Below — my response to Sayer Ji’s Substack post on astrology….down at the bottom…
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My Response to Sayer Ji’s Substack Post on Astrology
Thanks Sayer. I appreciate that anyone aspires to a literate and grounded discussion of astrology. This article is a good starting point.
With astrology, the question is: what is the purpose of the tool set or workshop? What is the job we are giving it? Astrology is a practical tool, like a wood shop, recording studio or sextant.
This is where any theory comes in for the test. The result of astrology is always an idea. The idea that astrology describes is NEVER objective but it can be described or argued for or against, as valid. The result is never “in space” or in “the aether” and always in the mind or in consciousness. Space is the backdrop.
It seems that your article and its sources describe the astrology of physical objects often with measurable gravity, resonance or magnetic fields. It does not account for nonphysical objects that are purely mathematical and do not exist “in space” or in “the aether.”
I would also note that the concept of prediction involves a linear model of time. Under electrical conditions, we are all traveling at the speed of light and in a sense, living simultaneously. There have been some startlingly accurate predictions made, not so many of them but they exist — and these seem to be much more about the astrologer than about astrology.
Astrology as practiced is an Earth-based system that relies on seasonal cycles, the directions and the ecliptic. The stars and planets amount to celestial tarot cards that always are read within a cultural context, in the context of one another, in a personal context, and which have arbitrary meanings. And yet we seek astrology for meaning. That meaning comes from us.
In testing any astrological theory, you would have to ask based on a specific chart and the related case or situation.
And the things read often do not actually exist outside of mathematics and the mind of the astrologer. The house cusps are an example. While they have a basis in math, there are a dozen or more accepted systems and the astrologer chooses based on preference or tradition. The Arabic parts (lots) are another example of something that exist only in mathematical and astrological theory.
The formula for the Lot (Arabic part) of the Father in astrology is ASC + Father’s significator - (minus) Sun for day charts and ASC + Sun - (minus) Father’s significator for night charts. How is this even relevant? Why are day and night formulae different?
Also included among these figments are the Uranian Points, Transpluto and degree symbol systems. Many objects are so small and so distant that they exist as concepts (Sedna, smaller than Pluto, with an 11,400 year orbit). Nearly no astrologers use Sedna.
The “machine of destiny” (celestial mechanics) that you describe is a model that does not account for divination — such as horary astrology. Though horary has existed for a long time, it is easiest to understand based on the more recent discovery of synchronicity. In other words, meaningful coincidence and not causation.
Tarnas and other modern authors (especially Cornelius) describe the divinatory model, rather than a causative model. The important thing about diviniation is that it exists in the immediately conscious mind rather than being “cosmic.” Yes we are part of the cosmos, but what I am saying is that imagination and interpretation drive the meaning of ALL astrology.
Without interpretation and observation there is nothing; no information, no practical purpose, and no meaning.
Let’s say for example you’re talking a walk and you see a sheep that got stuck in the shoreline rocks and drowned at high tide. Seeing this, you cast a chart for that time you noticed the sheep and come up with Mars in Pisces in the 8th house — the image of a dead (8th house) sheep (Mars) in the water (Pisces). (This is a true example given by Cornelius.)
Pisces is a concept. The 8th house is a concept. Mars is the ruler of the sign Aries and therefore an extended metaphor for a sheep. There is your drowned ram. This is not cosmic; it is a function of the imagination and of symbolism on Earth only. It is true that the Earth is part of the cosmos and you cannot jump out. But when we say astrology, what we really mean is symbolism, perception and projection. What we mean is that meaning exists in context only.
