astrology question

[chachazoom]

I've been having a few very strange weeks. I've been beginning the breathing exercises and have experienced heightened intuitions. Some very clear some vague about many things, some that feel connected even to this board but I can't put it together.
One strange incident I'd like to mention to see if anyone can shed light happened a couple of weeks ago. I started a new job August 11th and so did another person, a male. I wa laying in bed attemtping breathing and I experienced a knowing that this person would share my birthday and it meant something. The next day the conversation of birthays came about and sure enough it was revealed that this person shared the exact same birthday and year and almost identical longtitude and latitude. I don't particularly feel drawn to him but it's interesting the objective similarities we share. Just random things like the first born in our families were born in England....parents lived on same street before we were born, played same musical instruments...it goes on and on. I've tried to look up the significance but I can't find much except soulmate nonsense. We're both contently married and he doesn't seem to share in my lifelong search for truth and meaning. Any ideas?

 

[Lorraine]

It's fascinating isn't. I have often wondered about the coincidences I have with a friend whose birthday is a day before me and was born in the same year. We both met our respective husbands the same year, got married at the beginning of the following year. Immigrated to the same country in the same year. Have two children and one with ADD. Both our kids went to the same pre-school, primary school and high school.

 

[henry]

A friend of mine recently purchased a guitar on ebay from across the continent. A couple of weeks ago, someone he had met at the beginning of the summer was passing through town on his way home and stopped by to make some music. My friend pulled out his new guitar to show to him, and the guy looked it over and said in a rather startled voice: "This is my old guitar!"

My buddy spent the rest of the weekend walking around muttering, "I can't wrap my head around this..."

Now, this has nothing whatsoever to do with astrology, but it is something of a coincidence. So things like this can happen. If you are starting to put your life together as you have written in other messages, you might want to consider what has been said elsewhere about Ibn al'Arabi's observations on distractions. Laura wrote about it here:

http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=12837.msg99743#msg99743

 

[mkrnhr]

These funny coincidences may be seen also as a sign of living within a matrix, in a closed system ?

 

[mada85]

One strange incident I'd like to mention to see if anyone can shed light happened a couple of weeks ago. I started a new job August 11th and so did another person, a male. I wa laying in bed attemtping breathing and I experienced a knowing that this person would share my birthday and it meant something. The next day the conversation of birthays came about and sure enough it was revealed that this person shared the exact same birthday and year and almost identical longtitude and latitude. I don't particularly feel drawn to him but it's interesting the objective similarities we share. Just random things like the first born in our families were born in England....parents lived on same street before we were born, played same musical instruments...it goes on and on. I've tried to look up the significance but I can't find much except soulmate nonsense. We're both contently married and he doesn't seem to share in my lifelong search for truth and meaning. Any ideas?

This sounds mostly like coincidence and distraction – the general law working to fascinate you. ‘I experienced a knowing that this person would share my birthday and it meant something’ – I read this as a message from your higher self showing you an opportunity to become more aware of the mechanical nature of existence.

These funny coincidences may be seen also as a sign of living within a matrix, in a closed system ?

We are machines, and part of the work of developing a real ‘I’ is to free ourselves from mechanical influences. Astrology describes the mechanical nature of our lives and the matrix – the closed system we live in. Many people are fascinated by it, as though it reveals the hand of God as a benign and loving deity. In fact, the opposite may well be true.

Consider this passage from Kurt Rudolph’s book, Gnosis: The Nature & History of Gnosticism:

The side of the dualistic world-view which is opposed to the divine pole - often described as 'light' - is 'darkness', which is described principally in physical terms as matter and body (corpse), or psychologically as ignorance or forgetfulness.

In Gnosis however the realm of this anti-divine pole is very widely extended: it reaches even into the visible heavens and includes this world and the rulers who hold it in slavery, in particular the creator of the world with his auxiliary troops, the planets and the signs of the zodiac.

It becomes a prison from which there is no escape, unless the liberating act of the transcendent God and his helpers opens up a way on which man (strictly only a small part of man, namely the divine spark) can escape.

Regarding the ‘rulers’ and the ‘creator of the world’: in Gnostic theology, the creator of our world is a dark being whose mother is Sophia, or wisdom. Sophia, however, gave birth to this dark being without the knowledge, consent or participation of spirit or her partner-lover.

When Sophia saw what her desire had produced, it changed into the figure of a snake with the face of a lion. Its eyes were like flashing bolts of lightning. She threw it away from her, outside that realm, so that none of the Immortals would see it. For she had produced it ignorantly.

She surrounded it with a bright cloud, and put a throne in the middle of the cloud, so that no one would see it except the holy Spirit, who is called the Mother of the Living. She named her child Yaldabaoth.

Yaldabaoth is the first ruler, who took great power from his Mother. Then he left her and moved away from the realms where he was born. He was strong, and created for himself other realms by means of a bright flame of fire that still exists. He mated with the Mindlessness that is in him, and produced his own authorities[…]

translated by Marvin W Meyer

Yaldabaoth produced twelve authorities. If the Gnostics are correct – whether actually or symbolically – then it would seem that twelve-sign astrology is a tool of the control system.

