Elevator to Heaven

When we encounter ancient texts on astrology – often very confusing and contradictory, which mostly focus on techniques and fundamentals – we are primarily touching upon the fundamental structure consisting of countless building blocks in the form of books and manuscripts that make up this edifice. Over thousands of years, it has taken on its final form, and even now, in some places, it is undergoing reconstruction and some additions. Everything that does not fit into the original architectural plan is discarded as unnecessary into a pile of rubbish lying nearby — the natural environment of astro-psychology and its followers, who, like garbage collectors, try to create something worthwhile from these broken fragments in the form of their corridors of eclipses of the mind and transits in thinking.

Tracking generation after generation, century after century, the construction of this majestic edifice - whose summit is lost in the starry sky - we see how astrology has changed and developed, acquiring more and more complete features that fit into strict rules. However, as soon as we climb to the very top, we are presented with the boundless expanse of stars, where boundaries can only be set by our own eyes, and the rules no longer seem so strict and infallible. The roots of this structure lie in the distant past of the Sumerian civilisation. Its future is revealed and will continue to be revealed with every new moment of our lives, bringing the summit ever closer to the boundless stellar vacuum.

We could walk up the steps of this building, step by step, from floor to floor — from text to text, from civilisation to civilisation, from astrologer to astrologer — examining all the challenges that time and life itself posed to the predictive arts, as well as the solutions that the great astrologers of the past found in the inquiring work of their minds. In the end, we will reach the top – enriched, but tired. But once we are at the top, we will inevitably have to rethink all our previous ideas about astrology. For when the distant horizon below and the endless expanses above open up before our eyes, we are simply forced to look truth in the eye, see our mistakes and rethink our views. And this is a difficult path, usually as long as life itself. Not everyone reaches this summit. Some, like madmen overcome by fear, lock themselves within four walls, afraid to see life beyond the threshold, and remain on one of the floors of this fundamental structure, convincing themselves that they have grasped the ultimate truth.

One writer has aptly noted that postmodernism and contemporary literature, unlike the classics, represented by Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Shakespeare or Balzac, are a kind of ladder that allows one to climb straight to the top of the wall of classical literature. And although this is only partly true, nevertheless, there is a grain of wisdom in this comparison. Astrology also has its own stairway to heaven — more precisely, its own magic elevator, which can lift the astrologer straight to the stars, where he can gaze upon the infinite, limited only by the capabilities of his mind and thinking. This magical elevator of astrology is the very one that Aristotle wrote about and which Thomas Aquinas largely echoed. We are, of course, talking about the essential nature of things, or essence. The soul of astrology.

To some extent, we can compare this structure and its summit to religion. In particular, to Christianity. There is a big difference between the external form of religion, such as Catholicism or Orthodoxy, and the essence of Christian teaching. After all, the whole point of the latter boils down to the simple words of Christ: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And, of course, the remarkable words of the Sermon on the Mount, which express what a person who follows Jesus should be like. There are no rituals, confessions, celebrations, canons, or anything else that literally fills the external forms of religion — only love, or the essence of the teaching. And the same is true of astrology, in an allegorical sense.

Like life itself, astrology had to go through all stages of development, starting with infantile ideas about celestial signs and ending with the complex system of knowledge that it represents today. Every astrologer must go through the same process, living through childhood, youth, maturity and old age — the four ages of our life — in astrological practice. It is impossible to instantly reach the top, just as it is impossible to be born an old man wise with life experience. The essence elevator simply makes this development faster. Thanks to it, we will not have to look back with regret in our old age at the mistakes that could have been avoided if we had entered this elevator at the very beginning. We can come to this understanding earlier and once we reach the top, we can begin to improve our skills more and more, discovering new horizons of knowledge that will inevitably open up before us. Otherwise, we may become adherents of techniques and texts — adherents of the external form of astrology — and we will see the astrological Alpha and Omega not so much in practice and life itself, but in the letters and words of books, locking ourselves on one of the floors of the building. The choice is up to the astrologer. It doesn't matter which floor you are on, you can always call the elevator.

