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Yadihasti tad anyatra; yannehasti na tat kvacit.
What is here, is also there; what is
not here, is nowhere.
Vishvasara
Tantra
Katha Upanishad 4, 10
- With these words wise men from the dim
past tried to tell us earth and cosmos are built up in the same way, that the microcosm is
but a reflection of the macrocosm. We are told that Astrology is the oldest of all
sciences and that it is an esoteric doctrine which is superior to all others. And as it
happens in all true esoteric doctrines, its concepts were not revealed to all and sundry.
Those who were elected were taught the human being is composed of three bodies: the causal
or spiritual, the subtle or psychical and the gross or physical body - in that order. The three are analogous
with one another, they express the same being, but each one of them in its own way,
according to its own pattern of vibration.
- For the sake of clarity we have to
explain this a bit further. Real esoteric teaching postulates that Spirit builds the body,
because Spirit is the primary, eternal and immaterial one and only principle. It was ever,
is ever and will ever be. In order to be able to manifest itself in a visible way,
however, Spirit needs a body. When Spirit manifests itself, it results in a polarity. The
link between the two poles is the third aspect of the trinity. This channel that links
Spirit and body, we call soul. It acts like a communicating-door. Spirit needs this soul,
as it cannot act upon the body in a direct way. The following linguistic example will make
things clear. Let's presume Spirit = subject and body = object. Let's represent the
subject with I and the object with a novel. Now pray tell me, what's the meaning of I - a novel ? It is quite clear something is missing.
There must be a verb to express the interplay between I and a
novel. In I'm reading a novel the verb links the subject with the object
and vice versa.
- This principle of trinity is the basis of a lot of religions and
philosophies. It deals with a law that tells us that 1 equals 3.
- What most people understand by man
represents only one third of it. For most people man is what they see: a
material object. How about astrologers and their charts?
- The yogis of yore compared the trinity
concept of man with the relation that existed among ice, water and steam - the essence of
which always remains the same. There is this something that penetrates the three of them,
but which can't be that well defined.
- Ice, they said, is solid and not free. Ice
is tied to form: it can only exist through encompassing a well-defined space. Ice
represents the gross, physical
body [sthula sharira].
It's the body one experiences while being awake. In our astrological system we call it the
radix. You can also call it the conscious body.
- Water differs from ice in the sense
that it is not tied to form. Water moves and flows to places at a lower level. Ice on the
contrary is not only tied to form, but also to place. Water symbolises the subtle body [shukshma sharira]. Perhaps the subconscious body sounds a bit better. It's the body we
experience while dreaming. In our astrological system we call it the inner.
- Steam is invisible. It can spread
itself all around. It symbolises the causal body [karana sharira], the spiritual body. It has to do with superconsciousness. One experiences it as a kind of bliss. One
can only be it. As such, it cannot really be materialised
in any chart, but for the sake of clarity and understanding, we represent it with what is
in the innermost circle.
- So what remains is the inner and the
outer - in that order. This may sound a bit queer, but then, ponder over this: thoughts
and feelings (which we cannot see, but which happen in the unconscious) precede actions
(which everybody can experience, and which happen in the conscious). The latter is only
the result of the former. In the same way, the factors in the radix are only the visible
result or effect of what happens in one's inner being. You can compare this with a
photograph and its negative, or with day and night, with hot and cold, black and white,
Shiva and Shakti, Yang and Yin, sun and moon, male and female, animus and anima. The one
reflects the other. They are mutually dependent: the one cannot exist without the other.
Now Yoga teaches us that there is oneness in this duality: everything consists of two opposites that
complement each other to form one harmonic whole. With due respect to the late C.G. Jung, but
he was not that original in his thesis that the conscious and the unconscious are to be
considered in the way Yoga has taught us. On the other hand, he had an open mind and
grasped the importance of the teachings to their fullest extent and explained them in a
psychological way. The subconscious, he said, is the matrix of consciousness, and all
human instincts, feelings, thoughts, moods, wishes, fears, aspirations as well as all
human problems have their repercussion and reflection in the unconscious. He came to the
conclusion that there is not only an outer personality, which had to do with one's
attitude to one's outer world, but also an inner personality, which had to do with one's
attitude to one's inner world. The former he called persona, the latter anima. He also
postulated that one's inner attitude complements one's outer attitude. Experience teaches
us, he said, that the characteristics we can't find in one's outer, conscious attitude, we
can undoubtedly find in the soul, in the subconscious. (More revealing ideas are explained
in Jung's "Psychological
Types", Chapter XI, - Definitions. - ISBN 0-691-01813-8)
- A lot of astrologers are only dealing with
ice, with the gross physical body, the outer world, the persona, the object, the result.
