My visiting friend – who flies out today – isn’t much of an astrology fan, however I am. It is one of our subtle differences over the years. I’ve seen it work – or come close – many, many times.
No, I am not into the general woo-woo type astrology, but rather its practical art.
If you want to get a real discussion going between various Christian believers, toss out concept of astrology and see what happens. Fur flyeth.
When you get deeply into biblical study, there are always multiple ways of reading scripture, not unlike there are always multiple ways of “casting the I-Ching” or technical analysis of short-term stock market prices. Cleromancy is too much work, compared to T.A.
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An important aside here: Cleromany is related to sortition which most people are totally unaware of, but semi-random choice is a key part of how democracy works, says Wikipedia’s entry:
The Athenians believed sortition to be more democratic than elections[4] and used complex procedures with purpose-built allotment machines (kleroteria) to avoid the corrupt practices used by oligarchs to buy their way into office. According to the author Mogens Herman Hansen the citizen’s court was superior to the assembly because the allotted members swore an oath which ordinary citizens in the assembly did not and therefore the court could annul the decisions of the assembly. Both Aristotle[4] and Herodotus (one of the earliest writers on democracy) emphasize selection by lot as a test of democracy, “The rule of the people has the fairest name of all, equality (isonomia), and does none of the things that a monarch does. The lot determines offices, power is held accountable, and deliberation is conducted in public.”[
So we see much older cultures employing semi-random means to arrive as equality and seems to me that’s worth considering given the Chinese were first-rate astrologers and have a 3-thousand year head start on the West in many areas.
But back to our track…
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In the King James bible, astrology seems to be OK, at least in Genesis 1:14:
“And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:”
Granted, this stops short of a ringing endorsementm but the lights must be there for a reason. When you read the translation done by Chris Tyreman’s group at www.thechronicleproject.org, you come up with a little different meaning for Genesis 1:14:
:” And so to declare Originators,”So to exist that to vary to continue (the moon) amid sky (of) the celestials (locators), toward the (celestials), toward the to disconnect toward between the day and between the night. And to exist being toward tides and toward congregations and toward measures and years. “
Seems to me, a more balanced way to look at things is to consider Jeremiah 10:2-3:
‘2- Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.
3- For the customs of the people [are] vain: for [one] cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.
To me, verse 2 implies that you can get through life without learning heathen ways, but if you do get into astrology, don’t get bummed out by it. Verse 3 is always cited with verse 2, but never made much sense to me.
Naturally, you will find people who cite prohibitions on witchcraft and lump astrology into the same class of thought: Micah 5:12 is often cited in anti-astrology thinking:
“And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no [more] soothsayers:”
Now, as I read this, I don’t see any mention of astrology. Witchcraft? Sure…danger in those conjuring sessions. Dark, evil, suck you into it danger of the kind that burns forever.
On the plus side, I have to remember that three wise men were “following a star” as “foretold” so there must be something going on overhead worth noticing. And, of course, there is the ancient edict “As above, so below.”
While this latter can be applied to astrology, it can also be applied to practical psychology, as well.
We could also note that there was a fair amount of “marketing competition” going on at the time the modern church was putting down roots. When I read passages such as Isaiah 47:13….
…Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from [these things] that shall come upon thee….
…what I read as marketing material,
Why?
A fine question! When you look up the English Standard Version of Isaiah, you find something rather remarkable:
You are wearied with your many counsels; let them stand forth and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who at the new moons make known what shall come upon you.
Christianity has a spotting record – at best – when making known “what shall come upon you.” The first Millennium was supposed to be it and then things kept getting pushed back from there. Any old day now? Your call, but I have plans for tomorrow. People hate it when I underscore such facts. Still, whether it’s a failed prediction of a global coastal event or End Times, I am a hard-core data guy.
I don’t know if you have done much study of The Chronicle Project work, but Chris Tyreman has a wonderful book over here on Amazon ( The Destruction of Sabbath: Tracking the History of Deception ), but if you had read it, you’d realize that Judaism and Christianity is really lunar-cycle based system. It makes sense, too.