The biggest difference, which is not fully understood by many adherents of independent climbing the stairs and those who have already reached the top, whether by elevator or their own efforts, is the difference in understanding not only astrology itself and its components, but also the world as a whole. After all, the latter cannot be separated from astrology. For adherents of ancient texts, astrology is nothing more than texts, techniques and rules, different opinions and views of the authorities of the past. For them, the world itself is a strict mechanism. New authorities are only those who glorify or translate the past into modern language. For them, astrology ceased to exist and move with the times at the very moment when Francis Bacon was born and the Late Renaissance reached its peak. For Hellenists, astrology ceased to be astrology immediately after the 4th century AD, plunging into astrological pralaya for an unknown number of centuries, if not millennia, to come. At least, this is the case for astrology retrogrades. However, until they advance their understanding of astrology at least a couple of floors above their current position — not to mention reaching the top, which is practically impossible, largely due to the limited structure of their minds and thinking — it is not worth expecting their eyes to be opened to the simple fact that astrology and life always go hand in hand, changing in form but not in essence.

However, it would be a big mistake to think that the building itself and its many floors and libraries should be discarded as unnecessary, because it is thanks to them that we have a summit that is lost in the heavens. Where would the elevator lead us if we did not have this summit? And what would we do without the foundation and the construction itself? Therefore, it is worth saying a few words about the secondary, without which, nevertheless, no astrology can be astrology. We are talking about techniques - the external form of our predictive art.

It is difficult to imagine how a mere essential understanding of the nature of the world and its components, as well as the nature of the planets and signs, could advance an astrologer in the direction of accurate predictions without such a remarkable set of tools from predictive techniques in one branch of astrology or another at his disposal. They reflect movement in time, but not the events themselves, which lie beyond their scope. We can see their amazing diversity, directly related to time — symbolism based on celestial mechanics. The cosmic clock used by modern astrologers to determine certain events, both in the life of a person and in the life of a state.

If we think about what all these techniques are – prenatal eclipses, firdaria, primary and secondary directions, solar and lunar returns, the great conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter, and others – how can they not be a kind of symbol or milestone by which we can determine the future? Without them, astrology is meaningless, just as a soul is meaningless without a body. But it is precisely at this point, where techniques and symbolism, soul and form, context and mechanics converge, that a secret is hidden, one that can only be revealed by an essential understanding of astrology itself.

If we begin to consider astrology as a kind of mechanics, where the same position of the planets will always mean the same consequences, then we are merely opening a window in a great building and throwing ourselves down.

Materialism, or atheism, in astrology is nothing more than symbolic evil, or the absence of good. The absence of knowledge, in other words. After all, the essence of the Cosmos lies not only in the cyclical nature and certain laws that govern the planets and stars, but also in the diversity of its manifestations. This alone should have led astrologers to the conclusion that attempting to unify the laws of celestial mechanics as applied to life events is akin to Hitler's attempt to create a single chosen Aryan race, discarding the rest as unnecessary. The consequences of such attempts are well known. They are doomed because they contradict the laws of nature and life. In other words, the laws of God.

We must always remember that the soul, which stands behind all external manifestations of matter, is the only thing that gives astrology meaning. These are not empty words. How else can we explain providence and destiny, and where they come from? And without them, is astrology possible? Astrology without a soul, or God, is like a machine without an engine and a driver — no matter how much you study its construction, you will not be able to go anywhere. If everything were different, it would be enough for us to simply draw an analogy between the position of the planets in the sky to find a single law for similar manifestations.

