A regular reader of Astroinquiry wrote to me the other day. Ann asked:

Hi Frederick:

Was wondering if all is well with you as you haven’t posted a new article for a bit. It’s always a pleasure to receive your insights & musings

I responded:

Hello Ann

My book’s title is: Save Yourself With Astrology. I think you will enjoy it.

If you’re interested in updates on the book, I suggest you follow me on Facebook where I’ll make announcements regarding progress, pre-orders — breakthroughs and breakdowns associated with the writing process. Always a fun trainwreck to track. Or you can read more about the book here.

The good news is that with the advent of electronic books the project will move from desktop, to editor, to Amazon in a few heartbeats (yeah, right).

Anyway, wish me well. And may you too discover a way to prosper during the most electrifying End Days ever witnessed in human history (well, next to The Black Death).

Cheers,

Frederick

I often hear from friends and clients: “I can relate to the other signs, but I don’t understand Virgo at all.”

My response: “Well, you’re really not supposed to, that’s part of Virgo’s mystique.”

The Virgin’s smile is minxian and Sphinixan — a sexy cryptogram. Rams, lions, goats, bulls — what’s to question? But virgins? How exactly do they fit within a circle comprised mostly of critters? The months ahead offer several opportunities (and tests) to solve this oddity; starting with tomorrow’s lunation — which is very Virgo. In other words very human. It’s time to begin a shift from the instinctual to the intellectual. Bestial to hominal. To pause, assimilate and follow the guidance of a higher wisdom, a more inclusive approach. Read more

Buddha sat under a tree and explained the truth of impermanence. Alchemical artists drew, etched, carved or painted vivid images to represent that truth.

Eastern philosophy evokes nature to reveal the cycles of change — living life in accordance with flow. But the alchemists of old were crazier and wilder. They knew human beings were complex creatures and depicted our psychic atmosphere in phantasmagorical allegory. Breeze-caressed willow sprigs and geese flying south for the winter didn’t match the nitty-gritty human condition.

People are complicated creatures — a mix of animal instinct and human desire. The alchemists understood this. And so the psychological world was depicted with a tumult of clashing chemistries — trials of burning, freezing, steaming, dissolving and splitting depict the psychic clash or merging of antithetical forces.

The alchemical gold, the reward at the end of the opus — the art or work — is not just a reconnection with one’s harmonized, essential nature (that goose flying to Florida), it is a certain wisdom that only a self-reflecting consciousness comes to understand and embrace. A wisdom that transcends the limitations of duality, of time and space. The result is hard-won, but clear: When we align with the law of impermanence we discover the security of our center. We abide in the present — the ‘one moment’. And that is a golden condition. The natural condition.

It’s good to bring up gold because tomorrow’s New Moon in Leo is all about the soft, precious metal. Interestingly enough, gold is very much what Pluto’s continued grind through Capricorn unearths. You dig into the earth to free the stuff. And nothing digs quite as hard as Pluto, and no sign is earthier. Read more

Learing astrology is not difficult. In fact as Plato taught, we never really ‘learn’ anything in life — what we call learning is actually a kind of remembering. A wisdom that is inherent within each of us can be awakened by intention and full-bodied understanding. This means each center within us is involved in the process of remembering: the head, the heart and the hara (the center associated with the belly). It makes sense: when all of you is present, so is the totality of your understanding.

Because astrology is a symbolic language, we begin with its alphabet: the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Each sign of the Zodiac is a particular archetype — or universal style — with a particular function, color, slant and flavor. And as each ‘letter’ is recalled you’re soon able to evoke, read and ‘speak’ the various concepts (the planets, Sun, Moon, angles, and the houses) that comprise the astrological lexicon.

I teach in a very immediate style that involves dialogue exercises and meditations. Again, this is to foster remembering. An example: If you can sense your essential expressions of strength, vigor, and courage then you already know many of the qualities associated with the sign Aries and the planet Mars. Or, when you consider parts of your nature that are supressed, contracted or fearful you would be contemplating issues associated with the planet Saturn. See how it works?

Awaken your inner artist, mystic and poet. Explore the magnificient notion that the terrestial is in constant communication with the celestial, and that each of you has a unique expression within this dance. You can register with me online or call the number listed on the above flyer, which you can download here.

See you in May.

It’s time to talk about time.

The four cardinal signs of the zodiac — Aries, Cancer, Libra and Capricorn — all of which are active during tonight’s Full Moon — have jurisdiction over the experience of time. As the place holders of the four seasons, the cardinal signs push time forward (in the spring and fall) and rearrange time (in the summer and winter) when time ‘stops,’ as the Sun changes its course during the solstice. Read more

Years into the craft and I still struggle with finding concise ways to explain to clients and friends how and why astrology works. More often than not I shorten my effort, believing that brevity is the key to holding anyone’s attention for longer than, oh, five seconds. Especially when someone is confronted by a subject as potentially intimidating as astrology. I’m still trying to devise the perfect one-minute explanation.

After practicing and teaching astrology for over thirty years I’ve come to understand that the planets and the signs do not ‘do’ or ‘make’ anything happen. This then forces me into the position of trying to define quantum physics, for those of a scientific bent — or, more challenging, the mystic’s vision of the universe: a longing for the ineffable tethered to a visceral sense of a unified reality that is almost impossible to describe; thus volume after volume of a poet like Rumi‘s poetry. And, well, we won’t go there right now.

Usually I will explain that astrology, being ‘up there’, mirrors the various ways reality manifests ‘down here.’ Though there isn’t any sort of gap or lag. A movement ‘below’ is part and parcel a ‘movement’ above. To step outside of this mechanistic framework is to leave the dualistic universe and move straight into the humming heart of acausal ‘is-ness.’

The spiritual teacher U.G. Krishnamurti was even more blunt in his effort to explain the seamless nature of ‘one’ unfolding reality, and the ego’s deluded notion of having a distinct, separate volition. He once said to a particularly pushy student: “You are just a computer. There is no individual there. It is all one movement in the cosmos. The movement of even a leaf affects you.” Read more