The Accomplishment Of Fatec

THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF FATE

Astrology is not a means of cheating fate but a tool for accomplishing it. The Romans and Greeks still looked upon the planetary principles as gods. Each primal principle was personified and its characteristics were portrayed as attributes of a particular deity. The Olympus of antiquity was, like astrology, a system for illustrating reality. At this point it is worth mentioning en passant that the Bible is also firmly built on the seven planetary principles, but this will be dealt with in a separate chapter.

The Greeks knew a simple formula for avoiding friction with the gods: as long as sacrifices are made to the divine powers they do not harm man. If no sacrifices are made the godhead snatches a victim by force. This formula is still valid and is actually the key to astrology. In fact it is closer to reality to imagine the primal principles as gods than to see them as dead heavenly bodies.

The concept of “sacrifice” means to allow space for a primal principle within one's own sphere of experience, to integrate it into one's consciousness. The various principles will confront a human being at different times in his life, and each will demand its due, challenging him to come to terms with it. But he who locks the door when he hears the gods knocking and refuses to allow them in can be certain that sooner or later he will be forced to make the sacrifice that he has refused to yield willingly. He who meets that challenge by letting the godhead into his personal sphere and becoming familiar with it need not fear it.

The path of a human life should lead to completeness; every advancement in learning, however small, makes the human being more complete. We move towards completeness when we add that which is still missing, when we integrate the as yet unknown. Thus, in accordance with the laws, a human being is always confronted by fate with those principles which he has hitherto not realized, those which have remained alien to him, those which are still missing from his experience.

This is the dangerous point where so many people make the mistake of closing themselves up and resisting the sacrifice that is demanded of them. This is where the fight begins between fate and the individual, with fate's victory as a foregone conclusion. As the loser, the individual complains about how he has been ruined by the wickedness of fate, overlooking the fact that he was the one who refused fate's invitation.

This is where astrology comes into its own. Astrological counseling should show the human being which study plan he has to accomplish in this incarnation and should explain to him the particular principles with which he has to come to terms. The astrologer, if he does not want to steal his client's own development, should not tell him the future. But he can inform him when a particular godhead will knock at his door and which attitude is required in order to get to know and love this god. Unfortunately we all too often forget that everything which we really get to know well we also automatically learn to love. To hate something invariably means not to know it.

Vertical thinking makes it possible for the astrologer to show his client the possibilities that exist on various levels for assimilating whatever principle has to be encountered for resolving the corresponding configuration of planets. Genuine astrological counseling never involves warning someone against a principle or its configuration. Rather the aim is always to give advice and encouragement in the confronting of it.

Herein lie the possibilities of a true “astrotherapy”. This form of therapy, as I have developed and consolidated it in recent years, uses as its basis a “reality-matrix” of the kind which I outlined at the beginning of this chapter. This enables us to translate the ten primal principles and their various configurations on to many different planes. We have seen how problems and diseases are examples of the way in which a configuration on the primal plane will claim its due on some other plane such as the mental or physical realm.

It is the task of every illness to acquaint the human being with some particular principle which he has not willingly tried to assimilate. With the help of a reality-matrix it is possible to make an illness superfluous by pointing out other planes on which the same principle can be assimilated, provided one stays on the same vertical alignment in moving from one plane to another. With this method there is no need to fight against a symptom. Indeed the symptom itself becomes superfluous, since the confrontation with the corresponding principle takes place on another plane. This is what we might call conscious vertical symptom-displacement.

Let us take another example to illustrate what has been said.

It is possible to calculate that somebody will shortly enter a Saturn phase; in other words, that a configuration featuring the planet Saturn will become manifest in his chart. I choose the Saturn principle again for two reasons: first, because it is considered particularly “bad” and is therefore generally feared; secondly because we have already become acquainted with this principle to some extent as well as with its analogous correlations on other planes (see matrix on page...)

Many an astrologer would warn a client about this configuration and the things that it implies: loss, restriction, accidents, illness and so on. Such a warning does not help the client in any way, who will only be frightened and feel victimized by the apparently malign planet. In fact the impending Saturn configuration means only that the time is ripe for getting to know the principle of Saturn better, for integrating that principle into one's life, for assimilating the Saturnian god in order to become more complete.

In order to make this process easier and reduce the client's resistance, we should first explain the principle and make clear that it represents an ingredient in the structure of reality and has its own justification. Following that we would give our client several pieces of advice as to how he or she can actively translate this principle into living experience. These pieces of advice might, in the beginning, sound a bit odd, but our matrix helps us to illustrate their significance. They might be as follows:

During the next few weeks try to reduce any activities of an expansive, outgoing nature. Avoid parties and social gatherings, amusement and lavishness. Try during that time to wear predominantly black clothing and go for frequent walks in cemeteries. If at all possible organize a room where you can retire and be alone. This room should be sparsely furnished, containing only essentials, and should be painted either all white or all black. Place on the wall, if you wish, the thirteenth Tarot card (death) and on your desk a skull or an hour-glass. Retreat as often as you can to this meditation room. Read the Tibetan Book of the Dead and certain passages in the Bible. Avoid copious meals – you could try a macrobiotic diet or, better still, fast. Drink, preferably horsetail tea. Suitable medicines would be lead or calcium taken in homeopathic form in a single dose of high potency. Listen to serious, classical music. Pay great attention to orderliness in everything you do during this time. Try to restructure many areas of activity in your life. Learn to know and love the blessings of quietness and solitude.

It is easy to see that all these recommendations come from the vertical chain of analogies belonging to the Saturn principle: structure, lead, horsetail, the colour black, cemeteries, symbols of death, and so on. The possibilities can be extended to many other planes and can be adapted to the individual in question. If our client follows a reasonable number of these recommendations he or she will inevitably learn to know and understand the Saturn principle. One simply cannot do these things without experiencing a change within.

Because our client is doing all this voluntarily no resistance will be produced and he will learn to love, in all its meaningfulness, the Saturnian attributes of limitation, renunciation, structure and reduction to bare necessities. Afterwards he will realize that by putting himself in touch with such problems as death, loneliness and stillness – which he so painstakingly avoided before – he has made himself more mature and aware of new dimensions of reality. He was able during this period, to do actively what he needed to do: namely to learn how to assimilate an aspect of reality hitherto unfamiliar to him. He accomplished his study plan and solved the problem.

If he does not follow these recommendations because he thinks renunciation, reduction and solitude are “not for him”, if he rejects such things and continues in his habitual way of life, then the Saturnian configuration may become for him a “bad” one. It will claim its “victim” by force. This could mean our client ending up in hospital owing to an accident. Here he is obliged to do without parties, social gatherings, copious meals, entertainments – all the things that we have recommended him to give up willingly! His hospital room is reduced to the bare essentials – the sort of room we advised him to organize for himself. Every now and then he witnesses how dead patients are wheeled out of the corridor, and he himself is absorbed in the thoughts of how close to death he was in the accident – we, too, advised him to reflect on the subject of death. He is alone a great deal and has time to think.

As we see, the end result is the same. We have said earlier that what has to be learned is already determined. The difference lies in the choice, in “how” we learn, whether willingly or by force.