Spirit, Soul and Existence
The circle, the crescent and the cross are the three basic symbols of the planets. Spirit, soul and existence are the root words of astrology. We each live in a physical body that has limits in time and space. We each carry a flame originated from the sun. We come from past generations and our lives are a result of countless events that led up to the present moment; so too, everything we do affects the world we inhabit-we are sentient drops in the river of life. In astrology we call the consciousness that we are connected to all events past and present ‘the soul’.
The circle has a dot in the middle. When I draw simplified maps of the solar system with the sun at the center, I skip the dot and draw little rays, like blades of grass or a comic character’s hair. A circle with a dot for the sun in the middle: circles with dots, x’s and o’s, who can resist the promise of objective accuracy offered by a coordinate system?
We are employing a language that has survived thousands of years, since before calculus, the coordinate system and algebra; it is the great- grandparent of math and geometry. What a thrill. Oh well, as a Taurus it makes me feel much better about living a very imperfect life; I see myself as a mini chaos bumping around in a big stirred up soup of chaos, we’re all stirred up, or sometimes we’re bubbling.
A lot of people get squirmy at the thought of fate, or that their lives might be governed by it. They want to believe they choose when they relinquish responsibility and that they can always be consciously controlling their lives through their own will. And I say “Girl, you’re so fast!” I know that’s old fashioned; nowadays we say “You go Girl!” But you know I think it’s great to strengthen the will and exercise consciousness as much as possible; I’m all for that.
But sometimes, we all have to face the fact of existence that we are basically corpuscles with consciousness; we find ourselves trapped in endless tunnels from which we find no escape. Sometimes, life gets the better of each of us. Why some and not others? How do the circumstances differ?
How circumstances differ is what astrology is all about. To see things from a philosophical point of view we must employ a language that facilitates analyzing an event from all points of view; past, present and future. Astrologers assigned each category of experience a mascot; so, for instance, what we know about lions or rams helps us imagine what philosophers over two thousand years ago were saying about the fifth (Leo) or first (Aries) sign of the zodiac.
We have a good idea of what they thought about the moon and how they, as a culture, viewed its cycles. The same is true of the sun; and though some of this cultural treasury is celebrated in modern holidays, the stories that describe the rest of the planetary cycles have been left behind in the industrious scramble to reshape our environment.
Time and space is how we physically get a hold on existence. If you wonder about the idea behind time and space, how your ancestors thought about it, what they thought was the purpose of life; then you are wondering about astrology. It is more about analyzing our own behavior in the context of events, than it is about reshaping existence to improve our lives.
When we turn to astrology we turn to the sun, the moon and earth’s horizon; we think of how the existence we have now is born of countless cycles of the earth circling the sun. How many times has the cycle of leaning our head into the fire given way to leaning away and warming our feet as we make our watery rocky way around the sun? How many times have people on earth passed from light to darkness without a candle and match, or a switch to flip? How did the sun give birth to us?
How does the moon change our world from day to day? How does the sun change the moon? How are we all connected? These are the questions astrology answers, this is the gift of our ancestors.
Follow the sun, follow the moon, look at the real horizon.
