Astro

My name is Michael Erlewine and I will be your guide through this course on astrology.
As for my qualifications, I have been studying astrology for over 40 years, and during
that time have worked as a teacher, rogrammer, author and counselor. !ou can read
about my background elsewhere in this course, but right now let"s get down to
it.Astrology is ancient, robably as old as when eole first measured time. It is resent
in some form in all countries and cultures, and always has been. In fact, the ma#ority of
the world"s oulation uses astrology at the day$to$day level, and not #ust for
entertainment, as we do here in the %est. &efore we begin our study of astrology, it
might be imortant to clear away two oular misconcetions about astrology.'ne
oular misconcetion about astrology is that the lanets out there in the heavens cause
events to haen down here on the earth. (rofessional astrologers who I have known )and
I have known many* do not hold with these theories of +celestial influence,, that lanets
somehow make things haen to us. Instead, modern astrologers see the heavens and the
earth as one whole entity, interenetrating, and sharing the same sace and time, which in
fact is the case.
-hey do not see the various lanetary configurations as causing events to haen here on
earth, but rather see the earth )itself a lanet* and all the other lanets as interacting in the
very same sace, and as sharing whatever events are occurring. In other words, whatever
events taking lace out there in the heavens are also haening down here on earth.
.either is the cause of the other/ both are haening simultaneously. -he lanetary
configurations are #ust grand signatures )like writing in the sky*, signs of events
haening right here in our own lives. &oth are the roduct of the same moment, one
acted out in the heavens above, the other here on the Earth below.
In other words, there is only one grand +lay, or moment. -he great drama enacted in the
sky above is also acted out )in e0act detail* here on Earth, and in the same moment.
Another way to say this is that the Earth is art of the cosmos and shares in that cosmic
moment. Astrologers tend to feel that all ma#or cosmic events )eclises, etc.* are
interactive/ they reresent an activity also taking lace within our self and consciousness.
Another misconcetion about astrology is that to be an astrologer, you have to somehow
+believe, in astrology. Astrology is not a question of belief, any more than you believe in
sychology. It is not a question of belief, but one of use. I often find astrology useful in
my life as a way of understanding who I am and what my life is about, lain and simle. I
don"t +believe, in astrology. I use it when I find it useful, and leave it alone when I don"t
1#ust like any other tool.
In summary, astrology is a study of heavenly cycles and cosmic events as they are
reflected in our earthly environment and vice versa1a vast cosmic clock. Astrologers
find the cosmic atterns revealed in the rhythmic motions of the lanets useful in
shedding light on the seemingly helter$skelter quality of everyday life. Astrologers do
study the skywriting in the heavens, but only to better live life here on Earth.