TAKING AN ASTROLOGICAL PATH THROUGH LIFE
A Zoom talk for the Devon, Somerset, Tamar,
Thames Valley and Trencrom dowsing groups
by Jane Struthers
Astrology, even amongst the dowsing community, can seem like Marmite: people either welcome it as the deepest of insight or dismiss it out of hand. However, being a true Libran, I have tended to keep a foot in both camps, diplomatically (in the main) seeking balance, harmony and clarity in the common ground.
Somerset-based astrologer and writer, Jane Struthers, opened her talk with two quotes, which succinctly sum up the essence of the craft.
Firstly, Carl Jung, doyen of the philosophically-minded modern dowser, famously said: ‘Whatever is born or done this moment has the qualities of this moment of time.’
While the Greek philosopher Paracelsus noted: ‘What happens in the heavens is reflected by what happens on the earth. The planets don’t make things happen to us, but there is a correlation between the action of a planet on our birth chart and an event that fits the energy of that action.’
These three sentences succinctly embody the basis and source of astrology. Correlations of actions taken at similar points in time carry intertwined information. ‘As above, so below’ - both physically and spiritually. And it’s not the physical action of material planets that causes change on earth, but character traits set in place around the time of a being’s birth that carry the energetic footprint of the relationships between the celestial bodies and ourselves at that time.
For those of us who appreciate the presence and nature of the information field, these three concepts can be seen in even sharper focus.
The astrologer’s core material is the building blocks of the solar system - the 10 ‘planets’ (well, 7 planets and Pluto - see later - plus the Sun and the Moon), the 12 star constellations of the celestial ecliptic (as seen from planet earth) and ‘houses, elements, modes, angles and aspects’.
The value of astrology arises from using this fixed assemblage of interconnecting data sources to examine the past, understand the present and predict - or at least to get some sort of advance warning of - a more probable future.
Unfortunately, the front window of astrology has always been its Achilles’ heel - the newspaper, or online, horoscope. Here, centuries of detailed analysis are usually dumbed-down into a jaunty paragraph of vague misinformation or improbably accurate disinformation. The core of the astrologer’s study, and its real worth, is actually in the interpretation - taking into account both the relevant and pertinent elements of the solar system at a given point and applying them to the situation of the specific individual, culture or place.
Jane gave us a run through of the key characteristics of the 10 celestial bodies and the 12 astrological signs of the western world (specialists in the Chinese and Indian traditions have a similar approach but use different core material). While this information can be found in numerous, easily accessible places, hearing it described by an experienced practitioner, such as Jane, brings it to life and renders it so much more meaningful.
Interestingly, one of the touchstones of the whole talk was the tangential issue of the ‘downgrading’ of Pluto from planet to dwarf planet. Given that it appears to be a fairly inert and frozen body, only discovered by humans in 1930 and rebranded as something less than a full-blown planetary object in 2006, how could its redefinition have any impact on the grand and eternal astrological scenario?
This, of course, gets to the nub of the issue. People had been looking for ‘pluto’ for a long time before its discovery. Astronomers knew it ought to exist by its impact on other known planets, and presumably psychics and sensitives were aware of its existence by extra-astronomical means. Add to that what we really mean by ‘pluto’. The planet/dwarf planet we know today is just one of a large number of icy bodies that lie in the distant ring of similar objects known as the Kuiper Belt. The fact that we may have singled one out and given it a name should be irrelevant to the action and interaction of the whole conglomeration.
Perhaps the most important issue (think as above, so below) is the impact of the need or desire of those seeking or causing the downgrading of Pluto on their own lives, or life tendencies. At this point, it all gets very complicated - and certainly not an issue for the weekend newspaper columnist!
Another issue that Jane helpfully highlighted was that periodically each of the planets returns to a similar position in the sky relative to the earth. A reading of astrology indicates that these points in time are periods of great, or potentially great, change - portals of opportunity or instability: thresholds between this epoch and the next.
In terms of hard evidence, these are some of the more repeatedly demonstrable aspects of astrology. While mainstream science would point to developmental, hormonal or environmental triggers for such changes, the comparison of cyclical change between multitudes of individuals and across diverse cultural boundaries is hard to dismiss with any enthusiasm.
While emphasising that this was only a brief introduction to the subject, Jane did show one classic example of how astrology can sit comfortably alongside both astronomy and history. The birth chart for Neil Armstrong, the first human to set foot on the moon, shows his likelihood to undertake long distance travel, to be a pioneer of our species - and even shows the lunar feature strongly highlighted in his output data at the appropriate time.
As the dowser and archaeologist, Robin Heath, constantly bemoans to his mainstream colleagues ‘how many co-incidences does it take to make a fact?’
It is only a small step for mankind to acknowledge the view that astrology has the ability to tell us something useful and profound, even if we can’t quite grasp its objective mechanism - a bit like dowsing, really.
I left this presentation still holding the ring between the present and the potential, but that, too, seems to be written into my birth chart.
Many thanks to Jane Struthers for a fascinating resumé of the vast universe of astrology. It has inspired me to get back to writing that missing chapter of my last book, which concerns information structures in the ether, of which the cosmic background described by the astrologer is one important pillar.
Nigel Twinn, Tamar Dowsers, September 2021
The work of Jane Struthers can be viewed on her website:
www.janestruthers.com