Occult Cosmology

Astrology I have said that time, space and consciousness all interact to form the Great Illusion. This Illusion has many levels of complexity and can be likened to the image of ‘spheres within spheres’. Consciousness is both limited within the time/space ring-pass-not of a sphere and orientated within that sphere with respect to ‘direction’. Let me try to make this clearer by beginning with some simple definitions of space with which we are all familiar. The zodiac is a delineation of twelve equal signs that make up a circle, that forms the ecliptic of a sphere centred on the Earth.

The zodiac is both an archetypal system of ‘signs’ as well as a sidereal system referring to specific constellations. The signs are archetypal in the sense that they are an out-picturing of consciousness.

Aries is a place of beginnings and Libra a place of balance. Aries is east and Libra is west. Aries is ruled by Mars and Libra by Venus. Aries is where the sun rises and Libra is where it sets. If one was sitting in a cave, Aries would be the direction from which light originated—either a fire in the centre or the mouth of the cave through which daylight entered. A ‘sign’ is an archetype, and that archetype exists wherever there is human consciousness. The constellation is a particular set of stars on the ecliptic with which the Aries archetype is associated. In 11,000 years or so the sun will rise on the spring equinox with the constellation of Libra as a backdrop instead of Aries, and so the sign and the constellation will be ‘opposite’. Sidereal astrology deals with the constellations while tropical astrology deals with the ‘signs’. They are expressions of form and consciousness. A spiritual astrology must synthesise both approaches.

In a similar way we have geocentric astrology which centres itself on the Earth and heliocentric astrology which centres itself on the sun. Thus already we have four different charts for a human being, each indicating or emphasising a different perspective.

Before moving on I will give a couple of indications concerning these different approaches that we can come back to later.

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