Monday, November 06, 2006

"When the student is ready......."

There's a belief that "When the student is ready a teacher appears". This runs along the same lines as "Cometh the hour, cometh the man". Do either of these ideas ring true ?
I can think of examples which uphold the second saying. Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King , on the world stage, spring immediately to mind. The student/teacher idea, for me though, is not as easy to see in action. In my role as a student of astrology the teacher has not yet appeared who fits my bill. Perhaps I'm not ready. Perhaps I'm too obtuse?

I'm seeking an astrologer or writer on the subject with whom I feel comfortable. The farther I seek, the more disillusioned I become. I have always felt comfortable reading anything written by Jonathan Cainer, but he limits his writing to the elementary area of astrology which I think I have now mastered. I admire Robet Hand, especially his excursions into the history of astrology. Even Mr Hand doesn't completely fit the bill for me. I'm looking for someone who asks questions, looks for answers, and doesn't accept ancient doctrine or dogma wholesale.

The late Carl Payne Tobey comes fairly close to what I'm looking for. I like his fresh approach to the subject. He insists that astrology is "an abstract". I disagree on that. He says it is a branch of mathematics. Perhaps mathematics are needed to understand astrology, but it is surely more than that? Reading his book "Astrology of Inner Space" I got the feeling that he was something of a male chauvinist, which I found offputting, but tried to ignore. Perhaps he was simply a man of his time, and things have moved on.
I got the same feeling when reading Grant Lewi - another astrologer of roughly the same period. Both these men were probably before their time in one way, yet still shackled by the attitudes of their era.

I have found articles by William D. Tallman, Ken Gillman, and Therese Hamilton of great interest. These are the kind of astrologers I'd like to read more of - but their output on the internet or in books is limited. They are not commercially-based astrologers.

The search continues.

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