| | Life's Greatest Adventure!
| | | | | | Hi Friend,
Last week we looked at who the Tibetan was, and what might have been some of the reasons why he transmitted ancient wisdom through a westerner, Alice. A. Bailey (AAB). One of our readers emailed me and asked if it mentioned in her Unfinished Autobiography why he chose her particularly. Apparently it was because of her high capacity for telepathy*.
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| Why astrology? Of all the ancient wisdom I wonder why he chose to present ancient wisdom through a western astrological perspective?
In Western culture astrology is sometimes thought of as a dubious 'superstitious' practice, which is even outlawed by some religious sects. In other spiritual traditions, students are advised to avoid psychics and clairvoyants, yet encouraged to study astrology. Astrology continues to be revered and is taught to this day in the great monastic universities in Tibet.
I wonder why that is? I don't know the answer but I have given it some thought and what follows are just my ideas. One of the most obvious things that we notice, if we compare the Esoteric Astrology of the Tibetan through AAB with the astrology that is normally taught throughout Tibet, is that it is not the same astrological system. Tibetan Astrology, like the Chinese and Vietnamese is a completely different system, which uses a different Zodiac.
My thought around this, although I don't know for sure, is that he was presenting the wisdom through a pre-existing framework that westerners could already relate to. In the west, and in particular in the theosophical and esoteric circles within which Alice Bailey moved, there was already an established interest in using and developing Western Astrology. Like any good teacher, one would present the information in a form and language that one's students can already relate to. Esoteric Astrology is already complicated enough, without having to learn a whole new Zodiac and a whole new language to understand it!
Also, from my studies of other spiritual traditions, including dzogchen, it is apparent that the core of the wisdom teachings are relevant to the whole of humanity and are not culturally specific. So we don't for example need to adopt Tibetan culture and traditions, which are specific to the Tibetan people, if we want to study and practice Tibetan Buddhism. Indeed, if they are to be valid, relevant and useful, we should be able to take the core essence of spiritual teachings and apply them within any culture.
Likewise, with Esoteric Astrology, I think the Tibetan was clearly presenting ancient wisdom in a manner that could be more easily understood by westerners within an astrological system that they were already familiar with.
But why astrology in particular? That, for me, is a deeper question and one which we can only begin to understand by trying to get to the core of what the Tibetan was really trying to convey. I think some answers to this question can be found by studying the Tibetan's "The Twelve Labours of Hercules: An Astrological Interpretation".
In the spiritual practice of dzogchen, there is a rare phenomenon known as the Rainbow Body. It is something that highly realized dzogchen masters may realize after many years of diligent practice. I often wonder if The Rainbow Body might be analogous to what we call our Soul, but that's a conversation for another day! In most Tibetan traditions there are what is known as Ngondro. These are foundational or preliminary practices, which the student undertakes to prepare for the main practice. Then, in dzogchen, the main practice has two levels: the generation stage and the completion stage, leading to the Rainbow Body.
These three 'levels': preliminary practice, the generation stage and the completion stage, strike me as surprisingly similar to the Tibetan's 'classification' of the Zodiac signs into signs of preparation, crisis, and service. (see my earlier newsletter on the Signs of Preparation, Crisis, and Service ).
When we come to read "The Twelve Labours of Hercules: An Astrological Interpretation", once again I believe the Tibetan is using this as a metaphor to help us understand 12 developmental stages in the formation of The Rainbow Body.
The Rainbow Body is a body of light, and in western culture we have no language, other than astrology, to describe the subtle distinctions of light end energy in relation to the human form. So it makes sense to me, that if a master is trying to convey ancient wisdom to westerners on a topic as subtle and complex as the formation of the Rainbow Body, that he would use a pre-existing language that has the capacity to describe subtle nuances in light and energy. That language is astrology. |
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That's all for now! See you next week and, in the meantime... happy exploring!
| | | | Ruth Hadikin, B.Sc. specializes
in the science of Soul Astrology, as applied to living our Soul Path
and Life Purpose. She is dedicated to supporting people to live from the
Soul in 'Life's Greatest Adventure'. |
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