Whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the UNIVERSE
is unfolding as it should.
MAX EHRMANN

In 1992, I had the privilege of meeting someone that introduced me to this ancient science, and she remains a good friend to this day. She asked for my birth information, and said that she liked to know who she was working with. She had already guessed that I had some Aries in me, but we will get to that later. She is amazing because she can just meet you and know after a few minutes your Sun sign, and the Rising one as well. Her knowledge of astrology gives her an advantage in what she can expect of someone in any situation, so there are no surprises, at least not as many as you might usually get had you not understood that person’s ‘astrological being’ so well (the ‘human’ factor can mess with it).

She taught me that the world is bigger than anything we know; of course, being an Aquarius, I knew that, but not as well as I know it now. I am listing her website on here so if you are inclined to want to know more about yourself, and/or someone else, contact her here: StarGazersInternational   And while I certainly can’t provide what she offers, I can include a few of my insights about the value of it, as well as some points that may help you begin to observe those people you already know, in case you are a bit skeptical, and maybe, just maybe, you will want to know more.

For me, astrology has explained the reason I am the way I am, period. I always felt that I was just a little “off,” but I’m not, and you aren’t either (well, maybe)! I feel more accepting and comfortable with myself because both the positive and negative points of the very essence of my being are right there in my chart, and what’s even more cool is that I can use them as my ‘excuses,’ and you need excuses for why you do and don’t do anything and everything in this life. All I have to say is, “well, there you are, I can’t help it!” and all’s right with the world. It works for me anyway, and works for others if they have a sense of humor about dealing with me! (It helps if they understand Astrology though.)

If someone knows your astrological sign that is just the beginning of the kind of power they can have over you, if they are the sort that needs to have such over people, and there are many of us who are like that. Place of birth is essential for chart casting as well, although from what I’ve seen, knowing the hemisphere is enough info to have for that if there is some question about where; but the real power is knowing your TIME of birth. Your Sun sign offers some basic info, and is an important beginning, but the time of birth runs the show. You need this info to put it altogether in the full circle (Chart) of your Houses (there are 12 each represented as being ruled by one of the Sun signs) for it to provide any real insight about YOU as a person, employee, lover, spouse, child, and so on. Knowing someone’s complete chart and being able to interpret it is like looking into their underwear drawer.

There’s an abundance of software out there to use to put all of the information in and let it do its work in the form of a chart with everything all neatly placed at the time of your birth. A lot of this software analyzes each portion as well. I am always so impressed when someone doesn’t have this software, and does it all by hand...they have little charts of times and dates and planets in their files, and insert the info into one of those blank astro charts. Then, they interpret it...Wow! You have to have a mathematical mind for this as well, because this Universe of ours is running on a series of mathematical calculations, and it all fits in with it.

There are astrologers who do charts for your entire year based on where you are in your chart for that year, and they can calculate what energies will be at work for the weeks and months. If you have it done, and pay close attention to it, you will see that it is accurate. It is a rather humbling “ahh-hah moment” when you first realize that you have very little control over what moves thru your life. However, if we see it coming in that chart, we do have control if we chose to look at it with a positive eye. There are Key Words to use in this interpretation that focus on a positive slant for whatever it is that might be coming your way, rather than focusing on the negative.

Thoughts are things, and
Thoughts have wings.
DESIDERATA

Before Astrology was explained to me, I was still fascinated by the charts. And of course, everyone reads their Horoscope, even if they don’t want anyone to know they do, they take a peak at it. They ask themselves “what is it going to say today?” And then, they have a good laugh over it. Some astros in the papers are general ones, and will not hit the mark for everyone, but watch the eyes pop when they do!

My first visit to Egypt brought me to the Temple of Dendera which was the home of the ‘reported’ original Zodiac. There, on the ceiling of one of the roofs in one of the sun temples was a carving of a Zodiac not unlike those we see today. I was amazed and snapped a few pics of it, but what I didn’t realize at the time was that this was a replica. It seems that the original was stripped from the portico of the chapel that housed it for centuries, not very gently I might add, by the French in 1820, and shipped to Paris to eventually be displayed in the Louvre. It is the subject of much controversy.

Replica of the Zodiac at Dendera, 1983

Le Zodiaque de Dendéra á Louvre

That aside, the interesting part about all of this is that it proves that astrology has been a part of many civilizations throughout the centuries. We are aware of the ancient Chinese astrology, the Incas, and the mention of it in most other cultures as well. On some of the walls of Egyptian temples there are drawings of astrologers casting a baby’s chart the moment (Time) it was born to help foretell whether they would be fit for rule or not.

The evidence of the astrological science at Dendera is fascinating, especially now that I understand it better. The ceiling display is from the temple Dendera that was dedicated to the goddesses Hathor and Isis where the mysteries of the resurrection of the god Osiris were celebrated. (Every religion seems to have a resurrection of some sort, doesn’t it?) The Zodiac is carved from a slab of sandstone, and shows the vault of heaven, as represented by a disc, held aloft by 4 women with assistance from spirits with falcon heads. The Egyptians never really used the word, or any word resembling “spirits,” so I’m not sure about this other than that is the way it was related to me at the time.

Around the circumference of the heavens there are 36 decans that symbolize the 360 days of the Egyptian year. (Each decan is a measure of time and contains a set of stars and corresponding divinities. The rising and setting of decans marked hours and groups of 10 days which comprised an Egyptian year, and were adjusted to accommodate the Sothic-solar shift, much like present day calculations.) The constellations shown inside the circle include the 12 signs of the Zodiac, most of which are represented almost as they are today: Aries, Taurus, Scorpio and Capricorn being the obvious examples, and others are represented by more typically Egyptian iconography, such as Aquarius, which is represented by the god of Nile flood, Hapy. Also represented are the 5 planets known to the Egyptians at the time the Zodiac was created: Venus is behind Aquarius; Jupiter is near Cancer; and Mars is directly above Capricorn. This particular arrangement of the planets has proven instrumental in allowing experts to date the Dendera Zodiac.

[NOTE: I apologize for not being able to reference my source for some of the above information. It has been scribbled illegibly in my notes since 1985 when I didn’t even understand what I was writing; I just knew I wanted to have it. Someone at the Cairo Museum was studying it and told me all of this, and I didn’t write down his name.]