We have common principles, but not common consequences. But for some reason, we want to think otherwise. Every time Mercury goes retrograde, doctors start making mistakes, technology breaks down, and traffic jams filled with broken-down cars fill the streets. Several times a year, in all countries and cities of the world? Without interruption and until the patron saint of thieves and deceivers begins to move forward again? It is obvious that whoever came up with this, hovering on the border between madness and fantasy, never tried to leave their own room, visit hospitals and operating rooms, walk the streets and watch the equipment at work when Mercury goes retrograde, otherwise they would have seen their own delusion as clearly as the sun on a cloudless day. But people are so inclined to always look for external causes in the events of their lives that as soon as their keyboard stops working after being spilled, they look meaningfully at the ephemeris and say in a mysterious tone that makes your hair stand on end: "Yes, Mercury is retrograde! No wonder I spilled beer on the keyboard!" Nothing is further from the truth of astrology than the monotonous madness of uniform consequences and human stupidity, which notices the non-obvious in the everyday, and moreover, attaches supreme importance to all this phantasmagoria. Oh, someone broke their leg after tripping over something, and of course it's the planets' fault, not their lack of attention. Someone can't control their emotions and manners — it's the full moon's fault. Someone lost their temper, and it was Mars doing its angry thing. And so on with everything?

All the predictive techniques that astrologers have discovered over the centuries serve as tools for revealing time, nothing more. This is essentially the limit of the application of mechanics — because techniques are nothing more than mechanics — in astrology. Thanks to this cosmic mechanics, we learn about the movement of celestial bodies, nothing more. All these techniques help us determine a particular moment in time for a specific purpose that is the subject of our search. But the event itself that we are searching for can be shown in completely different ways. For example, it is not only Anareta in the natal chart that kills when we begin to consider progressions – any planet can kill, including Hyleg, as well as any planet in the eighth house, its ruler, or a star that reflects the context of death, or one of the Parts of the Soul that shows death in one way or another. There are many possibilities. We can only highlight the general outlines and moments, but we cannot lock them into strict rules with the words: ‘Only Anareta kills!’ Finding the moment of death in each individual case will be as difficult as predicting any other event in life. This requires not a program programmed to search for coincidences, but a fair amount of common sense and thinking, first and foremost. We need to know not only what exactly we should find in the natal chart and its reversal in time, but also how exactly we can do this, having studied a wide variety of predictive techniques, and sometimes even going beyond them. We should not be like Morinus, who, in his limited and rather distorted view of astrology, attached excessive importance to directions alone, ignoring anything else. Otherwise, we will constantly make mistakes. We must master the entire arsenal of techniques, finding confirmation in each of them – similar to the adjustable lenses of an optician, which are used so that the eyes can see an object clearly and without distortion. Behind every event there is always a context that dictates the application of techniques in one way or another. It serves to correctly adjust the astrological lenses so that we can see the exact timing of the event. If we use only one lens, we will most likely see nothing specific except for general, barely noticeable outlines. It is like highlighting only one colour in a mosaic, thinking that we see the whole picture. Therefore, we must use lens after lens — technique after technique — until we can see the object or time frame without distortion.

Top-Down

Over the years, we have come to understand more and more that astrology can be learned not so much from astrological texts as from other works, both philosophical and artistic, which seem to have no direct connection with astrology itself. Dante's 'Divine Comedy' helps us understand more about the structure of the world than any other astrological text. The same can be said about C.S. Lewis's 'The Discarded Image: An Introduction to Medieval and Renaissance Literature'. Cicero, rather than any astrologer of the past, is more likely to tell us the essence of what predictions are. 

Understanding the structure of the world is the foundation of astrology. If we do not understand how the world is structured — what lies at its core, what is its centre and periphery, what are the planets and stars, how should we consider them and how exactly should we perceive them in our thinking — then how can we engage in astrology at all? How can we understand who exactly a person is in this Picture of the World? Where do fate and providence come from? And what is free will? What are its limitations? We cannot think about these concepts while practising traditional astrology in line with the modern worldview, which is entirely scientific, materialistic and superficial. And this is not a reference to the past. It is a reference to the essence. The essential nature of the world.

