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standing at the center of the Sun." Then something. For example, my geo Mars
he would growl in a way that I could is in Aries, but my helio Mars is in
never imitate and say "that's hot stuff." Aquarius. I found that interesting. My
personal or geo Mars was hot and full of
I, of course, took this in as much by
fire, but my inner or helio Mars was
osmosis as anything else, without much
group oriented -- other things were
understanding what it all meant. He died
accomplished. These kinds of things
in 1969 and I, his only student with him
were what I was thinking.
at the time, saw to his burial and even
designed a gravestone -- a glyph of the Helio is Different
Sun. Although I had been studying In other words, I was extending the
astrology for some years already, it was techniques and the way I used these
not long after his death that I found techniques from the astrology I knew to
myself discovering heliocentric
another area of astrology that I did not
astrology. Without even remembering know -- in this case, heliocentrics. I am
what he had said, I was imagining sure we all do this. It did not, at first,
myself standing at the center of the Sun. occur to me that this area might be
And that is the beginning of my study of different and that, aside from differences
heliocentric astrology. I had the in technique, there were differences in
supreme good fortune to meet this level -- great differences.
teacher and to be able to receive some
small portion of his teachings. The first glimmer of what helio was all
about came when I began to study
Exploring Techniques aspects and aspect patterns from the
Since I was working with programmable heliocentric perspective. I began to
calculators in the early 70s and personal examine what the planets were doing,
computers in the mid-70s, I had been not in relation to Earth (our particular
exploring all of the various techniques perspective), but in relation to each
that the history of astrology had other and to their great shining center,
presented to us. From my point of view the Sun.
at the time, these were all to be treated "We don't Live on the Sun"
in an equal manner. That is, every
technique had its own merit, and all Since I have spoken about helio for
were equivalent ways to look at oneself many years now, I have heard all of the
through astrology. comments from those who have not
studied it. "We don't live on the Sun",
Helio Astrology "We don't live on the Sun, so how could
And that is the way I approached helio helio be important ."This sort of thing.
astrology, just like I had approached Identity is Circulation
secondary progressions or harmonics --
as another technique in a long list of At the time, I was understanding that we
interesting techniques. share in the life of our entire solar
system. We not only live off the light and
I looked at my helio transits and they warmth of the Sun, but we are children
were useful to me. They worked. I of the solar system and its great center,
looked at the difference between the Sun. In other words, that inner life
planetary placements in my geo and we all value is not just an Earth thing,
helio and charts, and learned
Heliocentric Astrology
but a solar system thing and a galactic All this was appropriately mystical. And I
thing. Our identity is linked to the extended my understanding from the
centers we revolve around -- plain and solar system to the local system of stars
simple. We are that. Or, that is our of which our Sun is one member, to our
identity. The great insight for me at that galaxy, to our local supergalaxy, and
time was that identity is circulation. beyond. I examined everything that was
known about the universe at the time
In other words, the process of identifying
and came to understand that it was
for each of us involves the flow of
about the life and death of stars, not
consciousness and the thrill of
unlike our own lives and deaths. I made
identification is the experiencing or
friends with that dark cold "out there" in
connecting of ourselves to a hierarchy,
which I was raised and came to know it
something more than we had imagined -
as the here and the now.
- connectivity. a conduit. Our essence is
not so much an "inner core," but rather a Astrologers I knew were unaware and
relationship and our identity is simple not interested in this material. The
circulation or the dawning of awareness exceptions were my friends Charles
of what is. Jayne and Theodor Landscheidt. Jayne
and I would get together whenever
Space as Dark and Cold/[b]
possible and speculate on such things
So identification is circulation, but a as the structure and the location of the
circulation of what. I had been raised in center of our local system of stars. I
the 1950s and Eisenhower era to ended up spending a couple of years in
appreciate myself (and Man in general) astronomy/physics libraries collating the
as a speck of dust in the cold black void latest deep-space results into a book,
of space. It was sheer chance that we Astrophysical Directions. I located the
were there at all. As I began to identify center of the local system for Jayne
with the energy of the Sun and the solar (somewhere in the middle of Virgo) and
system as a whole, I experienced myself I was the first astrologer to locate and
as a part of that system and my write about our local supergalaxy. I am
consciousness as representative of our connected, by lineage, in all of this to
system. I was a child of the system and Landscheidt. So much for the macro
my intelligence was the intelligence of view.
