Astrology and the Future of the World © 2002 Charles Kipp

I constructed a birthchart, my own, for the first time in the early winter months of 1972. I was 22 years old at the time. Prior to that, I had no experience with the contemplation of a complete birthchart. I had been reading books and articles on astrology for two years prior to that, but my reading had been limited to perspectives on mundane transits and various natal planetary placements and aspects, for a few others and myself, without the benefit of the perspective of a fully constructed birthchart.

As I viewed my own birthchart for the first time, I gained an immediate glimpse of the power of comprehension upon personality that a complete birthchart provides. It was an experience of great wonder. I felt the resonance of the complete planetary pattern in relation to what I knew about myself, and I knew that I was seeing a representation of deep truths about my personality. Certain prominent features stood out, as it were, as representing fundamental truths about myself. I also knew at that time, however, that my understanding of that representation was meager at best. I wanted to understand it more.

I see similar responses now in people for whom I construct and present birthcharts with explanations of what I have learned about interpreting them. Many questions are asked in the course of discussion; usually, "What does that mean?" in relation to symbolic statements. "What does that mean?" usually means: "Would you please translate that in plain language without the astrological terminology?" Recipients of 'readings' usually want immediate perspectives on immediate issues, and, usually, I can provide a measure of such explanation to their immediate satisfaction sufficient to justify the time spent.

People consulting astrologers invariably want statements to be made about their lives in 'plain English' and with regard to specific issues of great concern to them at that time, and nothing more.

It's like going to a doctor. When you go to a doctor, you are not seeking an explanation of the history of medical science, you want to know what can be done about a specific illness so that you can put it out of your mind, and go about the business of living. Astrology can be approached in this manner, and the bulk of my work with astrology for other people has been applied to such ends, often with satisfactory results for the person concerned, but not for me.

My experience of such a 'reading' is rather like that of the sailor who loves to sail and wants to take people on scenic, enriching voyages to very real, beautiful and edifying experiences of the world, but rather finds himself never leaving the harbor, because prospective voyagers, by and large, never want to lose sight of the familiar shoreline. Consequently, he finds himself maintaining his sea-worthy vessel only for purposes of providing nothing more than the equivalent of a carnival ride in a supermarket parking lot.

The extreme irony of this is that large numbers of people routinely seek to make great voyages into the vast reaches of greater spiritual awareness without the benefit of astrology. Other 'vessels,' such as psychoanalysis, religious doctrines, ritual practices, meditative techniques, philosophical systems and chemical stimulants and enhancers are employed, ad infinitum, for the purpose of attempting to traverse the expanded and exalted reaches of human potential.

I certainly respect the worthiness of many such vessels and use them myself in conjunction with astrology. Without the incorporation of astrology, however, I find those vessels lacking the sextant and compass that no self-respecting sailor would dare leave lying upon the shore, often relegated to the junk heap of discarded relics, despite the continued use of clocks and calendars which are totally astrological in their functional applications.

Most of my wiccan friends and associates, for example, routinely honor the four quarters of the ritual circle, the seasonal cycle, the lunar phases and the great pantheons of cultural traditions which have direct correspondences to the planets of the solar system.

One such friend, however, has told me directly, in response to my interpretation of the birthchart of George W. Bush, "This argument is fatalistic and provides unconscionable rationale for people to accept this version of reality -- after all, you claim that it's natural. This does not serve us. It does not serve the community. It does not serve the planet. In spite your assertions to the contrary, it is not objective. It is one explanation among many, and your choice to voice it to a gullible populace is a political act of disempowerment. You create as you speak, and this creates walls, and apathy, not doors, and tools for change."

Many of my Kabbalistic friends and associates refuse to employ astrology to any meaningful extent for similar reasons, and yet the Sephiroth of the Tree of Life have direct correspondences to the planets of the solar system. The planets are even held actually to be the Sephiroth in the Assiahic world of our actual experience of physical reality. My assertions that Kabbalah (by whatever spelling) is primarily a tool for understanding astrology, rather than the other way around, is treated with mild or not so mild contempt, as if I were bastardizing and degrading an exalted tradition of spiritual wisdom.

I believe there are two fundamental reasons for the disrespect afforded the practice of astrology by nearly every intellectual orientation, even those that pay it nominal homage. The first of these reasons is obvious; the shoddy character of the tabloid representation of astrology which most people take to be all that there is to astrology.

To this objection I offer a perspective stated most eloquently by the great American psychologist and philosopher, William James, in A Pluralistic Universe: "The sole condition of our having anything, no matter what, is that we should have so much of it, that we are fortunate if we do not grow sick of the sight and sound of it altogether. Everything is smothered in the litter that is fated to accompany it. Without too much you cannot have enough, of anything. Lots of inferior books, lots of bad statues, lots of dull speeches, of tenth-rate men and women, as a condition of the few precious specimens in either kind being realized! The gold-dust comes to birth with the quartz-sand all around it, and this is as much a condition of religion as of any other excellent possession." This is certainly true of astrology. It is wrong to dismiss good astrology, or all astrology, simply because bad astrology is in your face.

The second reason that I propose for the disrespect afforded astrology at large is perhaps not so obvious as the first. That reason is that the most powerful political forces operating in our world thus far, be they religious or secular, have a vested interest against astrology and apply their formidable power to influence the world against it.

Astrology, and only astrology, provides a real, material and measurable perspective upon the greater cosmos that cannot be directed or argued away by any earth-bound political faction. Rather than locking us into a strict determinism, astrology rather liberates the human mind from larval perspectives. It guarantees on open society and tolerates no demagoguery. Astrology is therefore the natural enemy of demagogues.

I offer the unstudied, knee-jerk denial of these truths as evidence of the the pervasiveness of this attitude. The primary reason for the denial of the great potential use of astrology for expanding human consciousness, individual and collective, is the irrational social ostracism that is heaped upon it.

The root of this ostracism can be traced to powerful people and institutions who categorically object to it, despite the considered testimony of many of the greatest thinkers in the history of the world, including illustrious figures of our own times, such as Carl Jung in his book, Synchronicity. Were he to have pushed astrology any further than he did, he himself would likely have been ostracized more severely. We may safely assume that Jung was well aware of this political fact.

So long as only a few people get really serious about astrology, its applications remain sketchy and ambiguous enough to be susceptible to attack as 'straw men,' easily blown away. Used by increasing numbers of people, however, the value of astrology will become more comprehensible in relation to the greater perspectives afforded by its judicious, widespread applications that will naturally purge the 'quarts-sand' away from the 'gold-dust' of which William James spoke above. The now smug objections to astrology will fall away, and a republic of free world thought will be established upon its basis.

It will take the cumulative perspectives of large numbers of people to explore the potential that astrology holds for humanity as a whole. These perspectives, however, begin with the way we are able to apply astrology now. The tradition we have inherited from the ancients is solidly in place as a starting point for all of us to pick it up and apply to our individual lives and to the world at large.

As of yet, this intellectual exercise has proven too challenging to humanity to allow for it 'taking off' as it were. We are on the brink, however, out of inevitable necessity, of lifting our eyes unto the heavens and taking hold of the planetary 'skyhooks' provided by the creative forces of the Universe for the purpose of facilitating a global-cosmic frame of reference upon our natural existence.