Theos-Talk Archives (August 2007 Message tt00221)

Hello Jane
Greetings and welcome to this forum.

In case you might not be aware, Madame Blavatsky made many references 
to astrology in her Theosophical writings.
The following may be of interest being an article from Volume 6 of 
her "Collected Writings" compiled by Boris de Zircoff.

"ASTROLOGY
 
[The Theosophist, Vol. V, No. 9(57), June, 1884, pp. 213-214]
 
In the last number appeared the review of an elementary work on 
Astrology. It may not therefore be unprofitable to say a few words in 
regard to the subject itself. The popular idea seems to be that the 
planets and the stars exercise a certain influence upon the destiny 
of man, which the science of Astrology can determine; and that there 
are means within the reach of that science which can be used to 
propitiate "the evil stars." This crude notion, not philosophically 
understood, leads to two unscientific fallacies. On the one hand it 
gives rise to a belief in the doctrine of fatality, which says that 
man has no free-will inasmuch as every thing is predetermined, and in 
the other it leads one to suppose that the laws of Nature are not 
immutable, since certain propitiatory rites may change the ordinary 
course of events. These two extreme views induce the "rationalist" to 
reject "Astrology" as a remnant of the uncivilized condition of our 
ancestors, since as a matter of-fact student he refuses to recognize 
the importance of the saying, "Real philosophy seeks rather to solve 
than to deny." It is an axiom of the philosophic student that truth 
generally lies between the extremes. If one therefore proceeds in 
this spirit, he will find that there is yet not an unreasonable or 
unscientific hypothesis which can reconcile all these different 
views, and which, not unlikely, was what the ancients meant by 
Astrology. Although a study of this science may enable one to 
determine what the course of events will be, it cannot necessarily be 
inferred therefrom that the planets exercise any influence over that 
course. The clock indicates, it does not influence, the time. And a 
distant traveller has often to put right his clock so that it may 
indicate correctly the time of the place he visits. Thus, though the 
planets may have no hand in changing the destiny of the man, still 
their position may indicate what that destiny is likely to be. This 
hypothesis leads us to the question, "What is destiny?" As understood 
by the Occultist, it is merely the chain of causation producing its 
correspondential series of effects. One who has carefully followed 
the teachings of Occultism, as recently given out, concerning 
Devachan and future re-births, knows that every individual is his own 
creator or his own father, i.e., our future personality will be the 
result of our present mode of living. In the same manner our present 
birth, with all its conditions, is the tree grown out of the germ 
sown in our past incarnations. Our physical and spiritual conditions 
are the effects of our actions produced on those two planes in 
previous existences. Now it is a well-known principle of Occultism 
that the ONE LIFE which pervades ALL connects all the bodies in 
space. All heavenly bodies have thus mutual relation, which is 
blended with man's existence, since he is but a microcosm in the 
macrocosm. Every thought, as much as action, is dynamic and is 
impressed in the imperishable Book of Nature?? the Akasa, the 
objective aspect of the UNMANIFESTED LIFE. All our thoughts and 
actions thus produce the vibrations in space, which mould our future 
career. And astrology is a science which, having determined the 
nature of the laws that govern these vibrations, is able to state 
precisely a particular or a series of results, the causes of which 
have already been produced by the individual in his previous life. 
Since the present incarnation is the child of the previous one, and 
since there is but that ONE LIFE which holds together all the planets 
of the Solar system, the position of those planets at the time of the 
birth of an individual?which event is the aggregate result of the 
causes already produced?gives to the true Astrologer the data upon 
which to base his predictions. It should be well remembered at the 
same time that just as the "astronomer who catalogues the stars 
cannot add one atom to the universe," so also can no astrologer, no 
more than the planet, influences the human destiny. Perhaps the 
following beautiful passage from that exquisite work of Bulwer 
Lytton's?Zanoni?may help to make the meaning still clearer:?

For the accomplishment of whatever is great and lofty, the clear 
perception of truths is the first requisite?truths adapted to the 
object desired. The warrior thus reduces the chances of battle to 
combinations almost of mathematics. He can predict a result, if he 
can but depend upon the materials he is forced to employ.*

This necessitates a consideration of the element of clairvoyance 
necessary to constitute a true astrologer.
The ancient Rishis, to condemn whose books without a hearing was till 
recently a general practice, had by observation, experiment and deep 
occult knowledge, taken account of all conceivable combinations of 
various causes and determined with mathematical precision almost to 
infinitesimal point their effects. But yet, since the cosmos is 
infinite, no finite being can ever take cognisance of all the 
possibilities of Nature; at any rate they cannot be committed to 
writing, since as Isis Unveiled says:?"to express divine ideas, 
divine language is necessary." Recognising the truth of this most 
important but unfortunately often neglected axiom, they laid down as 
the first condition of success in astrology a pure life, physically, 
morally and spiritually. This was intended to develop the psychic
capacities of the astrologer who could thus see in Akasa the 
combinations, not alluded to in the written works, and predict their 
results in the manner beautifully illustrated in the above extract 
from Zanoni. In short, true Astrology is a mathematical science, 
which teaches us what particular causes will produce what particular 
combinations, and thus, understood in its real significance, gives us 
the means of obtaining the knowledge how to guide our future births. 
True, such astrologers there are but few: but are we justified in 
condemning the science of electricity because there may be very few 
real electricians? We must not at the same time lose sight of the 
fact that although there are numberless combinations which must be 
determined by the psychic vision of the astrologer, there are yet a 
very large number of them which have been determined and put on 
record by the ancient sages. It is these cases which baffle us when 
we find that some astrological calculations prove correct while 
others are quite beside the mark."
  
This and Madame Blavatsky's other works are mostly available online 
at no cost.

Regards
Nigel
  


--- In theos-talk@yahoogroups.com, Jane Lucienne <jane_lucienne@...> 
wrote:
>
> Greetings, Friends :-)
> 
> You will probably all be delighted to hear that Theosophy is a 
subject I have much to learn about and that I probably have virtually 
nothing to contribute to discussion threads except queries and probes 
for deeper understanding, if that.
> 
> I consider myself to be spiritually eclectic and am constantly 
trolling the waters in search of signs of intelligent life after 
work.  I have been on a self-study path, exploring a variety of 
occult and mysticism topics, becoming familiar in a general way with 
Theosophy, since 1970.  
> 
> What got me started on my path was a correspondence course in 
astrology from the Rosicrucian Fellowship and my first deck of tarot 
cards (Rider-Waite), progressing to the Thoth Tarot (Crowley-Harris), 
and subsequently exploring the differences in philosophy of the four 
most popular tarot deck authors who based their decks on the western 
kabalah.  This led me to inquire into the history of tarot and 
specifically the spiritual-political movements of the time, ascended 
masters, and a lot of other stuff including religions and cultures of 
the world.  
> 
> I still use the Qabalistic Tarot for path working.  But to this day 
I probably cannot carry on an intelligent conversation about 
astrology because nobody shares a common frame of reference with me 
since I have such a negative visceral response to astrology in the 
forms it has come to take.  After inquiring into as many astrology 
systems as I could find to compare (why are there so many?) I finally 
settled on none of them, (re)turning to the real sky and indeed the 
whole of the Universe as the tap root of a hybrid system of my own 
(rogue that I am).  I don't have a "practice" of any sort.  I work 
for a living.  And I dabble :-) 
> 
> I am enjoying this list and have a great appreciation for all of 
your wonderful posts.  Thank you.
> 
> ~ Jane
> 
> "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it 
has a song."  ~ Maya Angelou
> 
> 
>        
> 
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