Don’t you find it strange that astrology – a practice rooted in stargazing and close observation of the heavens – now happens almost exclusively indoors and on computers?
Instead of examining the stars, most astrologers now exclusively look at natal charts on screens. Many students of astrology can't point out the planets in the sky, let alone calculate charts by hand. Rather than feasting our eyes on the beauty of the stars, we mostly just look at screens.
Do you know what it feels like in your body to see a planet and not just a glyph of a planet? Do you know how to spot Saturn in the sky? Do you remember the last time you connected with the brilliance of Venus, the third-brightest planet in the night sky?
Most astrologers and students of astrology don’t. A real disconnect has developed between the discipline of astrology and the real, tangible happenings in the sky that give astrology its meaning in the first place. Astrology has ceased to be an embodied practice.
As a result, a lot of people's understanding of the planets comes merely from books and teachers, not from witnessing and experiencing the planets themselves. It's quite literally second-hand information. Many astrologers live in a hall of mirrors composed of human perceptions of the planets, never breaking free to witness the planets themselves.
But there is a way out of this hall of mirrors. You must engage in embodied spiritual practices that reconnect you to the celestial power source that gives horoscopic astrology its meaning. It’s not enough to read books on astrology and spend all day looking at natal charts. You have to reconnect with the real world from which astrology originates.
In my courses and apprenticeships, I teach a lot of embodied practices for reconnecting with astral and planetary energy for this very reason. A complete education in astrology must rewild people and revive their tether to the stars.
Here I want to teach you a simple practice you can do to reconnect with the power of the planets in a very tangible way.
Just after sunset tonight, go outside and look to the western horizon. Shining brightly about 30 degrees above the horizon you will see the planet Venus. You can use software on your phone that identifies points in the sky if you want to make sure you've correctly identified Venus.
Once you have seen Venus, sit down and take 5 deep, smooth, steady breaths. Notice how your body feels, what your mind is thinking about, and what emotions you are experiencing as well. Just take a note to become more aware of your current loved experience.
Then, while still breathing slowly and deeply, fix your gaze on Venus, and open your palms to face her to help receive connect with the planet. It is like you are doing zazen or another open-eyed meditation, only your object of focus is the planet Venus.
Soak her energy in. Lose yourself in the awareness of the queen of love.
After about 10 minutes of gazing at Venus, check and notice how your body feels. Has the energy in your body altered? Has your mood shifted? Do you feel any subtle shifts or variances in your energetic makeup?
After a little while, you'll begin to feel saturated with the power of Venus. Your mood and energy will sync up with hers, just as if you had been staring into the eyes of a lover, soaking yourself in their energy and being.
Like any spiritual practice, this exercise brings many holistic benefits. By steeping yourself in Venusian energy, you become blessed with the good fortune and gifts that she offers. Venus uplifts people's moods and brings a deep sense of nourishing contentment. She makes people feel more comfortable in their bodies.
Venus also opens opportunities for connecting with friends and lovers easier. She even brings physical healing and was considered the celestial queen of good health and wellness. The Pythagoreans used to wear good-health talismans with the 5-pointed star of Venus’ synodic cycle for this very reason.
For the purposes of learning horoscopic astrology, connecting with Venus like this gives you direct, unadulterated awareness of the energy of Venus. You begin to understand her essence on a far deeper level than any book will bring you.
Doing this practice once creates a noticeable shift in one's aura. Doing it for several days in a row helps to bring more of her energy and blessings into your life. Ritual magic with Venus becomes more profound.
And if you make it a consistent practice to connect with Venus in this way, in time you'll have a far deeper understanding of her energy than what you could receive in books. Your capacity to interpret and connect with her symbolism in a natal chart will develop dramatically.
Imagine what would happen if you watched Venus in this way for several months. You would notice how her energy shifts and changes as she moves from one sign to the next. Venus in Taurus feels different than Venus in Gemini. How would her energy change as she perfected a square to Saturn or a trine to Jupiter? What might you feel this year as she slows down and stations retrograde in the late summer?
Can you imagine how much this will change your capacity to interpret Venus in the signs and in aspect to other planets in natal charts? You now have embodied knowledge of Venus – not just second-hand news from a book.
Now imagine that you have done this practice with all the planets, whenever they are visible in the sky, for years and years. Just think of the grounded, embodied gnosis of planetary energy you would carry within your very being.
This is the kind of tangible gnosis that the ancient astrologers carried. Their delineations and prognostications were felt. They had a first-hand report and first person-rapport with celestial energy. You can achieve this too.
Here’s the cold, hard truth: these civilizations and square walls in which we shelter ourselves do nothing for our spiritual connection or astrological prowess. Enmeshed in the human world where all we see are the crafts, deeds, and musings of humanity, we imprison ourselves in an echo chamber of human perception and regurgitated, social simulacra.
There's a reason why most mystics throughout history leave civilization and society to retreat to become desert hermits, forest yogis, or mountain sages. The connection to the natural world - the really real - gives spiritual insight and wisdom its power.
No other living wisdom tradition has lost their natural, earth-based connection to the extent that astrology has. If astrology is going to remain viable as an authentic wisdom tradition, it needs to reconnect with its physical, embodied roots.
So if you want to become a real astrologer - one who doesn't just read symbolism in natal charts but connects to the absolute Spirit of the lofty heavens - then return to your embodied roots.
In doing so, you will return yourself to the celestial source that feeds astrological wisdom, and help restore the tradition of astrology to its foundation in the real stars above, and not just the stars on a piece of paper.