A craftsman, who, as god of fire and spirit, crafted seven governors; they encompass the sensible world in circles, and their government is called fate. ~ The Corpus Hermeticum
The ancients Hermeticists (300BC - 1200 AD) believed that the consistency of physical reality that each of us experience every day, is governed by fate. Their progression of logic was this: knowing that our practical world is meant to accommodate God’s plan, Fate sets up the design for things to happen in such a way that fulfills the providence of the divine plan. This is a whole lot of complicated language to say that a persons fate is a part of the deliverance of divine providence.
Naturally, the next obvious question becomes, if one’s life has a specific fate that fulfills God’s plan… what is my fate? Quickly followed by - if I don’t like my fate, can I change it? To answer the question, keep this in mind. If Fate is a system of governance, when was the last time that you saw everyone follow any system of governance? The answer is never. People break the law of the nations they live in, all the time. So… much like the system of government you live in, there is an automatic tension between Fate and Free Will. God wants what he wants, and sometimes you want something a bit different. But how do we know what God wants from any one individual? From an ancient Hermetic standpoint, this is why they created Astrology.
As we all know, your birth chart is a moment in time that is captured in the stars. It is a kind of astrological talisman designed to contribute to the divine plan. From the Hermetic point of view, the casting of a birth chart is the cosmic design of an individuals life that is meant to contribute to a specific purpose in the divine plan. Traditionally, figuring out a person’s fate, became the name of the game in traditional, ancient Astrology.
Interestingly, since the early 1900’s, the new age movement has turned astrology on it’s head in the West. Most view astrology as a way of trying to predict nothing more than one’s personality and behavioral tendencies. Modern astrology has gone the way of technology, becoming a system of simply calculating the planetary positions. I’ve always thought that such a view misses the point of what astrology can do for a person. The purpose of the system as created in the ancient traditions, is to not only understand one’s fate, but to understand the maximum potential of one’s soul while you exist in the living world. The core spiritual principle of astrology is to use it is to become a living talisman yourself, so you understand where you fit within the cosmos and within God’s plan. Every one of us is an individual image of the cosmos, a snapshot in time.
The more you recognize you are the embodiment of certain aspects of divine providence, and become aware of your association with the ebbs and flows of astrological forces, and thus God’s plan - then one becomes conscious of their ability to navigate and potentiate these connections in order to use them. Like meditation, but in a much more theurgic way, you can become much more than just your Ego. You then become a participant of the world around you, rather than always fighting against cosmic patterns.
Astrological Magic
The basic steps into astrological magic is where you become aware of influences of the cosmos on your daily life. Its an intentional conscious alignment. But noticing how you can be influenced by the alignment with the cosmos isn’t just about talisman making, practically of figuratively. You Continuously living within alignment of the cosmos and thus the divine plan, the ancient hermeticists believed that this would cleanse one’s soul, and also directly commune with the divine. While we cannot know God’s plan, because this can change at any time - we can better understand what the universe wants from us at any given time.
Hermetic astrology and astrological magic lets you get out of this unending loop of the human struggle. Knowing the transits and thus influences will allow you to express these influences in a constructive way rather than being wide open to the raw influences of planetary transits. Astrology helps point out your egoic tendencies, so that you can move beyond them.
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