The essays in this book provide many such challenges and opportunities, taking the reader on a journey of intuitive discovery which weaves together old and new in a rich tapestry of images and anecdotes, based on a mosaic foundation of little-known facts: historical and astronomical. The extraordinary leaps of technological progress during the past few decades have made possible a re-visioning of the Universe which parallels in the importance the discoveries of Galileo around the turn of the 17th century. It is important for us as Astrologers to keep abreast of this new information, to incorporate it creatively into our internal vision of, and connection with the cosmos we inhabit, for the verity of our interpretations rests partly on this. In order to honour the resonance of 'as above, so below', we have to allow new information to create adjustments in our understanding of the external world of Creation, so that our inner relationship to it can be deepened through the imagination. As Nick himself says "for me, astronomy and astrology are two sides of the same coin, the abyss between them a mere deficiency of perception." We are gradually growing beyond the divided world-view that has dominated our thinking over the past few centuries, but it has had unfortunate results in both astronomy and astrology. The astronomer may find himself dealing with a plethora of new information, without any permission to engage his imagination in order to see the meaning of it, in personal or transpersonal terms. On the other hand, I'm sure that many astrologers are, like myself, drawn to the art because of their natural intuition and capacity to respond to symbols. In astrology we hope for a solid interpretive framework within which this can flower. However, also like myself, many astrology students virtually ignore astronomy, only learning the rudiments, and often not understanding them very well. I had already been working professionally for several years before the importance and, indeed, pleasures of studying astronomy were awakened in me. Culturally, there has been a kind of philosophical stand-off, and it is up to us, as astrologers, to put our own house in order, and correct our own 'deficiency of perception', To indulge in feelings of superiority or inferiority vis a vis the scientific mode means we risk throwing out the baby with the bathwater of scientific materialism. The true imagination of astrology helps us discriminate between our own fantasies and projections, and another order of truth which may be seeking to present itself. This true imagination is greatly assisted by familiarity with the larger vision of the cosmos, as inscribed contemporaneously. And for us, now, that means incorporating the scientific. For while each of us is based at one level in our personal reality, and strongly influenced by the inner world of our own past which we carry around with us, we also participate in larger realities which cannot be grasped entirely with the logical mind, but require another gear of apperception to be engaged with the process of understanding. This is the doorway to making real one of the central metaphors within astrology--that the known universe, within which our little Solar System functions as an island of relative order, is surrounded always by the unknowable vastness of deep space. Perhaps precisely because this unknowable quality reminds us of the sacred ground of all being and becoming, we have collectively suffered from a fear of making the unknown known, a prohibition oddly reminiscent of the dictates of the church against the new astronomical discoveries of Galileo and others. To persist in this fear is to fall into the very idolatry which the church was ironically seeking to uphold. For given that humans have projected on to the Heavens the qualities of order, divine will, inspiration, and a host of other powerful attributes, it is in the work of withdrawing those projections that we can discover a progressively deeper relationship with our long and honourable tradition, which predates existing written records. To be true to this, we must allow our 'factual' basis to grow and evolve along with the maturing of intuitive wisdom. Depth psychology has brought into our awareness the phenomenon of projection, and we know that projection is at work when a high dgree of irrationality permeates our reactions to something. To free our consciousness requires that we explore this, and understand how we either bring the past into the present as a filter which interrupts clarity, or invest our inner potential somewhere outside us. With Pluto in Scorpio, we were given an opportunity to experience and witness this happening on the emotional level, where unresolved feelings will surface inappropriately into the present. Now, perhaps, the transformative thrust of Pluto in Sagittarius is bringing a chance to review our old collective belief systems and prejudices, in order that we can eliminate what obstructs new growth. Nick's work opens the door on the world of symbols and correspondences elucidated through connections old and new, We find here the Heart of the Sun, eulogised by the alchemists, beating in a four-fold rhythm in accord with solar winds, as quantified by the latest scientific discoveries about the structure of the sun. We puzzle at the combination of mathematical exactitude and confusing speculations which characterise the Moon's relationship with the Earth, and we chuckle at the Trickster Mercury, fooling the scientists, and slipping through rigorous net of the Gauquelin research. We discover Venus, Goddess of Love, calms geomagnetic storms when at Inferior Conjunction. We visit the forbidding landscape of Mars, the warrior; we thrill to the turbulence of storm tossed Jupiter, and stand in awe of the delicate precision of Saturn's rings. In his account of how Lowell predicted the details of Pluto's orbit, and indeed the timing of its discovery, we see at work a hidden order of synchronicity congruent with the Lord of the Underworld. It is perhaps now well-known that Galileo was also a practising astrologer. Here Nick lifts the veil of historical censorship, revealing a new perspective on the great man, as well as pointing out an intriguing current of synchronicity involving the supernova or 'Kepler's Star', which appeared in 1604 conjunct the Galatic Centre, in the constellation Ophiuchus, again recently the subject of controversy. This Sagittarian area of the tropical zodiac is thus shown exhibiting the revolutionary qualities of expanded vision that we traditionally link with the sign, expressed for posterity in the 'sacred frenzy' that Kepler experienced when receiving the visions that became the basis of his laws of planetary motion. We are also shown the synastry between Kepler's horoscope and that of Newton, born one Jupiter cycle later, revealing the winding thread of the development of the historical ideas for which these men were individual carriers. In the manner of Galileo's work Dialogue concerning two world systems , published in 1622, Nick treats the reader to a dramatised discussion between 'Astronomy' and 'Astrology'. the two main characters are personified as Bart Bok, the arch-sceptic who launched the world renowned Objections to Astrology in the Humanist magazine, in 1975, and Hypatia, a renowned world teacher within the Neoplatonic Academy in Alexandria, in the 4th century A.D.. who was killed by the Christians. In 1622, Uranus was transiting early Leo, and now it is in early Aquarius. For Leo, when infected with over-personalisation, there can only be one way, one truth, one valid perspective, which excludes differences that do not conform to the central authority. However, within the airy expansiveness of Aquarius, the many, the varying and the different can be contained and honoured. Hypatia's final phrase presents the central challenge of this book: "Isn't it time for a fresh start?" Read, enjoy, and allow the all-encompassing nature of Nick's thinking to spur you on to a fresh start. Oh. . .and test your astrological wits on the quizzes in the text!! Melanie Reinhardt |
