Moon signs and vision work

[Jim Eshelman]

Another post today reminded me that I may not have posted a significant piece of research here, although I've published it in detail. In my book Visions & Voices, I studied a series of two and a half dozen visions Aleister Crowley experienced (a variety of intentionally invoked dream state) for which we have date, time, and place. Against this, I presented horoscopes for the visions in both the Tropical and Sidereal zodiacs.

Here is the section on my analysis of Moon's sign against the detailed content of the visions.

[Jim Eshelman]

The Moon’s sign, changing (on average) every two and a half days, markedly characterizes these visions. The Moon is especially linked to psychological, astral, and visionary matter. Having looked at the evidence in these visions, I assert that the Sidereal constellation of the Moon describes the actual contents of the visions much better than the Tropical. The results are dramatic.

For each vision, two horoscopes are given: one in the Tropical Zodiac and one in the Sidereal Zodiac. The horoscopes are, in all other respects, identical. I believe the data generally speak for themselves. Nonetheless, by presenting both versions of the horoscopes, readers will be able to draw their own conclusions.

If you are not aware that there are two primary theories of the zodiac, this book will be real eye opener in that regard! ...To summarize briefly: Of the two competing theories of the nature and boundaries of the zodiac, the more popular in the West, for approximately the last thousand years, is called the Tropical Zodiac. It fixes the start of Aries at the place of the March Equinox. The Sidereal Zodiac was the only zodiac that existed, in every culture on Earth, during the first two to three millennia of astrology’s four to five thousand year known history, and, in slightly different forms, is still the preferred zodiac in In-dia. It was also one of the esoteric secrets of the Second Order of the Golden Dawn, although its proponent, MacGregor Mathers, was 5° off on his calculation of its boundaries.

In looking at a Tropical and a Sidereal horoscope for the same moment and place, what one will first notice, for 20th Century charts, is that about 80% of the time a planet will appear one sign earlier in the Sidereal chart than it will in the Tropical...

Unfortunately, the question, “Do the images and ideas that arise in each vision match the symbolism of the concurrent Moon-sign?” is inherently subjective. Symbols are the language of subconsciousness and never entirely reducible to nonporous rational labels. However, we can increase the objectivity of our conclusions by scoring the Moon-sign contribution of each vision and examining the entire pattern of all the æthyrs. This will filter out any tendencies to be so impressed with a few examples that we lose perspective on the whole.

Therefore... for each æthyr where a date and time are recorded, I rated the descriptive accuracy of (a) the Sidereal Moon-sign and (b) the Tropical Moon-sign, and (g) the comparative accuracy of one over the other. Again, I used a seven-point scale where 0 points were given if I could draw neither a pro nor con conclusion; 1, 2, or 3 points given if the vision and Moon-sign slightly matched, solidly matched, or had (nearly) flawless agreement; and 1, 2, or 3 points subtracted if the comparison was slightly mis-matched, seriously mismatched, or absolutely wrong.

Of the 33 discrete vision occasions for which time and date were provided, the Sidereal Moon-sign averaged a score of +2 (sol-idly accurate). The Tropical Moon-sign averaged a score of 0.

Ten of the 33 (almost one-third) were “nearly flawless” for the Sidereal Moon-sign, and 21 (63%) were “solidly matched” or better. In comparison, using the Tropical Zodiac, there were no instances where the symbolism appeared “nearly flawless,” and only seven (21%) where it was deemed “solid.”

In seven of these visions, the Moon was in the same sign in the two zodiacs. This leaves 26 vision occasions where the Moon was in different signs, and we can compare them. In four instances (15%), neither appeared better than the other. (In two of those four instances, the 20th and 8th Æthyrs, the Moon-sign did not appear to have any discernible impact on the vision.) In 21 instances (89%) the Sidereal Zodiac had better symbolism than the Tropical. In the remaining one instance (4%), Part 2 of the 14th Æthyr, the Tropical Zodiac had better symbolism than the Sidereal.

