I occasionally see people asking online how they can come up with a reliable birth chart when they have no time of birth, precise or otherwise. A legitimate time is crucial to establishing the astrological "framework" (house divisions and associated planetary placements) for the horoscope. While it is often possible to obtain an officially "timed" … Continue reading Rectification: Adjusting an Unknown Birth Time for a Natal Horoscope
General Astrology
Mercury Retrograde: Mystics and Statistics
Warren Zevon knew a thing or two about "mystics and statistics" (look it up). One of my favorite metaphysical whipping-boys is the almost universally-held opinion that the periodic transit of retrograde Mercury is unquestionably significant in our daily lives - all of us at the same time. As an astrologer of fifty years' standing, I … Continue reading Mercury Retrograde: Mystics and Statistics
The “Keys to the Kingdom”
Somewhere in the dim and distant past I encountered the idea that astrology represents the "gold key" to unlocking visions of the future through divination, in that it is objective and rational (that is, based on visible phenomena), while the more subjective and intuitive tarot provides the "silver key." I can no longer find the … Continue reading The “Keys to the Kingdom”
An Astro-Tarot Meditation Aid
Aleister Crowley said that the ideal way to become intimately acquainted with the Major Arcana of the tarot as "living beings" is meditation (although divination is the most practical way for the uninitiated). In his book The Druidry Handbook, John Michael Greer observed that the noisy Western mental machinery is not amenable to the Eastern … Continue reading An Astro-Tarot Meditation Aid
Oriental Appearance: A Case Study
AUTHOR'S NOTE: For the moment I'm going to drop back from my current fascination with traditional astrology and revert to my previous incarnation as a New Age psychological astrologer. For the record, although most people only know Dr. Marc Edmund Jones as the chronicler of the psychically-channeled Sabian Symbols, he was a profound psychological astrologer … Continue reading Oriental Appearance: A Case Study
A Question of Style
During my long career as a technical and legal writer, my personal goal was to explain complex matters in comprehensive but still entirely lucid language, since to do otherwise could have led to serious human error and/or regulatory exposure for my company. These objectives would seem to be at odds, since completeness and clarity may … Continue reading A Question of Style
Tools of the Trade
Yesterday I was talking to Maria Kay Simms, whose publishing house, ACS Publications, produces many astrological reference works such as the American Ephemeris series and the American Atlas. I asked her how many people still hand-calculate charts in the computer age, and mentioned that I haven't done so in decades. She replied that those who … Continue reading Tools of the Trade
The Node Knows
The last time I thought seriously about the lunar nodes - apart from my study of traditional astrology - was in 1985, when astrologer Robert Hand made a statement at a lecture in Belmont, MA that "the nodes mean connections, period." By this he meant connections (North Node) or, alternately, separations (South Node) between people. … Continue reading The Node Knows
Drums in the Deep
First off, this isn't so much a prediction as a premonition. In The Lord of the Rings, Gandalf, reading from the Book of Mazarbul while in Moria, quotes the following ominous passage: "They have taken the Bridge and the Second Hall. We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes... … Continue reading Drums in the Deep
“Adam Cardman”
There is a qabalastic tradition that places an image of the male human body within the structure of the Tree of Life, such that the ten spheres (or sephiroth) of the Tree relate to different parts of the anatomy. This image is known as "Adam Kadmon," or the Primordial Man. The most common version of … Continue reading “Adam Cardman”
Parsifal's Wheel Tarot & Astrology 