Introduction by Shelley Jordan
5. The Star of Bethlehem: An Astronomer's View by Mark Kidger 6. Astrology: The Manifesto by Patrice Guinard 7. Therapeutic Astrology by Greg Bogart 8. Comets, Popular Culture and the Birth of Modern Cosmology by Sara Schechner 9. Secrets of Nature, edited by William R. Newman and Anthony Grafton 10. Ancient Astrology, by Tamsyn Barton
(reviewed by Shelley Jordan, Nov. 2001, Edition 15)
Science investigates religion with gentle diplomacy in astronomer MarkKidger's studyThe Star of Bethlehem. While pondering the verityof the star's existence (is it a myth, a scientific actuality or an authenticmiracle?) the author provides the reader with a cohesive, easily digestibleeducation in the behavior of assorted celestial objects and phenomena.
Kidger notifies the reader right from the start that the star's appearancein the Bible is surprisingly scant. It is briefly mentioned in only oneof the four gospels, in a few short verses in the second chapter of Matthew:
1. In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem ofJudea, Magi from the East came to Jerusalem,
2. Asking, "Where is the child who has been King of the Jews? Forwe have seen his Star at its rising and have come to pay him homage. (Matthew2:1-2)
7. Then Herod secretly called the Magi and learned from them theexact time when the star had appeared.
8. Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search diligentlyfor the child and; when you have found him, bring me word so that I mayalso go and pay him homage.
9. When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead ofthem, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stoppedover the place where the child was.
10. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmedwith joy.
11. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother;and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-cheststhey offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. (Matthew 2:7-11)(pp. 4-5)
The only other known reference to the Star is in a so-called ApocryphalGospel, theProtoevangelicumof James. From these meager sourcesdeveloped the rich and ubiquitous iconographic Star tradition which flourishestoday, especially at Christmas. These familiar images had their originsin the first visual representation of the Star of Bethlehem, Giotto's early14th centuryAdoration of the Magi, in which the star took on itsfamiliar appearance as a brilliant comet hovering over the Nativity.
As Kidger acknowledges, the Bible is a book of faith, not fact. Indeed,there is grave doubt that Matthew the tax collector actually even wrotethe gospel bearing his name. The Bible was written during an age when itwas routinely expected that the births and deaths of great leaders wouldbe accompanied by dramatic celestial portents. Therefore, Jesus by necessitywould have required some kind of stellar fireworks to proclaim his birth,if he were to be seriously perceived as a credible leader of his time by the Roman population.
The Roman literary heritage of that era was replete with countless skyomens such as comets, strange cloud formations, and eclipses. Kidger brieflyponders whether the unknown author of the gospel of Matthew may have inventedthe Star out of sheer obligation to the Roman tradition, in order to giveJesus' birth the authentic divinatory ring expected by the pagans he wishedto convert.
Kidger confesses that it is impossible to actually know the scientificfoundations for something that was never recorded by eye-witness accounts.He also admits that such ancient reports based on second and third-handinformation are typically distorted or exaggerated. Nevertheless, the authordevotes the majority of the book to cheerfully solving "astronomy's greatestmystery", unprovable as it may be, using the minimal biblical informationprovided in Matthew as his exclusive criteria.
In treating the question "who were the Magi?", Kidger states:
The truth is that we know next to nothing about the Magi. In thetraditional translations of the Bible they are usually referred to as WiseMen, although a recent innovation is to refer to them as astrologers, asin the New English Bible. In the New Revised Standard Version, "astrologers"is given as an alternative to "Wise Men" in the footnotes... The representationof the Magi as kings is thought to have been almost certainly related tothe politics of the early church..." (P.168)
While attempting to reconcile religion with science, Kidger enthusiasticallypursues a plethora of potential explanations for the Star of Bethlehem.Among them are meteor showers, Venus, comets, novas and supernovas. Inhis exhaustive efforts to deal with the nearly countless conceivable explanationsfor the Star, Kidger covers an historical and astronomical panorama ofpossibilities with clarity and brio. While sticking generally to the topicof the Star, he manages numerous digressions into the intricacies of calendrics,biblical scholarship, observational astronomy and its history.
In one of the book's most interesting chapters,Triple Conjunctions:a Key to Unlocking the Mystery?, we are inundated with a wealth ofinformation on astronomical activity involving planetary conjunctions.These include rare triple conjunctions, in which two planets conjunct andseparate, conjunct again during the retrograde, then conjunct one lasttime. Between 1800 and the year 2000, Mars and Jupiter conjuncted eighty-ninetimes, but made only two triple conjunctions, which occurred during 1835-36and in 1979-80.
The triple conjunction of Mars with Saturn is even more infrequent.During these same two centuries, ninety-nine single conjunctions of Marsand Saturn are contrasted with only one triple conjunction of these planets.
In the last 2000 years, Jupiter and Saturn have made eighty-nine singleconjunctions, but only a mere eleven triple conjunctions. Uranus and Neptune,however, which conjunct every 176 years, have far more triple conjunctionsthan single ones.
Jupiter and Saturn conjunct, on the average, every 19.6 years. Whena rare triple conjunction occurs, it will always be followed by a normal,single conjunction about twenty years later. Typically, a series of singleconjunctions will take place before the occurrence of another triple conjunction.
Rarely, a second triple conjunction may occur forty years followingthe previous one. This happened with the two most recent triple conjunctions:in August and October 1940 and February 1941, Jupiter and Saturn met threetimes. They were followed by another triple union on New Year's Eve 1980,and in March and July 1981. When triple conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturnoccur forty years apart, the next triple event will not take place againfor several hundred years.
