The Celestial Way - Horizontally and Vertically

by Bernard Duchatelle

The philosophical approach

The starry skies fascinate us since prehistoric times, not only for their sparkling splendor and seemingly immutable order, but also for the significance we offer them: all astrological systems are based on the exposure of a mysterious link, mainly made up of meaning, which associates our lives with celestial geometry.

The interpretations and uses we make of this link assist our lives in many ways. Astrology illuminates all areas of existence and greatly expands our self-knowledge, helping us to dispel our fears and realize our aspirations. Although many hypotheses have been proposed, the nature of this celestial connection remains unknown. If we really want to apprehend it, grasp its essence and above all make the most of it, a philosophical approach is necessary and even mandatory. The relevant question here being: why does astrology exist at all? Let us ask ourselves what it reveals, not of our characters, or of the events that shape our lives, but of the nature of life, of our beings and of destiny itself.

The word destiny puts us on the right track as it shares its root with destination, which means both a function and a place to go. Through astrology, the heavens testify that we have a destiny to live, that is, a function to perform: it recognizes our existence by offering an identity to the specks of dust that we are. With no other tool than what astrological evidence suggests, we thereby discover that the universe is not indifferent to our presence; making us feel, while not generating a belief, that life is not an accident.

The notion of quest, which consists in seeking the purpose of this adventure that life is, naturally ensues from this reasoning: for the search for meaning is what makes the human being unique. It applies to the interpretation of the astral chart that, similar to a labyrinth, conceals in its center a secret sanctuary where everything makes sense at last. The objective of the vertical reading of the chart, of which we are about to speak, is to reveal the path to this hidden temple, that is, to turn the map of heavens into a treasure map, because if the aim is to be realized, then interpretation should show the best way to proceed.

Thus considered, astrology appears as a consistent philosophical system, which cannot be dissociated from a quest to be accomplished. A chart reflects one's destination and function, our personal way of expressing the universal intention. Engraved in the map of heavens in the guise of a celestial path crossing its horizontality, that finality is to be pursued.

Horizontality

Horizontality explores and describes the inner territory, i.e. the ego in the broadest sense of the term, including the instinctive and emotional nature, as well as the conscious and unconscious mental landscape. Enriched by more than two millennia of theories and studies, astrology explores this horizontality with sharp precision.

The arsenal of astrological tools allows us to map it extensively. Twelve signs, twelve houses, four Angles, ten stars, six major aspects(1) and some important minor ones, multiply to infinity the possible combinations of the elements to be taken into account. One does not expect less, given the complexity of our brains loaded with a hundred billion neurons. Mental preoccupations, conditioning, conflicting emotions, pleasure and fear, love, sexuality, ignorance and many inner conflicts create an inwardness similar to a chaotic and pulsating jungle, where light and darkness are alternating confusingly.

In astrological practice, this disorder classically takes the guise of incompatible aspects. A Moon in harmony with Venus while in conflict with Mars symbolizes, a romantic, affectionate and sensitive character, yet tormented by anger, impulsiveness, mental agitation and desire. With a Mercury and Jupiter conjunction in opposition to the Moon, studies, intelligence and luck favor judicious choices, while negative interferences from memories, confusion or inattention disturb reason and cause poor decisions. Any chart contains dozens of these divergent indications, rendering the art of interpretation particularly difficult to master: adequate teachers and years of studies do not guarantee the skill to synthesize such a disordered accumulation of information.

Now, as previously explained, astrological evidence suggests that we are more than an organism, driven by its genes and its environment. Life and consciousness, it says, extend beyond biochemical processes governed by causality.

However rich, multiple and often confused the horizontality of the chart may appear, it is animated by a direction, a subtle psychic movement, which crosses it and orders it accordingly. This movement, this verticality, gives meaning to destiny.

Verticality

One way to understand verticality is to compare the chart to a novel built around a main character. Horizontality includes a description of his personal world: his physical appearance, the social context in which he evolves, his usual activities, his strengths and weaknesses, his fears and ambitions and so on. Verticality focuses on the plot: how all the ingredients that make up this character come together to make a story out of his life and perhaps a destiny, i.e., an existence that has meaning.

