This subject is a dangerous one for the spiritual student. It is of some assistance in some ways, particularly in familiarizing the student with his or her own patterns of life -- but the benefits are outweighed by the danger of going too much into agreement with its all too seductive ideas. Therefore it can be regarded as a trap. The horoscope of a birth defines the limited channels placed into a human body when it is born. Or perhaps I should say "allowed" instead of "placed?" This is not a good thing.

A person has unlimited potential. The spirit inhabiting a human body is for all intents and purposes a fallen god. But that full potential is not expressed through a body -- and in fact the body seems to act as a governor or regulator keeping the spirit from expressing that full potential. Part of that restriction can be viewed through the subject of astrology.

In astrology the full range of human behaviors, interests, strengths and basic personal qualities of all sorts has been arbitrarily divided into twelve groups called the signs of the zodiac. When someone is born under the influence of one particular sign or other, it is not a matter of the qualities of that sign being bestowed upon the person (that is the usual interpretation in astrology). Instead it is apparently a matter of the qualities of the other eleven signs being blocked.

This first came to my attention when I was reading a book on Chinese astrology. I noted a curious passage which baldly stated that planets acted as negatives. That got me thinking; and pretty soon I realized that the entire horoscope acted as a negative! It was as if a debilitating force was being projected into the solar system from a dozen locations in a ring around the system, only to be partially thwarted by the presence of the sun and a few orbiting planets which get in the way.

That last is only a working theory. I have no evidence to confirm it, only the circumstantial evidence that human ability is far less than it could be. Perhaps something entirely different accounts for the phenomena. That would be fine by me; I'm not married to that theory. But nutty as it sounds (and it sounds nutty to me too) it's the only explanation I've been able to come up with.

And believe me, a person's horoscope does indeed restrict the person into the particular narrow channels associated with the signs which figure prominently in that horoscope.

But here's a heartening bit of information for you: you can break out of those restrictions. That's where the intense study of astrology is useful. The student learns which qualities he or she is missing. Those missing qualities can be deliberately cultivated -- created out of nothing.

The downside is that a too intense study of astrology usually causes the student to completely agree with the restrictions -- keeping that student from ever breaking free of those fundamental assumptions. It takes a strong ability to disagree combined with a strong spiritual will (not emotional willpower, that's something different) to cast off the agreements in order to act and be something more than that mere hour of birth.

For those who study and practice spiritual sciences let this be your guide in relation to astrology:
1. For practical astral level work (most magical practices), astrology can be quite helpful.
2. For mid-level practices such as Scientology, astrology acts as a mild retardant.
3. For high level practices such as real Theravada Buddhism and Christian Science, astrology would have to be cast out of the mind completely. A student working toward the Buddhic, Nibbana, Christ Consciousness, and other names for that level should avoid astrology as a trap which creates an invisible ceiling beyond which the student cannot rise.

Ouran