Furthermore, in ten of these 26 instances, the Sidereal Zodiac appeared to be “unquestionably superior” – maximum points. These were the 26th, 23rd, 21st, 9th, 7th, 4th, and 3rd Æthyrs, plus both parts of the 5th and Part 4 of the 2nd. In another six instances, the Sidereal advantage was “solid.”

These are remarkable numbers. They endorse the conclusion that the Sidereal constellation of the Moon describes the actual contents of the visions very well (much better than the Tropical), and that the differences are dramatic.

[Jim Eshelman]

The Sun moves too slowly for its sign position to have a radical impact on rapidly changing currents. Initially, therefore, I expected to see no particular significance from the Sun’s sign placement. That expectation was shortsighted.

In the Sidereal Zodiac, the solar sign placement was remarkable. In all of the visions from the 28th Æthyr through the 5th, the Sun was in Sidereal Scorpio. Scorpionic themes dominate the visions. These themes include, for example, the incestuous intertwining of sexuality, death, and transformation. The entire course of the visions is aimed at Crowley’s assimilation unto Babalon, who is a divine personification of the slaying, devouring, transforming, sexual, serpentine qualities of Scorpio.

If confirmed by other records, these observations suggest that the Sidereal sign-placement of the Sun at the time of astral scrying or other Yetziratic exploration does contribute to the nature and content of the visions.

For comparison, in all of the visions from the 28th Æthyr through the 5th the Sun was in Tropical Sagittarius. Besides fairly vague associations (spiritual aspiration, physical and psychological journeying), there is no general Sagittarian theme winding through these visions the way that there are obviously Scorpionic themes.

[Jim Eshelman]

[I probably should have started with this section. Below is a reduced part of the angles section.]

In magical theory, as in my experience, the astrological pattern at the time of a scrying conditions the ambient astral environment. That is, “journeys” undertaken to any part of the astral plane (World of Yetzirah) are affected and modified by the strongest astrological factors then prevailing. [FOOTNOTE: This applies to ceremonial magical workings also, because they either are undertaken in, or pass through, the same astral environment.]

It is in Yetzirah that astrological forces have their most direct and pronounced effects, precipitating into material circumstances as a consequence thereof. Planets crossing the horoscopic angles – the horizon and meridian – are among the very strongest astrological factors, and the most influential on rapidly shifting Yetziratic tides: On average, the meridian (MC and IC) and horizon (Ascendant and Descendant) change 1° every four minutes of time, or about 15° per hour.

At the rising of Mars (for example), any vision, even one of Venus or Jupiter, would be expected to have something of a martial quality simply because the tone of the Yetziratic “environment” would be markedly expressive of the qualities of Mars. Everyone’s personal subconscious mind, at the time Mars was rising, would be strongly skewed toward a martial tone.

This conditioning of the “ambient astral” is a most fascinating topic. Anyone already familiar with The Vision & the Voice will recall that many of the visions start or end with some imagery that seems foreign to the rest of the vision. These passing images remind me of “flipping through the channels” on a television while settling onto the program you want to watch. In most cases, this preliminary or concluding “static” has nothing to do with the target æthyr, but, rather, is a mark of Crowley’s mind reflecting the gen-eral astral tone at the time of the vision.

This is valuable stuff! We can learn much from examining it.

[After a section defining the angles, the text continues:]

Planets on angles when Crowley began each vision prove to be quite significant. In most cases, such a planet meaningfully characterized the tone or theme of the vision.

Usually, the angular planets described the overall tone or theme; but, sometimes they only described the early moments of a vision, as if portraying a street scene encountered outside of a building before entering.

Although the astrological conditions at the time a vision begins do usually set the tone for the whole vision (being part of the “set and setting” carried into the experience), the moment of beginning does not appear to be what astrologers call radical. That is, it is not a true “birth moment” like a person’s birth, forming a corporation, starting a job, getting married, or other decisive starting points. Instead, evolving astral conditions result from the continuing change of planetary angularity as the vision progresses, as new planets rise, culminate, &c. during the hour or two of a vision. (These changing conditions are mentioned in my commentaries.)