What the vertical reading does, is to arrange, clarify, synthesize and convey myriads of information - the horizontality - in the shape of a clear scenario showing the way to a bold and creative existence. It unveils a unique and personal path leading to the flowering of destiny.

The vertical approach consists mainly in setting the chart in order, thus revealing the path toward its blossoming. Now, the idea of order needs to be clarified; since, because of the constant search for security, it is often confused with a rigid mental structure produced by ideologies. The order we are talking about is not to be artificially pinned on reality. It is not a classification; it does not come from the rearrangement of disorder. It is a vital manifestation of intelligence, found in mathematics, aesthetics or music, that is, in the very fabric of the universe.

Astrologically, it expresses itself as a celestial way, synthesizing the chart’s disorder into a quest to be achieved. Previously devoid of direction, the chart in order connects with its deep meaning. It is said that only heroes have a destiny: to find and follow one's celestial path is to give oneself the chance to be a hero, namely someone who pursues the quest in seeking the hidden sanctuary within our beings, in being prepared to face the dragon of fear. The success of the adventure is uncertain, otherwise daring would not be needed, but setting foot on the path is already an achievement because one stops resisting universal intelligence.

Solving the puzzle

Once the horizontal reading has described the psychological landscape, often with great accuracy, reading the chart vertically is about solving the puzzle that it is.(2) What is now needed is to adjust and connect all the parts of that inner territory, in a dynamic and coherent pattern that will highlight their functions and interactions.

The situations in signs and houses, the Ascendant and the other Angles, the aspects and their complex combinations, all of the pieces that constitute the astrological puzzle are to be fitted in a homogeneous structure. Each component of the chart should appear perfectly in its place, allowing the mechanisms of the mind and the emotions to surface with logic and precision, displaying how reality materializes.  How, for instance, hidden motivations such as fears or insecurities associated with one or several tense saturnian aspects nurture ambitions, decide on life-choices and affect love affairs, happiness and the whole philosophy of life.

The exposure of the chart’s homogeneous structure soothes and clarifies the mind and has a great impact on day-to-day quality of life. It helps to behave in a responsible manner, to be serious, not according to accepted morals and traditions, but in the freedom of intelligence and sensitivity. It is, however, necessary to go much further, the aim being to awaken to the real purpose of existence through one’s personal quest. Certainly the two phases are one and the same thing. That is what Jiddu Krishnamurti meant, I believe, with this aphorism: “The first step is the last step”. Order awakens intelligence, and an intelligent mind naturally starts its inner journey to the discovery of truth.

This setting in order of the chart instills a philosophical inspiration, which tempers and magnifies the destiny; in contrast, the more distant our lives grow from this natural process, the more the contradictions of the chart affect us. That is why most of us advance at random through the events we endure, at the whim of the winds blowing from transits and progressions. Our destinies elude us then, or are not fully lived. Of course, it cannot be denied that animated by powerful configurations, some charts bring great economic and social achievements; but if meaning does not guide them, a close examination of the depicted destinies reveal isolation and anxiety, pain and discontent. This is unavoidable when, lost in us, the path to our destination is not found since the order that dissolves contradictions is never established; the function of the chart is not fulfilled, and at the very core of the being, dull dissatisfaction prevails.

Yet, as soon as one sets foot on one’s personal path, the chaos of destiny visibly dissipates. If life does not become suddenly perfect, the real potential of the self, the obstacles that separate from it and the means to be employed are suddenly perceived - not as a desire to be achieved, but as a natural direction to follow. One stops travelling blindly, yet without relying on beliefs or ideologies, just by reading one’s chart as a map of our inner territories.

Revealing the celestial path

Since it holds the key to realization, revealing the celestial path is the culmination of the interpretation. How are we going to proceed? What instruments will we use, knowing that most of the traditional means are restricted to exploring horizontality?  

