| Re: Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior |
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Group: alt.magick · Group Profile
Author: OdysseusOdysseus Date: Sep 7, 2008 18:20
>
> Most astrologers are frustratingly digital in thier thinking.
> Ignoring that astrology is bunk for the moment so we can illustrate
> the digital thinking processes of astrologers - take this (real)
> example...
>
[list of aspects]
>
> See the problem yet? An astrologer will say Opposition Jupiter -
> Saturn means blah de blah de blah, and then he'll say Conjunction
> Venus - Saturn means whoo de whoo de whoo whoo, and to top it all off
> he'll venture that an Opposition Venus - Jupiter means a haaa de haa
> de haha. What he cannot do is say what the whole lot means as a whole
> (an integer). He just breaks it all up and concentrates on the parts
> and not the sum of the whole. [...]
If that's the case, he's not doing his job. Anybody can compile a list
of aspect interpretations from an astrological text or from a computer
horoscope; an astrologer is supposed to be able to integrate these 'dry
data' into a coherent picture or story relevant to the native's life.
The same applies to any kind of divination: I expect a Tarot reader who
merely recited the relevant passages from a handbook would be quite a
disappointment, even to a naïve client.
OTOH astrologers face a unique* challenge in the recent proliferation of
available data. A few decades ago it was only practicable to obtain a
page or so's worth of basic features. Although an enormous number of
techniques had been advocated by one authority or another, it was
necessary to be quite selective in order to limit the amount of
calculation required, the quantity of data therefore being reasonably
manageable (roughly comparable to a Tarot spread). Now computers can
spit out reams of figures at the press of a button: house cusps from a
dozen different systems; tropical & sidereal zodiacs both; hundreds of
midpoints, micro-aspects & "harmonics"; aspects not only in longitude
but also in latitude & right ascension; years' worth of progressions,
arc directions & daily transits; aspects involving any number of fixed
stars, asteroids, "parts" & hypothetical bodies; synastries for family
members, partners, roommates & colleagues; and, no doubt, plenty more.
It's never been so easy to acquire more data than can possibly be
assimilated, let alone organized into something one could reasonably
call "information".
* Unique among traditional divinatory systems, that is; similar problems
are encountered in pretty well all other aspects of life involving the
so-called information technologies. This will be quite obvious to anyone
who's made an insufficiently specific search-engine query that returns
thousands or millions of web-pages to sift through.
--
Odysseus
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