Friday, March 13, 2015

Enceladus in Astrology


I don’t read much science fiction, but the little exposure I’ve had makes me feel sure there are many people thinking about this. 


Jen posted a link from NPR about Enceladus and asked about the moons of Saturn in astrology.  From a few quick searches I came up with nothing.  This might seem surprising considering that Astro.com provides locations for thousands of celestial objects, including asteroids and fixed stars.  But when we consider that from Earth’s perspective the moons of Saturn are always near Saturn, and astrology follows the cycles of heavenly objects as viewed from Earth, their effect on Saturn’s approximately 29 year cycle would not be considered separately.  In other words we see the moons of other planets kind of like horse flies-  the only ones we really care about are the suckers circling our own steed.  That's not a nice way to talk about our moon, but then maybe it shows a deeper appreciation for horse flies.

 

While the cycle of Earth’s moon is central to the study of other planetary cycles, especially Jupiter and Saturn, there appears to be no astrological treatment highlighting members of Saturn's family or the other planets that have close companions similar to our Moon.  The astronomical descriptions, complete with quantitative analysis are readily available, so it is not because of a lack of information. 

I am aware of astrology techniques that analyze charts calculated for time and space originating from the location of the Sun, but that only diminishes the relative motion of our moon to a subsumed cycle like the moons of our sibling planets.  Imagine yourself observing Earth’s motion from the Sun, and the Moon that we see in a different part of the sky every day becomes a little electron never straying from the proton of Earth.  Maybe there are folks out there somewhere doing charts from the point of view of various planets.  Viewing time from the point of view of Saturn would definitely give its moons central roles in defining the various cycles, just as ours takes a central role in human astrology. 

I don’t read much science fiction, but the little exposure I’ve had makes me feel sure there are many people thinking about this.  I’ve come across sites that convert cycles from the point of view of other planets to the cycles we experience on Earth, and if I remember correctly I read a story years ago that took place on the planet Uranus which included one or more of its moons in the plot.  I expect as we become more intimate with our solar system people will give more consideration to how time passes on various animals in this little Milky Way merry go round; but wherever humans migrate, according to the current story, we evolved on Earth, so it is Earth's cycles that have shaped us.