 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Astrology and New Age Gary Taylor |
| What has two eights and two zeros? A special date,
Tuesday 8/8/00! This was the date chosen for a talk about the New Age "scene" and software
available for it; a talk given before a large audience at the East SIG. The mild winter's day began
with lovely blue skies but by sunset the black, boiling clouds of a severe "cool change" were
beginning to spit rain as strong winds lashed across the suburbs. Perhaps I put too many toads in
the cauldron? Not to worry, yet the journey down the Freeway soon became hazardous as sheets of
rain slowed the traffic and thunder and lightning blasted away the night. Purple-white sheets of
electricity swept the skies and in the distance the Melbourne skyscrapers were silhouetted against
the seemingly continuous lightning over the Western suburbs. The destination safely reached, my
computer was rushed from the car through driving rain into the haven known as Blackburn English
Language School, home to the East SIG. In spite of the rain, electrical storms and even a tornado in the Western suburbs, crowds arrived for the promised fun evening and talked computerese in ASCII and Basic. There were many skeptics amongst the audience, whether one spelled it with a "k" or a "c". New Age has been around for thousands of years and was known in ancient Egypt, India (and even in Atlantis), as "The Ancient Wisdom". Most of it is to do with the zodiacal influences or "Circle of Life" that form the basis of Astrology. |
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There is enormous confusion between Astrology and Astronomy; even scholars get mixed up in what they think is astrology when in fact they mean astronomy! Astronomy is now a "yes or no" science, dealing with facts and figures and accurate ephemerides of the planets and stars. Astrology deals with the subjective interpretation of the possible effects of the heavens upon our minds and bodies. The Australian Skeptics Society, http://www.skeptics.com.au/ covers most of the arguments against one's believing in Astrology or New Age topics.
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Thus, Astrology and New Age are subjective. Consider
the word GODISNOWHERE. One can read it as GOD IS NOWHERE or as GOD IS NOW HERE. The choice is up to
the state of consciousness of the Enquirer. For thousands of years Astrology/New Age teachings have
been accepted as a part of life and used to explain everyday events. Today there is a
scientific-condemnation of such subjective knowledge. However there is no smoke without fire and
within those teachings lie profound truths, hidden from the ordinary (untrained) person. The
Mystery Schools of the Ancients "initiated" their chosen pupils into the secrets of Astrology,
Kabbalah, Runes, Alchemy, Magic, Tarot etc. Have a snoop on Web sites such as: Kolisko Effect,
Gauquelins, Pineal Gland, Astrology and Zodiacs,
http://www.viking-z.org/akgpaz.htm. Most Scriptures, Mystery Knowledge and writings are on four levels. These are: literal, metaphysical (beyond the physical), occult (hidden knowledge) and mystical. Astrology and New Age nowadays stay mainly on a literal level and so appear to be nonsensical or amusing. |
After all, if I was born in January as a Capricorn body, then I
can read in the daily newspaper's horoscope a message that could fit millions of other Capricorns!
Humans love to pigeonhole people: "You are a Cappie, I am a Leo" and so on.
Once one moves on to the higher (esoteric) levels, it is not so simplistic. Much information
(Ancient Wisdom) has been coded as images, signs or symbols recorded in stone, in fairy tales,
mythology or in paintings. Those who know can read the messages left by the Ancients and know the
meaning of life and death and take charge of their own lives without having to resort to
soothsayers, psychiatrists or the priesthoods. Glimpses of the meaning of life are to be had at
Internet Sacred Text archive
http://www.sacred-texts.com/index.htm
| Ever seen a picture with a tiny skull hidden away in the scene? Ever seen an ankh in the Aboriginal rock paintings? Noticed the angle of seventy-five degrees that someone's lance makes to the horizon in a Medieval painting? These are coded messages for those who have been Initiated. The Templars, Cathars and earlier Mystery Schools left a huge legacy of cryptic information that is now being openly revealed. Thus, one can go on to higher levels of interpretation and suddenly all is revealed, even Time and Space and Atomic Structure. What has this got to do with becoming familiar with ordinary Astrology/New Age? Well, one has to start somewhere and it is best to have fun as one goes. There is a lot of software (much of it is freeware or public domain) that can give endless hours of pleasure, whether one believes the results or not. Try Downloads on the path, all subjects (software) http://www.shaka.com/~johnboy/astro.htg/astro.htm. An astrology freeware program called Astrowin was demonstrated to the SIG. Download it from http://www.astrowin.org/astrowin.htm or pay a dollar for the floppy at East SIG. This is a powerful program and it has enormous support on many explanatory web pages. The program delivers wheel charts, transits, progressions and many, many other desirable lists. |
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Interpretation of the charts is not given - this is left for the
user to learn and evaluate. One can join astrology groups and pick their brains.
Is X compatible with Y and will they be able to live happily ever after? A "cute" program,
Compatbl, was demonstrated. Each of the couple answers questions and the computer then does a
"Madame Zara" to give a prediction or likely outcome of the couple's living together harmoniously.
This program (together with Biorith and BioGraf for one's biorhythms) is on a floppy available from
East SIG. The Bio-softwares allow one to check out the biorhythms for any date during one's life
and interpretations are given.
Mind you, it could be that our relationships all depend on one's biorhythms, couldn't it? If two
people are constantly out of phase with each other one might expect a disastrous relationship?