The first individual to deal with hypothetical speculations associatingthe Star of Bethlehem with triple conjunctions of Jupiter and Saturn wasJohannes Kepler, although his final theory asserted that the Star was,in his opinion, a nova. In 1825, the German astronomer and philologist,Christian Ludwig Ideler, misunderstanding Kepler's position, was responsiblefor promoting the popular theory that attributes the Star to a triple conjunctionof Jupiter and Saturn.
Although maintaining a scientific methodology, in the end, Kidger appearsto be a "believer," caught up in the beauty of the Star's legend. By thetime he has arrived at his personal creative solution for the Star's mystery,he has left behind his own simple textual criteria from the Bible, whichexplicitly described only one single stellar phenomenon's rise and set.
Dating the birth of Jesus to around March-April 5 B.C., he concludesthat the religious portent in the Bible was in actuality a series of exceptionaland symbolically significant astronomical events, a suitable chain of celestialpyrotechnics declaring the entrance of one of the world's most influentialreligious teachers.
According to his theory, the first heavenly omen to announce the birthof Jesus was a remarkable triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in Piscesin 7 B.C. He asserts a tradition known to the Magi, whomever they were,of the association of the sign Pisces with the Jewish people.
The second incident was a massing of planets in Pisces in February,6 B.C. The third outstanding cosmic event was the occurrence of two portentousplanetary pairings in Pisces on February 20, 5 B.C. consisting of Jupiter'soccultation by the Moon, and Mars conjunct Saturn.
Last, the final sky hierophany proclaiming the great spiritual teacher'sincarnation was a blazing nova (recorded only by Chinese and Korean astronomers)in February or early March of 5 B.C.
In the end, Kidger has solved the problem of the Star for himself alone.In his massive assumptive leap, the Star has somehow been transfiguredfrom a solitary bright object's rising and setting to a series of rathersophisticated observations of astronomical events. Nothing in Matthew justifiesor supports this imaginative, even flagrantly astrological, solution.
Nonetheless, his conclusion is forgivable for its uniquely astute collectionof astronomical facts. Much of this book makes engaging and illuminatinginvestigations and detours into various facets of observational and culturalastronomy. The rational probing for the objective reality underlying thesacred tradition of the Star provides a wonderful excuse for a full-blowninquiry into a variety of celestial activities. The solution, though, tothis absorbing but unsolvable problem is really anyone's guess.
(reviewed by Shelley Jordan, Jan. 2002, Edition 16)
At this point in history - the beginning of the 21st century - whenastrology should be undergoing a thorough renovation andre-evaluation, it is instead experiencing what seems in effect likean adolescent identity crisis. After the promising astrologicalrenaissance of the 20th century, which gave us Dane Rudhyar's luminousphilosophy, Dr. Zipporah Dobyns' stream-linedanalysis and John Addey's harmonic theory, the excitement of astrology'sinnovative trends appears to be diminishing. Slowlysinking in the quagmire of its own linguistic rigor mortis and conceptualdead ends, astrology's creative growing tip seemsstunted. Searching for a means of respectable integration into contemporaryculture, astrological literature continually tends toadopt the rhetoric and camouflage of more socially and economicallyacceptable disciplines, such as psychology, statisticalscience, physics or any number of 'honorable' epistemologies.
Faced with astrology's frequent and boring repetition of antiquateddoctrine, its shortage of creative thinking and its geriatricphilosophical anemia stemming, incredulously, from its utter inabilityto get past the predestination and prediction issue, manypractitioners have responded with a dangerously reactionary reversalof direction. A popular trend has become the mining ofthe sanctum of astrology's past, a worthy project in itself, but degradedby the ulterior and naive quest for the True and Lost Techniquesof the Ancients, those illusory Golden Age methods of legendwhich are said to accurately predict the future. Analternative and equally futile effort to salvage astrology has beenthe tendency to justify itself with the language and concepts ofscientism, which are, in fact, alien to the true nature of astrology.
Another serious disability of astrology's has been its age-old predilectionfor dichotomizing all its principles into categories of"good-bad," "male-female," and "light-dark." The roots of this bankrupttendency are hopelessly tangled in astrology'senmeshment with religion; this dualism has clung like a tenacious barnacleto the underside of astrology's subconscious formillennia, dragging it through the mire with its illegitimate consortof shame - fortune-telling.
Fortunately, Dr. Patrice Guinard has now stepped into the foregroundof astrological research with what may be some of themost revelatory astrological writing of this current era. An additionto the list of France's impressive lineage of major innovators,in the succession of Rudhyar and the Gauquelins, Guinard has developedhis own vocabulary, definitions and methodology forexplaining and illuminating our understanding of the astrological.He has formulated a new and visionary model for a tireddiscipline dangerously in need of fresh ideas.
Fully responding to the above-mentioned problems in astrology and, infact, far more, Guinard'sManifestois a complex andrevolutionary work, part of a larger opus which includes his doctoraldissertation on astrology for the Department of Philosophyat the Sorbonne. Vast and multi-natured in its scope, theManifestois at once an eloquent and sound explanation of the natureand function of the astrological phenomenon - philosophically, psychologicallyand anthropologically - and simultaneously avigorous polemic against the calcified orthodoxies of both astrologyand the cultural mentalities which persecute it.
While calling attention to astrology's recent advances, Guinard warnsagainst the exogenous one-dimensional approach takenby historians of astrology who proceed as if there wereone astrology,and the endogenous damage done to astrology by themass market production of sun sign columns and fatuous pre-fabricatedchart interpretation packages.
