“Say not, ‘I have found the truth’, but rather, ‘I have found a truth.’  Say not, ‘I have found the path of the soul.’  Say rather, ‘I have met the soul walking upon my path.’  For the soul walks upon all paths.  The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed.  The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.”  - Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet, 1923. The quest for the soul’s purpose is as old as man and equates to the many myths surrounding the search for the Holy Grail, the Philosopher’s Stone and others of that ilk. We all yearn for knowledge of our soul’s true purpose here on earth to be revealed to us; the one tool available which can come close to that, which can provide a brief glimpse into the soul’s contract, is that of the ancient celestial science of astrology. The birth chart is unique to each individual and is thus able to provide answers to this question for the individual.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day to day they pour forth speech, night to night they communicate knowledge. There is no speech, there are no words, their voice is not heard; yet their music carries throughout the earth, their words to the end of the world”. Psalm 19.

This article does not address the tangible origin of astrology according to factual testimony. There are greater minds than mine who have published comprehensive material on the origin of astrology based on artefacts, tablets and other items discovered in the “ancient” world, originating in places such as Babylon and Assyria. Nor is this article aimed at proving the worth of astrology, as I see no reason to justify the existence of our craft. It is a philosophical look, from my perspective, at how I make sense of astrology within my religious frame work.

Arabic Parts

Abu Ali Al-Khayyat describes parts as “a sensitive point in the zodiac determined by calculating the distance between one point and another point and adding the distance to a third point. [....]" In classical astrology, they were called lots because they were used to determine the prospects for a particular thing. In astrology of modern times, they are usually called Arabic Parts because only the Part of Fortune is mentioned by Ptolemy, and all the other parts are mistakenly assumed to have been invented by the Arabs.” Another ancient authority on Parts, Al-Biruni, lists 97 Parts which can be applied to the nativity. There are many books written today on “the soul’s contract” or “how to find your inner purpose”, the list goes on ad nauseum, and once again we are humbled by the knowledge of the ancients. Again this subject is not a new one posed by the ever-so-enlightened modern man, but in our modern times a very obvious factor is missing.

Introduction

Confusion exists in the world of astrology as to what the definitions of the different disciplines and their fundamental differences are and terms that are not understood are very loosely used thereby adding to the confusion. The terms medieval and traditional astrology are viewed as synonymous when in fact they are not - in principle medieval is part of traditional astrology. Every tradition must change if it is to remain alive and astrological tradition is the same as any other tradition - in different places at different times certain parts of the overall picture become more relevant. An example of this pertaining to astrology is the house systems. Whole sign house systems were employed by the nomadic people – how on earth could fixed houses have relevance when there was no permanency to their physical abode? Only when man became sedentary could fixed cusps apply and although whole sign house systems are now redundant based on their original use, this does not mean that their efficacy was questionable.

Culture...... is one of the most widely used, and abused, words in English. Its meaning blurs and varies according to its context and who is describing it 1, and it has been called one of the two or three most difficult words in the English language2.

It is important to make a concerted effort to understand the essence of the culture of groups, societies, clubs and organisations to which you belong as often the fundamental principles that define the culture are vague or even in themselves undefined and the lines of communication are blurred as a result.

It is assumed that because a group of people is allotted the same title – in this case that of “astrologer” – that the culture of that group is clear to all and the assumption is that all who subscribe to that collective subscribe to the same culture. But unless the culture is clearly defined by those very people after time is invested on the reflection thereof, it is foolish to simply assume that everyone is on the same page. As Plato said “The eye cannot see itself”, but the problem with culture is that it is not synonymous with intelligence and therefore is amenable, at least, to functional self-referentiality and definition3.