action or practice of divining; the foretelling of future events or discovery of what is hidden or obscure by supernatural or magical means; soothsaying, augury, prophecy. With a and pl., an exercise of this, a prophecy, an augury.
In a weaker sense: Prevision or guessing by happy instinct or unusual insight; successful conjecture or guessing.
I found the definition interesting because it represents two levels of the same meaning. These levels can be seen as a continuum or matter of degree - powerful to weak - or in terms of our fundamental spiritual and / or scientific frame of reference. This month I'm going to take a look at some popular (as opposed to esoteric) forms of divination and blog on what I learn.
I will say going in that I'm an intuitive person. I am also very sensitive to energy. I do not consider myself psychic but I do believe in energy and that a person can connect with this energy through dreams, study, prayer or circumstance. To me divination, in the common fortunetelling sense of the word, falls in the realm of circumstance and I get readings and use Tarot cards to this end. As for the information I'm given - I hold everything up to my own radar and suggest that everyone else do that as well.
Early uses of the word divination as listed by the Oxford English Dictionary:
c1374 CHAUCER Boeth. v. pr. iv. 125 (Camb. MS.) Marchus tullius, whan he deuynede the dyuynaciouns, that is to seyn in his book that he wroot of diuinaciouns. 1382 WYCLIF Acts xvi. 16 Sum wenche hauynge a spirit of dyuynacioun. 1387 TREVISA Higden (Rolls) III. 57 Either seide that [he] hadde the better dyuynacioun of foules [felicius augurium]. 1555 EDEN Decades 309 To speke of thynges that shalbe, longe before they are, is a kynde of diuination. 1579-80 NORTH Plutarch (1895) 80 The flying of birds, which doe geue a happy divination to things to come. 1662 STILLINGFL. Orig. Sacr. II. iv. §1 The Gentiles hearkend unto Oracles and Divinations. 1712 ADDISON Spect. No. 505 Among the many pretended arts of divination, there is none which so universally amuses as that by dreams.
I viewed the movie, Hereafter, hoping to recommend a movie. But I decided recommend an older movie, Stir of Echoes, instead. Be warned, this is mostly an action film (and a relatively violent one at that.
Hereafter was a disappointment to me and will be, I suspect, to anyone with any real interest in the metaphysical. Never a fan of plot devices (in this instance, three strangers who eventually meet) I found the entire film lacking - not only in terms of plot but in regard to character development as well. A real problem given that the producers have almost completely ignored the mystical aspects of the spirit world in favor of interpersonal drama.
While each character experiences various forms of upheaval as a result of their experiences with the hereafter most seem oddly unaffected. Their lives change externally and these are the events of the film but the characters themselves have almost nothing to say about phenomena behind the events and only the youngest actor, struggling with the loss of his brother, appears convincingly motivated to understand what has befallen him.
Plot development seems very much an issue. A life altering book, written by the female lead, is researched, but never explained. In one potentially interesting scene, NDE related files are carried out of a hospice, but we are given no real specifics about the information contained. The protagonist (Matt Damon) experiences the realms beyond firsthand but offers little in the way of insight, appearing mostly annoyed by the inconvenience his psychic "curse" creates on a personal level.
Possibly intending to create an air of mystery, the film is - in my estimation - woefully understated, offering little in terms of either content or interpersonal drama. And yes, I do realize that I have broken the no negative reviews rule here, but firstly I think Matt Damon can take it. And secondly to take a topic about which so much can be said, and then say so little, is too disappointing to ignore.
Gematria is a Hebrew form of numerology. Hebrew is especially suited to this type of interpretation because each Hebrew letter represents a number. Actually is a number. There are no numerals. Only letters. I had a dream about the number 13 approximately two years ago. It was unusual enough to spark an interest in Gematria which has been ongoing. You can read about this dream here.In Gematria the Hebrew word 'v'ahavta' (love) has a value of 13, as does the word 'echad' (one). Both words represent key concepts in Jewish thought. The Zohar, an important Kabbalistic work, speaks of the 13 Qualities of Compassion and the 13 petalled rose. Maimonides defined 13 Principles of faith. There are 13 months in the lunar year and the Hebrew calendar is a lunar one. My Hebrew name has a gematria of 13. I was 13 when I began reading Tarot.
I was aware of some of these associations prior to the dream but not all. I hope to blog more about Gematria going forward.
I read A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
by Eckhart Tolle later than most people. But it was the book that kicked off this blog so I decided to update this post. 
His book A New Earth is on my night table. It has a bright orange cover with a wrapper full of text about an Oprah / Eckhart web event. And it brings with it a sense of possibility I had just about forgotten.
I first saw and heard of Eckhart Tolle just last night on public access TV. It was almost 3 a.m. on the morning of my birthday and I couldn't sleep and I eventually found myself on the couch watching late night TV. Surfing through the channels, I paused at Eckhart Tolle because I liked his voice.
A peaceful voice is a welcome thing on a sleepless night and I liked Tolle's lilt and his ill-fitting peasant vest and hobbit-like demeanor. He talked about spaciousness, attachment to objects and enlightenment. All of interest to me. And he did not seem to take himself especially seriously which I find appealing in just about anyone.
Curious, I researched Tolle on the internet. I learned that he was born in 1948 and had an unhappy childhood in the shadow of post-war Germany. He later relocated to Spain then England where he attended the University of London. He completed his post graduate work in 1977. I am not clear on his area of study.
~August 22nd 2010
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