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Practical Astrology for Witches and Pagans
Using the Planets and the Stars for Effective Spellwork, Rituals, and Magickal Work
By Ivo Dominguez Jr. Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
Copyright © 2016 Ivo Dominguez, Jr.
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-57863-575-7
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
It has often been said that the West lacks a sacred language with the subtle and specific spiritual vocabulary of a language such as Sanskrit. We actually do have such a language, a rich symbolic language, and it is Astrology. More often than not, people think of Astrology as a tool for divination or the exploration of one's personality. Astrology is considerably more than that. It is a sacred science, a highly descriptive symbolic language, a technology that can be applied to all aspects of Magick, and much more. Unfortunately, most books on Astrology are written either for the specific needs of astrologers or as entertainment for the masses. Moreover, the vast majority of astrologers are not involved in Magick or Witchcraft and as such have little awareness of our uses for Astrology. I had the good fortune of taking an interest in Astrology in the early 1980s, not long after I had put my feet on the path to become a witch. I am thankful that I had access to teachers of both Astrology and Witchcraft so that my evolution as a practitioner included an organic synthesis of these disciplines. Over the years, I have had many friends and students ask me to write a book about Astrology for magickal practitioners. This book is my response to their request, and an effort to share the gift that I was given so many years ago by my teachers.
People are often daunted at the prospect of learning enough Astrology for it to actually be useful in their magickal practices. It is true that Astrology is a huge field of study and it could take several lifetimes to achieve mastery. The same can be said of Mathematics, but many people are able to learn enough math so they can function in their day-to-day life and manage their finances. My intention with this book is to teach the core concepts of Astrology so that Witches and Pagans would then be able to truly apply Astrology to their practices. The use of jargon cannot be avoided in any technical field, but I have kept the use of jargon to a minimum and have defined the terms that I've used in this book. When I learned Astrology, I was required to learn how to do the calculations to cast a chart by hand, and then take the numbers and transcribe them onto the chart. Because most of the people reading this book want to be able to use Astrology for spiritual purposes, not necessarily become astrologers, there will be very little math in this book.
I remember when I was in high school, there was a three-ring-bound manual on human anatomy that contained within it a section made of clear acetate sheets printed with the different systems in the body. By flipping the sheets, you could remove one layer at a time, starting with the skin and ending with an opaque sheet that had the bones printed upon it. Looking at all of it at once was quite a visual jumble, but looking at one sheet at a time or a handful of sheets at a time made it easy to learn anatomy. The same principle applies to learning Astrology, except there are more sheets than there were in my human anatomy manual. Each chapter builds upon the next and provides a systematic introduction to the basic building blocks of Astrology. Material in each of the chapters references other chapters in the book as a way of encouraging you to see the connections between all the pieces. Some of the information is repeated more than once, and this is intentional as repetition is an important part of learning. Moreover, this is a book you will want to read several times in order to fully absorb the ideas and the techniques. Writing a book like this one is much like taking a beloved but lengthy novel and turning it into a movie. Much must end up on the cutting room floor if it is to remain a manageable length. For those of you who have studied Astrology, you may find that some concepts and techniques that you hold especially dear have been omitted. At the end of the book, there are suggestions on what areas of study should be pursued next.
I strongly encourage you to keep a journal as you read and make notes of any questions that occur to you; most of them will be answered as you continue reading. If you have books on herbs, crystals, spell work, and so on that make references to astrological correspondences and correlations, you may wish to have these next you as you read. This way, as astrological concepts are covered in the book, you may look at materials you have already read with new insights and understanding. Too often, references to astrological concepts in tables of correlations and correspondences, the choice of symbols or colors for an altar, the recipes for incense, and the rest are nothing more than rote transmissions without any understanding of the underlying principles. It is my hope that after reading this book you will be able to look at your reference books that provide correspondences for herbs, oils, crystals, and so on and understand how and why there is a Planet or a Sign associated with them. Additionally, you should be able to look at recipes or magickal formulae and begin to understand them as a combination of energetic ingredients as described by their Planets. Using Astrology as a tool you will be able to create new recipes, rituals, and spells based on the knowledge that the physical ingredients are representations and anchors for particular types of energy.
