We've left Mars and have arrived in orbit around the double planet—Earth/Moon. I'm still mostly quoting from my free-to-download book, Astrological Repair Manual. We're up to Chapter 10 and there are only 14 chapters (plus, the "Instructions" that show you how to begin interpreting your own chart...) so, not long from now, we'll be exploring the ideas in the current book in some very creative ways and I'll begin to discuss ideas for the revised and expanded edition which I'm working on now.Let's check out the first part of Chapter 10:
"Here we are, finally approaching Earth—birthplace of astrology. First, we cuddle up to the Moon, home of much lunacy...
"Let’s look at that last word more closely since a major purpose of this book is to repair mis-perceptions, and various lunacies are still far too prevalent in the astrological community.
"In Old English, lunacy was born in the phrase mona seocnes or, to attempt a translation, 'monthsickness'—insanity alternating with periods of clear mindedness. This clearly describes many practitioners of astrology, but, if it were up to me, I’d reverse the order and say they seem very clear-minded for periods punctuated by bouts of insanity...
"Let’s be clear. It’s insane to say that astrology predicts events (and, of course, I'm using the word 'insane' in its original meaning: not healthy) This may be really hard for some folks to understand, but here it is: Astrology does not, will not, and never has predicted events. What?! Yes. It's the absolute truth, even if some astrologer 'predicted' something for you. (If an astrologer tells you something is going to happen, don't you think that, if it does, there may just be a bit of self-fulfillment in that?) What astrology does predict or reveal is Meaning.
"O.K. What if an astrologer says some event happened in your past, and that, in fact, it did happen? Believe it or not, what happened is that the astrologer saw a meaning in the chart and made a very good guess at the exact event. Here's some proof of that:
"Many years ago, I had the opportunity to talk to two men, born of different mothers but at the same time at the same hospital. Since they had the same chart you'd think they would have had the same events happening in their lives, right? Well, all it takes is one contrary occurrence of something to disprove a theory and here it is:
There was a strong indicator in their charts at a certain time, and I asked the first man what happened. He said his father had died. I asked the other man, with the same chart, what happened, and he said he'd been on his first nude beach...
"Obviously, the same chart had shown two very different events! Then, I asked the first man (by the way, I interviewed these men separately), "What did it mean when your father died?" He said that he'd felt like he'd had shackles removed (his father had been rather authoritarian). I asked the other man, "What did it mean to be on your first nude beach?" He said that he had dropped his shackles... They used exactly the same, and not so common, word to describe what two very different events meant.
"See? Astrology predicts meanings.
"By the way, it’s also insane to attribute the mental faults of some astrologers to the effect of the Moon. The Moon has nothing to do with it. None of the planets have anything to do with it. It’s the influence of environment coupled with free-will that warps folks into the fields of lunacy. ‘Nuff said.
"So, what’s this big, beautiful Moon good for? It just happens to be, from our view on Earth, the fastest cycle we have—27.3 days to be exact—the archetypical Month!
"Think of it as the second-hand on a cosmic clock with ten hands. By the way, my saying, just a second ago, 'from our view on Earth', may be the most important thing we can consider. Astrology from any of the places we’ve been so far, including this Moon, would be very different! It’s very definitely a thing about point-of-view...
"The cycle of the Moon gives us many things. One of the most important is a cycle we can definitely feel—if we’re not stone-cold numb. Whether or not you’ve been keeping up with the cycles of your chart, you most likely have a clear feeling for what a 'month' means for you—even if only in terms of what you can get done in that amount of time. If you look at a month as the time the Moon spends going from where it was when you were born, around the cycle of Signs, and back to your birth-position, you’ll have a marvelous indicator of your personal style-of-living. The Instructions ( in the free-to-download book) will help you find your personal Moon position and the recommended web sites plus our Forum will tell you how to track it [the forum died but will be reborn when the new edition is published...].
"The Moon in astrology also acts like a 'trigger' for other cycles. (I must reiterate: the actual Moon is not making things happen) Tracking it around your birth chart while being aware of when it’s 'over' your other planets' positions is a solid exercise in making the internal chart (the one in your unconscious mind) reveal itself in the symbolic chart (the one on paper or your computer screen). I'm being as basic as possible in this book for good reason—roots must go deep for trees to stand tall..."
Next time we'll discover some basics facts about how the Earth and our view from it create the Houses of astrology...
