The Astrological Guitar

Our planned visit to the local theater tonight to see classical guitarist Edgar Cruz, sparked a Google search to discover whether there could possibly be any connection between guitar and astrology. I typed those two words into the search box without much hope of a result and found: "The Spiritual Guitar Guide by David Cherubim"

I read the article with a certain amount of cynicism. Not that I think music isn't spiritual - I feel it certainly is, it feeds the senses, calms the troubled breast etc. But does the guitar have any more claim to being spiritual than, say, the piano, saxophone or flute. How does astrology come into it?

Here are a few extracts. Astrological connections are highlighted bold.

"Guitar playing is a Spiritual Art, for it is a musickal form of both Magick and Alchemy. It is a creative manipulation of the Elements of Nature and an artistic transmutation of Universal Forces through the skillful use of the hands and sound. It effects changes in both the player and the listener. With a proper understanding of both the technical and spiritual aspects of playing the Guitar, one is able to use the Guitar as an efficient instrument of the Will to create internal and external changes. The Guitar has its own Science, both conventional and unconventional in kind, and for the most part we are concerned here with the unconventional or rather spiritual and occult aspect of it all.

For the serious and dedicated Guitarist, learning to play and master the Guitar represents The Path or Way of Enlightenment of which there is no end. George Harrison once pointed out that it doesn't matter if you are the greatest Guitar player in the world, if you are not enlightened, then you should forget it.

Ultimately, playing the Guitar represents the Path to Spiritual Perfection. The Guitarist is always a Neophyte or Student on this Path.

There are seven Natural Tones or Notes in Musick and, with the five Sharps and Flats (the so-called Accidental Notes), we have Twelve Tones in all that we can play in various positions and octaves on the Electric Guitar. Both the numbers, seven and twelve, have great significance in Magick, Alchemy, Astrology, the Qabalah, Yoga, and in other Esoteric Systems and Philosophies and Religions. They are universally sacred numbers and they cover a lot of divine ground. But for now, regarding the seven Natural Tones (A, B, C, D, E, F and G), it should be noted that they correspond with the seven Colors of the Spectrum, the seven Chakras of Yoga, the seven Metals of Alchemy, and with the Sun, Moon, and the Planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. (The five Sharps and Flats [A#/Bb, C#/Db, D#/Eb, F#/Gb and G#/Ab] correspond with the five Elements of Fire, Water, Air, Earth, and Spirit.) Also, in all, the twelve tones correspond with the twelve Zodiacal Signs of Astrology (Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces) which, like the Sun, Moon and Planets, represent Spiritual Forces of Nature. Playing any of the twelve notes on the Electric Guitar, melodically or harmonically, is a musickal invocation of the mystical colors and spiritual energies of the Sun, Moon and Planets, and the Astrological and Elemental Forces of Nature."

There's more where that came from!

It's an interesting theory, for sure, but I retain some cynicism. Nevertheless, we shall wander off to the theater with all this in mind.

Here's Edgar Cruz, via YouTube, playing "Bohemian Rhapsody".