If you don't already have an astrological calendar or datebook, plan on getting one because many of the techniques presented will only be useful if you can look up the current astrological conditions. You may also wish to search online, find a few websites that provide free astrological charts, and bookmark them. If you have a smart phone, a variety of apps are available that may be helpful as well. It will also be useful to have a copy of your birth chart. If you do not already have one, you will need your date of birth, time of birth, and location of birth to have a chart cast. I also suggest having an assortment of colored pencils, markers, and paper as there is no better way to learn how to write the glyphs, the symbols of Astrology, than by doodling them again and again and again. It is not that much different than a child learning to write.
CHAPTER 2
The Worldview of Astrology
A Brief History
There are several ancient and well-developed systems of Astrology; however, it is Western Tropical Astrology that is the most fully integrated into the magickal systems that Witches and Pagans work with, so we will be focusing on it in this book. Western Astrology has roots as deep as those of any other system in use today. Sometime around 500 BCE we saw the development of the twelvefold zodiac with 30° Signs among the Chaldeans. The Four Elements system that is so broadly used in both Magick and Astrology was categorized and refined by Empedocles sometime around 450 BCE. The great foundational blocks for what we call Western Astrology were actually set in the Hellenistic period in Greece. I will point out that though the writings are in Greek, many of the astrologers were Egyptians, Babylonians, and Semites. It is interesting to note that around 200 BCE there was an explosion of creativity in important esoteric disciplines. The invention of what we call Astrology occurred at roughly the same time as the core of Hermetic ideas were being written down, and shortly thereafter Astrology was transmitted to India via the Middle East. In India, Astrology evolved in a different direction, but its origin is still clear. Depending upon which scholars you trust, this is also the same time period that gave birth to the earliest forms of what we would recognize as the Qabala. You may ask yourself why is this history lesson important? I am including it because history shows us how deeply intertwined Astrology is with the systems of thought and theory that undergird almost all magickal practices in the West. Moreover, Astrology is one of the few sacred sciences that has been in continuous and unbroken development since ancient times.
Astrology and Astronomy share similar terms and language, which can lead to some confusion. The same can be said for Alchemy and Chemistry. The modern mundane sciences arose from the older sacred sciences, but the differences between them are caused by more than centuries of development in different directions. Although both sorts of science study the natural world, the sacred sciences focus upon the subtle and the unseen whereas the mundane sciences focus upon the dense and the tangible. The rift between the two has been growing for centuries, but perhaps some of the mundane sciences will grow closer to the sacred sciences as they approach deeper mysteries.
How Astrology Is a Sacred Science
Scientific method can be thought of as the set of techniques for the investigation of phenomena, the acquisition of knowledge, the creation and testing of theories, the sharing of those results, and ongoing reexamination of all of these things using a rigorous protocol. Science is based on empirical and measurable evidence (as defined by the capabilities of its time period) and has at its core the tenet that the universe will reveal itself through reasoning and observation. Indeed, science and sacred science were one and the same but over time they began to drift apart, with the so-called Age of Enlightenment in Europe being the great schism between the two. The single biggest difference between the mundane sciences and the sacred sciences is that in the sacred sciences the basis for evidence and observation is different. Intuition and inner experiences are considered as observations and sources of data within the sacred sciences. One of the things that remains similar is that there is still a process of investigation and of testing for these less tangible observations. In Astrology, additions to what is considered to be accepted knowledge is not instantaneous nor simply taken as a given because a noted astrologer had an epiphany. It is a sacred science because it takes many observations that are then tested, and then found to be consistent with repetition by multiple practitioners. Also, anything that is new that is coming into Astrology must not disrupt the existing accepted practices and theories unless they provide a more comprehensive perspective that proves its worth.
A good example from the mundane sciences is the shift in understanding from Newtonian physics to Einstein's physics to Quantum physics. The addition of the new theories and additional accepted facts do not do damage to the system as a whole because each of these things applies to specific frameworks. The mundane sciences are constantly, though slowly, changing the boundaries of what is considered to be known. Although we will primarily work magic using these Seven Elder Planets, let me use Uranus, one of the Outer Planets discovered after the advent of telescopes, as an example of how sacred science deals with new observations. Uranus was discovered in 1781 by Frederick William Herschel and was a shock to the scientific community as it was the first Planet discovered that could not be seen with the naked eye and more than doubled the size of the Solar System due to its distance from the Sun. The name for the Planet was changed twice before finally it became set as Uranus.
