Being raised in an environment of self-help and artistry, but then highly educated in the Western system of science and rational thinking, I have found myself straddling the boundary between skepticism and enthusiasm with regard to esoteric wisdom. My father believed, and still does, that “thoughts become things,” championing the extraordinary push of intuitive business advice that came out of the 1980s. My mother was a dancer, Reiki healer, small-business owner, and, well, mother, who still thrives on, and brings empowerment to others by, embracing the inexplicable. In these areas of knowledge, we face untranslatable mysteries and use logical symbolism to interpret their meaning.
It has to be undeniable that these mysteries, or that mysteries as such, exist in the Universe, or simply in our everyday lives. Things we do not know, whether we are yet to know them or never to know them, do not threaten us, and it is not an absurdity to acknowledge that there are mysteries. Esoteric wisdom of the kind that I see my parents as having cultivated is simply a way of both acknowledging that mysteries, perhaps temporarily, exist, and that we do not have to be fearful of them, or subjugated to them. Without ignorantly calling what is a mystery a known entity, we can maintain its mystery at the same time as inviting its potential into our lives. When we make this invitation, we are inviting an incredible amount of energy into our lives, energy that has not yet been designated any purpose. By practicing within in esoteric system of knowledge, we are merely opening the gates for this energy to come into our lives.
The two significant realms of esoteric knowledge that remain challenging to me are the Tarot and Astrology. I am reading more about the Tarot at the moment, with the intention of being able to offer readings for others with authority and insight. Developed many centuries ago, the 78-card standardised card system employs symbolic order inherited from Egyptian, Kabbalistic, and Christian cultures. In many ways it both contains, and provides a map for, the development of Western consciousness. Although I want to be wary of overdoing any application of significance using loose language, I do think it is correct to say that the Tarot guides us into the “source” of this consciousness. By understanding the Tarot’s symbols, and the way that cards can be put into relationship with one another, we can derive insight applicable to our own lives.
Astrology fascinates me for a different, but related, reason. In the mode of scientific understanding, something can only be called true if it is provable. One can have a hypothesis, which has not yet been proven true experimentally, but that hypothesis must still be proven true abstractly, using formulae or argument. In contrast, Astrological understanding asks us to accept things as true by way of faith, by way of the mere fact that it is. If Astrology dealt with the same things as science does, then such a method of conveying truth would be despotic. We would be told to accept that the earth is flat, or that capitalism is the only system of economy that works. What distinguishes the two ways of perceiving the truth, but allows them both to reveal truth without contradicting each other, is the fact that they deal with the truth of different things, and in radically different ways.
Astrology deals with truth that is absolutely abstract, and absolutely rejectable. Abstract and rejectable. These are my two words for understanding Astrology. By being abstract, Astrology can be applied to an infinite number of non-abstract situations. But in being absolutely abstract, it cannot, itself, be transmuted into one of those non-abstract situations. Because of this absolution, and this abstraction, Astrology is also rejectable. It draws its truth revealing power from the fact that it can be rejected as false in as many situations as it can be accepted as true.
This explanation may feel dense, and it may also feel vague. I could explain it more. But here is an example:
Many people consult Astrology for advice about their love lives. They want to know the star sign of their ideal partner, according to their own star sign. Such a method of finding someone we might have kids and spend the rest of our lives with seems absurd. Surely there are many more reliable ways of ascertaining who we are going to get along with, and who we could love. But, for me, taking the guidance of Astrology in the realm of love makes perfect sense when I have attained the ability to love literally anybody. Imagine that. Imagine that you could love anybody. Then, allow yourself to consider what role they might be playing in your life. Is it monogamous life partner with the potential of having children? If it is, then maybe you could easily eliminate vast swathes of people based on geographical location, interests, gender, age, etc. You are left with a relatively tiny pool of people who you would want to step into this role of life partner and potential co-parent, and you love them all because you love everybody. From that point, why wouldn’t you consult Astrology and allow it to guide you towards one person out of a pool of otherwise equally suitable people?
In being absolutely applicable and absolutely abstract, Astrology draws on massive, epic energies. It refers to the movement of the planets, no less: the biggest material entities in our lives. And these entities dwarf us. When Saturn moves into a certain sector of the sky in relation to us on Earth, for example, we simply cannot deny that fact, and we certainly cannot stop it doing so. All we can do in the fact of Saturn’s immensity is devise a symbolic system to have it mean something, and it doesn’t even matter if we do this or not. Our power is in our choice to make it mean something. But at the same time as it is immense, Astrology, like the Tarot, is also extremely subtle. We can going into a lot of detail when we describe the significance of an Astrological situation or a Tarot reading. This detail is brought about through acknowledging that all aspects of those systems are always connected to one another, despite the limited nature of our attention, and our ability to concentrate on only one area of it at a time. And here, then, is the humility we are called into. Not the humility of knowing that Saturn would crush us, but the humility brought about by the fact that once we go to draw on its power, it always has more power to feed us. This ever extending zone of power increases in all directions, including in the direction of subtlety, kindness, stillness, and, most importantly, love.
So, in challenging myself, I challenge you to draw on a Tarot or Astrology reading in navigating situations, people, feelings, and decisions. Know that in doing so you are being called to exercise your power of choice and your power of feeling.
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