There are four cycles running all the time we draw breath: our physical, emotional, intellectual
and intuitional. These are of varying periods and over time they synchronise or fall out of phase
with each other. By sheer coincidence the author (speaker for this subject) had his biorhythms at
full peak and synchronised on the 8/8/00 - the interpretation was "you can accomplish anything" -
not for many, many months on either side of this date were they so propitious! Astrologically,
there can be the "feeling low, no zest, no go ..." - when the Moon transits the sign in which it
was situated when one was born. There is also the depressive state six months after one's birthday
when the Sun appears in the sign opposite the one where it was at one's birth. Cycles occur for all
the planets and a huge Cosmic Clock seems to be influencing the human psyche.
Where the Sun's apparent path crosses the celestial equator are the Spring and Autumn equinoxes,
equal day and night. The position of the equinoxes moves steadily backwards through the zodiacal
constellations by one degree every 72 years (an average life span) and over a period of 26,000
years the Spring equinox completes one cycle around the Zodiac. This period is one Zodiacal day on
the Cosmic Clock. When the Spring equinox was in Taurus we had the cult of the Bull (Taurus) or
Mithraism. The equinox began moving through Pisces about 1450 AD and so we are now in the Age of
Pisces (the Fishes) the cult of Christianity, fishers of Men - even though New Agers love to state
that we are in The Age of Aquarius!
Other cycles impinge upon the Zodiacal ones and seem to stimulate subconscious memories of past
epochs. Recently there is a renewed interest in Pyramids etc. There has been much controversy over
the resurgence of apocalyptic interpretations of the Book of Revelations, the Hopi Indians, and so
on. There are endless plays on the number twelve: 12 months, 12 sacred trees, 12 pairs of cranial
nerves, 12 disciples, 12 orifi in the human body ... Plays on the number 7 also: 7 sacred planets,
7 spiritual centres or chakras, 7 days of the week, 7 colours of the rainbow, 7 dwarfs of Snow
White, the Dance of the 7 veils, and so on. The mentions of 12 or 7 are subtle references to the
human body! We are reading instruction manuals about the human psyche! Is the Number of the Beast
really 666? Numerology explains some of the coding, see Wisdom literature search engine http://thinkers.net/
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The Tarot cards existed thousands of years ago and
were reintroduced seven hundred years ago. There are 22 Major cards and these correspond with the
22 chapters of the Book of Revelation, the 22 Paths in the Kabbalah, and so on. The Tarot cards are
full of symbolism and astrological glyphs, apart from being works of art in their own right.
Ordinary playing cards are the "common man's" Tarot deck, usually used for gambling or games. Many
years ago an intriguing record appeared in the "top ten" wherein a soldier related what the deck of
cards meant to him in a spiritual sense. Of course, the soldier was years ahead of most of us, just
as was the children's Dr. Who television program. The program eventually "reincarnated" a total of
7 "Dr. Who"s to familiarise the future generations with the theme of reincarnation. New Age
principles have sneaked into everyday life. For those who can see the human aura or colour field
(astral body), a healer usually has green fire coming from the fingers. |
A well known children's film showed E.T.'s fingers as green fire
whilst healing someone. Most people can see the aura once the conscious (intellectual) mind is
quieted. Good sites: Avatar search the occult Internet http://www.AvatarSearch.com/index.html Chakras http://www.astrola.com/chakras.html.
Hermes Trismegistus (Hermes the Thrice Greatest) supposedly quoted the axiom: "As above, so below.
As within so without". In other words, whatever is within the human body, mind and soul is also out
there in the big universe. Whenever one meets another human, one only ever confronts self! Is there
something that irritates you in another person? Have a good look into yourself before criticising
the other. For ages, the Zodiac has been related to the parts of the physical body: knees
associated with Capricorn, feet with Pisces etc. ... Spots on the Sun with sun-spots on one's skin,
flaming comets with portentous calamities on Earth (Earth being the human body too), meteor showers
with pestilence below. This has spawned no end of desires for divination - whether by tea leaves,
reading the cards, crystal gazing or scrying, throwing the I-Ching, and so on.
What IS the universe but the one-song or one verse! Learn the meaning of that one verse. Once one
realises that oneself is a drop in the ocean of beingness yet separate (individual) it begins to
make sense. Then one takes charge of one's own life (destiny) and stands on one's own two feet and
makes one's own decisions. Then, oneself is the Sun (Son) in charge of the Zodiac and controls all
the thoughts and influences impinging on oneself from the Zodiacal creatures or "Circle of Life"
around oneself!
There is a simple freeware program called "Almanac" which takes all the worry and stress out of
making decisions. One can consult the program about the winning numbers for lotteries, the best
times for fishing or when to move house. The program covers most situations and guarantees endless
fun and diversion. It even has tables for the Moon's phases, rising/setting of the planets,
astrology, tarot and other delights. The program is available at the East SIG, a dollar for the
floppy disk.
We all love make-believe and like to think that we are looked after by superior beings. The sad
truth is that we are our own worst enemies. We put ourselves down, rely on others to carry us in
moments of crisis, turn to Gurus and Masters at the drop of a hat. However this situation is
changing for the better. The Internet and the many self-improvement sites are now openly available
to most Nations and we find that one can soon become a Netizen. A Netizen is no longer a White or a
Black or whatever other label we like to stick on anyone different from ourselves. A Netizen
belongs to a global village where news travels fast and ignorance is no excuse. In Melb PC there
are many thousands of Netizens, all influencing the world in their many individual ways. We lost
out badly by the confusion of our original common language in the dim, dark past (Story of Babel).
A new common language is developing via the Internet. Mind you, it is stated that numerologically
the Net is the Number of the Beast, 666! What do you think?
Reprinted from the May 2001 issue of PC Update,
the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