Astrologers did not pull out their crystal balls nor consult an oracle to determine what Uranus meant in their charts. Instead, over the course of years and decades Uranus was added to charts, both current and historical, to observe what had occurred when it was in particular positions. Over the course of many debates, with many published articles and books, a consensus was reached on what impact Uranus had in the chart. It is this process of investigation that makes Astrology a sacred science. Even a century after its discovery, astrologers were still debating the finer points, such as which Sign was ruled, if any, by Uranus. In Zadkiel's Text Book of Astrology(1879), he states:
Some modern authors have assigned Aquarius to Uranus, thus either robbing Saturn of his "day house" or forcing upon him a partner. However until experience teaches us in what signs Uranus and Neptune are most powerful, I must decline to endorse so hasty an attempt to provide for one of the "houseless wanderers."
About 20 years after Zadkiel's book, the tide had turned and Aquarius was accepted by most astrologers as the Sign ruled by Uranus.
The process used in Astrology to expand the base of accepted knowledge also includes tools that lie outside the toolbox of the scientific method. Today we identify Uranus with reform, revolution, abrupt change, idealism, electricity, higher mind, and more. In herbalism and natural philosophy, and also in Astrology, there is a proposition called the doctrine of signatures that dates at least as far back as Dioscorides, was championed by Paracelsus, and further developed by Jakob Böhme. The gist of the doctrine is that the outward attributes of a mineral, plant, or animal when viewed by a trained and sensitive observer reveals its inward attributes and its connection and place in the web of universal powers. For example, Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) is a plant whose stems seem to perforate or go through its leaves. Because the plant appears to be self-splinting, it is used in the healing of broken bones, fevers that cause bone and body aches, and as a tonic in recovery from lengthy illnesses. When we look at the astrological signature of the discovery of Uranus from our vantage point in history, there was much going on in the world that showed its attributes. In the years surrounding the discovery of Uranus, we see the French Revolution, the Constitutional Convention in the United States, the invention of electric battery, the eruption of several volcanoes, the rush of innovation in the exploration of the skies that was lighter than air balloons, the birth of poet Lord Byron, the creation of an early version of the periodic table of elements, and many more things occurred today we would clearly say have the signature of Uranus.
This astrological version of the doctrine of signatures also applies when we look at Neptune and Pluto. The existence of Neptune was first predicted through mathematical calculations, then observed and officially discovered in 1846. Neptune is the Planet whose power is associated with psychism, visions, spiritual pursuits, and oneness with the universe. There really is poetic beauty in that it was seen through calculations before it was seen with eyes. In the years surrounding its discovery we see the rise of Spiritualism and the founding of groups such as the Theosophical Society and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Pluto is the Planet whose power is associated with Pluto was discovered in 1930 at the Lowell Observatory. In the years surrounding Pluto's discovery the first cyclotron particle accelerator is created, the theory that Earth's magnetic field is generated deep in its molten core is proposed, Fermi achieves the world's first nuclear fission, and the seeds of World War II are planted and grow. If you find this sort of research interesting, you'll be even more enthralled when later in your studies you explore how as the Planets move through the Signs, especially the outer ones, they herald the temperament and behavior of generations.
As Above, So Below
Heaven above, heaven below; stars above, stars below; All that is above, thus also below; understand this and be blessed
— Prodromus Coptus Sive Aegyptiacus by Athanasius Kircher (1636)
One of the best known sacramental phrases of Hermeticism, "As above, so below" is also very much of the core of the worldview of Astrology. This in turn is associated with the principle that everything that exists in the universe is interconnected and makes up one great whole. Even though it is a standard practice to speak of astrological events as having an impact upon our lives and our world, this isn't the most accurate way to describe what is actually occurring. The relationship between the macrocosm and the microcosm is reciprocal. It is not so much that the heavens affect us as it is that they are large enough so that we can read what is written there, rather than what is written in a script too small upon the fine fabric of the reality. One of the benefits of making Astrology a part of your practice if you are a witch or a magician is that helps to train our subtle senses to also read those microcosmic patterns.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Practical Astrology for Witches and Pagans by Ivo Dominguez Jr.. Copyright © 2016 Ivo Dominguez, Jr.. Excerpted by permission of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC.
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