In In Search of the Miraculous, Gurdjieff says that astrology ‘deals with only one part of man, with his type, his essence – it does not deal with personality, with acquired qualities.’

After dropping his stick, and observing how each of his five companions reacted to this in their own way, Gurdjieff goes on to say: ‘This is astrology. In the same situation one man sees and does one thing, another – another thing, a third – a third thing, and so on. And each one acted according to his type.’

Gurdjieff then suggests that astrology as we know it is limited, but that there is the possibility of a different kind of astrology: ‘Observe people and yourselves in this way and then perhaps we will afterwards talk of a different astrology.’

I find this passage very interesting. G says that astrology deals with type or essence, not with personality or acquired characteristics. And yet we are personalities with little or no knowledge of our essence, which would explain why G suggested the existence of a ‘different astrology’. However, his comment, ‘each one acted according to his type’ suggests that essence is closer to us than we think (in this incident G equates type with essence).

 

[kenlee]

I find this passage very interesting. G says that astrology deals with type or essence, not with personality or acquired characteristics. And yet we are personalities with little or no knowledge of our essence, which would explain why G suggested the existence of a ‘different astrology’. However, his comment, ‘each one acted according to his type’ suggests that essence is closer to us than we think (in this incident G equates type with essence).

I found this in Ouspenskys ‘In Search of the Miraculous’ where he speaks of fate in terms of planetary influences and that we are still restricted by the general law even when living under the law of fate, but as I understand it, the difference is that if we are under the law of fate then we are freer (but not totally free) since certain things can be taken into account and there are more possibilities because we have become more free of those restrictive laws that trap our awareness and keep us asleep in the world of false personality.

Gurdjieff talks about these laws in Ouspensky's book ‘In Search of The miraculous':

"Moreover, it happens fairly often that essence dies in a man while his personality and his body are still alive. A considerable percentage of the people we meet in the streets of a great town are people who are empty inside, that is, they are actually already dead.

"It is fortunate for us that we do not see and do not know it. If we knew what a number of people are actually dead and what a number of these dead people govern our lives, we should go mad with horror. And indeed people often do go mad because they End out something of this nature without the proper preparation, that is, they see something they are not supposed to see. In order to see without danger one must be on the way. If a man who can do nothing sees the truth he will certainly go mad. Only this rarely happens. Usually everything is so arranged that a man can see nothing prematurely. Personality sees only what it likes to see and what does not interfere with its life. It never sees what it does not like. This is both good and bad at the same time. It is good if a man wants to sleep, bad if he wants to awaken."

"If essence is subject to the influence of fate, does it mean that compared with accident fate is always favorable to a man?" asked somebody present. "And can fate bring a man to the work?"

"No, it does not mean this at all," G. answered him. "Fate is better than accident only in the sense that it is possible to take it into account, it is possible to know it beforehand; it is possible to prepare for what is ahead. In regard to accident one can know nothing. But fate can be also unpleasant or difficult. In this event, however, there are means for isolating oneself from one's fate. The first step towards this consists in getting away from general laws. Just as there is individual accident, so is there general or collective accident. And in the same way as there is individual fate, there is a general or collective fate. Collective accident and collective fate are governed by general laws. If a man wishes to create individuality of his own he must first free himself from general laws. General laws are by no means all obligatory for man; he can free himself from many of them if he frees himself from buffers' and from imagination. All this is connected with liberation from personality. Personality feeds on imagination and falsehood. If the falsehood in which man lives is decreased and imagination is decreased, personality very soon weakens and a man begins to be controlled either by fate or by a line of work which is in its turn controlled by another man's will; this will lead him until a will of his own has been formed, capable of withstanding both accident and, when necessary, fate."

So (if I'm properly interpreting what Gurdjieff said above), when we are under the law of fate (which are governed by planetary alignments and influences) then we are still under general laws but there is a greater degree of freedom there since we have freed ourselves of many false illusions and mechanized behavior that put us under many more laws (that kept us unconscious) within that framework.

I’m just speculating here but this might mean that there is still the restriction of our ‘character’ when under the law of fate, that is, we are still restricted by how we naturally react to things because of our type although we are more free to react to things according to our true nature since there is a lesser influence of our learned conditioning which tends to separate us from contact with, and reacting in accordance with, our own essence. So, possibly, to be free of the laws of fate might be a ‘freedom from our own character’ (or type) and I think this would put us under the laws of destiny which is totally free. I was thinking that this might correspond to getting in touch with our higher centers (our Individuality) which, as I understand it, might be under what Gurdjieff calls ‘starry influences’.

 

[mada85]

Thanks for the Gurdjieff quote, kenlee.

So (if I'm properly interpreting what Gurdjieff said above), when we are under the law of fate (which are governed by planetary alignments and influences) then we are still under general laws but there is a greater degree of freedom there since we have freed ourselves of many false illusions and mechanized behavior that put us under many more laws (that kept us unconscious) within that framework.

