Levels of Perception

I want to step back from specific interpretation in this post and look at how we perceive the symbols of astrology.

First, let me quote a bit from the article, "Why This System", from the Information Site (red link in the right panel):

"After 20 years of learning and struggle, my goal became giving people the most important Perceptions—the underlying positive assumptions that are needed to thrive and prosper in the truly amazing Realm of Astrology. It's one thing to have a practical way to interpret an astrological chart. It's quite another to have the perceptions and understanding to interpret a chart in a way that assures positive and productive results.

"Remember learning about the three states of matter—solid, liquid, and gas? Some of you might also have learned about a fourth state—plasma. Scientifically speaking, plasma surrounds and energizes the other three states of matter. You could also consider plasma as energizing gas, gas energizing liquid, and liquid energizing solid...

"The B.I.D.E. Interpretive System is a way of perceiving the factors in a chart from the 'plasma' or Spiritual level—a realm of perception that surrounds, envelops, and energizes the other three. But just like all other spiritual perceptions, even though they're the most valuable way of looking at things, they need further interpretation to be used in less elevated, yet related and important, realms of life. We need the discipline of spiritual meditation to stay balanced and proactive in the social, personal, and practical fields of life. My experience has taught me that an astrologer needs a way to begin interpretation of a chart from the spiritual level; then, bring it down to the other levels.

"The Symbolic Sentences you create in the B.I.D.E. System are WordSymbols—one step removed from the abstract glyphs of the traditional chart. Being symbolic themselves, they need further interpretation to be used in the 'gas' or Social realm of perception; yet further interpretation to be used in the 'liquid' or Personal realm; even further interpretation for use in the 'solid' or Practical realm. Over time, an astrologer can learn to look at a chart, see the spiritual significance, and, nearly immediately, glide right down through the other levels of perception—a process made infinitely easier when involved in the reciprocal relationship of a living, breathing consultation with the native of the chart."

Next post, we'll take a Symbolic Sentence from the B.I.D.E. System and go through, step-by-step, this interpretive shifting of levels...

How To Do It . . .

When it comes to learning astrology, or even some particular aspect of it, I'm sure many folk approach the task much like the man in this image...

Sure, astrology helps us get down into the human psyche but, personally, after about four decades of doing it, I've come to the realization that we're much better off approaching the art of astrology not from the bottom, up but from the top, down...

This realization is what drove me to spend three of those decades conceiving, creating, and field-testing the system of interpretation that's the centerpiece of this blog. And, this blog was born to show the system off and seek my readers' opinions, feedback, thoughts, feelings, and even disagreements. The original book about the system was written four years ago and there are ten more volumes of Astrological Repair Manual yet to write...

I know the system works. My clients for the last ten years have voiced their approval of the system. But, now, I feel I need a much wider base of opinion to help me shape the content of the rest of the books in the series.

Since my system is so unique, I created a special companion site that has many (and will have many more) tools to help guide those interested in the operation of the B.I.D.E. Interpretive System. It's called, simply, Information Site, and can also be accessed with the red link in the right panel of this blog. Here are the tools you can find and use over there:

> B.I.D.E. Interpretive System - A Simplified Guide
> The Original Book - A Free Download
> Creating A Chart
> Why This System?
> Astrology Predicts Meanings, Not Events
> Detailed Example of Using the System

Next post, we'll use the B.I.D.E. System to explore Oprah Winfrey's Chart...

Let's Play ! Seriously . . .

Dedicated to
Lauren Lesko

This post is an examination of certain particulars of Elvis Presley's chart and also an exploration of the necessity to Play with the interpretive system I've created. This system is introduced in my free-to-download book, Astrological Repair Manual. You can also have a free download of a special edition of the interpretive system all by itself. I strongly suggest you download at least one of these so you can follow along with the interpretation of people's charts and, hopefully, offer your comments and suggestions for other interpretations in the comments!

Last post, I introduced an analogy to help you understand the approach I offer with my system. I used the words: Fire, Air, Water, and Earth to designate levels of interpretive perception. Last night I received a lesson of extremely helpful critique about the use of those particular words and the confusion they may cause for people already familiar with the elements as commonly used in astrology.

So...

I'll re-introduce that analogy and give you words that won't cause any stress in philosophic understanding.

My approach to astrological interpretation is based on the ancient aphorism, "As Above, So Below". In the four decades of my study and practice, I've come to the firm conclusion that the most honest and valuable approach to astrology is to start Above and work your way down to Below. Reversing the direction is one of the most serious mistakes an astrological aspirant can make...

The highest level of interpretive perception is the Spiritual, followed by the Social, Personal, and Practical levels. Each level enfolds or encompasses the level below...

My system was designed to enable you to begin at the highest level and Play your way down through the others to find the most appropriate interpretation for any concern or issue in your life.

Now, some examples of Playing with the system while we consider Elvis' chart (that link will open another window so you can easily reference the chart while we go through the interpretation {Check out Wikipedia if you want to read a fascinating biography).

I'm only going to cover two of Elvis' ten planets—the Sun or Central Life Purpose and the Mooon or Style of Doing the Life Purpose. This analysis isn't intended to be complete but it is intended to show you how to find a few indications of the Man behind the Media and the Soul behind the Music...

We'll start with his Sun in Capricorn in the Second House. Since my system provides 64 interpretations for each placement, I'll simplify things a bit by giving you three that seem to me to express Elvis' Central Life Purpose:

Focusing Structural Innovations in order to Realize his Heritage.

Integrating Constructive Initiatives in order to Ground his Plans.

Vitalizing a Desire for Enduring Patterns in order to Be Aware of his Worth.

