COSMOS, CHRISTOS, & CONSCIOUSNESS

The “Shocking” History of Astrology

It's no secret that Astrology gets precious little respect nowadays, and this journey through astrology's amazing history in religion and science is designed to awake contemporary practitioners to the art's highest potential. The former queen of the sciences, and the original cosmology of the Christian Church, Astrology has come a long way down in the world, from the days when popes and emperors wouldn't make a move without it.  This lecture combines riveting storytelling and graphics to take us into the hearts and minds of famous churchmen and scientists who were fiercely passionate about their astrology, all the while questioning why their stories have been so deliberately deleted from modern histories of science and religion. So how did astrology, once the mainstay of the medieval university system, become banished altogether from serious study?  What are the chances of it making any kind of return?  And what can we learn from the mistakes of the past?

Jupiter, Saturn &

The Persian Astrology of the Magi

A Detective Story Through Astrological History

We're all aware of the 20-year Jupiter-Saturn conjunction cycle, and the most recent conjunction in Taurus back in the year 2000.  Some of us even remember the 'triple-conjunction' in Libra back in 1980-81.

However, the great cycles of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions were used throughout Christian, Jewish, Islamic, and Zoroastrian chronologies to determine the rise and fall of new dynasties, prophets, and world religions, the dawn of new millenniums, and the ultimate battle between good & evil at the end of the world. Even Christopher Columbus was a great proponent of the messianic and apocalyptic portents of this cycle, but he stood on the receiving end of a long-standing and wide-spread tradition.  But how and where did this tradition arise? And what gave rise to it?

            Tracing out an intricate pattern of interlacing triangles around the zodiac, the conjunction cycle provides a unique entry into the mysteries of Persian astrology, and their tradition of astrological histories.  One of our earliest sources for its use is Masha'allah (8th century CE), who used the thousand-year conjunction cycle to place the advent of both Christ and Christianity, and Mohammed and Islam, within the Persian astrological context.   

 The story of the astrological use of the Jupiter-Saturn cycle is a fascinating one, stretching all the way from Babylon in the 6th century BCE to 18th century Christian Europe, and beyond.  Among its many advocates we find famous and infamous names from history, science and religion.  There's a lot to learn from the historical uses and abuses of the conjunction cycle, especially as we struggle to discern its relevance in our lives today. 

Uranus, Neptune, & Pluto:

Revolutions in Consciousness

A unique program in three parts that gives both experienced and beginning astrologers practical, working insights into the outer planets. 

In three separate presentations on a) The Age of Uranus b) The Age of Neptune and c) The Age of Pluto, we focus on how the meanings we attribute to the outer planets reflect the times in which they were discovered; almost as if the discoveries had unleashed a wealth of previously unconscious traits, qualities and behaviors. Each presentation examines the discoveries, and the charts for historic events and personalities of the time, what we know about how our current meanings were derived, as well as the whole question of rulerships.

In the small group work that follows each presentation, participants can focus on exploring the significance of these three planets in their natal charts, and their current transits.

Visions of the Virgin:

An Astrological Analysis of Divine Intercession
The first of its kind to use astrological analysis as a tool in comparative religious studies.

This presentation focuses on famous modern apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the young visionaries who claimed to see her, the spontaneous ecstatic trance states experienced by many of the visionaries, and what appear to be significant and consistent astrological correlates.

We begin with a brief examination of the history of these apparitions in both Christian and non-Christian cultures, and their relevance in modern Marian Catholicism. This is followed by the riveting stories of famous apparitions like: St. Catherine Laboure and the Miraculous Medal, La Sallete, Lourdes, Fatima, Beauraing, Banneux, and Medjugorje, etc. along with the astrological charts for the apparition events and the visionaries.

Distinct astrological patterns emerge, consistently accompanying these spontaneous experiences of the divine feminine.  The charts reveal a repeated emphasis on the signs Virgo and Cancer, and the Moon and Venus.  A database of 130 astrological charts of Marian visions and visionaries shows a distinct preponderance of planets in the tropical signs Virgo and Cancer.  Even when compared with the expected frequencies, the placements are still highly significant.

The apparition events make for some terrific storytelling, unraveling the tangled threads of ancient goddesses woven within the Virgin’s cults and imagery, while the charts reveal a wonderful model of how and – more importantly - when mythological & astrological archetypes manifest in conscious experience; in other words, when the human meets the divine.

The Star of the Magi:  
Introducing the Astrology of the Magi 

Finally, an author with a solid background in the role of astrology in ancient religion takes on the Star.  The result is a breathtaking blend of history, religious studies, astronomy, and astrology that tells the whole story as it has never been told before.  

The Persian Magi had very definite expectations of a coming world savior, who would be born of a virgin; all mysteriously encoded and foretold in Magian astrology. These ancient Persian beliefs had tremendous bearing on the development of Jewish Messianic expectations, both politically and spiritually.  The Persians used a system of astrological millenniums, or world ages, each ruled by a zodiac sign or a planet.  Within these millenniums, the cycle of Jupiter-Saturn conjunctions signaled the rise of new dynasties, empires, great prophets, and new religions. This is the astrology of the Magi, and it’s a far cry from anything the Greeks or Romans were doing.  This is what the author of the Gospel of Matthew has been trying to tell us for 2,000 years, and it makes for a cracking good talk that your group will never forget!

2012

In contemporary western culture, we have taken to recycling and remodeling the cosmologies of the ancient world to our own liking, resulting in a lot of current excitement about : 1) The Impending return of Jesus Christ in a Christian/Muslim Apocalypse            2) The Dawning of the New Age of Aquarius & 3) The Apparent Alignment of precession, the winter solstice and the galactic equator at the end of the Mayan Calendar in December 2012.  Obviously, these can't all be true, but they're all fascinating in their own right.

It’s perfectly natural to want to see time and history as meaningful, and to try to organize the flow of the past, the present and the future into some far-reaching and grand design.  We stand on the receiving end of some truly remarkable ancient attempts to do exactly that; for instance, the Zoroastrian Apocalypse and the Christian Millenniums, the Hindu Yugas, and the Buddhist Kalpas. There is something valuable to be learned from all of them - even if lesson one is not to take any of them too seriously!
We all seek meaning in time, and our destiny and fulfillment in history. We long to fathom the hidden, innermost secrets of the universe, but at the same time, we can’t help but impose our own desires and limitations upon it. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell the difference, but that's why it's so important to try!  So join us in this attempt to gain some perspective on the big picture.  We'll examine the most influential cosmologies of the ancient world, and their contemporary interpretations, while trying to come to terms with our own, personal visions of the meaning of time and history in our own lives.