Priscilla Costello is a teacher, writer, and counseling astrologer based in Toronto. She frequently travels to the U.S. to see clients and lecture. She has been instrumental in the organization of Canadian astrology and currently serves on the Advisory Board of NCGR. Her Master's thesis on Gnosticism and Jungian psychology (1993) won the Master's Scholar Award from the NE Association of Graduate Schools. She is founder and Director of the New Alexandria, a center for spiritual and esoteric studies.

James Wasserman is a lifelong student of esotericism. His writings include The Mystery Traditions: Secret Symbols and Sacred Art, and Aleister Crowley and the Practice of the Magical Diary. His Chronicle Books edition of The Egyptian Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth by Day features the fullcolor Papyrus of Ani with integrated English translation. The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven has thus far been published in six languages. His controversial The Slaves Shall Serve: Meditations on Liberty defines political freedom as a spiritual value. His newest book is An Illustrated History of the Knights Templar. He is currently editing a series on Western occultism known as The Weiser Concise Guides. You can find him online at www.studio31.com. He lives in New York City with his wife Nancy.

CHAPTER 1

The Planets: The First Piece

Astrology consists of groups of symbols, all having numerological andphilosophical, as well as psychological and literal, meanings. The sevenclassical planets, plus the three more recently discovered Uranus, Neptune, andPluto, are the main letters of the astrological alphabet. (The word "planets" isused throughout to apply to the Sun and Moon, though technically the Sun is aminor star and the Moon a satellite of Earth. To indicate that the Sun and Moonare considered as astrological archetypes, they are capitalized.) Planets arethe factors that transmit energy in steps from the Godhead into the createdworld. Each is named for a Roman god or goddess whose character and history islargely borrowed from the Greek mythological tradition.

In psychological terms, the planets are carriers of psychic energy, responsiblefor the uniqueness and dynamism of each individual. They are motivators,impelling you to seek experiences and passively attracting them. Inpsychological language, they are equivalent to "needs" or "drives."

The number seven may be considered sacred precisely because there wereoriginally believed to be seven planets (including Sun and Moon). The seven-dayweek was created with each day corresponding to one of them. A host of otherassociations also arose—metals, colors, rocks and precious gems, perfumes andincense, herbs, trees and plants, animals, emblems, and deities of variouscultures. Whatever idea was associated with a planet was thought to have anaffinity with its nature, on its own particular level. Astrological correlationsderive in part from specific observations of physical reality. Because physicalreality reflects inner essence, shape, appearance, taste, and behavior, allreveal planetary connections. Birthstones linked to the months of the year are asimplified example of astrological correspondence.

Given the archetypal nature of astrological symbols, the traditional way tolearn about them is to memorize and ponder lists of key words. But you cannotgrasp their significance with the intellect alone. You must circles the symbols,musing on a cluster of associated concepts to penetrate their essence. This isthe method I use in the sections that follow: a circumambulation of each symbolthat explores the concepts associated with it. At some point, with study andreflection on a given symbol, you may have an "aha!" moment of insight when youintuitively comprehend its inner meaning.

We will study the planets' basic principles and explore some literalmanifestations, psychological meanings, and connections to various esoteric,religious, or spiritual disciplines. The discussion moves freely, referring tothe essential planetary principle, the god or goddess that embodies it, or themany possible associated externalizations in our time-space dimension.

It is sometimes difficult in talking about astrology to find language that doesnot sound causal. Even though the planets represent pure abstract essences,astrologers as a shorthand always end up saying "it" or "he" or "she" "does"that or "influences" this or "rules" such-and-such. You must understand,however, that the planets are not causing anything—that astrology works becausethere is a greater organizing principle behind the appearance—synchronicity,that includes both the planets and us. We talk as if it were causal forconvenience. But the planets (or any other factor) don't make you do anything,any more than the clock makes you put down your work at 5:00 and go home, orturn on the TV at 8:00 to see your favorite show.

The following ideas are intended to be suggestive and not definitive; you willbenefit from reading other astrology books, consulting symbol dictionaries, andresearching esoteric references to further open each symbol's inner meaning.Because a symbol's expression may be multivarious and not entirely predictable,one fascinating aspect of learning the astrological language is to observe howthe universe plays with possibilities in manifesting planetary potential.

Some planets, like the Sun and Moon, or Venus and Mars, are obviouscomplementary opposites. According to some esoteric theories, at the moment ofcreation, the invisible One broke into a visible two, appearing as oppositesthat characterize our world: light and dark, up and down, good and bad,masculine and feminine, and so on. Some planetary pairs perfectly representthese polarized extremes.

Each astrological symbol also reflects this duality by containing within itselfboth an up side and a down side. In the old days (before the 20th century!),some of the symbols (like Saturn) were thought to be exclusively negative, andothers (like Jupiter) exclusively positive. This interpretive bias has changedin the modern period, as greater psychological sophistication and awareness ofesoteric ideas has led to the realization that symbols inherently contain theiropposites.

The "Lights": The Sun and the Moon

The Sun ([??])