The path is not a planetary chain, taking into account signs, rulerships and houses, to be followed from one point to another until the tour is completed. Nor should one hope to succeed by calculating a dominant planet, applying a formula or restricting oneself to the analysis of a particular element. Reducing the search to the lunar nodes axis, to a specific house, to a Sabian degree of the luminaries or the ascendant, or to one of the Greek or Arab Parts, will come to nothing. Reductive approaches, which provide ready-made answers to the extraordinarily subtle and complex notion of the meaning of an individual's destiny, simply do not work. The first principle to understand is that the chart and the life it represents is unique: the path can only be deciphered in the awareness of this singularity.

These considerations lead us to realize that there is no such thing as a mechanical method to be used step by step, maybe because what we are looking for is not fully measurable; meaning it cannot be solved through analysis. The Mid-heaven and the tenth house, the Nadir and the fourth house are measurable, as is the sense of action signified by Mars, or the intellectual faculties described by Mercury. Horizontality is measurable because it assesses professional abilities, material and social skills, family ties, mental clarity and so on. But the way to the meaning of life is beyond measurement and analysis. Although essential in the horizontal context, analysis does not have the capacity to gather all of the fragments into a coherent whole. That is why, while an in-depth knowledge without which interpretation cannot be practiced at its best level is essential, the crucial element is intuition, defined as the direct perception of truth. 

Emanation and Yantra

To spring from the astrologer's consciousness, intuition has to be provoked: it is always a small miracle when everything comes into place, when in an instant, in an image, the main axis of the chart is clearly visualized. In order to get there, the philosophical approach is of particular importance. The celestial way, the hero, the quest and the destiny suggest a teleological approach to life: one that implies an intention; one that considers that in a way that escapes us, life and consciousness carry out a purpose. It is not a matter of dogma, nor is it a belief on which we erect an edifice, but, as already noted, it is a consequence of the very existence of astrology.

That purposive view of life permeates and fertilizes the deep layers of the mind. We ponder and interpret in a context; where nature tends towards finality, and where the human consciousness plays a central role in that scheme. Guided by this comprehension, the insightful and non-analytical examination of the chart’s horizontality provokes the perception of the path leading to its center. To express it differently, the global perception of the chart brings out the emanation of an underlying and significant geometric framework. Arising from a dynamic reaction involving intelligence, awareness and geometry, the path appears as a blueprint that includes and orders all of the details of horizontality. What seemed to be an indecipherable geometric complexity suddenly turns into meaning as the chart's vital energy is being visualized as purpose.

Considering the map of heaven as a Yantra helps to understand this idea of emanation better. One uses this Sanskrit word in its sense of a geometric diagram that serves as a visual support for meditation. In the Hindu tradition, meditating on a Yantra offers access to the truth it represents. Consisting of circles, squares or triangles, the geometry of the Yantra is similar to that of the chart that employs the same elements to define the aspects. Connected to the archetypes of consciousness, geometry is the alphabet of the astrological language: during our studies, we learn to associate the aspects, which are divisions of the circle, with meanings. The square is visualized, as a friction, a disagreement or a tension, while from the triangle, which we call trine, seems to be emerging a balance, a harmony or a friendship(3). To consider the chart as a Yantra signifies going beyond conscious analysis in order to access the primary psychic patterns that constitute the core of the native's identity. Thus regarded, the chart is ‘alive”; its central meaning emanates from its geometric structure.

Of course, the astrologer does not need to meditate in the lotus position facing the chart to have it disclose its secrets! The revelation of the path is not sheer inspiration either. The carrying out of the reading is extremely thorough, checked at each step by the logic of the sequences and interweaving of the aspects, which are the backbone of the chart. The chart's geometry stands for the truth of the interpretation; as with mathematics or physics, astrology uses a language that carries its own implacable logic.

Intuition and aspects

A human being is not an onion. He or she does not peel off layer by layer; in the end, when you eventually reach the center, you come across a gaping hole, empty of meaning. Starting from the periphery of the chart, analyzing and classifying all of its components in detail, will not lead to its core. Thus, the best way to understand the complexity of the mind would be to start directly from the center, which is precisely what the vertical reading does. Articulating the stars together, the geometric grid of aspects constitutes a privileged gateway to the nucleus of the chart as it directly relates to one’s most personal characteristics.