the system itself looking out. Where
Local Space
before my personal consciousness was
like one tiny candle cupped to keep the On the other end I began working with
cold, dark winds of the surrounding the horizon system. local space.
universe from blowing it out, now, I was What am I saying? My geocentrical
all the consciousness there was looking traditional astrological training and
around at my own creation. I myself was experience gave me nothing to compare
the spaceman that I had waited to arrive with it. Compared to what? My
on earth. I was the intelligent life that I experience with heliocentric and deep
wondered when it would come. I was space on the macro level and with local
looking at myself. This is what I mean by space on the micro level gave me a
"identity is circulation." flexibility and a perspective that I had
We are the Spaceman never known existed. Geocentric
astrology became a subset of helio
Heliocentric Astrology
know what you have until you have capable of enhancing our current sense
something else to compare with it. of geocentric astrology or placing it in
relief. I don't want to spend much time
Speaking from personal experience,
here on the astronomical difference
when I began to study and explore my
between the geo and helio perspectives.
helio chart, it changed my astrological
Perhaps a single example will sum up
life. The helio not only offered another
the distinction between the two.
way of considering myself, but it also
placed my previous geocentric Most astrologers have seen the
experience into perspective. In other diagrams showing how geocentric
words, the geo/helio comparison helped retrograde motion works, usually a Z-
me understand what I had been doing shaped curve showing forward and
all these years in the geocentric mode. backward motion of a planet against the
When I had an alternate perspective, I stellar backdrop. The same motion seen
could see what I had all along. Although from a heliocentric perspective offers
each astrological technique provides only straight-ahead endless circular
some means of comparison, the helio planetary motion. In fact, it is almost
system is especially able to place our impossible to figure out what the geo
geocentric experience in stark relief by motion is all about without reverting to
representing a more general and the heliocentric diagram, which makes it
inclusive dimension. all obvious. Of course, the history of
astronomy supports this observation.
We get a quite different perspective on
When the idea of a Sun-centered solar
any life and event. Aside from the value
system occurred, retrograde motion was
of any comparison, helio charts do not
properly understood.
refer to the same level of life mapped by
traditional geocentric techniques. The physical difference between the two
Different centers (Earth center, Sun systems described above has a
center) or different orientations (Local psychological correlate that is every bit
Space, mundane space) provide us with as clear and meaningful, yet most helio
quite different perspectives on any life or students have yet to discover this. Just
event. This idea of centers and as the helio diagram clears up any
orientation is crucial. geocentric confusion we might have
about planetary motion, so the
Like many of you, I got into heliocentrics
heliocentric psychological experience
as a simple extension of geocentric
has the potential of clarifying any
astrology, which was all I knew at the
geocentric obscuration we might be
time. In the beginning I made the
entertaining.
mistake of assuming that helio and geo
referred, for the most part, to identical Helio Perspective -- First Look
levels of life. The single most striking I was amazed when I first became
realization I have had in my astrological aware of the extraordinary perspective
career came with the growing provided by the helio chart. I had been
awareness that the helio chart referred used to intuiting deeper areas of
to my life in a very different way. astrology from the standard geocentric
Because the helio chart and positions natal chart. Suddenly here was a chart
provide a perspective that includes our that brought these deep psychological
more traditional astrology within it, it is archetypes to the foreground. The level
Heliocentric Astrology
our life will go on. Examples of some of center than before, or around the same
the classic event horizons we all may center in a different manner. We have a
cross are puberty, marriage, childbirth, new angle on life.
and, or course, death. We all have some awareness of life's
It is difficult to see beyond our present event horizons. The difference in
sphere into what our future might be like meaning of the various coordinate
in these other dimensions, because we dimensions by astrologers is less well
cannot help but conceive of all future recognized. And yet, most of these
events and landscapes in terms of our differences are graphically revealed
present line (linear stream) of thought. through the study and exercise of the
To pass through these event horizons various astrological coordinate systems.
