“Understanding evolves in the same way as natural systems do. Each new level, whether of being or of knowledge, encompasses all the previous levels and manifests the inauguration of the dominion of a still more powerful — at the same time more concentrated and more comprehensive — unifying principle. It is as if, as the reach of its organizing power encompasses more and more diversity, the unifying principle itself goes deeper and deeper, approaching closer and closer to the center and unifying principle of the Whole.”

“This evolutionary process is not continuous but proceeds, when a system reaches a state far from equilibrium, by sudden leaps, as if by inspiration or revelation. The moment of the leap, from atom to molecule, from molecule to cell, from cell to organism, resembles those moments when, after long and anguished searching, there leaps into the mind of the scientist (from he knows not where) a theory that brings into order a vast realm of formerly unrelated data; or into the awareness of the poet the presentiment of a poem — the almost physical sensation that there is now something inside him that will give him no rest until he succeeds in bringing it to birth and precise articulation, and within whose form all the contradictory experiences of his life up to this time will take their places in harmonious relationship so that, at last, their meaning will be revealed to him.”
 
— Martha Heyneman from The Breathing Cathedral
 
Photograph The Boy and the Lion by Elizabeth Sarah.

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

First the good news: Yesterday’s opposition between Jupiter and Saturn was the last of the series. What started in 2000, when the two giants conjuncted in Taurus, has now reached it’s fruitional stage — which is what any opposition connotes. A seed is planted at the conjunction, development occurs as the two planets move apart, and then reaches a crescendo at the opposition. Which was yesterday.

OK, so the ‘Where’s my Xanax’ news? Traditionally the years that follow the Jupiter Saturn opposition are years of attrition, stymied growth and stark rationale for modest optimism. Traditional astrologers attribute a growth phase to the first ten or eleven years that follow the conjunction (from 2000 to 2011); Jupiter has jurisdiction of this phase. But the period following the opposition, which starts today, is Saturn’s. Picture Saturn rummaging around his tool shed, looking for his pruning shears. Now begins the cutbacks, the trimming, the ‘nose pressed to grindstone’ phase. A balancing and correcting period that will give a ‘reality check’ to whatever grew and gorged turning the eleven years post the conjunction. Read more