"... when we want to understand the plant, we must bring into question not only plant animal and human life, but the whole universe. For life comes from the whole universe not only the Earth. Nature is a unity and her forces are at work from all sides. He who can keep his mind open to the manifest workings of these forces will understand her. " R.S. Pg 70 1938 Agriculture. (1)
Astrology is ultimately a theorem developed from the reality we live in. It is therefore best to begin our journey through the theorem with the practical realities of our environment, discover the Archetypal patterning upon which this stands and then look again at manifest life.
Rudolf Stainers' picture, which is not unique, presents life functioning on various levels of activity all at once. Somewhat like a multi leveled game of chess. He continually referred to the 2 fold, 3 fold, 4 fold, 7 fold and 12 fold organization of life processes. Astrology uses these same number divisions to organize information. Physically we can explore similar layers through investigating our immediate big neighborhood, which is bigger than most people might initially think.
When we grow crops we need to look at our environment. The first step is to look at the immediate physical quality of our land.
The quality of the soil meets us first, the soil drainage, nutrient status , its structure, the type of soil, sandy or clay and the water holding capacity. Is there enough water? Do we need to irrigate? Does it drain? Do we need to mulch or balance the minerals? These are all aspects of the physical environment we consider.
We then consider the way light and warmth work into our soil and the garden as a whole. What is the rainfall and when does it come? These questions form the climatic level of our considerations.
We look to see how our trees
are planted in the environment. Does the neighbor have a big
gum tree sitting in front of the garden. Are you in an urban
situation or by the sea? Then we look at the wind. How strong
is it, how often does it blow? Or does the wind blow unblocked
from one direction? From here we look at the larger geographical
picture. How are the hills arranged? How does this effect the
rain, wind, light etc. ?
We see this as a bigger picture and look further still to see
in New Zealand we are living on a island on the edge of the Pacific
Ocean. This in itself brings a certain climatic situation. We
are aware of being a long island with masses of water, and a
central mountain range, all of which works mostly to our advantage.
The next step is to see we are part of a Planet. A large ball of mass which has a unique area around it, the atmosphere.
Our atmosphere is a wonder which should not be over looked. Its wonder lies in the fact it was created by the Earth itself over our 5 billion year history. It is from the life processes of the Earth that oxygen was initially produced and released into an environment, which would otherwise be toxic to us. The earliest form of life are the Blue Green Algae living just below the surface of the oceans. These were the first life forms to develop and produce oxygen. Their existence manifested from the interplay of the four elements of Warmth, Light, Water and the salts and minerals of the Earth found only in our atmosphere.
The cosmic rays of light and heat met the earthly substance of water and salt minerals in the oceans. At the critical interface of the ocean surface the Blue Green Algae developed. From their production of oxygen over millions of years the Earth's surface eventually oxidised. Thus oxygen ceased being locked up to the same degree. Our atmosphere became rich enough in oxygen for other life forms to begin their development.
As evolution continued the animals in the oceans developed. They concentrated and released Calcium carbonate through their shells and formed the first animal proteins through combining Nitrogen to Carbohydrates. The great majority of calcium on earth, 28% of the Earth's surface, has built up from the deposits of the sea animals or deposits from other life processes of the Earth itself. Calcium does also deposit directly to the Earth as Cosmic dust from the Sun. We will see later the importance of Calcium and oxygen as the anchor on Earth of the Life giving forces.
For over 400 million years Oxygen has built up our atmosphere, which now extends up to the Ionosphere. Between the Ionosphere and the Stratosphere we have the Ozone layer. This became an important membrane around the planet, reflecting the harmful Gamma and Ultra violet radiations from the planetary and fixed star regions. These forces damage life processes.
Within this sphere is the realm of the elements. It is here light, warmth and moisture dwell. Out in space it is dark and as soon as the suns radiation hits the Ionosphere light and heat are generated. These elements all live within this sphere.
Looking at our Earth from the outside we can see it spins on its axis. It moves at 1000 miles per hour at the equator. It moves along a predictable path around an even bigger mass, the Sun, at a speed of 66,000mph. So we come to see the Earth is only part of a larger 'environment' the Solar system.
Astronomy tells us the Earth is more than a ball of rubble moving
through space. It lives in a precise relationship to all the
other planets in our environment. We have the Sun in the middle
with a very concentric expansion of planetary spheres taking
place. The actual planets all manifest along a horizontal plane.
Nearly all are within a 5 degree arc of the sky. Pluto is the
only one which has a large arc which is around 16 degrees.
This is a very ordered Solar system. To quote Einstein " God creates according to mathematical law" We have the various planets lined out in an order and at distance which can be rhythmically calculated by Bodes Law. ( Diagram 2 ) This is the formula rather than a law for the placement of the planets within the solar system.
From this formula we can predict where the planets will be placed from the Sun according to Astronomical units. Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were discovered using this 'Law' even though the last two are not in their exact positions. This lack of accuracy in their position still leads to the speculation there exists yet another planet Transpluto (Persephone) beyond Pluto.