involves total change on our part. We For instance, what appears in one
cannot watch ourselves change, for we system as isolated and singular entities
are, in fact, what is in transition or (apparently unconnected) can define the
change. We are changing. All of the basic shape of the system itself when
material on rites of passage and viewed from the perspective of another
initiation comes into play here. system. What appears "through a glass
darkly" in one system (for example,
The crossing of life's event horizons
retrograde motion) may be clear as a
involves something more than a simple
bell in another.
expansion of our consciousness. It most
often requires a reorientation and Identification is Circulation
reordering of our experience -- a change A few words about centers. The word
of approach or attitude. The new "center" is the same and yet different for
dimension or sphere we enter turns out each of us. What is central to us, the
(after some adjustment) to reveal our very center around which our life
previous or past life in a new light. This currently appears to revolve, is sacred in
is the idea of the last or latest judgment. its ability to reveal and communicate to
We see our old behavior and opinions us something about our identity.
differently after we have gone through a
transformation -- a new approach to life. Our center always refers inward toward
A married person sees single life what we might call our essence, yet the
differently than before, and the parent means one person uses in referring to
has undergone an initiation that is hard what is central may not even register for
to express to those without children. another. The center or lifeline of one
individual may be a new car at one point
It is very difficult to communicate these in his life, a new wife or husband at
differences to one who has not yet had another, and a child at an even later
that experience. It is not that we have time.
somehow just gotten to be a "bigger"
person -- able to tolerate more. What At any point in life, the center itself is
has changed perhaps most is our inviolate, although the outward form of
inclination or perspective. We do not how we access the center may be
want the same things we did want, or constantly changing. The different kinds
we want them after a different manner. of center and orientation may be
We no longer feel the way we used to. conveniently expressed in the various
Our life now revolves around a different coordinate systems of astrology: geo,
Heliocentric Astrology
helio, local space, mundane space, and What is essential as a singular kernel of
so on. The origin or center chosen for a truth to one person may appear to
particular kind of astrological work another as but one example among
should most correspond to the center of many of a larger ordering or structure.
gravity, the "kind" of question or inquiry When we refer to the center around
or level under consideration. which we revolve, we share in the idea
of centers; yet different ones among us
Thus, for a study of the incidents,
revolve around or consider differently
accidents, circumstances, and specific
what is central or essential.
terms of our lives, astrologers have
always used the horizon coordinate The astrological maps of these different
system to the zodiac with its familiar regions, each with their particular center
MC, ascendant, houses etc. An even and orientation, are glimpses or
more exact form of this perspective snapshots of the larger picture that is
appears in the horizon system -- local our continuous lifetime -- a continuing
space astrology. experience or identification. In other
words, all of these larger systems (such
Studies of the general terms of mankind,
as the horizon, geo system and helio
psychological (the zodiac) or
solar system) include us within their
political/mundane astrology (right
reach like a mother holds a child within
ascension and declination), involve
her womb. We are the children and
consideration from the center of the
particular representatives of the Earth,
Earth (geocentric astrology). The Earth
but also of the solar system, the Galaxy,
is the center here.
and beyond. Their natures, identities,
For a study of the motion and relation of and selves are identical with our own. In
the bodies of our solar system fact, we have come from this so-called
considered as a functioning whole, the outer space through all time to be here
heliocentric zodiac system with the now: ourselves. We have always been
origin at the Sun center is appropriate. in outer space.
In the helio coordinate system, we
Our consciousness continually
examine the archetypes of life and
circulates from more particular
consciousness and, in general,
awareness to more cosmic awareness
questions traditionally referred to
and back around again. Seldom do we
spirituality or religion, perhaps now more
put it all together in conscious
recently also considered by some as
identification or awareness. The
depth psychology.
exercise of the various astrological
In fact, our life has many different levels, coordinate systems, like exercising our
and our consciousness circulates from muscles, can serve to remind us that all
more particular to more general reference to centers, all referral
dimensions and back around again. indicates an attempt to achieve simple
Aside from our mundane focus, there circulation (circle) or identity -- to
are moments and even days for each of remember or remind ourselves of who
us when our awareness may glimpse we already are and have always been.
cosmic dimensions. There are different We re-member or connect all the pieces
levels of truth or reality. of our life together. Our consciousness
connects and runs through them all and
we achieve identification -- identity.
Heliocentric Astrology