Of the 35 visions included in this book, no date or time was given for two of them, and four had no planets on angles at their start. This leaves 29 visions beginning with one or more planets on the angles. Of these 29, in ten cases the symbolism of the angular planets matches content of the visions so closely as to be rated “nearly flawless.” In another 11, the match of the vision themes to its angular planets was “solid.” When I quantified these scores, the 29 visions overall averaged a “solid” match to the angular planets.

Readers may want to study these visions grouped according to which planets were angular at their start. Here are a few notes based on the planets closest to the angles for each vision.

[There follows a planet-by-planet breakdown of what Aethyrs had them angular at start. It would be tedious to list this here outside the context of the book.]

[Jim Eshelman]

The lunar phase conditions the amount of magical vitality available to the operator. We can observe these surging and retreating tides through the course of the visions. Both instinctual and magical energies increase (as if tumescing) in the two weeks from New Moon to Full Moon, and drop off during the two weeks from Full Moon to New Moon. Though the New Moon can serve as a time to initiate new things, its energies remain weak. Powerful reflections of magical light into the human psyche occur at Full Moon, and then drop off soon after. The second week of the month (1st Quarter to Full Moon) is the most dynamic, though the whole time from New to Full is marked by increasing vitality and light.

The two or three days just before New Moon are traditionally the most destructive. However, experience does not show these energies to be inherently inimical. Rather, they are wild, instinctual, difficult to control, and inclined toward elimination and even dis-integration.

With respect to this tide, the instinctual seems inseparable from the highest spiritual expressions of magick. In either case, the sim-plest metaphor is that the greatest amount of pure Light is reflected into the soul, even as the Moon then reflects the greatest amount of sunlight.

[Jim Eshelman]

There is another solar pattern based on the annual ebb and flow of reciprocal currents of Light and Night streaming through the cycle of seasons. I expected this to produce recognizable results in this vision series and, in fact, it did.

Tropical astrologers may wonder why I distinguish this seasonal phase from the Sun’s passage through the signs of the Tropical Zodiac, which, after all, is based on the same framework of equinoxes and solstices. One reason for this distinction is that the characteristics of the seasonal tides do not match the characteristics of the corresponding twelve signs. Additionally, the seasonal tides flow in opposite directions north and south of the equator.

The pattern which has elaborated these annual seasonal rhythms most meaningfully is found within the Chinese system of divination, the Yi Ching, or “Book of Changes.” Twelve of the 64 hexagrams of Yi Ching are attributed to the 12 months of the Chinese year. (The whole pattern is displayed in Chapter 16 of my book, 776½.) These 12 hexagrams show a gradual change from a hexa-gram made of all “light” (unbroken) lines leading up to the summer solstice; then a gradual rising and replacement of “dark” (broken) lines leading to the threshold of the winter solstice; and then a gradual return of the light from that point until its fullness at summer solstice.

At the equinoxes, the light and dark are in perfect balance.

All of the visions from the 28th Æthyr to the 1st occurred in the last month of autumn – the month leading right up to winter solstice. (The final vision occurred on the evening of December 20.) This month corresponds to Hexagram #2 called “The Receptive,” consisting of all dark or Yin (feminine) lines. It shows night, receptivity, yielding, and devotion. Because all of the light (Yang) lines have withdrawn, it shows the completion of an inward turning of spiritual forces to sanctify the instincts. One might well call it the “victory of the feminine.” As study of these visions will show, this is an accurate description of the tone and content of the visions.

[Jim Eshelman]

While the foregoing factors will be the most important for us to observe in examining the horoscopes of each vision, other general astrological elements, such as exact aspects on the day of a vision, also will be examined for their contribution. These do not occur consistently enough to be rated like other factors above, but are examined instance-by-instance as they occur.

A similar astrological consideration is the effects of transits to Crowley’s own horoscope at the time of each vision. These have identifiable effect in most cases, though rarely as strong an effect as other considerations such as angular planets, the Moon’s sign and phase, &c. An exception is the on-going Uranus-Neptune opposition squaring Crowley’s natal Sun that runs throughout the entire series of visions beginning with the 28th. The Neptune-then-Uranus tag-team rhythms, surging and receding in the proximity of their exact aspects, is a major theme of the story before us.