Astrology was developed to depict the idea that there might be a relation of some kind between planetary events at the sky and life on Earth. According to this idea, the course and the position of the stars, the sun and the moon at the firmament set emanating markers in time that exert influence into our existence.
Such influence is, however, not being exerted by any physical force known to traditional or modern natural sciences. Assuming the exertion of such influence by the physical laws of cause and effect is equivalent to the assumption that human life on Earth is governed by outer events or outer forces.
In taking a completely different approach to the problem, let’s suppose that human life, that life as such is endowed with an innate capability to succeed in three dimensional existence, an intrinsic life force energy that is the Source of all that is. This innate life force energy is comparable to the concept and the notion of eidos and the idea of entelecheia as claimed by the Greek philosopher Aristotle in his works on the science of nature[1]. While always maintaining a clearly scientifically minded attitude in his studies – a characteristic feature that also distinguishes Aristotle’s works from the works of his teacher Plato – Aristotle was convinced that everything that exists carries an innate sense of purpose. One could say that Aristotle claimed that there is a meaning in all of existence, including the factors that determine natural sciences. This concept of determination, of purpose, of meaning, was a major element of his philosophy of nature. In this respect, it is to be noted that even Isaac Newton, the icon of modern natural science, in the 17th century stated the existence of a metaphysical principle, namely the “vegetative spirit”, as part of his scientific conception of the world. According to Newton, this vegetative spirit is the divine force imbuing life into matter.
The potential of life, the individual meaning of a human life are encoded in the horoscope. Referring to Plato and his philosophical system, the encoded essence of a horoscope can be seen as the “eternal ideas” as claimed by Plato’s Theory of Ideas, i.e. the “eternal ideas” of a human lifetime. This inner potential or the individual’s eternal ideas materialize in consciousness. A phenomenon arising from this inner potential that most of us know very well is our sense of intuition.
Whereas according to the concept of eternal ideas as proposed by Plato’s philosophy these ideas are presumed to remain a part of the transcendental realms of existence, we humans definitely are capable of transporting the “cosmic”, the “heavenly” essence as depicted by our horoscope into our daily lives.
The horoscope as a consideration of the heavenly constellations with respect to the place on Earth and the moment in Time we were born, is a blueprint of our life. The positions of the planets with respect to the signs of the zodiac at the sky symbolically depict constituent factors of human consciousness and – what is more –the contents of a selected state of consciousness can be translated into the current astrological atmosphere and vice versa. The whole concept of claiming a connection between consciousness and astrological circumstances is therefore an approach completely different than the common interpretation of astrology as a mere process of fortune-telling that is applied for predicting outer events in our lives or the world as a whole.
In order to decode our inner force, our inner potential from the horoscope, we now have to establish a new, an enlightened art of astrology, an astrology that provides a synergetic linkage between the traditional intuitive astrological knowledge and our rational insights of modern science and philosophy. In quite a similar way in which Greek philosophy in the 6th century B.C. did away with the mythical ideas of old that until then served as explanations for the occurrences in nature and life on Earth, we now have to build a strong platform capable of carrying a completely new structure of thought. A structure of thought allowing encompassing all the particularistic findings of modern science. Thus, we will lift ourselves on a new octave of consciousness where we can see that, despite all that we came to know by the development of natural sciences, there still remains a gap to be bridged in our conception of the forces of life, that there still remains a mystery to be – the mystery of mind. In the end, such integration will be the only way that we will again be able to create an Integral Whole, a cosmos within what we perceive as consciousness.
We carry Heaven, we carry the Sky within us – the age-old separation of Earth and Heaven is an illusion.
Every problem, every conflict in life is a portal of insight opening the path to inner and outer growth and leading the way to an expansion of our consciousness. An expansion of consciousness that allows us perceiving existence as an Integral Whole. We can experience the abundance of the star-covered night sky in our lives here on Earth. We can live our lives in a way to make Plato’s eternal Ideas of beauty and perfection come true here in three dimensional reality on Earth.
We can bring Heaven onto Earth.
Plato was right with what he stated in his Allegory of the Cave: We can set ourselves free and realize perfection. It is up to us to do so.
[1] In short, by the notion of eidos Aristotle related to the – as we would call it today – energetic principle that distinguishes physical substance endowed with life from inanimate matter. Entelecheia was the term Aristotle used for his philosophical concept according to which everything (and that includes inanimate matter) carries an innate determination of some kind, an intrinsic force to fulfill its potential. Not unlike many other similar concepts developed during Greek antiquity, entelecheia and eidos were somewhat complementary metaphysical aspects to complete the ancient view of life.