(August 1986)

       Mind  is  the  sixth  sense for men and women  and  can  be disciplined  and  developed to be able to direct the  other  five senses  which stimulate it.  Mind, for an individual, has the appearance of separate existence in the body. The separateness is an illusion that comes from being tied to the body, while the reality is that the mind is part of the One Universal Mind.

There are some fundamental and basic truths upon which the mind can be set:

·         All life is one.

·         For every positive, there is a negative.

·         Life in form is marked by birth, ageing and death.

      The Oneness of All Life means there can be no fundamental distinctions among things.  All distinctions are apparent and created by the mind.  People become attached to or desirous of these appearances and experience wrenching changes when the distinction disappears back into the oneness. The essential unity of reality continues at all times while appearances change.  The changing  life of this world is not like the life of the  greater unity  that  does  not  change,  yet neither  is  this  world  of appearances separate from the essential unity.         

     To understand that all life is one, the conditions and circumstances of life can be seen to be a never ending series of causes and effects.  This is an illusion about life that comes from a mechanistic view of life that defines reality by sequential cause and effect.  The  true nature of reality  is  that  life is  a  set  of  causes inextricably  intertwined and that life depends on the  integrity of the whole for continued existence.  Since all life is one, the integrity is maintained and life continues as forms appear and disappear. No form can be independent of change or of the whole.

    An astrologer reads the stars and planets of the astral plane. The astral plane is also known as the emotional-desire or sensory level of existence.  Desire is a part of the process of matter manifesting from an invisible to a visible state. While feelings are not something to be repressed, desire needs to be channeled.  An astrologer needs to direct his/her desire and not be controlled by it.  To be free of desire means being able to rise above desire while still being in it, so that it remains directed. The astrologer in his/her right mind can be aware of the overall state of things, but someone who doesn't  understand  the laws of positive and  negative  extended through time,  who is ignorant of the oneness of life, can easily become filled with unbalanced desires and distorted  perspectives which  in  turn  lead to a restless,  but blind search  for  some unobtainable satisfaction.  The distortion of perspectives gives the illusion of separateness and duality in existence.  The delusion becomes reality as the mind fills it with positives and negatives based on the faulty premise of separate existence in the individual being. On the plane of emotional awareness, the occultist should hold the center point to know which emotional currents are projections of self and which are projections of others.

     There are three viewpoints which deny astrological ability. If the astrologer has them, he/she is not an astrologer, and if the client has these viewpoints, there is little or nothing the astrologer can do for him/her: The first is the view that all human experience is predestined; the second is that everything is created by God and controlled by his/her will; the third is that everything happens by chance with no cause or condition.  The first view is a trap into which astrologers themselves sometimes fall; the second marks those who often persecute astrologers; the third might seem nihilistic or perhaps, insane. People often act as though one or another of these views is in focus, but not consistently.     

     The astrologer, in maintaining a state of mind, guards against two things which can destroy it.  One is the passion for analyzing and discussing things "ad infinitum ad nausea".  This is getting caught up in the delusions of reasoning, and really shows ignorance.   The second is the passion for emotional experience, which leads to delusions in the habits of life.  It confuses the values and creates unbalanced hungers and desires. If the astrologer indulges in these passions, then a wrong sense of satisfaction brings greed, a wrong sense of the state of one's affairs and circumstances brings anger, and the inability to judge what is correct conduct brings foolishness.  Greed, anger and foolishness can burn an astrologer as well as anyone in flames of desire.

     The astrologer must be emotionally balanced and purposeful to be able to see, think, speak, behave, practice, aspire and concentrate in the best way.  The astrologer must be able to see clearly the connection of cause and effect, and not be deceived by appearances.  He/she must be able to think without getting angry, greedy or having his/her mind follow a train of desires. He/she needs to avoid slander, lying, deceiving, idle gossip or insults.  He/she needs to act for the constructive forces in the universe, neither destroying life nor stealing, nor committing adultery.  He/she  should not do anything shameful or that  would bring  regret,  but  instead make every effort  to  maintain  the highest character and an aware,  compassionate  and understanding mind, concentrating on those things which will elevate and smooth the  mind.  To ask advice of an astrologer who has not some measure of freedom from the control of desire is similar to asking a man to see the dry land while he is under water. To be free of desire is to be able to see correctly, think clearly, say the right words, behave in the appropriate way, make ones' way without creating karma, make a good faith effort, have the right attitude and have the right focus of concentration.  Each of these points, if not kept, can allow unbalanced conditions of positive and negative in the life.  A good astrologer avoids extremes of the body; both the extremes of indulgence in desires of the body and extremes of ascetic disciplines.     