The Sun has received most attention in popular culture, because people knowtheir birthdate (which immediately reveals the Sun's position in the zodiac). Itcan thus be isolated and commercially exploited. However, the Sun truly is theessential symbol. In fact, "essence" or "essential nature" are solar keywords.

The Sun is the paramount symbol of life, since its energy makes all livingthings active. The east, where the Sun rises with increasing splendor, is theplace of birth or the first emergence of life. The Sun's reappearance eachmorning means that dark night is vanquished once more and that life willcontinue. The very predictability of sunrise each day lends human life order andstability.

Like the Sun, the solar hero or savior delivers his people from dark andmonstrous terrors—even death itself. One such semi-divine hero is the GreekPerseus, whose mother conceived him in a shower of gold, the metal of the Sun.Perseus freed his people from tyrannical rule and destroyed the snake-hairedMedusa, whose glance literally petrified anyone who gazed upon her. In myth,solar heroes like Perseus break free from the influence of parents and cultureand overcome inner fears to reveal the individual's most glorious possibilities.These heroes, like the Sun itself, embody the elemental masculine principle.

But too much solar energy is destructive; it burns, dries, and dessicates,destroying crops and threatening life. The Chinese shot arrows at the Sun tochallenge its deadly rays, which can magically transform invisible heat intovisible fire.

Because of the Sun's prominence in the sky and the power of its rays, itrepresents divinity—the all-seeing eye of Ra in Egypt or Odin's eye of wisdom inNorse tradition. Under its steady gaze, all things are fully illumined andstarkly differentiated. But the Sun's warm rays also translate as love from thedivine heart, poured out freely to all on Earth.

By analogy, the Sun represents not only God in the heavens, but a nation's kingon Earth. The ruler in many cultures was the "son of the Sun"; such a titlepresumed that he would rule with the same power as his heavenly counterpart.Since the Sun's rays fall with equal warmth on all, the ruler was expected to bejust and impartial.

Being the outstanding symbol of illumination, the Sun is also the light ofreason within the individual, enabling the declaration "I see!" at a moment ofdawning insight. Reason is more than intellect. Sun gods like Apollo were oftengifted with prophecy. The Sun is spiritual illumination, depicted as halosaround the heads of saints or golden auras around enlightened beings.

The most intriguing and contradictory interpretation of the Sun has to do withthe concept of the self. Psychologically, the Sun is the ego, the center ofpersonal consciousness. But this personal self is a constructed or false (thatis, temporary) self that is useful only in this world.

Yet the Sun also symbolizes the greater Self, the divine spark within, the innercore of the individual, all-encompassing and immortal, residing in the heart yetfilling the entire cosmos. In spiritual terms, focusing on the Sun rather thanon Earth means basing your sense of self not on ego but on eternal spirit. Theindividual who makes this shift of identification is "twice-born," and mayexperience the mystic vision whose splendor is like the rising of a thousandSuns.

Thus the Sun is paradoxically both the "lower" and the "higher" self: thepersonality that is an essential actor in this world, and the true Self that isyour real identity. Our task seems to be to walk a kind of razor's edge: to besimultaneously the personal expression of the Sun and the impersonal bearer ofthe inner light.

The Moon ([??])

Unlike the Sun, the Moon is continually waxing and waning—first invisible at thedark New Moon, then an emerging crescent, next a fully visible orb, and finallyback to crescent and invisibility again. So it symbolizes impermanence andconstant change. No wonder Juliet urges Romeo, "O swear not by the Moon, theinconstant Moon ..."

In moonlight, things lose color. Separate things merge into one. Another kind ofseeing, a diffused whole-body perception, overshadows rationality. Thus the Moonrepresents instinctual knowing without the use of logic. In esotericism,moonlight is analogous to the "astral light" of an invisible plane above thematerial where the principal organ of perception is the imagination. Things andideas can come into being instantaneously and magically as the creativeimagination conceives them.

The Moon symbolizes fertility, the Great Mother who gives birth to new forms oflife and oversees their subsequent growth within vegetable, animal, and humankingdoms. Fertility is often measured in lunar cycles: farmers and gardenersplant, prune, and harvest according to the Moon's phases; a human female'sfertility correlates to the changing Moon. Modern research has shown that at theFull Moon both animal and human sexual activity increases. Altogether, the Moonrepresents the entire process of the coming into being and the passing away offorms.

The Moon measures time. The earliest calendars were based on lunar cycles,marked by notches in bone that tracked New and Full Moons and eclipses. Days andyears were established by the rising and setting Sun in its seasons, butintermediate periods were set by the Moon, whose rounds established the week andmonth ("moonth"). Lunar calendars are still used by some religions (Judaism andIslam) and cultures. The Chinese New Year is always the first New Moon inAquarius; Easter's date is fixed as the first Sunday following the first NewMoon after the Spring Equinox.

As keeper of time, the Moon means mortality. All visible life is subject tochange, as forms materialize, fluctuate in their appearance, and then disappear—justlike the Moon which dwindles and "dies" each month during its dark phase.It therefore measures human fate. Moon goddesses are often portrayed as spinnersor weavers of destiny, like the Norse three Norns, or the three Fates of ancientGreece who spun, measured, and cut the threads of life on the loom of time.