My own personal encounter with theManifestogenerated an initialresponse of disbelief as I first read through the rich languageof its authoritative pages. Disbelief became joy when I realized thatat last I had come across some genuinely intelligent andseminal astrological writing - free, no less - with no strings attachedand nothing for sale - and available to anyone who takes thetime to read it on its website at CURA's tri-lingual online journal.I recommend that you print out its fourteen chapters - you willwant to read it more than once to fully absorb its breadth and implications.
Central to an understanding of Guinard'sManifestois the theoryof matrix-based thinking. Also calledmatricial reasoning, thismodel of perception explains both the process by which astrological informationis received into the personal and collectiveconsciousness from planetary cycles as well as how the psyche 'thinksastrologically.'Matrix-based thinking is to bedistinguished from the quantitative and causal logic of the empiricaland scientistic world view, and the descriptive-interpretivemodality of history or linguistics. Matrix-based thinking is a globalprocess of coordinating psychic states, of experiencingrelative "states of being" in a living cosmos which is an organic reticulumof interconnected multiplicities, which can be orderedby the psyche according to the innate, symbolic archetypal themes whichpermeate and condition consciousness.
There exists on its own terms an organizingastral matrix, which"structures psychic phenomena," unifying the planetary cyclesof the geo-solar environment with the personal psyche by means of traceimpressions (impressio), impregnations of evanescentimprints at the level of preconsciousness. In other words, the planets'activities within the naturally occurring structural fabric ofthe zodiac resonate as transitory interior states of consciousness.This is not a physical theory of astrological influences, whichhe distinguishes as cosmobiology, but an epistemological model of consciousness,unimpeded by dualism or quantitativescientific pseudo-analysis.
"Matrix or psycho-synthetic structure (astrological)... reveals theorganization of potential reality... Impressionistic awareness (impressionaux)are not psychic states, but rather "minimal" forms, of archetypal nature,limited in number, which innervate those states." (Chapter 4)
This is not the discovery of a causal model for astrology - let thephysicists worry about that, says Guinard. Astrology exists as its ownstructural model and needs to further cultivate and develop its own constructs.It is not an invention, but is a perceived and operational system; it existsin nature and would continue to operate even if there were no astrologers.The psyche is simply in resonance with the cyclical planetary environment.Guinard's structural approach perceives reality as a continuum of generallyorganized "elements forming a totality" in an interconnected web ofrelationships, which occur at the psychic level of interiorityas well as in the physical spheres.
Concerning the phasic nature of the cyclicality of planetary periodsand their impregnation of the psychic field, Guinard states:
"The cyclical structure is imprinted on the neural organization,which reproduces the periodic variations of the planets. Neuro-psychological integration of geo-solar rhythmstranslates itself into a continuous psychic stimulus –astral incidence – and into a structuring of the nervous systemthrough pre-conscious mental states, which in turngive rise to psycho-mental representations." (Chapter 5)
In other words, the psyche is activated with subtle astrological symbolsat the substratum of awareness, in resonance with thecyclicality of the planets. Astrology's object is one of structuringrelationship between the human psyche and the cosmicenvirons within it which it is situated.
Guinard lays out three primary postulations of astrology:
1. The existence of a primary, psychic interior world which perceivesand organizes information from the concrete, phenomenalworld. The psychic states of thisqualified interiorityarethe conceptual substratum of language and objects.
2. The interior world, called the psychic-astralby Guinard,is in a state of constant activity - forever animated and energized bythe continual movements of the shifting planetary cycles. These planetarypatterns create "impressionals" in the psyche, whichtake the form of transient infinitesimals of pre-conscious awarenessinfused into the subjective interiority.
3. Inherent in the psyche are structuring capabilities -conditioningmilieux - which format the received astral information,organizing these pre-conscious awarenesses by means of an innate, naturallyoccurring quadripartite organizational processconsisting of spatial houses, energetic planetary forces, temporalcycles and aspects, and the structure of the zodiac.
Guinard distinguishes between astral influences and impressionals, thefleeting pre-conscious awarenesses resulting from anastronomical signal. The impressionals are experienced as open-endedsymbols - archetypal forms beyond reason whichoriginate in the astral.
"The notion of the pre-conscious awareness liberates astrology fromits servitude to an exterior psychology, be it psychoanalytic, behaviorist,phenomenological, gestaltist, existentialist or reflexologic. It is timefor astrology to forge its own concepts." (Chapter 1)
TheManifestodiscusses astrology and its position in relationto the prevailing scientistic orthodoxies of our day. Science, thenew opiate of the people, is the current substitute for Christian religionand morality, and can be divided into three maincategories, corresponding to the three modalities in which informationimpresses itself in the field of personal consciousness.
Reality can be perceived as anobject - this perceptual modegenerating the material, empirical sciences, such as biochemistry.Reality can be received assigns requiring interpretation;in this category falls the interpretive social or humanistic sciences,historic and hermeneutic in nature. Reality can, lastly, be receivedas impressions, states of being; to this category belongs thepsycho-synthetic science of astrology, which "perceives reality inrelation to the totality of psychic being."
Guinard continually emphasizes the global, non-dual and organic natureof consciousness, and that astrology is a system whichis involved, not with events, but with states of consciousness, a positionwhich liberates it from the predictive, outcome-orientedtendencies which have metasticized to nearly every facet of its practice.Prediction, which is considered by traditional astrologyto be the supreme and consummate skill, is called the "siren's song"of the astrologers by Guinard.
In discussing the "astrophobia" of the scientific community, theManifestois thorough in its analysis and discussion of thecommon attacks against astrology, which typically reveal the attacker's"nullity" of knowledge and comprehension of thesubject. Guinard covers all the well-worn arguments of precession,action at a distance, and the materialist argument whichcomplains about the "imaginary" factors of the signs, aspects and houses.In his examination and refutation of the various formsthat the "anti-astrological polemic" has taken, Guinard is at all timescandid, passionate and convincing in his defense andexposition of astrology - unique among disciplines in its endless victimization.