Neptune and Pluto's path could be seen as being interrelated, as one cycle. In our present time Pluto is closer to the Sun than Neptune. Their 500 yearly conjunctions coincide with every second time Pluto reaches its aphelion ( furthest point from the Sun ). Their cycles and effects on human psychology and history also suggest a strong interrelationship.
Astronomy tells us the solar system is essentially a great big spinning top bathed in a pool of Electo magnetic field. As any one of these planets moves around within this sea of Electromagnetic force, so they push and pull all the others within this area. So as the planets move, so does the electro magnetic fields which hold matter in place. Matter moves as if it were sand in the bottom of a bottle The planets are the only moving part of our Astronomical reality, in the small context of the length of our lives. So this becomes a very significant level of existence. Their realm is very ordered, interrelated and predictable.
Pluto takes 248 years once around the circle. Neptune takes 165, Uranus takes 84 years, Saturn takes 29.5 years, Jupiter takes 12 years. Within this number series it can be seen Jupiter revolves 7 times for one Uranus cycle, 14 times for one Neptune cycle . Saturn is approximately 3 cycles for one Uranus cycle and 6 cycles for one Neptune cycle and so on.
| Planet | Theory | Actual AU | Cycle |
| Mercury | 4-10=0.4 | 0.4 | 87.97 days |
| Venus | 3+4-10=0.7 | 0.7 | 224.7 days |
| Earth | 6+4-10 =1 | 1 | 1 yr |
| Mars | 12+4-10= 1.6 | 1.5 | 1.88 yrs |
| Asteroids | 24+4-10= 2.8 | 2.8 | 4.6yrs |
| Jupiter | 48+4-10= 5.2 | 5.2 | 11.86 yrs |
| Saturn | 96+4-10= 10 | 9.5 | 29.46 yrs |
| Uranus | 192+4-10 = 19.6 | 19.2 | 84.02 yrs |
| Neptune | 384+4-10 = 38.8 | 30 | 164.78 yrs |
| Pluto | 39.5 | 248.4 yrs | |
| AU = | Astronomical Units | ||
Diagram 2-Bodes Law
As the Solar System is a giant electro-magnetic spinning field it can be seen that as the planets move in an organised harmony, any movement causes a rhythmic ripple effect which impacts upon the rest of the structure of the Solar System.
The next step on our journey through our 'environment' takes us past Pluto and out into the vast distances of our Galaxy. Our Solar system, in its contained spinning motion, hurtles through space in the direction of the constellation of Hercules, at the speed of 48,000mph.
We are moving around a galactic center in a motion that takes 240 million years to go once around. The Galaxy has a radius of 50,000 light years Hence here on Earth we are moving at a combined approximate velocity of 115,000 mph. ( Earth's spin - 1000 mph, Earth around the Sun -66,000 mph, Solar system around the Galaxy - 48,000 mph = 115,000 mph ) . At this speed are we being pushed onto the planet or pulled as current gravitational theory suggests?
It is interesting to note that with our eyes we can only see the planets out to Saturn. When it comes to the Galaxy, the stars we see with our eyes are mostly contained within our galaxy. While they are moving slowly apart, they appear ( in our life time ) to remain in the same relationship to each other and our solar system. The Stars we see are either Suns or other systems filled with Suns generating immense amounts of radiations, constantly. These Stars form the basis of the continuous stream of cosmic forces within which we live.
The galaxy is an interesting form. It is in a spiral shape with a center and two arms spiraling out. Our solar system is on one of the outer arms about 3\4 of the way out from the center.
Our Milky Way galaxy appears to be is a disc shape and is most often represented this way. What we can imagine is a flat plane spinning in space. However this is not the whole story. The Galaxy is actually a sphere shape rather than just a flat plane. We are best to start by visualizing an egg/apple shape. The flat plane we see is just where the matter coagulates. If we cut an apple in half through the middle, not top to bottom, then the Galaxy disk is on that horizontal plane. The rest of the 'Apple' are the electromagnetic force fields holding all the matter together. To go one step further it would help to imagine the inside of the Apple as an onion, with its multi layers or spheres.
Now, on the horizontal plane there are areas of matter and gaps. Sit with this awhile as it provides a start for gain a truer picture of what our galaxy actually looks like.
The constellation of Sagittarius marks the direction of the center of the galaxy in the sky. If you look up in the sky towards Sagittarius you will see the bulge of stars.
Our solar system spins on a different angle from the galactic plane. About 85' different. In doing so we create another inner spherical dimension within the body of the Galaxy which has the same egg/apple/onion form as the bigger structure. All we see of the Solar system are the planets lined out on a flat plane just as when we look at the Galaxy.
Beyond our Galaxy we form into a 'local group of 8 galaxies', which as said to revolve around the star Alcyone in the Plaeides. This group in turn is part of a 'super cluster' of such grouped galaxies. These in turn are part of larger groupings called 'globular bundles'. These represent very big distances in space. Our local super cluster is approximately 100 million light years in diameter.
The galaxies appear to be all moving away from each other. Therefore our local spiraling ordered form, our Galaxy - 100,000 light years in diameter - can be seen as the edge of our 'immediate' organized environment.