iVillage

To begin, I would like to share a few experiences and thoughts concerning the structure in space beyond our solar system and how it might be of value astrologically for learning more about who you are and what on earth you might be here for.

I first became interested in deep-space astrology through exploring heliocentric astrology, the astrology of our entire solar system. Early on, I was amazed at difference between my standard geocentric natal chart and some of the other astrological coordinate systems such as the heliocentric and Local Space charts. At that time, my interest in the space beyond our solar system was minimal. I was put off by the billions of stellar objects out there and, on a more basic level, by the ideas of coldness and blackness I had been programmed to associate with outer space. I sure didn’t want to go out there.

Distant space somehow represented the epitome of ‘otherness’ and ‘foreign’ to me. I was embarrassed (in terms of astrological usage) by all of the books I had read on the fixed stars, with the possible exception of L. E. Johndro’s book, ‘The Stars.’ How was I to determine the significance of these billions of stars and use them in my practice, when I had enough difficulty just using the nine planets?

And then the unexpected happened. I had a dream, a very special dream. It was not an ordinary dream, but one of those dreams that are more real than waking consciousness and that take months to understand and absorb. It was placed deep in my consciousness. In fact, it was a kind of vision.

In my dream the astrologer L. E. Johndro appeared to me and his eyes were filled with light. There were rays or stalks of light coming out of his eyes. This strange being said but one word, ‘LOOK!’ and with his arm, he turned and pointed up to the night sky. I looked up and out there.

As I opened my eyes, the sky was filled with brilliant points of light. The stars and all of this starry material were clustered together to form the great glowing arch of the Milky Way or galactic plane. It was wondrous beyond description and in that instant my heart went out from me and filled this bright hall of space. Never again have I had the feeling of being here on earth, warm and trembling before the cold and black of space. I became the space and light and reversed my polarity or changed my attitude. I understood in that instant that I was a living representative of this mother galaxy, its child. I was the being from outer space I had always wondered about. Furthermore, I had always been so!

From that night forward, I began to venture beyond the zodiac in an inquiry as to the nature and structure of this universe. Here, in brief form, is what I found:

Most important is the fact that we are an integral part of the cosmos, not some lonely outpost. In fact, each of us is a node or information aggregate and the universe is in intimate contact with itself only through us—through our eyes. We are part of the cosmic information conduit, the eyes of the universe. The cosmos sees through our eyes, itself.

The manifold nature of distant cosmic events happening out there in space is represented through our very self and lives down here on earth. It lives through us. There is not only a correlation between these seeming remote cosmic events and our person, but an identity as well. Information coming from the galactic center (and elsewhere), carried by electromagnetic and gravitational radiation from every last star and cosmic plane and event, passes through us at all times. We are in some way a node or information complex embedded in the matrix or web of manifestation. We look at ourself!

While all that may sound pretty heady, the overpowering idea that occurred when I made some acquaintance with the universe and its structure is that there is no difference between out there and in here. We are already out there! We ARE in deep space and have been there from eternity until now.

Our world, our self and relationships, are a perfect reflection of what IS and what is happening out there. Not an analogy, but an identity. Black holes, supernovae, quasars and the like are not just remote cosmic events, but this identical story is represented, reflected, lived and acted out each day in our lives, by those of us living here on Earth.

It seems that information circulates through the universe and our Identity or sense of our self is this very process of circulation. What we call ‘identity,’ or knowing ourself, is not only a personal experience, but a relationship—in fact, a circulation—and a process of communion or communication and identification! Not only is there a connection between our life and that of our galaxy and universe, but: WE ARE that connection.

A study of the structure of the universe, at any level (large or small) is a study of our self, and the guidelines of cosmic structure help to illustrate the specific structure of our self. In summary, the idea that I am unfolding here is: astrology is not only a symbolic system of psychological discussion. The symbol is also, in fact, real. If we say it is an analogy, then the analogy is complete down to the limits of any specific example we might chose.

We are all time and space travelers. There are no better words that I know of than these of Emerson:

‘All inquiry into antiquity is the desire to do away with this wild, savage, and preposterous There or Then, and introduce in its place, the Here and the Now. Belzoni (an archeologist) digs and measures in the mummy-pits and pyramids of Thebes until he can see the end of the difference between the monstrous work and himself. When he has satisfied himself, in general and in detail, that it was made by such a person as he, so armed and so motivated, and to ends to which he, himself, should also have worked, the problem is solved; his thought lives along the whole line of temples and sphinxes and catacombs, passes through them all with satisfaction, and they live again to the mind, or are NOW.’ —Emerson, Essay on History.

A process of self-discovery awaits those who would inquire into the nature and structure of this universe. We may read and study the history and record of astrology through all of the books we have. We may return again and again to our favorite passages to make sure of what we have found there. But, sooner or later, each of us must turn away from the book and just LIVE our life. That is why we study astrology in the first place. As my dharma teaching once said to me: ‘Michael, someday you must become the book!’

We each must become the book and only that lives which we have known for ourselves to have life, which we have personally lived. As Shakespeare said in one of his early sonnets: ‘You are no more yourself than you now here live.’ The philosopher Hegel said the same thing in another way: ‘We go behind the curtain of the Self to see what is there, but mainly for there to be something to be seen.’

There is great value in a reading of the ancient wisdom and documents. What the ancients saw or discovered about themselves, that truth, is still true today. All of the laws of the universe still exist to be known today. We are always free to leave off at reading about our life and cast off into an inquiry, our inquiry, and to live that life we read about. We can learn to know or experience what we are talking or reading about. And now let’s get more back to earth.