We need to dive first and foremost into the heart of this network. Rather than attaching the chart to the great families of the signs or planetary types, we individualize it completely. In what way, one wonders, is this person unique? What are his or her identity and function? What is the universe trying to express through this particular existence?

The difficulty is where to start from, which brings us back to intuition. To interpret is similar to unwinding a ball of yarn, once you have found the extremity, you just pull and everything follows easily. The trick is to find the most meaningful thread, the one that will unfold all the others in the right order. This thread has to be drawn from an aspect, or more probably a combination of aspects: to recognize the right one is an art that feeds on intuition and practice. These decisive configurations act as magnets, sometimes pulling from the backstage the main strings of causes and consequences. Through them the whole structure can be conjured to appear. They are not necessarily spectacular; seemingly weak aspects may strongly affect the orientations and realizations of the self, as the energies they generate weigh on the whole nativity through the deep motivations they create. To identify them is just to obtain an entrance. Once the map is in our possession, we continually decipher it along the way. The vertical reading takes a clear direction, as whole layers of significations are being illuminated. It penetrates and undoes psychological and emotional tangles; dispelling darkness and giving life and meaning to the psychic landscape it travels through.

A hard aspect between Venus and Neptune, for instance, may influence destiny tremendously by attaching suffering (Neptune) to love (Venus). Depending on the structure of the chart, family, emotional and professional spheres can be affected: in some cases the pain of not feeling loved leads to seduction, whether through money, looks, wit, intellect or power; in other cases, shields supposed to keep the threat of pain away are deployed. This aspect may well be the extremity of the ball of yarn to be grasped and unrolled because to a large extent it will influence all other configurations; even a hypothetical promising Jupiter culminating would be held accountable to it. Here, the key to the chart, its celestial way, involves the transformation of sentimentality - a negative Neptune - into deep, genuine love: a positive Venus. Such transmutation requires a great inward journey aiming at self-realization through the cessation of the association of love and suffering. All of the chart components need to contribute to this quest that will eventually bring real communion with the world. Then, according to the houses, the ascendant and so on, the meaning of life is exposed; being “resolved”, the chart attracts its function, which may manifest itself in many different ways.

The planetary joys and the celestial path

Whatever its entrance, its personal geometry or its content, a chart is a way to realization. This concept appears in the basic foundations of western astrology in the guise of the Planetary Joys.Belonging to the signs, the classic planetary dignities concern the horizontality of the chart; when associated with the houses, the joys belong to its verticality. Many relevant hypotheses have been proposed to explain the inner logic of this particular system. I will limit myself to outlining briefly how they summarize the essence of astrological philosophy, clearly referring to the path to be followed in the context of the quest.

Realization has much to do with the ninth house, “the house of God” dedicated to the expansion of consciousness through travels, studies and teachers, spirituality and philosophy. In his Joy, the Sun initiates the quest, changing the self into a solar hero and highlighting the ideal human expression through higher callings. The self belongs to the first house, the ascendant, where priorities and directions are chosen. As the helm intrinsically associated with free will, it is in charge of the flowering of destiny, which implies we have seen, setting the chart in order. Ruling intelligence and logic, Mercury is the star of order. Here in his Joy, he clears up the mind’s orientations, setting it on its course to the quest for meaning represented by the solar ninth at its trine. Love, education, art, children, pleasure and the good we do around us unfold in the fifth place, allied with two trines to the first and ninth. In a meaningful destiny, Venus, the creative self in her Joy stresses the need for peace of heart, inner beauty and kindness. Delineated by these three stars and houses, the grand trine outlines perfect behavior in which love, serenity, intelligence and order allow the solar hero to carry on his or her quest.