"Rare are those bodies of knowledge, such as astrology, which mustcontinually confront their detractors... In the context of modern society,astrology is held in scant esteem; its principles are denied any validity;its practices are ridiculed. It is called to account to justify itselfvis-a-vis a variety of institutionalized presuppositions, customs, beliefsand skepticisms. There exists no universal manifesto against psychoanalysis,Voodoo, historical materialism or the immaterialism of Berkeley. No religioussect, doctrine or practice is so regularly vilified by the pontificationsof the intelligentsia, nor is its voice left so willfully unheard by theskeptical deafness of those who claim to be the possessors of knowledge."(Chapter 7)
Attacks against astrology are often aimed, blindly, at its "parody",the mass market astrology of sun sign columns. Guinard goeson to suggest that astrology may present such a threat to the intellectualworld because it might be a "true alternative tounidimensional thought."
It is impossible for this reviewer to adequately cover the exhaustivecomplexity and poetic fire of theManifesto. It is an entirelynew astrological genre. One is left with the feeling that Guinard hasallowed few intellectual stones to remain unturned in his epicanalysis of astrology, its functional operatives and its role in society.The level of sophistication and learning represented by theManifesto's discussion of astrology's most critical questionsand dilemmas sets a new standard for future astrological thinkersand researchers. This is high-brow astrology at its finest, writtenin powerful academic yet imaginative language. For his brilliantvision, definitions and defense of astrology, Patrice Guinard is oneof its most important and intelligent pioneers.
TheManifesto should be required reading for all serious studentsor opponents of astrology. At the present time, theManifestois not in print. It cannot be purchased or borrowed from a library.It is only available on the CURA tri-lingual website.
(reviewed by Shelley Jordan, Mar. 2002, Edition 17)
Therapeutic Astrologyis one of the most lucidly written andconvincing expositions of the therapeutic value of astrologyin print today. Few practitioners are as qualified as Dr. Bogart tomake the claims of astrology's efficacy in this arena.Professor Greg Bogart is the director of the Counseling PsychologyProgram at the Graduate School for Holistic Studiesat John F. Kennedy University in California. His educational backgroundcombined with his many years of privatepractice as a clinical psychotherapist qualify Dr. Bogart as a leadingpractitioner in the inter-disciplinary field of psychological astrology.
His own private practice has been the testing ground of his theories,providing ample evidence that when usedjudiciously, astrology has the power to heal and illuminate the humanpsyche.Therapeutic Astrologyis generouslyseasoned with numerous case studies from Dr. Bogart's own practice.These examples demonstrate the utility ofastrology in identifying issues and crises which typically occur duringthe therapeutic process.
Bogart is refreshingly candid and intelligent in his writing and inhis view of astrology, which is never heavily soiled withthe usual superstitious innuendo and disaster-seeking, catastrophicunderpinnings found in so much of the prevailing,commercial astrological literature. He is an excellent and articulaterepresentative of the new breed of highly educatedastrologers, who, following in the shabby footsteps of the bingo crowd,are bringing a new dignity, rationalism andspiritual purity to this perennial celestial symbolism. For instance,he asserts his enlightened observation that rather thanlooking at an individual aspect, which might be reactively perceivedas either bad or challenging or flowing and easy,there are "increasing numbers of astrologers who view the specificaspect as less important than the nature of the twoplanets that are interacting." (page 30)
In Part I ofTherapeutic Astrology, Bogart discusses the potentialbenefits and contraindications of applying astrologicalmethods in a therapeutic setting. He suggests various therapeutic approacheswhich may be more successful withclients' specific chart issues. For instance, clients with a predominanceof Gemini/3rd house issues may be morereceptive to cognitive therapy, reframing, positive thinking, mentalimagery, affirmations, mindfulness and mentalconcentration practices. On the other hand, Cancer and the 4th houseare the domain of family therapy andpsychoanalytically-oriented depth psychology, with its focus on familydynamics and emotional memories.
Part II examines planetary symbolism as descriptive components in thedevelopmental issues confronting mostindividuals who enter into the therapeutic process. Bogart recommendsthat therapeutic astrologers in particular need tokeep in mind that the developmental approach assumes human change andgrowth - that human beings are not staticand limited by a fixity in their characters. "Astrologers especiallyneed to remember this, for many hold the fatalisticview that the birth chart depicts traits that are permanently imprintedon us. While it is true that the birth chart doesindicate enduring facets of character, we can learn to express thenatal planets in new and more healthy ways as weevolve over time. The very purpose of studying astrology is to learnto change ourselves, to consciously express ourstrengths and overcome or minimize our weaknesses." (page 117) In onehis more beautiful and lyrical phrases, Bogartdiscusses the possibility of helping a client "grow an interior Moon",which would consequently enable the client tobecome more nurturing, sensitive grounded and aware. (page 133)
Part III instructs practitioners in the application of transpersonalastrology as an aid to defining and resolving theemotional and spiritual upheavals experienced by many clients duringthe course of their therapeutic journeys. Thetranspersonal approach is an effective adjunct for the growing numbersof individuals engaged in the exploration ofcontemplative, meditative and spiritual disciplines. Remarking on thesuspicious avoidance of astrology on the part ofeven the most progressive psychologists , Bogart describes the lacunaeof maps of entry into the psychic states ofindividuals undergoing spiritual crises or awakening. Observing thatthe psychospiritual crisis can coincide with transitsof Uranus, Neptune or Pluto, or with Pisces or 12th house activity,Bogart warns that the same symptoms which canaccompany a spiritual awakening can also be indicators of serious physicalor mental illness, and should be evaluated with caution by appropriate professionals.
