The 11th thesis applied to astrology

Probably too cryptic a title. To spare any reader from the horrid act of googling and guessing I’ll quickly decipher what I mean and then expound on it. The 11th thesis is a famous maxim by Karl Marx -famous among marxists at least-, found in his short list of notes on the ideas of Feuerbach, collectively called Theses on Feuerbach. The eleventh and final note is this: “The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it.“

Can we substitute the word philosophers for the word astrologers there? And if we can, is it possible to change the world with knowledge of the influence of the stars or change the influence of the stars and so, the world?

The first reaction of someone hearing this would be, well, that’s what magic is all about isn’t it? It is. Magic is change. And obviously, magic and divination, if they can be said to be essentially different things, they had a really close relationship with each other since they were conceived, or handed down to us. I already know that this is being done. Using knowledge of the stars to design magical acts, has been standard practice, for at least the last century. But this would fall within the first option.

You can obviously change the world by taking account of what information you can gleam about the future through the stars, or rather, any kind of divination. How you change the world doesn’t matter. Be it physical acts or magic, it’s the same attempt. What I’m really interested in, are modern concepts of changing star influence and subsequently the world. I have always found this concept very profound and probably essential to all magic. But here’s an added qualifier: I also know of -some or most- of the traditional ways to achieve that aim. Astrological talismans, sympathetic magic and so on. What I’m really attempting with this post though is to gauge current opinions on how and whether this can be done and how far it can go, by people who are more vested in astrology than in magic. Oh and if anyone is a chaos magickian and wants to offer input, please indicate that. Not to reject what you’ve got to say but it helps me deal with my own frames of reference better.

Here’s a small story that first got me interested in this idea. Many years ago, closer to two decades than one, I was having a chat with a friend who happened to be the daughter of an astrologer. Whatever the reason for it, it’s not common to find people like that. I was curious, already into magic but not really astrology. I knew too little and believed even less. So I began asking things, probably with a subconscious aim to eventually reject the whole thing. What was bothering me, and to some extent, it still does, is the inherent fatalism that always needs to be dealt with, one way or another. So I asked this: Say that your mother predicts the death of one of her clients, what recourse does that person have? If they have none, then even if the prediction is accurate, it’s practically useless. Unless it drives you to write a will which would be useful to any people left behind but that’s not really what I mean by saying practically useless.

Coming from the perspective of changing things, of removing or demolishing obstacles, I couldn’t -and still can’t- really accept that some of them can’t be moved, even theoretically. Besides death of course. But she did answer me and she did in a way that actually satisfied my curiosity. She said that when this happens, the only possible recourse is for that person to move as far away as possible from their normal place of residence, not just to a different country but to a different continent, because astrological effects do have a location aspect when you apply larger distances. And even that might not be enough but it could theoretically help the person escape “fate”.

I doubt this is universally accepted among astrologers but to me, it seemed really important. Not so much the method but the idea that even that aspect of the world is malleable, can be worked against and avoided if enough resources are thrown against it, seemed like a brilliant idea. It fitted well with my magical framework at the time anyway that held that if you can symbolise something, the effects of that symbol on you can be controlled. I have stopped thinking it’s that simple since then.

My interest in this had been re-awakened some time ago when I discovered that in Vedic astrology, there is a well-established -don’t quote me on that, I’m not an expert- way to propitiate the planets, when trouble is brewing. That method is prayer, mantra recitation and various worship activities. Dr. Robert Svoboda has translated one of the main instruction texts on how to do this, the one particular on propitiating Saturn, titled The Greatness of Saturn.

This illustrates two things. Western astrology seems to be thoroughly passive whereas Vedic astrology has an active component. Western metaphysics has an active component but it’s conceptually disconnected from divination, in both the level of theory and of practice and it’s called magic. Yes, you can call down certain planetary and star influences in magic but far more in the sense of using the same thing as the astrologers do rather than calling down those influences to shape them in a way that changes what astrologers might see. Hinduism does have magical practices but I don’t know enough about them to draw any comparisons other than propitiating the planets.

So what can really be achieved with this concept? I’ll use some of my crazy sorceror imagination to offer potential possibilities and attract commentary on them. I’ll keep the comments open indefinitely just to gather as much input as possible, even if I eventually move on from this blog to other things. The concept and practical possibilities are bound to be useful to someone, someday.

• Avoidance of specific bad influences at specific times. Being able to shield a person so to speak from a coming bad transition or any malefic temporal influence, to lessen the blow or alleviate it completely. Channel it to something else or even to some other person.
• Correction of negative astrological make-up. Surgically fixing up bad qualities, essentially correcting a birth chart, for a fixed amount of time.
• Correction of negative astrological make-up again but permanently.
• Temporary boost or reduction of qualities not inherent in the birth chart or qualities not currently present in the heavens. Say, boosting the influence of specific signs on specific planets that would help a person perform some act better e.g. negotiating a deal or dealing with a court case or something like that. Someone might have a good combination in their birth charts but the time might be bad for that aspect to shine and be useful or someone might have a bad or an absent combination that would help channel the current beneficial astrological configuration. I’m not only asking if this can be done in those two cases but also, in the case that neither the current astrological configuration or a person’s real birth chart lend themselves for it at all.
• Rebirth. Is it even theoretically possible to make such drastic changes that a birth-chart can be drastically altered? The concept of rebirth is common in many religions, usually as an initiation into mysteries and surrounded by -magical- ceremonies. In the most serious cases, it is really meant to be a new birth creating a new person who adopts a new name. Given all that, it’s not a concept unworthy of pursuit unless someone philosophically disagrees with self-alteration. But excluding that, how easy, difficult or even possible would that be?

I do have my own theories on all these things but I always prefer to get input from people not standing right next to me and share my exact view points -if those people even exist which I’m not entirely sure they do. I’d like to hear about any theoretical considerations, problems, inherent dangers, even theological arguments for or against it. What I’m not terribly interested in are moral arguments against it but those can still be valuable.

My list is short and leaves out many potentialities since it is focused on humans and not objects, conditions etc. Again, I’d like to say that I’m more interested in modern and current Western thinking on this from mostly non-practitioners of magic. However, any extra information on Vedic, non-Western and Western ideas and methods on how to actively change star influence will be appreciated. Assume that I’m clueless. I was only able to learn anything when I assumed I didn’t really know something even when I thought I did.

[Featured image is that of Prometheus bound and having his liver devoured by an eagle. Found on a 6th c. BCE Laconian kylix and taken from this site. My choice for the image should be partially obvious but if it’s not, just ask.]