Squaring the ninth, the sixth and twelfth houses act both as obstacles and stepping-stones to the quest. In the sixth, servitudes and constraints, mostly from work and health issues, often prevent the self from devoting itself to serious thinking. But that same house is also associated with healing and service; and Mars, the warrior-self in his Joy teaches to help, to support, to conquer bravery and to unfold the chivalrous spirit. In the twelfth, hardships, personal or collective adverse circumstances, as well as self-undoing leave little room for spiritual contemplation, yet raise questions such as the purification of the emotions. And the understanding of the mechanisms of the mind and destiny dwell also there. In his Joy, through patience, determination, discipline, inner exploration and mental depth, the wise Saturn purifies the self from fear, anger, guilt, greed, self-pity, selfishness and all negative emotions.

Opposed to the ninth, where the higher spheres of thought prevail, the third house is also hindering the quest; it relates to the mental worries born from the squares of the sixth and twelfth, manifested as unrest, greed, obsession, frustration, anger, anxiety, etc. It also relates to all kinds of superficial thoughts, driving the mind away from nobler concerns. As the mother of the solar hero, the Moon in her Joy reflects the urge for instinct and thought to feed, protect and perpetuate the organism. In a deeper meaning, the sextiles with the first and the fifth, and the trine with the eleventh indicate how order from Mercury, love from Venus and sharing from Jupiter allow the Moon as thought to learn about herself and merge with the Sun in the ninth, and thus achieve inner silence: the gateway to realization.

Finally, the eleventh place stands for the human community; it associates the quest for realization with collective research and sharing. Its sextile to the ninth disseminates teachings, and supports the solar hero with synchronicities, opportunities, networks and fruitful encounters. Its opposition to the fifth amplifies the importance of education and universal love, devoid of selfish motives, while stressing the danger of the relentless pursuit of personal pleasure. In his Joy, Jupiter, the one who favors, indicates that the opportunities for growth and the granting of spiritual blessings depend on these understandings. His trine to the lunar third protects and improves daily life, elevates mental preoccupations, brings luck, and creates, through justice and compassion, the necessary conditions for a quiet mind.

Thus is completed the matrix of the celestial path. However, major places in the horizontality like the second, fourth, seventh, eighth and tenth houses, which are related to resources, home and origins, associations and enemies, money of others and longevity, career and honors, do not fit into this vertical structure. Certainly, ancient astrologers had to manage with seven stars for twelve houses; but more essentially, they were stressing the inner journey, as intelligence and order, quietness of mind, love, service, sharing, purification and ultimately, the quest itself which clearly define the path to follow. 

To conclude

Philosophy, understood as a way of life, has impregnated astrology from its very beginning, and there is certainly no true astrology without it, or else it is inappropriate and diminished, which we know only too well. Based on observation and meaning, the philosophical approach I attempted to expose eludes mere speculation, avoids beliefs and above all, motivates us to be our own light. In these times of great unrest, when the very existence of humanity seems threatened by its own actions, it seems obvious that only a transformation of human consciousness can save us: it is what the individual committed to following the celestial way drawn by his chart does. Thus conceived, astrology belongs entirely to a renewed spirituality, free from the ashes of the past. The time of saviors, prophets and masters has passed; or rather, it is up to all of us to assume these functions engraved in the verticality of our charts.

Notes and References:
1 Including the parallel of declination
2 Horizontal and vertical readings are separated for clarity. During the interpretation, the two are constantly blending. 
3The connection between Yantra geometry and meaning is less obvious as it mainly applies to unconscious psychic structures.

Image sources:
Stargazing: Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
Books: Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay
Story: Image by yogesh more from Pixabay
Wool: Image by Anita Smith from Pixabay
Diagram on planetary joys provided by the author
Mountains:Image provided by the author

Published at: ivcconference.com/constellation-news/, 2021.

Author:
Bernard Duchatelle currently lives in the mountains of the hinterland of Nice (France), where he devotes his time between consultations, research and writing. His practice promotes self-realisation through the in-depth understanding of thought processes and the emotional mechanisms that constitute us. Astrology he writes, appears as a coherent cosmogonic and philosophical system, illuminating the nature of the universe, our consciences and our destinies. He has authored a number of books and can be found at:
https://bernardlastrologue.blogspot.com/

© 2021 - Bernard Duchatelle - Constellation News

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