Karma and Astrology

Taken from : Reincarnation The Second Chance – Sybil Leek

While astrology should not be thought of as a religion, it may well prove to be a guideline to the philosophy of the Age of Aquarius. Centuries ago, astrology was indeed the basis for several religions in which priest and priestess cults were much in evidence. Because of this ancient involvement with religion, many mystiques evolved around astrology and we are not yet completely clear of them.

Astrology may perhaps be best viewed as a universal system of logic that has a language peculiarly its own. One explanation for the phenomenal interest in astrology today is the increasing number of people who accept no formal religion and who seek in astrology a personal message. That they do so is not surprising; astrology, the science of relationships that bind the innumerable parts of the universe into an organic whole, also interprets the effects of these relationships upon individuals and groups – upon an entity whose origins can be traced to a specific point in time and space.

And since the spirit is indestructible, each incarnation of the spirit can be traced by the skillful and judicious application of astrology.

After 1875 when the Theosophical Society was founded by Helena Blavatsky and her American companion Henry Steel Olcott, astrology became linked with occultism. Thanks to Madame Blavatsky and her Indian masters, the Theosophists – who already accepted reincarnation – became involved with Indian teachings and therefore with astrology.

This step forward in the understanding of the relationship between karma and astrology was accentuated in 1885, when an English translation of a great astrological classic, the Brihat Jataka, was published in India. The translator explained in his introduction :

The difficulty in conceiving active agency as possessed by the planets, when viewed in the light of huge inert balls, will be removed when we suppose that each planet possesses a soul. Not only do they possess souls, but they are rewarding the chastising officers. The science of astrology treats the effects of the good and bad deeds (karma) of men in their previous births.

The pertinence of astrology to the doctrine of reincarnation was instantly appreciated by the theosophists and they revived the dwindling interest in astrology in America. What is more, in teaching astrology they concentrated especially on the esoteric aspects of karma discernible within the horoscope itself.

An important step forward in the understanding of karma and astrology was made by Alan Leo, a nineteenth-century astrologer. He wrote extensively about his past lives, and also made a mammoth contribution to astrological literature. His most outstanding work is undoubtedly his book on esoteric astrology, in which he explains how astrologers can draw upon a horoscope and find evidence of past lives within the seemingly mysterious glyphs of the chart. Leo considered his mission in his present incarnation to be that of serving as a liaison between astrologers and reincarnationists. He and a select group of theosophical astrologers pioneered the present era of astrological journalism by starting a publication called The Astrologers Magazine, which in 1895 was renamed Modern Astrology.

Many astrologers of the period believed that the past lives of men could be found within the map of their present lives – and further, that history constantly repeated itself because each tribe, race and nation also had karmic patterns which had to be worked out in the same way as those of individuals. When we read the excellent esoteric and astrological literature of the Victorian Age, we can only marvel at the authors’ deep-rooted acceptance of karma. These writings paved the way for the wave of interest today in cause and effect, karma, and astrology. We can find a pattern already emerging in which small groups accept the doctrine of reincarnation, become interested in karma and relate it to experiences of the spirit – and finally, coordinate their esoteric interests wit the science of astrology.

This is where we are today and the time has now come to expand earlier concepts of karma and astrology. The key to doing so is an understanding of the influence of Pluto.

Pluto was the ninth and last planet to be discovered, in 1930. The Victorians, who had sensed that there was a missing link in their understanding of karma and astrology, had accepted the fact that the world was not yet ready for this knowledge. Later astrologers had the edge on the Victorians, because they gradually were able to gain knowledge of the influence of this dark planet on the human race. Pluto is believed to affect entire generations and many people today call it ‘the planet of persuasive karma’ – probably because even unbelievers are often forced to acknowledge that some dramatic force must be at work for so many changes to have been effected in so short a time. It is also the planet of persuasive karma in that it moves through one sign of the zodiac approximately every twelve years, yet also affected everyone born under the other eleven signs.

Having now observed Pluto for over forty years, astrologers have found that within the horoscope Pluto has depolarizing tendencies, seeking to blend into singleness everything that it touches. Pluto is the ‘die and be’ of the poet Goethe, representing death and rebirth at the same time.

Astrologers have also had enough time to establish the fact that as Pluto’s influence causes the destruction of old regimes and life-styles, new ones are rebuilt from the very elements destroyed. Pluto provides transmutation and what the ancient alchemists called ‘redivivus’ (return to life): It is like the proverbial phoenix rising from its ashes, that wonderfully explicit archetypical allegory of reincarnation.

Even as Pluto’s influence leads from one consciousness to another, so does it provide a bridge from one life to the next. On a more restricted scale, it overthrows the old – sensing the need for the new and the reluctance of man to make changes himself. One world ends, one life ends; a new world starts and so does a new life, as changes are forced upon those who are not capable of making such transitions of their own free will.

In time everyone interested in reincarnation will study Pluto. The first revelation is that the forces exerted by Pluto fulfill one of the most ancient laws of astrology : Nothing is discovered by pure chance and coincidence has little part in our lives.

When the American astronomer Percival Lowell discovered Pluto in 1930, the world was at a threshold of a new age, a turning point in human evolution. Uranus, discovered in 181 by the English astronomer William Herschel, is now accepted by astrologers as the ruling plant of Aquarius, representing the first stage of the coming Age of Aquarius. Pluto came to represent the second stage, in which man desired to know more about himself, including his inner motivations and the hitherto unexplored depths of his subconscious. Pluto, through the purging of the subconscious, will ultimately bring man fully into the Age of Aquarius, in which spiritual enlightenment will inevitably clarify ideas once considered preposterous. By the turn of this century, it is likely that among most preposterous will be the idea that we only have one life to live.