Astronomy documentary on PBS

It is not often that you find something astrological on PBS, but as part of their "Summer of Space" promotion this season I came across this gem which is available still for streaming. While it doesn't handle the subject of astrology in depth, it doesn't shy away from showing how our modern view of the cosmos is based on much older perceptions and understandings, and how that has changed over time. Produced in the UK, stylistically it does feel a bit like those "Ancient Aliens" shows you see on the History Channel, with a combination of stock footage, interviews with scholars, historians and scientists and generous illustrated sections rendering concepts and ideas in digital 3D animations. Someone had fun generating those sequences even though every time they appear, they contrast distinctly as being overly dramatic with the other footage.

PBS Ancient Skies streaming page 

Catching up with astrology

Article - The New Age of Astrology - The Atlantic, magazine

Last year I meant to post about the above article link; but as my blogging habit has been less than consistent lately, it has sat in my drafts without any action. It is a thoughtful article, the sort of reporting The Atlantic does well. Unfortunately, it doesn't really say anything that moves me to comment. And BTW, the voice reading they offer on the page makes the whole article sound a little snarky when the article itself is somewhat neutral, so I don't recommend listening to it unless you want to encounter the general snark, which might be due to the editors.

What I can report is that my exploration into astrology continues. I've been encountering the Hellenistic Tradition more and while it is criticized as curiously fatalistic and for the most part lacking a definite argument in favor of "free will", it remains compelling to me because in fact, neither of those things are true when you delve deeper into it.

So much has changed in all this time since I began this blog and while I thought initially I would be contributing to it regularly, my inability to make friends and find mentors to interact with about astrology has dampened my enthusiasm. I primarily listen to podcasts these days, track my own transits and worry I've let down the few friends who did offer support to me on the outset of my education.

This worry is because I've moved away from Natal delineation in my study as my confidence for doing such work is shaken by learning this power I wield. There is responsibility in giving advice and the consequences for doing so, lightly, are profound; but we are all free agents. Since beginning my education nearly twenty years ago with promises to friends who shared their birth data with me, I've sorely produced little more than charts (which is easy in this digital world) and no real delineation, a lot of verbal words with little substance.

Some of that is due to attempting to figure out what I believe is most effective with astrology. There are so many different approaches that picking one is perhaps the most difficult aspect. In laying out my education, I realize I have a real connection to Jungian psychology, but not finding psychology compelling enough to satisfy my thirst for knowledge.  Events too have shown me how pathetically shallow is my understanding of the symbology of the planets.

I could mention the passage of Pluto through my personal houses, but then you'd have to be talking to me very intimately to really understand or be a practitioner of the art as well. Strangely, even that and Saturn's passage through the same houses haven't always been vile or brought doom usually reserved for traditional malefics. I've since purchased a home and married my life partner in that time, which could be observed as symbolic of these planets, Pluto representing authority and Saturn representing structure.

These two events both came at a time in my life when benefic planets were also prominent in my personal chart. Still, because Pluto and Saturn are slower moving "outer" planets, I think most people would agree with me the past two decades have been more challenging and difficult than the previous ones. And in turn, I've primarily found myself taking my own counsel and not always being very free and easy with my outlook, which is a change from how I operated in my twenties and thirties. The few times I have not taken this self-counsel, have more often than not ended with misunderstanding, confusion, and procrastination: things for which I am not proud, but sometimes cannot be avoided.

Perhaps another mistake is limiting access to this blog. I have on occasion had strangers and acquaintances comment on previous posts. Usually, the ones that have easy to grasp concepts and one or two essays that have approached a particular chord found their way in the collective consciousness. These have not satisfied my eleventh house Scorpio Moon which wants close friends, but mostly to share secrets with, thus my finding it challenging to make friends of strangers and casual acquaintances. (Having now adopted whole sign houses, I will have to revisit this. NK 02/2021)

I've even mellowed my attitude about prediction although my opinion still remains that it is a tool best left to people versed in such things, which again is not to say that I have given up my ambitions to learn astrology to the point where I can help others. In fact, one technique which has captured my imagination over recent years is "Zodiacal Releasing". Chris Brennen has been promoting this technique as he understands it through his book, "Hellenistic Astrology: The Study of Fate and Fortune", published in 2017 and an article published in "The Mountain Astrologer" magazine.

Astro.com has been reprinting articles from "The Mountain Astrologer" on their website because it has been some time since the articles were first published and the information, while quite ancient is still quite applicable today. Additionally, the website has begun to incorporate Hellenistic techniques into their reports, so you can easily access your own data and extrapolate the technique without much trouble. It has opened a whole new branch to my study and while the amount of information is daunting and a bit overwhelming, I hope it can bring me back to my initial promise to my friends.

Please forgive the confessional tone. I remain excited about interest with astrology increasing in society and those few people I've interacted with successfully have given me hope that I could find my place within this discipline. "ZR" suggests my peak career time is still ahead of me, and my life up to this point is just preparation for that moment.