In astrological terms, I think that Gurdjieff might be suggesting something like this: we can analyse astrological influences in our life, which are mechanically predictable, and this can give us an idea of what to observe and work with in self-work. This brings into play our consciousness. We can then find out the way to use these influences for growth, self-knowledge and learning, which brings into play a consciously directed aim.

This may be what Gurdjieff means when he says:

Fate is better than accident only in the sense that it is possible to take it into account, it is possible to know it beforehand; it is possible to prepare for what is ahead. In regard to accident one can know nothing. But fate can be also unpleasant or difficult. In this event, however, there are means for isolating oneself from one's fate.

Using the birth chart and the ephemeris, ‘it is possible to take it [fate/planetary influences] into account’. It is not possible to predict how ‘fate’ will manifest in our life, but we can analyse the prevailing ‘energy-weather’ or ‘emotional weather’. My hypothesis is that external manifestations differ according to the level of consciousness/being of the person, and whether they can do the inner work to utilise the planetary influences for growth. Knowing the current planetary influences often helps to give a more objective understanding of a given inner state – a ‘means for isolating oneself from one's fate’?

 

[chachazoom]

One strange incident I'd like to mention to see if anyone can shed light happened a couple of weeks ago. I started a new job August 11th and so did another person, a male. I wa laying in bed attemtping breathing and I experienced a knowing that this person would share my birthday and it meant something. The next day the conversation of birthays came about and sure enough it was revealed that this person shared the exact same birthday and year and almost identical longtitude and latitude. I don't particularly feel drawn to him but it's interesting the objective similarities we share. Just random things like the first born in our families were born in England....parents lived on same street before we were born, played same musical instruments...it goes on and on. I've tried to look up the significance but I can't find much except soulmate nonsense. We're both contently married and he doesn't seem to share in my lifelong search for truth and meaning. Any ideas?

This sounds mostly like coincidence and distraction – the general law working to fascinate you. ‘I experienced a knowing that this person would share my birthday and it meant something’ – I read this as a message from your higher self showing you an opportunity to become more aware of the mechanical nature of existence.

These funny coincidences may be seen also as a sign of living within a matrix, in a closed system ?

We are machines, and part of the work of developing a real ‘I’ is to free ourselves from mechanical influences. Astrology describes the mechanical nature of our lives and the matrix – the closed system we live in. Many people are fascinated by it, as though it reveals the hand of God as a benign and loving deity. In fact, the opposite may well be true.

Consider this passage from Kurt Rudolph’s book, Gnosis: The Nature & History of Gnosticism:

The side of the dualistic world-view which is opposed to the divine pole - often described as 'light' - is 'darkness', which is described principally in physical terms as matter and body (corpse), or psychologically as ignorance or forgetfulness.

In Gnosis however the realm of this anti-divine pole is very widely extended: it reaches even into the visible heavens and includes this world and the rulers who hold it in slavery, in particular the creator of the world with his auxiliary troops, the planets and the signs of the zodiac.

It becomes a prison from which there is no escape, unless the liberating act of the transcendent God and his helpers opens up a way on which man (strictly only a small part of man, namely the divine spark) can escape.

Regarding the ‘rulers’ and the ‘creator of the world’: in Gnostic theology, the creator of our world is a dark being whose mother is Sophia, or wisdom. Sophia, however, gave birth to this dark being without the knowledge, consent or participation of spirit or her partner-lover.

When Sophia saw what her desire had produced, it changed into the figure of a snake with the face of a lion. Its eyes were like flashing bolts of lightning. She threw it away from her, outside that realm, so that none of the Immortals would see it. For she had produced it ignorantly.

She surrounded it with a bright cloud, and put a throne in the middle of the cloud, so that no one would see it except the holy Spirit, who is called the Mother of the Living. She named her child Yaldabaoth.

Yaldabaoth is the first ruler, who took great power from his Mother. Then he left her and moved away from the realms where he was born. He was strong, and created for himself other realms by means of a bright flame of fire that still exists. He mated with the Mindlessness that is in him, and produced his own authorities[…]

translated by Marvin W Meyer

Yaldabaoth produced twelve authorities. If the Gnostics are correct – whether actually or symbolically – then it would seem that twelve-sign astrology is a tool of the control system.

In In Search of the Miraculous, Gurdjieff says that astrology ‘deals with only one part of man, with his type, his essence – it does not deal with personality, with acquired qualities.’

After dropping his stick, and observing how each of his five companions reacted to this in their own way, Gurdjieff goes on to say: ‘This is astrology. In the same situation one man sees and does one thing, another – another thing, a third – a third thing, and so on. And each one acted according to his type.’

Gurdjieff then suggests that astrology as we know it is limited, but that there is the possibility of a different kind of astrology: ‘Observe people and yourselves in this way and then perhaps we will afterwards talk of a different astrology.’

I find this passage very interesting. G says that astrology deals with type or essence, not with personality or acquired characteristics. And yet we are personalities with little or no knowledge of our essence, which would explain why G suggested the existence of a ‘different astrology’. However, his comment, ‘each one acted according to his type’ suggests that essence is closer to us than we think (in this incident G equates type with essence).

Thank-you.