Ergo, looking at one aspect of astrology (lunar progression) is actually at the core of the religious belief system itself.
Astrology is very popular – even today – in considering financial markets. There are few who can rival the work of my friend Arch Crawford, who has done amazing work in the area. He popularized the notion that “millionaires don’t look at astrological indicators, but billionaires do. His site, by the way, is www.crawfordperspectives.com.
I don’t read Arch regularly, but lots of us who look at the markets seriously consider a lot more data than the simple mathematical markets that get published daily. And with good reason.
For one, the full moon does impact markets in some measurable ways. The term Lunatic didn’t just show up on its own. Ask anyone who has worked for a few years about the impact of full moons on trauma cases, especially if the full moon happens to fall around when welfare and social security checks hit. It’s a solid connection.
We also see that when there are other astro events – like energy off the Sun hitting Earth from sunspots, there is some anecdotal evidence of linkage.
There are cycles to almost everything men and women do. Everything from “that time of the month” to the California real estate cycle. The Juglar, the Kuznets, the Schumpeter, the presidential, the Kondratieff, the Jubilee, and so on.
Much of ancient history was in the “time before clocks” – and if we were genuinely living a biblical life, two fascinating questions pop up. First: Would we “put in the fix” with a high degree of regularity to sidestep the “seven years of lean” (of Genesis 47:26-27)?
And secondly, would we live lives regulated by “time-keepers” at all?
Lately, I have been leaning toward the idea that the references to astrology (the few there are) were more about people “looking at time” cycles, whether in the heavens, or whatever. We will get into this morning when we look at “A Brief History of Time in Finance” which will be tomorrow’s Peoplenomics.com.com topic.
Given that the invention of clocks goes back only several hundred years, and that before that, orbits of planets were a convenient short-cut for timekeeping on a longer scale, count me as among the people who believe that astrology a) does have a place in a natural life and b) that the study of astrology (and the natural timekeepers) gives us a convenient way to open our minds to the cyclicity that naturally occurs and is mentioned as the basis for things like the Jubilee Year and so forth.
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Didn’t mean to get way off-base here, we a few notes on the importance of astrology (as a thinking tool to consider cyclical relationships) popped out of reading an email from our Consulting Astrologer:
“George, thought I’d pass along a small piece of information for your visitor and boyhood pal since you mentioned that he is involved with energy medicine.
There is a new book that was published in late fall, 2015 that could possibly shake up the whole field of medicine [something those of us who work in alternative forms of healing will applaud.] It is already #1 in three different categories on Amazon, including “Mental and Spiritual Healing.”
The title is…
Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal
The author also has a website www.medicalmedium.com.
Besides being an Astrologer and more, I studied and worked for over 40 years with alternative forms of healing, including the method imparted to me intuitively by my guides, involving healing through transmuting the DNA. [which reversed AIDS, Leukemia, and even 4th stage cancer in some of our clients].
With that as background info for your visitor’s understanding, I can say I am beyond awed by this book. Now on my third reading through it, I see his information creating lots of questions [and demands for change] lobbed at the medical profession by the general public. The roars of acclaim from the physicians and other publicly known people, who have been diagnosed and healed by him over the decades is deafening!
BTW, it does include information on gout….. and fibromyalgia, Epstein-Barr, Lyme [which is not a bacterial infection, according to the author – it is a virus – hence the antibiotic protocol in treating Lyme is doing more harm than good], adrenal fatigue, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Diabetes, Shingles [the true cause of colitis and more], PTS disorder….and so much more. Truly, George, this information is 20 years or more beyond where medicine is today!
Since I am being measure for a new intraocular lens this morning, prior to the upcoming “repair job” on my left eye, this is just the kind of information that I find useful.
You may find it worthy, as well.