The medieval philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas, largely following the philosophical views of Aristotle, gives us a remarkable definition of the essence of things — it is what a thing is, in itself. That which makes it exactly what it is and not something else. Human nature is the essence of man. Animal nature is the essence of animals. And divine nature is the essence of God. He relates essence to both substances and accidents, or, in simple terms, to first causes and visible manifestations. Essence remains in its true, noble form only in the former — first causes, or substances. The simplest, most primordial substance is God — the primordial Good. In all external manifestations, or accidents, essence is capable of manifesting itself only partially, in a certain way and in a certain manner. In other words, the external manifestation will differ from the inner truth that a particular thing is endowed with. We see this clearly in astrology, especially in horary astrology, where a particular planet, having a certain essential meaning, can carry a completely different meaning, depending on the context and the houses it rules. From external accidents, in other words. Thus, Venus can equally mean death, a partner, money, work or something else, ruling the corresponding houses in the chart of the question. It can correspond to its benevolent nature, possessing essential dignity, partially or completely, or not correspond to it at all, in the absence of dignity, remaining in detriment or in fall. Moreover, neither the former nor the latter may play any significant role at all, under certain conditions dictated by the question asked. Thus, if the planet of death in the relevant question is Venus in its exaltation, this will not make death resemble beautiful love, nor will it make death itself gentle and pleasant — none of this will play any role at all. Whether death comes in the form of a dark old woman with a scythe or a beautiful naked maiden, it will do its job in any case — it will take a person to the other world. This is the essential understanding. For a better understanding of the above, let us refer to an example from an article on our website – ‘Down the Stairs’:

15.04.2013 22:21 (GMT +3), RIGA, LATVIA

The question was asked about the querent's child, who started drinking alcohol, which led to problems at work. The querent wanted to clarify for herself whether alcohol would become an addiction for her son. We will not go into the details of the judgement, as you can read about it in the article itself, but we will only draw attention to Venus, which rules the 12th house of addictions in the chart. Oh, this beautiful Venus... Moreover, it is in its place of great dignity in Taurus – its own sign. This must be a beautiful, simply enchanting Venus, for her dignity must correspond to her good nature — she must carry love and tenderness. But we have context. And what is more important is not that Venus has dignity, but that it has a negative reception to the querent's son's planet — Mars. Venus harms Mars by staying in the place of his detriment. Literally, alcohol harms the son. Here, it is precisely the external, or accidental, ruler of Venus over the 12th house of addictions, along with the reception, that is the key to the answer and judgement. Not a dignity. But if we followed the ancient texts literally, forgetting common sense and an essential understanding of the question itself and its consideration, we would come to the conclusion that we are dealing with the Lesser Benefic, in its great dignity, and this alone guarantees a favourable resolution of the question. And we would be mistaken. Read about the outcome of this situation on the website, as well as the subsequent questions from the querent about her son over the next ten years, and you will understand why an essential understanding of astrology is more important than literal adherence to astrological texts. But let's return to the topic at hand.

When Thomas Aquinas talks about substances, or first causes, he divides them into simple and composite. The former are the causes of the latter. The very first, simplest substance is God. Simple in the sense that it potentially contains anything else, without being limited by any particular characteristics or qualities, but as if remaining outside of them, while remaining their source and provider. This is the most noble substance, or the original Good. And this is what is hidden from our senses. We are dealing only with composite substances — the visible manifestation of things that are themselves more a distortion of their original essence, than its manifestation. More precisely, a combination of matter and form, not essence itself. The more composite a substance is, the more distorted its original good nature is.

When we talk about the essence of the planets, this is what we mean. We are talking about the accidental and composite, not the essence itself. We simply cannot perceive this with our senses, but we can perceive it with our minds by observing symbolic changes in the dignities of the planets as they move through the signs of the Zodiac. Their essence does not change whether they gain or lose dignity. Venus always remains Venus and Mars remains Mars. Essential dignity makes it possible to manifest the original good nature of the planet, to one degree or another, because good is the original essence of any thing in the world before it manifests itself and comes into being, mixing, darkening and distorting. However, as shown above, dignity may not play any role at all. But in some matters, it can be a key factor to consider. So, if we want to know whether there will be a large salary, profit from investments or sales, then essential dignity, in this case, will play a key role. And it does not matter at all whether it is Mars in its own sign or Saturn in its exaltation — all these dignities indicate profit, and it does not matter that it is Saturn or Mars, the Greater and Lesser Malefics, which, according to ancient texts, do not bring anything good to the querent in the given question. This is the essence, or nature, of the planet in relation to its accidental nature — the ruler of a particular house in a given question. In this case, the house of profit or salary. We do not take the natural meaning of Saturn as the planet of limitations and death, or Mars as the planet of strife and war. In the question of income, this plays no role. But it could be important in the querent's question about whether someone should become a soldier — if he were represented by Mars in Aries, in its own sign, then this would be a natural reflection of a warrior, not so much because of the sign, but because of the dignity of Mars, which in this case would best reflect its essential meanings, or benevolent nature. After all, in war, it is better to be Mars in its own sign than Venus in exaltation. And only for the reason that it would correspond to the context.