In the meantime, I go back to my notes and re-attempt to formulate personal delineation. What can I say that is helpful and not harmful? Am I doing this to help as I believe or is this just a projection of my egoic mind? Perhaps my perspective is permanently warped and I will always be limited by my fundamental lack of understanding.

Then again, I am only human and perception of my own flaws will always be with me, while friends see me with their own unique viewpoints. I can only hold faith that they will only seek the best of me and forgive me for my flaws. Astrology reminds me of what those are, so in most cases, I could get out of my own way, if I only apply my mind and ethics to the issues at hand.

Drawing two sides together: apophenia and "Masquerade"

The following link leads to an essay on apophenia or the power of the mind to find meaning in randomness. It may seem to be off the subject of astrology, but I believe the author was saying something much more profound. See if you agree with me.

‘This Goes All the Way to the Queen’: The Puzzle Book that Drove England to Madness

Yes, dear Virginia, even "the Enlightenment" will be disproved.

The following link connects to more of an editorial than a news article, but as I've noticed similar behaviors and attitudes before on the Internets this is a salient read and worthy of noting. What scientists, who defend their closed-mindedness against the symbolism and the recognized action-at-a-distance force that Astrology attempts to describe, do not realize is they are a vanguard against physical reality, which eventually sweeps their attitudes away in time. Already, even people who have supported Bok and others, have changed their minds and recanted.

astrologynewsservice.com: Astrology's critics a dedicated bunch

Does astrology work in the southern hemisphere? - Astrological Musings

Lynn Hayes offers an article answering a question I've been posed before, so I'm not surprised by her answer. Her blog is always worth reading.

Does astrology work in the southern hemisphere? - Astrological Musings

“Peace comes from within. Do not seek it without.” -Buddha

I think the "western mind" bears issue with the pure simplicity of the Buddha's statement (which is a paraphrase, since there is no written record of his specific words).  We reject it because our world is filled with distractions and we are rarely taught as children or as adults to consider what is going on in our own minds. But when someone understands the nature of reality in the way the Buddha understood, the seeming dominance of the outer experience becomes moot because, like any duality there is a primary interaction between our outer environment and our inner selves.

While it seems that we can only modify our outward environment, the impetus and direction for change really begins and proceeds from our inner state. Think about these solutions to a mind in turmoil: meditation, simplicity, silence and encountering nature are seemingly cosmetic solutions; but they work because they require our attention to our environment. Within that attention is the desire for implementation of our wisdom and subsequently a desire for peace and balance, which is not caused by outer influences but by our own personal suffering.

The Buddha was very careful not to demonize desire, although you will find many stories where he wrestled with temptation before achieving enlightenment. Instead he recognized a recursive truth, that within desire was an equal reality of suffering. Understanding that within your own mind is the solution, allows you to recognize the remedy to suffering as being quite simple in itself: bring your attention to your inner state, breath, simplify, relax and enjoy the beauty of the world around you... and do that every day.

Hesse on Humor

I was struck a while ago when on The Daily Show, John Stewart spontaneously began quoting a pivotal discourse from Herman Hesse's "Steppenwolf". Naturally it focused on the power of humor and was a brilliant bit of theatrical intellectualism. John Stewart clearly knows his audience. But I was so moved by what he quoted that I realized it was time for me to investigate Hesse's writings further.

Years ago I'd read "Siddhartha" because it was a retelling of the life of the Buddha and because at the time it was the only piece of literature I could get my hands on without going to the library. I was impressed that the story was worth reading and compelling enough to keep my attention throughout. It also became a sinker in my mind for all the trivial bits and disconnected impressions I had of Buddhism: the figurines my father had collected and displayed at home through my youth, the knowledge that a great uncle had been a devotee, the tidbits of zen I learned from my mother that she'd picked up while my family was living in Japan and learning about that culture, four years before I was born.

Hesse seems a controversial figure for some people. Laurie Anderson tells a story about visiting his grave and being put off by his wife's gravestone which was outside the family plot and carried her maiden name, Auslander. There are those who praise his writing and many who cannot be bothered. So I was quite surprised to find on reading "Steppenwolf" for myself that he placed within its pages many notions and ideas I could personally relate to. I have yet to finish the book as I am a slow reader and often need to contemplate what I've read before I can focus again on the title, but it seems to me that Hesse was inspired by the modern Germanic philosophers, going back to Goethe.

Anyway, as promised here is the quote:

"Humor alone, that magnificent discovery of those who are cut short in their calling to highest endeavor, those who falling short of tragedy are yet as rich in gifts as in affliction, humor alone (perhaps the most inborn and brilliant achievement of the spirit) attains to the impossible and brings every aspect of human existence within the rays of its prism. To live in the world as though it were not the world, to respect the law and yet stand above it, to have possessions as though "one possessed nothing," to renounce as though it were no renunciation, all these favorite and often formulated propositions of an exalted worldly wisdom, it is in the power of humor alone to make efficacious."

--Herman Hesse, "Steppenwolf"