The main point of this morning? Well, simply take a very good look when someone says “Don’t look there” and casts it as a “fact.” Many times, especially when you are dealing with an ancient instruction set quite possibly left by inter-planetary Johnny Appleseed types to some knuckle-draggers at the time, there’s a good chance for human pollution of the message.
I’d argue that to the degree with have an economic system which can ONLY operate in a growth mode, and multiple religious groups that are waging wars for domination through violence and population, that we might want to spend a fair bit of time sorting the wheat from the chaff in order to peel back some of the marketing and get back to the core of being good people.
I know that is a terribly out of fashion thing to consider, but factions are warring and Common Sense is anything but, anymore.
Write when you break-even,
RE: Faith and astrology – the Torah and Christian Bible contain many references to astrology. For example, in Deuteronomy 4:19 – “And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, [even] all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.” Similarly, Psalm 19:1 declares: “The heavens keep telling the wonders of God, and the skies declare what he has done.”
The New Testament relates the astrological foretelling of the birth of Jesus/Yeshua by the Star of Bethlehem, pronounced to Herod and his court by the mysterious three Magi (astrologers).
Related – Israel recently produced a series of stamps representing the 12 tribes of Israel, which are tied to the 12 signs of the zodiac – see:
Mindblower: At the instant before the Big Bang, all that now is and once was existed in one infinitely small point of space/time. According to the quantum principles of non-locality and entanglement, all existing matter in the known universe would thus remain tied together at the quantum level, no matter how great the separation in space or time. So, in a round-about way, the stars above do effect us, and we them, from a certain point of view. See:
Hmm – my web links were scrubbed out. Do Google searches – cool beans.
For those who want a better garden try planting by the signs of the moon. I started this in the 1970s and when I followed the moon signs my harvest was greater. Tasted better to. Astrological Gardening by Louise Riotte is a good place to start. Llewellyn’s Moon Sign Book http://llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738734040 is a yearly publication and The Farmers Almanac http://farmersalmanac.com/calendar/gardening/. Enjoy! Hope that all is well in Ecuador.
Ordered the book.
Thanks George (and others)
Knowledge is Power.
Well I bought the book.. I am a real believer in holistic medicine and astrology…. ask anyone that works in the medical field.. for over thirty years of working.. when ever I could self schedule I would according to the lunar calendar…Now for religion and getting an argument going and the fur flying.. another way to do it beside bringing up astrology is start mentioning what is found in the books not in the bible or the dead sea scrolls.. phew.. and if you really want them to hate you.. just make sure they remember that what they are spouting as Christianity and locked in laws of Christ are the very laws and practices that Christ stood against and were the laws that had him crucified on the cross for not following religious teachings and practices.. Not to mention that he was born to an unwed mother.. and by their law he should have had his head bashed against a rock in the public square in front of his mother before she was stoned to death.. or if there were more than one church or religion in a community the whole community should be put to death.. or another one..and my favorite biblical law.. LOL if you suspect your neighbors of sinning .. you should go put them to death.. and if you hear their children talk back or say something against their parents you are to kill them in front of their parents.. oh the bible is full of them.. and this is what makes letting the refugee’s into the United states without first knowing where they stand a big mistake.. ( hint ) they still live by those laws.. just look at some of the things going on in countries where they are at now..
It is important to distinguish between western astrology based on seasons, which is off by 23 degrees and almost a whole sign, and Vedic astrology which is based on the actual position of planets and stars. Yoga predates Christianity by thousands of years and astrology is considered one of the Vedic sciences. The scriptures say that every educated person should know Vedic astrology, so as to deal with their karma in the highest way for the benefit of one’s spiritual evolution. God, in the form of Vishnu the Sustainer takes the form of all planets to send the energies of karma to earth. I am an amature, but I can do a birth chart that will amaze you (because Vedic is so accurate). I would need the exact time of your birth to the minute (the rising sign at your birth changes every couple of minutes) and the location. My treat and would provide me a way to give back for all your great information.
