Hi All,

In the Astrological conversations I routinely hear there is usually someone (usually an Astrologer, or someone that is interested) recounting a difficult event and blaming a planet for it.  Perhaps it was the changing or losing of a job, or maybe the breakdown of a marriage, a divorce.  During this recounting of trial and trouble I will invariably hear that it was the planet Saturn that threw them into a depression.  Or, that it was the planet Pluto (yes, Pluto is still a planet) that destroyed their marriage and left them penniless.  Most people do not literally mean that it was the fault of a planet (or do they?), but are simply using it as a metaphor. However if someone unfamiliar with Astrology overhears this conversation, the terms and the anecdotes stick within that brilliant computer of cognition…the brain.

Then, before you know it this narrative will find its way into the conversation of the one who overheard the exchange with another person.  Well, it is not too difficult to see what comes next.  This brief but incorrect explanation then becomes the fact, and ultimately becomes part of Astrological lore.  Of course this not fair, and, quite possibly, it is the fault of the Astrologer for furthering this misconception.  As with any type of formal or esoteric thought, one needs to be educated on the subject, and this is done through the proper instruction of a teacher or “educator” to student.  Of course one cannot, or should not expect another to know what it is that you do, but you can attempt to guide them through it.

Astrology is very much about archetypes and the influence of symbology expressed through our emotional and spiritual natures.  These are then represented to us by the planets, houses, and mathematical measurements allocated them from within, and without our Astrological charts.  The cycles of the planets are in sync with the cycles of nature.  It is through the four Cardinal points (north, south, east, and west) that everything else in the Astrological Wheel or Mandela is associated and directed.  Without these geographical reference points their could be no orientation to the seasons or astronomical bodies from which Astrology was born.

Astrologically speaking, the planetary influences so often discussed and argued are simply a similar representation of how we use road signs to get us from point A to point B.  As an example, in astrology the planet Uranus is often thought to be the reason for a mid life crisis (mostly with men) which is generally around the ages of  41 to 43 years of age where Uranus becomes square (obstacles, and stress) to its natal position.  This time of mid-life crisis is not because Uranus decided to personally step in disrupt  your life.  No, it is because at around this age many men become bored, scared, and generally discontented with their lives due to feelings of a lost youth, virility, and appearance.

In summary, the Astrological glyphs that represent the planets, signs, and the aspects all mean something very important and specific.  From the early days of Astrology and its anthropomorphic representations up to now, the Astrological chart is representative of time, matter, and life as we know it.  There are no limits other than the ones we allow to direct us.  The heralding of change is brought to our attention by the significators found within our Astrological charts.  Where the planets can do you no harm.  I hope that you enjoy them.

Aho

Curtis Williams  MA, A.P. D., CRTM

Hello Peoples,

If you have been reading my blogs of late I believe that you can see that I have been wrestling with some rather significant quandaries.  I am attempting to grasp the concept of inflexibility, also known as stubbornness, being strong-willed, or pigheaded, straight up difficult, and the contrariness of human nature.  It isn’t that I cannot distinguish inflexibility in a person’s astrological chart, or that I cannot recognize this from the behavioral affectation presented me upon simple human interaction (is that possible?).  No, what I am trying to accomplish is to understand the motivations of these actions.

These behaviors have evolved from what many scientists argue was the need to survive the harsh environments that our ancestors had to endure in a savage environment.  I can understand this once primordial function of perseverance and preservation, but haven’t we as a race or people progressed beyond this instinctive reaction for survival?  Have we not learned from past experiences that it is this inflexibility that causes us the most damage not only to human relations, but also our connection to ourselves spiritually?  What is it that we simply will not allow an adult to question their response to a political, or philosophical position?

How many of us find ourselves repeating the very same words we cringed at when our parents spoke them so many years ago?  Is it the revolution of youth that eventually submits to the devolution of adulthood?  I mean, apparently we cannot even jump start ourselves out of the complacency and comfort of living in the richest and most powerful nation in the world.  Perhaps this is where our bravado is born, from the ease of a Barcalounger or bean bag when we speak of provoking other countries into war, or other nationalities from crossing our borders.  Regardless from which side or perspective one comes from, is there not a responsibility to at least question our beliefs?

Maybe it is the wear and tear of life, and the disappointments we all experience that shakes us into an increasingly and profound state of somatization.  Then there is the inability to empathize with what someone else may be experiencing.  It is through our media it seems that we learn our most intimate rationalizations and philosophies about our neighbors, both literally the house next door, and the country next door.  How is it that we can know what someone else is feeling or thinking when we do not know them at all?  How can we crucify a legal migrant worker or an illegal immigrant just because they want a better life.  Have you ever asked yourself who is providing the jobs to “these people?”

Then, if we expand our minds a little more we can find that there are countries thousands of miles away that literally live in abject poverty but are being bombed back into the “stone-age.”  These people do not make foreign or domestic policy decisions, but we do by voting in our representatives.  Yet we condemn and kill them from literally an arm chair, using a game-boy control in an air conditioned room.  What is happening here is the creating of hate and fear against people just like us.  People that hurt, and celebrate, cry, and laugh.  If we all spoke the same language would that help?  Or would it make it harder to hate them, or dislike them?

If we used our intellectual abilities to question, and to seek out knowledge about each other in a global sense, I think that we would find that we are debilitated with ignorance and apathy.  This does not apply just to us or the western world, no, it applies to the entire world.  It is misunderstanding that is our division from one another, not hate, hate comes later, after we keep thinking and believing what others falsely tell us.  If we simply try to stretch our minds and imaginations it might hurt at first, but like with any exercise one will need to develop some flexibility.  Once we achieve this flexibility, we grow stronger, and we find that it doesn’t hurt at all.

Aho

Curtis Williams  MA, A.P. D., CRMT