Therapeutic Astrologyis not only aimed at practicing psychotherapistsand counselors. The increasing numbers ofindividuals who are discovering that astrology can be a useful formof "autotherapy" will be illumined by the clarity andpracticality of Bogart's psychological and spiritual approach. Stimulatingfor all levels of practioners, this book is easilyabsorbed and digested by readers ranging from the curious beginnerto the sophisticated professional.
In the wake of the Rudhyarian watershed, Greg Bogart adds his own broad-basedexperience, presenting an astrologythat is able to catalyze and heal the spiritual and emotional transformationssought by clients seeking personalillumination or in the throes of metaphysical crisis. Calling the processof psychotherapy the most "popular rite ofpassage in the contemporary Western world" (page 21), Bogart presentsthe usefulness of the birth chart in theassessment process, the transformation of the therapeutic relationship,and as an aid in discerning the most appropriateapproach with which to treat individual clients, translating the ancientsymbols of astrology into a therapeutic language.This appealing book, written with a comfortable warmth and familiarity,is highly recommended for all levels, invitingeven the most cautious skeptics into the astrological fold.
(reviewed by Shelley Jordan, Jun. 2002, Edition 19)
Note: This review comes with a major digression and critique of contemporaryastrology.
Lurking in the very language and theory of astrology lies a virtualrepository of fear and trepidation. To this day, readers of astrology booksare invited to anticipate the wide variety of potential disasters thatbad aspects, difficult transits or negative progressions can serve up tothe vulnerable and unprepared victim.
Sara Schechner's well-researched investigation into the history of cometlore and theory sheds a ray of light on some of the origins of this superstitiousmentality.Comets, Popular Culture and the Birth of Modern Cosmologydocuments the devolution of the rational Aristotelian view of cometsfrom natural phenomena into supernatural omens of catastrophe.
Comets were originally described by Aristotle as terrestrial exhalationsthat ignited upon reaching the atmosphere. By the Roman era they had degeneratedinto augers of doom and disaster. Comets, as extensions of the astrologicalarsenal, provided political and religious propagandists with visible, terrifyingevidence that God was announcing His wrathful disapproval of humanity,and that harsh and brutal punishment would soon follow. The Romans becamesubject to waves of veritable comet hysteria. Numerous heads of state wereproceeded in death by cometary visitors, sometimes all too convenientlyfor their conspirators, who found in the appearance of a comet an idealtime to do away with an unwanted politician or inconvenient intellectual.
The Christian world assimilated the catastrophic lore of comets, embellishingit with predictions of the coming Messiah and the Anti-Christ. Even MartinLuther, who derided astrology, was convinced that comets were manifestsigns of God's fury and promoted their propagandist use as polemical weaponsin the battles of the Protestant Reformation.
The chronic cultural neurosis generated by comets culminated in the16th and 17th centuries, which witnessed the birth pangs of early-modernscience. The Copernican world view was gaining power, while observationalastronomy was being galvanized by Tycho Brahe and Galileo. The great epistemologicalrupture between astronomy and astrology had not yet transpired. Comet activitystimulated general anticipatory dread. Terror was pumped into the mindsof the masses through the publications of comet-related broadsides, pamphletsand almanacs. These cheap and easily available publications announced disaster,famine, death and the coming end of the world.
While comets in particular were seen as violent instigators of crisis,cataclysm and ruin, humanity was at risk from other heavenly harbingersof evil. When clusters of celestial events occurred in close proximityacross the carefully watched sky, collective hysteria was widely circulatedthroughout society. Cosmic phenomena, such as novas, great conjunctionsof Jupiter and Saturn and ever-ominous eclipses were guaranteed to provokemassive eruptions of public emotion. [1]
Schechner gives numerous examples of the terrorizing language of theseauguries of misfortune that struck horror and fear in both the popularand educated cultures of early modern Europe. A prophecy circulating duringthe 16th century warned that
"after direful and bloody Comets ... there shall remain nothing forthe future safe or healthy amongst Men...and nothing remain but Night,Destruction, Ruine, Damnation and Eternal Misery."(p. 46)
An astrologer explained that their baleful influences occurred because
"Comets distemper and inflame the air ... (and from them) will naturallyensue Death, Scarcity and Famine... Sickness, Diseases, Mortality..."(p.99)
Although it was believed for centuries that comets were the cause ofmisfortune, eventually the superstitious tradition of cometelogical forecastingdissolved in the psychologically sanitizing light of the scientific revolution.Schechner's book demonstrates how a fear-laden irrational doctrine becameredeemed through the evolution of reason and observation.
However, the canon of astrological divination has survived, still heavilyembedded with anxious warnings and predictions of disease, death, crisisand failure. The irrational belief that the sky can hurl suffering andmisfortune at a vulnerable humanity has remained very much alive in modernastrology.
Today it is still relatively easy to find popular works that reflectastrology's preoccupation with calamitous possibilities. By merely pullingout an assortment of astrology books and thumbing through them, one canfind echoes of the catastrophe culture alive and well and living in astrology.
One wary and well-meaning astrologer cautions her readers that undera Moon-Pluto transit it "is not uncommon for an immature and unaware femaleto be raped or sexually abused." (Transits: The Time of Your Life,p. 123, Betty Lundsted; 1992). She also warns that Saturn-Jupiter transitscan "trigger an illness" (p. 70) She feels strongly about encouraging herclient "to examine his life with an eye to dying" during Neptune-Sun contacts(p. 99).
