Astrology and Religion.
Astrology was the foundation of all the ancient faiths: Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Zoroastrian, Mithraism, the Druids and the Norse gods… Astrology was also at the heart of the Mayan, Aztec and Inca religions in the Americas with the Sun as the supreme God.
It is not surprising to find the planets at the heart of the ancient world religions of today: Judaism and Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and the Tao. It would be strange if it were not so.
Yahweh (Jehovah to Christians) and Allah, the Merciful and the Compassionate, are the names of God in Judaism and Islam. It is well recognized they refer to the same deity as the Christian Father, the One God of the Old Testament, perhaps seen in different lights.
The favorite title of Allah, ‘the Merciful and Compassionate,’ precisely defines the combined Sagittarian and Piscean character of Jupiter, particularly on the Tree of Life where Jupiter’s Sagittarian Sephira, or Shining One, is called Hesed, Mercy. The Piscean nature of Compassion is in little doubt among astrologers.
The famous sacred Tetragrammaton, Yod-He-Vau-He, which spells the name of Yahweh, comprises four letters from the higher triad which centers on Jupiter’s throne at Mercy.
These Gods, this indefinable divine Spirit, should not be confused with the everyday astrological spirit of Jupiter. The mundane may mirror the divine but the divine is of a different, higher order. The Kabbalah is quite explicit about these ascending metaphysical levels, finally attaining the divine. These ascending Spirits.
The characters of the eight principal Hindu Gods fit the characters of the eight principal Sephiroth, or Shining Ones, of the Tree of Life. There are some remarkable similarities between the Birth stories of Krishna and Christ. Ganesh, the expansive and beneficent elephant God who represents the divine Spirit of Jupiter in India, is translated as Lord of Hosts, one of Jehovah’s favorite titles.
Buddhism dogmatically denies any external deities but in practice Tibetan Buddhism acknowledges a full pantheon. Tibetan Buddhism also recognizes the four astrological elements, earth, air, fire and water, at its very heart.
More graphic evidence of the Tradition of the Tree of Life can be seen in the image of Avalokitesvara, the God of Compassion, which reproduces the central column of the Tree. Several elements in the story of the Buddha strongly echo the Tradition of the Tree, particularly his ascension to the top of the Bodhi Tree when he attained Enlightenment. The top or Crown of the Tree of Life, the Shining One of Neptune, is the favorite throne of the Lords of the past age of Pisces, Christ, Krishna and Buddha.
Perhaps the clearest evidence of the worldwide knowledge of the Tree of Life can be found in the most far-flung and unexpected quarter. The eight tri-grams of the Tao date back over three thousand years and are used for oracles, divination, for a faith which has temples of the ancestors rather than the gods, though the Tao does recognize a Supreme Unity, Supreme Spirit, or God.
The eight tri-grams are traditionally placed on a wheel representing the eight directions. In this arrangement their different elemental characters relate extremely closely to the zodiac characters of the major planets in the corresponding positions on the Tree. An astonishingly precise reproduction of the Tree of Life.
The Tree of Life Behind the Bible : Immortality and Reconciliation
The astrology and Kabbalah (Tradition) of the sacred Tree of Life reveals its celestial wisdom and symbolism at the heart of the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament, from Genesis to Revelation.
‘And the Lord God said.. now, lest he take also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever : therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden.‘ Gen. 3.22.
This Genesis verse holds the promise of immortality for all who recognize the spiritual nature of the Tree. The spiritual forces on which astrology operates confirm our own spiritual natures and the immortal Spirit which all religions have celebrated for many millennia, denying death. For those ‘with ears to hear,’ as the Gospels put it. Those who cannot see this wisdom are doomed to death every day of their lives, until they finally taste that ultimate liberation.
‘The Tree of Life which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month : and the leaves of the Tree were for the healing of the nations.’ Rev. 22.2.
Revelation confirms in unequivocal terms the astrological character of the Tree : the Moon’s harvest of the Tree’s twelve celestial spirits in her monthly circuit of the zodiac.
Even more important, this verse prophesies the revelation of the Tree of Life will ‘heal the nations.’ Revelation also promises ‘the mystery of God shall be finished.’ (Rev.10.7) When we recognise the common truth behind our different religions, our common hearts beneath our different skins, the nations and faiths will embrace one another as brothers instead of descending into enmity. And we will abandon our unhealthy, unsustainable and unhappy materialism.
We see religion yet again fueling war and now a desperate terrorism, instead of bringing peace and understanding. Yet it does not make great sense for there to be more than one God presiding over our tiny planet or for one God to be true and the others false. That attitude may have been inevitable, even necessary, in ancient times as cultures and states competed fiercely and it has left us a positive legacy of many different views of the incomprehensible mystery of God.
But the history of all faiths is one of evolution, constantly changing to suit changing times and we do not have to invoke the new age of Aquarius to recognize our own times are changing much more dramatically than ever before and our old attitudes are in so many ways no longer sustainable.
The revelation of the single celestial source of all faiths, the different faces of the One God, will one day bring all men of good will together in the knowledge of what this divine Spirit truly wants. This is really what everyone wants, love is the testimony of every heart, the divine Spirit in every heart, when we are able to listen.
All our prophets and sages have put the common humanity of man at the center of their message and taught God is Love and the spirit of love, humanity and mutual forgiveness is the divine Spirit working among us.
The unveiling of the spiritual facts of life shows this teaching is not just fine theology but accords strictly with the metaphysics of astrology, the spiritual life we all carry within.
Unconditional love is the essence of the Sun’s blessing, physically and metaphysically, the life pulsing in every heart, in every cell, at the heart of every atom. To quote Ananda Coomaraswamy, ‘This is poetry, but none the less science.’
The Most Ancient Science in Modern Times
Both Einstein and the great spiritual psychologist, C.G. Jung, recognized astrology. Jung’s letters admit he used it constantly in his analyses, while keeping quiet for fear of outrage. His monumental contribution to psychology is founded on introducing western thinking to the psychological functions of thinking, feeling, intuition and sensation, translating earth, air, fire and water, the four spirits of astrology.
Jung wrote extensively on alchemy, “astrology’s younger sister,” and metaphysics. We shall find physics and metaphysics, body and spirit, are closely integrated. The physical natures of the planets mirror their characters in astrology, for instance stormy Jupiter. just to state one example.There are many more. Zayin.
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