The Library of Esoterica: ASTROLOGY

by TASCHEN

TASCHEN is a name that stands for quality. Here, form and content enter into a symbiotic relationship. Whether it's collector's items, special editions, or books for a broader audience, care and elegance in design and production are paramount for the publisher. Thus, the website reads:

We pride ourselves on the time and effort we put into each of our books to ensure they are a timeless source of pleasure and learning.

This also applies to the newly published volume ASTROLOGY from the Library of Esoterica series:

Throughout the ages, metaphysical traditions have been translated into sacred and visionary art. The library of esoterica explores the symbolic language of our most potent universal stories, the tales we tell through paint and ink, costume and clay.

ASTROLOGY is a handsome book, good and heavy in the hand, carefully bound and beautifully designed. It is the kind of book you like to run your hand over, inhaling its fresh-from-the-press scent before turning to its contents. At least if, like me, you're an appreciative Taurus.

Analogous to the language of astrology - ʺas above, so belowʺ - the phrase that comes to mind here is ʺas without, so withinʺ. The attention to detail, the clear structure, and the aesthetics continue inside the book from the first page to the last. Even the fine aesthetics of the language are reflected in the delicate printing and page layout.

ʺAs goes the form, so goes the contentʺ. The book not only has a ʹpretty faceʹ but also substance. Astrologer Susan Miller writes in her foreword:

There has never been a book so rich in astrological symbolism, so this book is surely one to enjoy.

Author Andrea Richards explores the many aspects of Western astrology in four main chapters:

I. As Above, So Below - An Astrological Evolution

From the beginning of human history to this contemporary moment, individuals across diverse cultures and belief systems have looked to the sky to give meaning to their terrestrial lives. The idea that there is a relationship between the movement of celestial bodies, events on Earth, and the lives of its inhabitants – that is, the central tenet of the study of astrology – has been around for thousands of years.
(p. 14)

The first section is devoted to the esoteric nature (ʺHidden in Plain Sightʺ) and history of astrology.

The author follows the development of Western astrology from its origin in Mesopotamia in the 2nd millennium BC, where ʺthe various Babylonian, Egyptian, and Greek traditions came together, giving rise to Western astrologyʺ, through the findings of Ptolemy, the limiting influence of Christianity, and the further development of stellar art by Islamic scholars, the emergence of the Renaissance, which also brought astrology to new heights, Copernicus and the heliocentric world view, the teachings of the Theosophists, Blavatsky and Alan Leo, later also Dane Rudhyar, up to the 1960s and 70s, when astrology again received a boost with the so-called ʺNew Ageʺ. Again and again astrology experienced periods of drought, but it has survived, changed, and blossomed again and again over millennia.

Astrology is indeed a perennial philosophy, a dynamic force that returns and changes based on contemporary needs.
 We are once again in a moment of increased interest in astrological knowledge.
(p. 56)

The section ʺCosmology & Correspondencesʺ deals with the spirituality of science. ʺAs above, so belowʺ.

These celestial bodies are not to be sought by us outside in some other place; for the heavens in their entirety are within us, in whom the light of life and the origin of heaven dwell.
Marsilio Ficino (1478), (p. 60)

Far from a distant, inanimate universe, astrology offers a con- ception of the universe that is, like alchemy and other esoteric traditions, a giant, natural correspondence theory.
(p.66)

II. The Language of the Heavens - The Cosmos Speaks

We are then taken on a journey through the planets, the cornerstones of astrological discipline. The "wandering starsʺ are energy in motion.

Western astrology as practiced by most astrologers today begins at the planetary level, with the two luminaries (the Sun, the Moon) and eight planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto) as the primary actors.  … Before we learn to decipher the meaning of the planets’ motions, however, we must first learn about the players themselves. Each planet is a rich symbolic creation in and of itself, and when they interact, at varying speeds, locations, and times with one another, a multitude of meaning emerges. Together, the planets have much to reveal.
(p. 78f.)

In the sequel, an overview page is devoted to each of the planets, with sign, house, and other correspondences. This is followed by a page with a meaningful title, a pithy quotation, and a brief portrait, which is then illustrated by several pages of artwork and illustrations from various eras. The images, individually and collectively, tell more than a thousand words.

For example, Venus is assigned ʺThe Domain of Desireʺ. David Harry Grinspoon writes in Venus Revealed:

For me Venus holds special fascination because of its many close connections to Earth and the important role it has played in our changing ideas about the universe and our place in it. It is the brightest thing in our night sky, after the full Moon, and has long attracted human worship, fear, and calculation.
(p. 124)

III. The Wisdom of the Wheel - Exploring the Zodiac

The same appreciation is given to the twelve signs of the zodiac. The overview page shows planetary and house correspondences, polarity, element and quality of the sign, and correspondences in the zodiac, tarot and metals. Then follows a page with a brief description, a concise, meaningful title, and appropriate quotation. For example, Taurus is ʺThe Great Love of Lifeʺ, Gemini is ʺBinding Dualityʺ, Leo is said to have ʺCharismatic Powerʺ, and ʺShamanic Changeʺ belongs to Scorpio. Capricorn, ʺMusic of Manifestationʺ receives an unusual and very auspicious quotation from the book The Light of Egypt:

This constellation, as the symbol of inertia and death, is also the symbol of awakening life, and prepares the soul for the more perfect expression of its powers in its forthcoming upward journey...this is truly the promise of a new day, and higher state of existence.
(p. 414)

Again, a wealth of images and illustrations immerse the reader in the symbolism of the zodiac.

The individual depictions of the signs of the zodiac are supplemented by some brief reflections on the ʺCosmic Circleʺ of the houses. On this, Julia McCarthy writes in The Stars Within You, 2018:

The planets tell us which human energies we are working with; the signs tell us how these energies manifest; the houses tell us where we direct these energies, or the area of life toward which we apply them.
(p. 486)

IV. Meaning in Motion - Interpreting Celestial Messages

This final chapter deals with the art of charting (ʺDiagrams of the Heartʺ - what a title!).

When you do astrology seriously, it’s easy to get lost in the chart, but I always tell students and friends to remember to stay in the world we live in; the chart is a map, and a helpful one, but the map is not the terrain. You still have to walk on the ground.
 Tim Zambioni, Astrologer and artist, 2020, (p. 494)

ʺThe Shapes in the Starsʺ mirror Sacred Geometry, the final section of the treatise. Specifically, these forms show up in the astrological aspects of conjunction (the 1 or the point), opposition (the 2 or the line), trine (the 3 or the triangle), square (the 4 or the square), etc.

In the words of Johannes Kepler in Harmonices mundi (Weltharmonik) in 1619:

Geometry, coeternal with God and shining in the divine Mind, gave God the pattern... by which he laid out the world so that it might be best and most beautiful and finally most like the Creator.
(p. 500)

This again establishes the connection of astrology and man to the creative cosmos.

The author summarizes this as follows:

Astrologists often describe astrology as the study of patterns, of cycles that repeat – indeed, this was what those first ancient astrologers were watching the night sky for – an indication that a discernable configura- tion would once again appear that foretold certain terrestrial events (floods, harvests, seasons). What Kepler adds to the mix is something that centuries later will also be uncovered in psychological interpretations of horoscopes: Ancient patterns continue through time. They are passed down genera- tionally in both the human soul and discern- able in the larger pattern of the universe.
(p. 509)

My Personal Conclusion

If you are looking for a special book for contemplative hours to immerse yourself in the manifold world of astrology and its symbols, then you are exceptionally well advised with this volume.

If it were a restaurant, it would certainly have three Michelin stars.