Another astrologer is so thoroughly responsible that he warns his readersof the endless possible catastrophes and crises that can be suffered underany number of astrological configurations. Page after page announces theubiquitously dangerous scenarios menacingly lurking around every corner.We are advised of the potential violent outbreak "with disastrous consequencesand even physical violence" that can strike a person when Mars squareshis Ascendant (Planets in Transit: Life cycles for Living, p. 260;Robert Hand; 1976). The hazardous aspect of Uranus squaring Mars can indicate"accidents", or "an illness that requires an operation" (p. 397). "Physicalattacks can occur under" Pluto conjunct Mars (p. 501). But not to worry- it's only "under extreme circumstances (that) this transit can signifyviolent injury or violence at the hands of another person" (p. 501). Plutosquaring Mars is so malignant an aspect that "this transit can have considerabledangers if you do not handle it properly" (p. 502), and it does indeedindicate "danger of accidents" (p. 503).
Hand goes on to tell us of the hazards in even consulting a lawyer whenNeptune is opposite your Ascendant, because this transit is "normally nota good one for dealing with lawyers ... you probably won't get a good dealif you hire a lawyer to represent you" (p.431). In fact, there are warningsof perils and impending disasters throughout most of this book. The view,not at all original or exclusive to this particular astrologer, is thatlife is risky, and that when malignant planets beam their negative aspectsonto humanity, the potential for calamity is high. Only by proceeding withextreme caution and a vigilant awareness of the down-pouring of evil influencescan the individual escape harm. Fear, insecurity and lack of control overone's destiny are the reasons one should consult astrology.
Some astrologers bring past lives into the picture to explain misfortune,supporting their views with statistics, no less! "About eighty percentof Fourth House Pluto individuals have a series of prior-life experiencesin which their emotional needs have not been successfully met by one orboth of their parents" (Pluto: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul,p. 85; Jeff Green, 1994). One wonders where he got these statistics...
Pity the poor individual with Venus square Saturn who's problematiclove life is "karmic in origin on the debt side of the spiritual ledger."This person is doomed to "disappointments through love.....due to selfishness"He should expect "difficulties with finances" and advancing "lonelinessand limitation" (Astrology: A Cosmic Science, p. 223; Isabel Hickey,1992). We are also informed that Mars in Pisces is "not well-placed", butneither is Mars in Taurus (pp. 166-8). People with Venus in Scorpio "canbe cruel or suffer from cruelty because of karma tied to the misuse ofthe love principle" (p. 160). Venus in Aquarius can't "feel happy" (p.160). Again, page after page of negative, punitive influences emanatingfrom the stars, forever being preached from paperback astrology books,the modern era's continuation of the superstitious broadside mentality.
One famous and authoritative astrologer says in his introduction thatnothing "has done astrology more harm than ...prating about 'good' and'bad' aspects". But then he goes on to say that the "inharmonious" aspectsof Saturn to the Sun are "evil" for children, who may die, be sickly orsuffer. This "affliction" can deny offspring altogether (The AstrologicalAspects, pp. 13, 42; C.E.O. Carter, 1967).
Astrologers can be offensive. "Scorpio Rising has ... gained a rathernegative reputation over the years, one which is not entirely underserved.No other Rising Sign can rival it for vindictive, ruthless, jealous behavior"(Chart Interpretation Handbook, pp. 104-105; Stephen Arroyo, 1989)
They can sound preposterous. "Nearly all with these Nodes (in Scorpio)have at one time touched the force of Witchcraft" (Karmic Astrology,p. 104, Martin Schulman, 1975)
Clearly, contemporary astrology is still saddled with an antiquatedand dismal negativity, in spite of feeble attempts to clothe it in psychologicalrhetoric. Reading Sara Schechner's wonderfully stimulating history of avulgar superstition purified by reason makes most astrology books seempathetic by comparison. Many astrology books, like the pamphlets of the16th and 17th centuries, have a stagnant and neurotic preoccupation withdisaster, crisis and loss. Their contents can be psychologically damagingfor impressionable readers. Perhaps astrology will one day undergo a cleansingand renovation similar to astronomy's during the Reformation period. Astrologyis desperately in need of a metagnosis - a new mind set. How and when sucha paradigm-shift will occur remains an unanswered question.
[1] In her discussion of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions, Schechner makesan error commonly passed around in scholarly works dealing with this confusingtopic (pp. 80-82). The Sasanian theory of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle as anhistorical marker gained popularity in Europe during the Middle Ages. SeeDavid Pingree,"Astronomy and Astrology in India and Iran", Isis,54, 1963, pp. 229-246. The transition between elements was viewed as anindicator of great shifts in religious and political institutions. Theconjunction in Aries theoretically marked the beginning of an entirelynew 800 or 960 year cycle, depending on the author. See Franz Rosenthal'stranslation ofBuzurjmihr inIbn Khaldun's Muqaddimah ; BollingenSeries 43, Vol. 2, pp. 211-213; New York 1958. These cycles are closelylinked with milleniallist currents.
One particularly notorious shift occurred with the conjunction in Sagittariusin 1603, when the conjunctions returned to the fiery trigon. This was notedby Kepler in hisDe stella nova. However, some scholars, includingSchechner, mistakenly state that the conjunction of 1583 took place inAries, marking the return to the fire element. This is incorrect. The conjunctionin 1583 occurred at 20 degrees of Pisces, and was the culmination of thewatery series of conjunctions. The fiery series did not begin until the1603 conjunction, and Jupiter and Saturn did not conjunct in Aries at alluntil 1702. Therefore the fiery series of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions beganat this time in Sagittarius, not in Aries. It was launched in Leo in 820BC, in 25 BC and 769 AD and thus seems to be erratic and to not at allcoincide with the idealized theory.