George Wot (Web of Trust)says the site http://www.medicalmedium.com/ is not a good place to go. Imagine that! :)
wrt cycles:
“The Fourth Turning” by Strauss and Howe. (generational theory)
“Winter is Coming” by James Goulding.
“Human societies think fast and slow in cycles, mathematicians find” August 12, 2015 by Anne Ju @ phys dot org
“12,000 Years of Elliott Waves and What This Means for The 21st Century” Marion Butler December 2, 1999
Velikovsky fits in there, somewhere, too.
Heh. It’s a long list …and it isn’t my blog. :) But that’s a good start.
70 +/- years is an awful short piece of eternity —- What happens next??
In a letter, I asked Chris about witches. His response, from Self-defining Hebrew, is that the proper word is “NECROMANCER” as in “…you shall not suffer a Necromancer to live…”
Seems to me the witches were the first naturopaths, and much, much more…
I can definitely vouch for the full moon effect… my husband is an ER nurse in downtown Phoenix, and he simply does not work on full moons – and he is not into astrology, he just has enough real world experience!
I do enjoy astrology – I find it really interesting. The person I follow most closely is Robert Phoenix. His predictions seem to fairly closely align with yours about the next 5 years or so. He has a blog, an occasional podcast, and some really great timely interviews with Regina Meredith’s on her Open Minds program on Gaia TV. So much great content there, I really recommend it to anyone interested in woo woo.
‘As above, so below” could be interpreted to mean that there is also a GODDESS to keep balance with a GOD. Absolute monotheism seems so perverse, when you think about it (maybe part of the reason we are seeing so much perversity these days!).
Float & stay dry,
Robert in WA State
In the beginning, there was one … or so the “scientists” would have us believe. From the one, a’ la the “Big Bang,” came all.
Cooking the brain with less than lethal radiations, whether from sunspots, flares, cellphones or induced currents from all the wiring in homes and transmission lines. Dare we mention long wave communication systems?
Does it make you wonder why people are crazy?
The more complex the gathering of neurons, the easier it will be to conflict it.
FWIW, astrology is only the beginning
warhammer:
Yupper. Your post is given as “evidence” by my RC priest and Rabbi buds as to why it is soooo easy for Creator to “know all things”. As He was always, is and always will be in everything. Scary part is that the scholarly RC priests have “known” this tidbit for a long time. So…begs the question[s]…
No one, not even Samuel the fallen archangel can fool Him as he knows all/controls all – always has.
A Mercury Report, East Coast-style:
(Not that you care, but:) Now in addition to the other problem I mentioned by email: technology, legal matters, HOA issues, and communications here have gone Screwy wthin a 24-hour period. I wish Mercury a “Speedy UnRetrograde” if that really has anything to do with it!!
I think the main prohibition was in seeking advice from anyone but Yahweh, because unless He bestowed a gift of knowing or seeing, that medium was either consorting with an evil spirit, which is an abomination, or just plain lying. Either way, a bad person to have living in your midst and leading your people astray.
As far as the skies, they are for telling what time it is and for telling stories of what has been. They may hint at what is to come, but The Truth will not be revealed until It’s Time.
Until then, enjoy the view, and do try to afford even a modest telescope with a good stand. As an alternative, a decent camera mounted well and good time-delay settings will produce some astonishing pictures. And it’s cheaper than cable.
The Moon-which rules public events and acclaim-will be in Hillary’s 10th house of career on Election Night.However,she could still lose the Electoral College to Trump.
Yeah you’ve heard thinking of buying pork will of the Chinese did that at the Smithfield plant that I previously mentioned I mean if you going to buy something buy something that you can resell you know immediately like pork gold who’s going to buy that is that going up as you know can you make money off that everyday no not really but Park heck yeah that’s a thriving business I mean grow it and resell it it’s almost like real estate but real estate’s a lot slower you know it’s like well if there’s a demand of the economy is Right heck you going to make some money but same time real estate is like it’s permanent kind of wellpark you know if you don’t sell it it’s going to go bad so there you go