Wisdom in astrology
Posted: Sat Jun 22, 2019 4:42 pm
In the Introduction to The Practice of Astrology, Dane Rudhyar wrote:
Astrology... is technique for the gaining of wisdom through the understanding of the order in human nature and in all phenomena perceived by man: a technique in understanding.
Astrology as a technique in human understanding: this is, I believe, the deepest and most vital characterization I can establish of this system of thought which has been so greatly abused and so greatly misused. However, there is no attempt on my part to belittle the possibilities of forecasting the future which astrology undoubtedly offers to the master in this difficult art; and indeed no one acquainted with "horary astrology" can ever deny its amazing potentialities. But in order to use constructively and wisely these potentialities the astrologer need have gained more than mere technical proficiency - difficult even as such a gain is. He must also have reached a high degree of human understanding. For what the sky reveals is nothing but raw materials for human understanding. Everything ultimately depends upon individual understanding. This is so in astrology, as it is in medical or psychological therapy. Knowledge, in these fields, is not enough. Wisdom is needed.
The usual astrological text-books, old and new, are filled with data, the memorizing of which insures knowledge. But wisdom is a elusive factor. It can hardly be taught. It may partly be transferred from living person to living person. Yet, because it is based on the full understanding of total situations and of experiences lived without any reservations, it can only be acquired through actual living, through pain, through the discharge of responsibilities, through the courageous and honest putting forth of the whole of oneself in whatever experience is seen as significant.