Schechner is not alone in her error. In his magisterial workRudolfII and His World, R.J.W. Evans gives the wrong year, saying that in1588 "the world would again enter the conjunction of the fiery trigon forthe first time in 800 years" (p. 278). He sites his sources as W.-E Peuckert,Die Rozenkreuzer, zur Geschichte einer Reformation(Iena, 1928)and E. Zinner,Bibliographie der astronomischen Literatur, 18 ff.Benjamin Wooley in The Queen's Conjurer, got the year right, but believedthat the conjunction of 1603 occurred in Aries. (see my reviews in CURAonThe Queen's Conjurerand on Laura Smoller'sHistory, Prophecyand the Stars, which deals extensively with Jupiter-Saturn cycles.)
Schechner, getting the patterning of the signs wrong by reporting thatthe cycle of fiery conjunctions will begin in Aries (although that is whatthe medieval theory states), directs us to her source in footnote 57, page250: C. Doris Hellman. Hellman is known for her translation of Max Caspar'sauthoritative biographyKepler, from which Arthur Koestler drewhis exaggerated but entertainingThe Sleepwalkers. Going to thebook Schechner sites, Hellman's richly detailedThe Comet of 1577;AMS Press, Columbia University, 1944, one finds information both vagueand sparklingly clear on what may explain some of this confusion. Hellmanwrites that Tycho Brahe recorded two versions of his ideas concerning theinfamous comet of 1577 and the Jupiter-Saturn conjunction of 1583. In hisLatin version, he correctly writes that the conjunction occurred in Pisces; in his vulgar German work on the same topic, he says it was in Aries.It seems that even the great observer himself erred in his astrologicalobservations. The editor of Tycho's works, Dreyer, made no notation ofthis discrepancy. Hellman directs us to Otto Loth for further informationon Al Kindi, an early transmitter of the theory of Jupiter and Saturn cycles,who got most of his information on the cycle from Albumasar. See Loth,"Al-kindi als astrolog" (Morganlandische Forschungen. FestschriftHerrn Professor Dr. H.L. Fleischer... gewidnet von Seinen Schulern... Leipzig,Brockhaus, 1875 pt. VIII: 263-309).
In reality, the patterns of Jupiter and Saturn are not nearly as elegantand geometrically perfect as the idealized tradition reports. To view atable of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions from the 6th century B.C. on, seeRichard Nolle's useful site at www.Astropro.com. Thank you, Richard, foryour help while I was preparing this review. I will write more on thistopic at a future date.« Text
(reviewed by Shelley Jordan, Sept. 2002, Edition 21)
After several centuries of scholarly repudiation, it has become inescapablyapparent that astrology and alchemy playedkey roles in the world view of early modern European thinkers.Secretsof Nature, MIT Press's elegantly packagedcollection of essays, edited by William R. Newman and the venerableAnthony Grafton, is proof of the increasingacademic interest in these previously shunned taboo areas. Credit mustbe given to these intrepid authors for shiningtheir lights into the darker corners of intellectual history, onlyto discover a virtual embarrassment of riches.
Among the most interesting of the eight selections in this excitingvolume, the introductory essay, co-authored byNewman and Grafton, relays an event which instantly underscores astrology'sprominence and credibility as late as theearly 17th century. Athanasius Kirscher's precisely accurate clairvoyantvision of an enemy invasion was explainedaway by his peers as an example of the brilliant polymath's esteemedskills at astrological prognostication. To the mindsof the educated German classes, astrology was a far more acceptablesolution to that disturbing prediction than thescandalous thought of an unholy psychic flash raiding the mind of arespectable Jesuit.
It is not unreasonable, in the light of the intellectual Inquisitionpersecuting astrology over the centuries, that Newmanand Grafton approach their controversial subject with discretion, distancingthemselves from their topic with severaldisclaimers. They remind us, lest we think they actually might believein such "fetid authoritarian superstition", thatalthough twenty to fifty percent of the citizens of the world's developednations accept astrology, it really has "nocurrency in our skeptical, myth-shredding intellectual economy." Further,"in educated circles in the United States andEurope, astrology seems merely risible now. No member of the elitewants to be caught with an astrologer."
Newman and Grafton's telling of the mental breakdown of the great pioneeringscholar Aby Warburg could at one timehave been interpreted as a warning to other historians of the potentialdangers awaiting those who engage in studies ofthe occult. Warburg was simultaneously fascinated and terrified byastrology. During his emotional crisis sparked by thetumult of World War I, Warburg "wandered the streets of Hamburg lookingfor dark-faced, ‘Saturnian' children to whomhe would give chocolates in the hope of warding off the threat posedby the most malevolent of planets". Astrology'santi-rational characteristics affected Warburg like a contagious disease.When I was in graduate school at the Universityof Wisconsin in the late 1970's, I overheard fearful whisperings ofsimilar tales and rumors concerning certainunfortunate scholars who approached forbidden mystical and magicaltexts such as theKalacakra Tantra, only toallegedly experience psychotic episodes or worse.
This wide-ranging goldmine of essays covers a variety of current hottopics addressing the vital function of astrology andalchemy in early natural philosophy. In "The Rosicrucian Hoax", DidierKahn disagrees with Frances Yates' hypothesison the British origins of the Rosicrucian movement. Drawing on theresearch of Carlos Gilly, Kahn painstakinglydisentangles the complex origins of the Order of the Rosy Cross, de-centralizingJohn Dee's role, and placing him in theelusive but complex compost of esoteric thought which gave birth tothe Rosicrucian movement. With intenselymeticulous detail, Kahn solves the mystery of the notorious ParisianRosicrucian placard incident. The entire drammagiocoso originated as an adolescent hoax masterminded by the collegestudent Etienne Chaume.