In all of the above examples, with Venus or Mars, as with any other planet, nothing happens in terms of changes to their essential nature. They remain themselves, regardless of whether their essential meaning is important in a particular matter or not. Mars in its own sign, like Mars in detriment, always remains the same Mars, in its essence. But in one case, detriment will be important because it will show us a ruthless scoundrel, if dignity is important to us when evaluating a person; in another case, it will reflect a lack of profit or losses, if accidental house ruler is more important to us; and in the third case, it can be ignored altogether if reception is more important to us, for example. And this understanding comes not so much from memorising all kinds of astrological texts as from common sense and an understanding of the essential nature of the world and astrology.

Nothing in this world is the manifestation of the original Good that gave rise to it. We are all, in a sense, a mixture of different ingredients. A mixture of matter and form. Constituent parts, not original Simplicity. An accidental manifestation, not the essence per se. Simply because we have a body. We can only come into contact with this Good through something similar — the soul, which is the first to emanate from it and which is its immediate part, like a ray from the sun. But, as mentioned above, possessing this knowledge does not bring us closer to determining specific dates with the help of astrology. It helps us to comprehend what lies behind the external manifestations of planets, stars, houses and signs. It helps us to come into contact with the essential nature of the world.

When we touch upon the timing of certain events, we touch upon the accidental manifestations of our inner nature — the essence of a person. A specific person whose fate we are considering. We observe not so much changes in the essential nature of the person, looking at progressions, returns, firdaria or something else, as external manifestations. But they are dictated precisely by what lies behind them. Each time individually. Because we are not dealing with an abstract essence called a person, but with a specific person endowed with their own unique destiny. That is why talk of unifying the meaning of predictive techniques into precise, uniform consequences is nothing more than a distortion of knowledge.

Only by understanding the essence of both man and the world, as well as astrology and its components, will we be able to come to the correct conclusion about astrology itself and its purpose, as well as about the application of its various predictive techniques, which are its external, or incidental, manifestation in relation to its essence. There is no other way. This is not mathematical calculation in the superficial sense.

Thanks to the fact that everything in this world has its own essential nature, this world can be known. We can see the dual manifestation of this essential nature — what it is in itself and what it is in its visible manifestation. The first is essential in nature; the second is incidental in relation to the first. The first has no matter or form; the second is endowed with them. The first is primordial; the second is secondary. That is why we say that Venus will always remain Venus, and Mars will always remain Mars, given their external movement along the signs of the Zodiac in relation to their unchanging essential nature. We see only external changes in the qualities of the planets as they apply to the manifested world, not to their unchanging essence. Thus, a person always remains a person in essence, no matter what role they play in the world, what profession they have, or what they do for a living. The latter is only an external manifestation.

When we talk about the essence of astrology, beyond its predictive techniques, components and foundations, we are talking about its soul. Because, although astrology, like everything else in this world, has its own original essential nature, nevertheless, in relation to the original Simplicity, or God, it is nothing more than an external manifestation. However, this is true of everything in this world.

Thus, to conclude our thought, we can say that the higher we climb to the top of our structure, the closer we come into contact with the essential nature of both the world and astrology. And this changes our view of both the very purpose of astrology, which ceases to be merely a tool for prediction, as some of our colleagues like to say, and its constituent parts, including the meaning of planets, stars, houses, signs and so on. We become able to look at things not so much from the bottom up, as when we literally follow ancient texts, but from the top down, observing all these unique manifestations of the original Simplicity, which we, for lack of a more familiar name, call Good, or God.

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