      In   astrological   terms,    an   enlightened   astrologer encompasses the outer planets in his/her being and develops a transcendental body of light to do so.  In this being the desires and indulgences of Venus are transmuted to the spirituality of Neptune.  The  animal desires and actions of Mars are  sublimated into   the   passionate  enlightenment  of  Pluto  so  that   the individualizing  action of Mars acts to enforce  the  fundamental unity.   The  discriminating  mind  of  Mercury  that  spins  its perceptions  of duality is reconciled by the acute  understanding of  the higher mind in Uranus.  The difference between the  lower and  higher  mind is more than a difference of  concrete  thought from  abstract  thought,   both  of  which  exist  in  mind.  The difference  is like that between Mercury and Uranus,  the  higher octave  of  Mercury,  wherein  Mercury  contains  all  manifested thought,  while  Uranus  contains Mercury  in  an  inspirational, intuitive energy format. One unit of Uranus may take many units of Mercury to explain. Composed of formless principle, only the wisdom energy of  Uranus  survives from  one  incarnation to the next,  while the knowledge  of  the lower mind is  lost  with  the body.  The problem for so many astrologers is in the change of going from the state of expanded consciousness to one of a dense physical body while keeping the realization of oneness and its expression.  It is hard to expand ones consciousness to beyond the orbit of Pluto and relate to this world at the same time.  The trick is to go back and forth between the states so fast that it appears to be one being.  The ego-personality  determined  from the Ascendant  is  an  illusion based  upon  the  mind's sense of "I am"  or  "mine",  while  the reality  is  a constant change of the form and being  with  every breath.  Not to deny the Ascendant or its usefulness, but it is not a point of heavenly matter, only earthly.  The connection is through the breath or breathing.

     There are some challenges for an astrologer: 

·         It is hard for a poor astrologer to be generous. 

·         It is hard for a proud one to be humble. 

·         It is hard for an astrologer to learn at the cost of self-sacrifice. 

·         It is hard to find other good astrologers.

·         It is hard to find good astrological teaching. 

·         It is hard to maintain the state of mind of an astrologer. 

·         It is hard not to desire the beautiful or attractive.

·         It is hard for a powerful astrologer not to use his power to gain his ends. 

·         It is hard not to get angry.

·         It is hard to be innocent in the face of temptation. 

·         It is hard to study and learn both widely and deeply.

·         It is hard not to despise a beginner. 

·         It is hard to teach others by knowing their abilities. 

·         It is hard to keep a peaceful mind. 

·         It is hard to endure the discipline to develop the astral/psychic body of light. 

·         It is hard not to argue about right and wrong.

·         It is hard to find and learn good techniques.

     It is usual for the astrologer to see problems of greed, anger and foolishness in many variations in the charts of others and he should not be attracted or repulsed by the sight.  People are inclined to be selfish and hard.  They argue and quibble over the slightest thing. They have to learn to respect each other and to have compassion. People can be cruel, trying to set themselves up to lord it over others in families and businesses.  The relations between the sexes run the gamut of thought, feelings and behaviors. Individual freedom rights of others are not always respected and people tend to take care of themselves and let their obligations go.  They are ignorant of the law of cause and effect as it extends through time.

      The problem has been the incessant tendency of humans to categorize life into positive and negative polarities.  Good and evil, black and white, ugly and beautiful, light and dark are all examples of perceived differences by which humans polarize their lives, clinging to one side of the pair and rejecting the other. The people    encounter    more suffering and less freedom as a result of being caught up in the world of duality.  Usually they don't know any better how to live.

     The kinds of people problems an astrologer might face generally have to do with DESIRE. People want love, money, power or ways to keep it. Sometimes people want understanding, but are drowning in their desires nevertheless.   To  the  astrologer  in   his/her astrological  persona,  not  even  a pile of money  should  waken desire, but the people who come to the astrologer are filled with desires  for and attachments to physical,  material  things  like houses,  money, other people, and beautiful and valuable objects. If  they  did  not  have  these  desires,  people  would  not  be dissatisfied,  unhappy or suffering. The suffering they endure is what has given the appearance of substance to their world; they are not inclined to let go even of the cause of suffering.   

     The astrologer constantly deals with the world of delusion every time a client comes with his/her perception of life, and a glance at the chart shows a considerably different reality.  The client is naturally courting fortune and avoiding misfortune, as any prudent person might.  The astrologer's view might see that the perceived "misfortune" so studiously avoided by the client is really the greatest fortune of all. (Should the astrologer take his own advice and get a "real" job?) The advice of an astrologer is often a statement of the conditions of positive and negative in the client's life on the physical, emotional and mental plane, and sometimes on the spiritual plane.  The counseling provided is often composed of helping others to let go, helping them to redirect emotions and desires and correcting attitudes about the true nature of their circumstances.  Not all cases would show this, but direction from an astrologer can provide emotional relief as well as material and spiritual benefit.

 OIA  Thanks to the Buddha, the Brotherhood and the Teachings. OIA