Articles by Germana Ernst, Anthony Grafton and Nancy Siraisi delve intoGirolamo Cardano's geniture collections andmedical astrological practice. Many astrologers today are familiarwith the dubious admonition against having surgeryperformed when the Moon is in the sign ruling the particular part ofthe body that is to be operated on. Grafton andSiraisi disclose the source of this pronouncement which Cardano consideredto be a scientific fact based on "directexperience": the classic Arabo-LatinCentiloquium attributedto Ptolemy by the Islamic world.
Adding to the expanding literature on John Dee, N.H. Clulee examinesthe obscureMonas hieroglyphica. His chapter"Astronomia inferior" scrutinizes the transmission of alchemical ideasthrough Dee's inheritance of Trithemius' legacy,and his development of alchemy as a terrestrial astrology. Of particularinterest to astrologers is Kepler's analysis ofRudolf II's birth chart in "Celestial Offerings" by H. Darrel Rutkin.Other articles by Loren Kassel and Lawrence M.Principe with William Newman respectively deal with Simon Forman'salchemical medicine and problems with thehistoriography of alchemy.
A comparison between the new academic astrological research and theliterature generated by today's astrologicalpractitioners results in a painfully sharp contrast. The high degreeof fertile scholarship and depth of inquiry representedby this collection of exceptional essays puts most modern astrologicalpublications to shame. Up until the scientificrevolution, astrology, while not without its detractors, was the subjectof study for many of Europe's leading men oflearning. It is clear that following the 17th century, astrology gotswept into the intellectual dustbin, while Westerncivilization's great thinkers went off into other more fruitful andopportune directions, leaving the field of the oncesublime philosophy to languish in the hands of narrow and blind truebelievers.
The mass exodus of the learned from an unregenerate astrology createda vacuum resulting in centuries of astrologicalstagnation. With the exception of Rudhyar and a handful of other astrologicalscholars, the field has remained overrunwith superstitious rhetoric, largely devoid of invention or creativity.Perhaps out of this current generation ofacademically trained researchers into astrology's past will emergea new species of thinkers who, having observedsome small grain of truth in astrology, might willingly sift throughthe debris of centuries to locate the renascent germsof anastrologia nova.
(reviewed by Shelley Jordan, Sept. 2002, Edition 22)
Embarrassing problems can arise when astrologers endeavor to be scholarlyand when scholars strive to write astrologically. Such problems occur forTamsyn Barton in herAncient Astrology, winner of the 1993 RoutledgeAncient History Prize. Despite the fact that "the image of astrology todaydiscourages scholarly investigation", Barton valiantly attempts to disentanglethe complexities of thetechneof the stars, following astrology'sdevelopment from its origins in early Mesopotamia through its later infiltrationof such cults as Mithraism and Roman solar worship.
Barton seeks to desensitize herself and her reading audience from theknee-jerk reactions of revulsion commonly experienced by the scholarlyworld upon its confrontation with the perceived intellectual contaminationproduced by astrology's influence on the rational human mind. She announcesearly on in her book that her work will be free of the censure and discriminationtypically found in books dealing with such a polluted subject, and admitsto the high degree of complexity and confusion that astrology presents.We are grateful that she refrains from the usual boring condemnation ofastrology in its failure to live up to modern scientific ideals.
Her predicament, unknown to her, begins in chapter 5, where she decidesto cleverly analyze Prince Charles' nativity according to the rules ofFirmicus Maternus and Dorotheus of Sidon. Her inability to correctly perceivethe information contained in the chart itself leads her to repeatedly misinterprether sources and the very astronomical facts on which the interpretationis based. She continually mistakes a waxing for a waning moon, analyzingthe moon's placement in Taurus, though the diagram of the chart in thebook clearly places it in Aries (it actually is in Taurus). She discussesCharles' Aries Midheaven and Scorpio I.C. (!); however at other times shegives him a Taurus Midheaven, apparently without seeing the discrepancyof her own error. In her confused description of the transits of Saturn,she has this planet transitingbackward through the zodiac, fromVirgo into Cancer over a four year period; in seven years Saturn will reachTaurus!
Barton's state of astrological illiteracy does not negate the valueof her informative book, which has much to commend itself. She admits openlyto the humiliation she experienced in her attempts at understanding theextremely difficult material she was facing. The issue here is that Bartonis not alone in her befuddled inability to comprehend the complexitiesof astrology. Astrology is a highly intricate and problematic matter, leavingaside the whole issue of belief in the thing. Other scholars who are nowapproaching this topic share in her difficulties in "reading" the languageof astrology.
Attempting to study astrology's history without fully grasping its theoryand language is as dangerous as doing research on ancient Greece withoutknowing classical Greek itself. An understanding of the primary materialsbecomes impossible.
Likewise, now that scholars are finally approaching the topic of classicalastrology and its position and influence on the historic past, it is ofurgent importance that they lucidly understand the complicated detailsof this intricate area of focus. The literature cannot be comprehendedif the very language itself is unintelligible. It would be most helpfulif someone were to produce a clarifying and organized primer on classicalastrology for scholars, written in a neutral fashion, without taking issuewith the problem of belief.
Despite Barton's struggles with the comprehension of astrological theory,her book is richly crammed with edifying information and anecdotes on theliterature and social role of early astrology, such as the story of oneancient astrologer, who, upon finding himself alive after forecasting thehour of his death, hanged himself to validate his own prediction.