By means of progressions we can ascertain facts - if we are lucky. But it remains to be
seen whether the cause of something is to be found in the object. What is the real cause
of a divorce? What explains this result? What precedes a heart attack? We are the opinion
the cause is to be found in the subject, in the subtle, psychical body, in the anima, in
one's subconsciousness.
- But now we have a problem: where to
locate it in a natal chart? Some people will argue that we can find a lot of it in the
fourth house. Well then, when exactly and with full justification can one state that the
factors in that house are to be interpreted as psychological factors or as let's say real
estate? And if the Moon is to be taken for the anima, what wonderful acts has she to
perform to play a conscious part in the upper half of the chart? Or must we assume this
has to be considered as an exception? It seems there are lots of exceptions then. If you
accept the idea of Karma, can it only be found in the twelfth house, which is always a
water house, for all and sundry, and so always implies a lesson to be learnt, never
anything personal to accomplish? We talk about one's career and one's future. How about
one's inner ideals, one's mission and spiritual future?
- If you ponder over these few facts, we think
one has adequate reasons to postulate that the radix is but a reflection of the inner
horoscope. We started with a quote, which every astrologer can find back in the dictum As above, so below and we would like to add As outside, so inside. And it is exactly astrology that gives us
the clue to find this inner horoscope. We must go back to the very distant past, to the
Thema Mundi or the Chart of the World. In Matheseos Libri VIII written by
Firmicus Maternus , we can read:
"Those divine men altogether
worthy and admirable, Petosirus and Nechepso, who approached the very secrets of divinity,
also handed down to us the birthchart of the Universe, in order to show us that man is
made in the likeness of the Universe. Petosirus and Nechepso in this doctrine follow
Aesculapius and Hanubius. To them Most Powerful Mercury entrusted the secret. They set up
the birthchart of the Universe as follows:
The Sun in the 15th degree of Leo; the Moon in the 15th degree of Cancer; Saturn in the
15th degree of Capricorn; ... The Ascendant in the 15th degree of Cancer.
One should not think that the wise men made up the birthchart of the Universe without
reason. We shall explain everything in detail so that the secret will be clear to all.
[...] There is no birthchart of the Universe, for it did not have any certain day of
origin. There was no one there at the time when the Universe was created by the plan of
the Divine Mind and the Foreseeing Will. Human reason has not been able to conceive or
explain the origin of the Universe. And so, from events which actually occurred in the
history of mankind, the hypothetical birthchart of the Universe was put together with allegorical meaning. It has been handed down to us as an example to follow in the chart of men. So that we may not seem to have left out
anything we shall explain how it can be proved that man was created in the image of the Universe."
(Jean Rhys
Bram, "Ancient Astrology, Theory and Practice",
Noyes Classical Studies, New Jersey, 1975, p. 71 ff.)
- From these quotes it is clear that the All
is present before Creation, or rather Manifestation. The unconscious is present before the
conscious, energy before matter, Shiva before Shakti. At exactly the moment the 15th
degree of each sign - and they are all together involved at that glorious moment - is
being occupied by its proper planet, the unconscious and the conscious unite and make one
whole, in the image of the All. From this point of view we can state that the outer reflects and complements the
inner in complete harmony. But then, of course, after that glorious moment, for reasons one can't
explain, Sun and Moon and planets are no longer one with the whole, can no longer occupy
the 15th degree of their proper sign at one and the same moment - unless perhaps at the
End of Time. The harmony is broken, we are in duality. This, however, does not mean that
the outer world should no longer reflect nor complement the inner, that the two should no
longer form a unity. They still do. Without energy, there would be no matter. So, it is
all a matter of reflection, as an
example to follow in the chart of men.
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