The Moon relates to water in all its forms: the water of the womb, the waterthat falls as rain or appears magically as morning dew, and the vast ocean whoserising and ebbing tides are attributed to the Moon's attractive pull.

The Moon is the preeminent symbol of the feminine principle. It is associatedwith emotions, the inward, fluid tides of feeling that fluctuate from moment tomoment, and instinctual urges and subliminal drives that motivate us without ourpersonal will in control.

First differentiated in ancient Greece, the three principal phases of the Moon—new,full, and waning—correlate to three stages of a woman's life: maiden,mother, and crone (or wise woman). Differentiating the Moon allowed forcontradictory interpretations such as virginal or maternal, barren or fertile,chaste or seductive. These aspects were represented by three distinct goddesses:Artemis the virgin huntress, Hera the wife, and Hecate the wise woman. Nowonder, with her changeability and varied guises, that the feminine principle isseen as mysterious and unfathomable, irrational and unknowable.

Psychologically, the Moon represents the unconscious, the primitive and largelyunknowable part of ourselves, the "night" half of the psyche. Remarkably, theMoon always has the same face toward Earth: its dark side is never seen.

The realm of the unconscious is notoriously difficult to engage without losingpsychic balance; you must face fears and fantasies, and unmask projections. Inesoteric terms, this has to do with the initiatory experience of confronting the"dweller on the threshold," a fear-inspiring entity that blocks your progress.This figure constellates everything you dread and have repressed, explaining whymany find the inner explorations of therapy more terrifying than extreme sports.

In Kabbalistic mysticism, the Moon is the realm of Yesod, the first rung of theladder of heaven, "the Treasurehouse of Images." Experiencing this dimensiongives a vision of the workings of the Universe, and a perception of shapesbefore they coalesce and appear as physical forms.

The Five Classical Planets

Mercury ([??])

The planet Mercury travels so close to the Sun that it can rarely be seen. Nowonder the god Mercury is shown with a cap of invisibility! The planet moves thefastest of any, so the god Mercury wears a winged hat and has wings on hisheels. Mercury correlates with the ability to move quickly and to adaptinstantly to new situations, as well as to physical agility and manualdexterity—like that used by the juggler or stage magician who entertains todelight or fool the eye.

Because of Mercury's closeness to the Sun, it was natural to interpret itsarchetype as the gods' messenger. Thus Mercury is the mind, the rational facultythat clothes divine ideas in everyday words. Not only is it the power of thespoken word itself, but also your manner of thinking and speaking, the style andquality of your communication.

Mercury is the childlike curiosity that drives your urge to know and maturesinto the ability to reason and analyze the information gathered. At its mostdeveloped, Mercury is eloquence and persuasiveness. In ancient Greece, honey wassacrificed to him as the literal God of Sweet-talk. Mercury encompasses thesophisticated art of rhetoric, the glibness of a car salesman, the slysubversiveness of a town gossip, and the propaganda of a political machine.

In Latin, mercari means "to engage in business," and Mercury rules trade andcommerce—the selling, bartering, and negotiating of the marketplace, and themerchant class that arises from it. The negative side of Mercury is a clevernessthat succumbs to trickery and deceit—and at an extreme, to lying and outrightthievery. Mercury is the Trickster, a god who plays games with human beings,sometimes for sheer sport and sometimes to shatter their self-generatedillusions.

The first myth told about Mercury is that on the very day of his birth, he stoleApollo's cattle. Forced to return them by his father, Jupiter, he placatedApollo with a gift. He created the first lyre by taking a turtle's shell andstringing it with nine linen cords, in honor of the nine Muses. Apollo was soimpressed with Mercury's inventiveness that he gave him the caduceus, a rod withtwo serpents entwined around it with wings on top. The caduceus has become thesymbol of the healing profession. Esoterically, it may also represent the risenkundalini, the energetic fire of the body that surges up the spine through thedual channels of ida and pingala, and creates an energy field that heals all whosit within its range. The caduceus is the inner wand of the true magician, whosepowers derive from an illumined consciousness.

Mercury not only bestows ordinary knowledge, but also whispers hidden truths.Part of the esoteric magician's special knowledge is the ritualistic use oflanguage, a reflection of the creative Logos that literally brought the worldinto being through the spoken Word.

Mercury not only relayed messages from heaven to Earth, but also (as HermesPsychopompus, his Greek name) conducted souls from Earth to the underworld.Because of his unique ability to cross boundaries, he became the patron oftravel and the god of roads. Herms, or pillars, are often found at crossroads,especially where three ways intersect.

Mercury is often portrayed as androgynous. He is the still somewhat-undifferentiatedoffspring of the Sun and the Moon with both male and femalephysical characteristics. As the alchemical hermaphrodite, he may also representnot just the unredeemed matter of the alchemist's early experiments but thefinal outcome of his efforts—the marriage of the Sun and Moon, the restorationof all dualities into one.