The Great and the er....Good have today decreed that Pluto shall no longer be classified as a planet. Pluto is now a "dwarf planet", along with Ceres and "Xena".
Astrologers will have varying reactions to this, I guess, depending on their current style of interpretation. Vedic astrologers and those who follow strictly classic principles in astrology, who didn't set much score by Pluto anyway will be feeling smug. Astrologers who already use some of the more outlying celestial bodies in their interpretations will take the change in their stride. The majority of middle of the road astrologers will probably hold conferences and huddles to decide how best to proceed, so as to present a "united front".
I shall wait for further news. I already have experience of Pluto's strength in my own chart. Dwarf or not, he's a force to be reckoned with.
A further interesting development will be how astrologers decide to deal with Ceres and "Xena". And where does the latest decree leave Chiron - given a fair amount of importance my many modern astrologers ?
Thursday, August 24, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Pluto under investigation
It's laughable that just as I gear up to start a blog based on Astrology and the learning of same - somebody is about to throw a spanner in the works !
An international body of astronomers is currently deciding on how to designate "a planet", not only celestial bodies recently (or still to be) identified, but one of our long-time Astrological chums, Pluto.
It's likely that before too long astrologers will have many more celestial bodies to play with, whilst students of the discipline are likely to become ever more confused.
Astrology is already amazingly complex, you could compare it to one of those computer photographs in which you can first see a city skyline, then, homing in, each building, then, closer still, each window, and even closer, the contents of each room, inside a cabinet in the room, even, and read the script of a document within. Some astrologers are content to remain at the second stage of that scenario, some of the less able Sun sign columnists even stop at the original photograph of the skyline! More inspired and expert astrologers though delve deeper. All of these possibilities have existed for centuries, by using only Sun, Moon and the traditional planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto came into play later and have been well integrated. Imagine what will happen in future years when an extra 10, 20, 100 planets are added to the mix!
Can astrologers cope? Will a completely new system evolve? Or will astrologers regress to traditional methods favoured by their colleagues of ancient days ?
Present uncertainty sent me researching the internet to try to discover how the ancients first associated the known, and visible, planets with signs of the zodiac.
How, in fact, did the signs of the zodiac acquire their individual meanings, and how did the planets come to acquire their distinct personalities? Watch this space !
An international body of astronomers is currently deciding on how to designate "a planet", not only celestial bodies recently (or still to be) identified, but one of our long-time Astrological chums, Pluto.
It's likely that before too long astrologers will have many more celestial bodies to play with, whilst students of the discipline are likely to become ever more confused.
Astrology is already amazingly complex, you could compare it to one of those computer photographs in which you can first see a city skyline, then, homing in, each building, then, closer still, each window, and even closer, the contents of each room, inside a cabinet in the room, even, and read the script of a document within. Some astrologers are content to remain at the second stage of that scenario, some of the less able Sun sign columnists even stop at the original photograph of the skyline! More inspired and expert astrologers though delve deeper. All of these possibilities have existed for centuries, by using only Sun, Moon and the traditional planets, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter & Saturn. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto came into play later and have been well integrated. Imagine what will happen in future years when an extra 10, 20, 100 planets are added to the mix!
Can astrologers cope? Will a completely new system evolve? Or will astrologers regress to traditional methods favoured by their colleagues of ancient days ?
Present uncertainty sent me researching the internet to try to discover how the ancients first associated the known, and visible, planets with signs of the zodiac.
How, in fact, did the signs of the zodiac acquire their individual meanings, and how did the planets come to acquire their distinct personalities? Watch this space !
Friday, August 11, 2006
Astrology - how?
I don't know how astrology works. Nobody does. Most astrologers find some way of explaining it. Some are unacceptable, even to me. This is how I see it:
The Universe is full of energies, forces, elements of which we know very little, if anything. More and more is being discovered with every month that passes.I believe there are "energies" for want of a better word, or perhaps a better description would be "a kind of atmospheric soup", to which our human bodies react, starting with our first breath after birth into this world as a separate entity from our mothers. With that first breath we are "imprinted" (again for want of a better word) with a pattern or blueprint based on the mix of energies at that very minute, in that particular place. This imprint blends with the genetically inherited flesh and blood from which we are formed. From centuries of observation, it would appear that these "energies" are somehow connected with the planets in our solar system, and their movements around the ecliptic.
As we grow, the planets and theor movements continue to have some relevance, because our imprinted circuitry is sensitive, especially as the planets move over certain areas. From my own experience, this occurs on a much lesser scale than that which popular astrologers would have us believe. The outer, slow moving planets can affect our lives to varying degrees at a few specific points in any life span...not every day, every week, or even every year. Most of the time we are free-wheeling, using our inborn blueprint, living our lives using free will, making our own mistakes, enjoying our own triumphs. Just a few times in a life the Universe steps in and a particular configuration of planets - triggers our own imprint and re-directs matters. Even then, though, it remains in our hands as to how we react to this re-direction. These especially sensitive configurations can occur cyclically.
Astrology has a long, long history, reaching back in time further even than we know. The knowledge passed down through centuries might well have become mangled, mis-translated, and politically censored from time to time - rather like the Bible. Astrologers today still use many of the terms and methods of the ancient astrologers. This very fact is off-putting to many. In ancient times people understood the un-knowable in the best way they could. They used fables, deities, archetypes, and strange symbolic glyphs to describe ideas which could not otherwise be explained. I believe that the core of astrological knowledge comes from way beyond anything we can now trace. Perhaps from another dimension, or a past civilisation which, as yet, we know nothing about?
The notion that planets, and various accurately measured points in space can affect our lives may seem unbelieveable, yet there ARE patterns. Just as the planets move in regular defineable cycles, there are rhythms and patterns in all our lives. There are patterns of personality which can be seen to emerge based on positions of the planets and the angles they make with one another at the time of birth There are patterns in the stages of our lives. There is a rhythm which can be traced back to the dance of our planets.