Yes, those are very abstract interpretations yet they give us the Space necessary to consider much more than what the entertainment press ever offered about Elvis' reasons for being who he was. And, yes, those sentences demand that you spend some time thinking about deeper issues than just his gyrating body or hypnotic voice...

Now, I want to Play a bit...

I'm going to take part of one of those sentences and mate it with part of another:

Vitalizing a Desire for Enduring Patterns in order to Realize his Heritage.

Just a hint from his biography: He was early on a lover of Gospel and it seems to me he immortalized a soaring spiritual presentation of whatever he sang...

Now, the Moon—the Style of doing his Central Life Purpose.

Considering the last symbolic sentence from the system for Elvis' Sun, here's what I came up with for his Moon placement (in Pisces in the Third House):

Nourishing Universal Feeling in order to Make Connections.

Connections? How about connections between his Heritage (Gospel) and his Audience (the Universal Audience he attracted...)...

Soon, I'll be introducing the phrases for my system that permit interpretation of aspects between various factors in the chart. For now, consider that Elvis' had a Sun/Moon relationship expressed through the waxing Semisquare. Now, consider those two symbolic sentences I constructed for Elvis' Central Life Purpose and Style of Doing that Purpose with the meaning of their relationship included:

Vitalizing a Desire for Enduring Patterns in order to Realize his Heritage

finds intense expression through

Nourishing Universal Feeling in order to Make Connections.

And, connections he did, emphatically, make. People who love Elvis, who have no other social connection, find soul-mates when they encounter another Elvis lover. Music created from the depths of human suffering—Gospel and Soul—now have a connection to people who have never suffered the depravities that gave that music birth...

No matter the way he died, I feel he more than accomplished his Style of Doing his Central Life Purpose...

~~~~~~~~~

Now, it's your turn: Download my system and Play with all the possible interpretations of Elvis' Sun and Moon, Play with the act of discovering more than the media could ever tell you about a Musical Icon. And, hopefully, share your experience in the Comments...

Messenger of the Gods

We just left Venus and were nearing Mercury in the voyage from the Free-to-Download book, Astrological Repair Manual. This is Chapter 12 and includes just a bit about retrogradation...

"It’s getting pretty warm now, so close to the Sun. Things are heating up as far as cycles go, too. We’re at Mercury, dealing with a function that may seem very cut-and- dried, but certainly is not.

"Mercury: Intelligence, Concrete Thought, Perception, Communication. All these things can seem so normal that they hardly need comment. But comment I must since they’re all ripe for illusion and disarray!

"As I’ve affirmed before, none of these astrological functions stands alone; they all work together. If we use our free will to hide, subvert or bury any of them, we open the floodgates to problematic living. That being true, our intelligence and our different ways of communicating certainly shouldn’t operate in a vacuum. The first function that will help Mercury's functioning is the planet we just left—Venus. Feelings and values are the perfect complement for intelligence and communication.

"Wonder why they seem to be at odds so often? Check your culture; look closely at the social environment these functions develop within. From where I’m sitting in the United States, I must admit that this country’s culture has been very unkind to a smooth marriage of these two functions for far too many years. I’m sure that the situation is similar in most cultures around the world. It hasn't always been this way. I know that there were times and social situations when it was different, families and groups within which it is different, and I predict that the whole world will get it right eventually. Since the two planets are physically close, and since their cycles are similar in duration, one could wonder deeply at the rank perversions heaped upon using them together.

"To cut our feeling from our thinking is a crime. Yet one of the most valuable uses for astrology is to hold our various functions and their proper relationships up to us in a symbolic mirror. We can See what should be and, most often, find the best way to iron out persistently irritating wrinkles—those warps of function induced by family, culture and the press of living in a world changing faster than it ever has before.

"I mentioned the phenomenon of 'retrogradation' before—the apparent backwards flow of a planet’s function. I pointed out that I hate that word 'retrograde', but I haven’t come up with a suitable alternative yet... I also pointed out that, when a planet is doing 'that', it’s a time to focus on the function's meaning in an internal way, to ponder the depth of the function in our lives, to let the function dive into our unconscious. Then we can return with fresh energy for the journey.

"Mercury does this internal journeying about every three months; it lasts for about three weeks. This Mercury Retrograde period has gotten some of the worst astrological coverage! What’s been said has had a quality of 'negative truth'—an inappropriate reporting of only the undesirable aspects. The real problem is that this 'negative truth' is touted as the Whole truth. Just because many people suffer from erratic thinking during these periods, just because they are forgetful or can’t concentrate on what they think is important—these things are no reason to blame the planet Mercury or to make a baldfaced assumption that Mercury Retrograde is somehow automatically a bad time, to be merely suffered through.

"Think about this: People are told that they have an opportunity, every three months, to use their perceptive qualities to find fresh and highly individualistic solutions to things that may have been causing some bafflement in their lives. These people believe what they're told, at least enough to give it a try. So, they schedule time during this period, time apart, to reconsider a few things, to look at things from other angles, to Let some new thinking happen.

"I can hear someone saying, 'Naw... I really don’t have the time to slow down and rethink anything. My spouse and my boss wouldn’t understand. Do you have any idea how hard it is already, just trying to keep up?'

"Actually, I do understand. I pity this person’s inability to understand that continuing to barge ahead when their natural cycles demand internal action might be the cause of the problem.

"I just love to talk to the people I’ve met who have Mercury Retrograde in their birth charts. They usually have a lifelong ability to do this 'backward' thinking. And they just happen to be some of the most creative, original people I know!

"Being this close to the Sun is starting to get to me. Its' ferociously brilliant splendor is acting like a plasma magnet. I’m being pulled toward its' awesomely prodigious, life-giving waves of light...

"Come on! You don’t want to miss the fun, do you?"

Till the next post.........