Building the Language of Astrology
How do the stars speak?
If astrology is the language of the stars, it is important to build up our vocabulary so that we might know what the stars have to say.
We have traced astrology’s roots to the development of calendars and weather prediction so that is where we must start.
Everyone’s go-to subject of small talk is the weather, so think back to the last time you described the atmospheric conditions around you. Maybe it was a hot sunny day, and you expressed your dissatisfaction with the Sun’s merciless heat. Or perhaps it was a chilly winter night and as you shuddered in the cold—a few words escaped your lips to declare the air too frigid for your liking. In each of these cases, or in any other, when you speak of the weather you are really describing the quality of the air.
The air that surrounds us is the same air that sustains life. The breath of life enters your lungs, oxygenates your blood, and is sent to your organs allowing them to move. The animating force which engenders our life is breath. If you stopped breathing your life would end. This may seem too obvious to be profound, but we often take it for granted. However, it becomes extremely relevant when we are trying to use astrology to describe our lives. Our lives are driven by our breath, each breath taken from the air around us. Each breath allows us to move, so it is the air around us that allows us to act.
But what is air? It is this invisible thing which is suffused across the world and supports life. Throughout history many terms have been used to describe this life force which fills our lungs and vitalizes the body. Across astrological texts we see terms like “pneuma” in Greek, “ruh” in Arabic, "spiritus” in latin, which becomes the term “spirit” in English. When we take in a breath of air, we fill our lungs with spirit, we are “inspired” and then the heart distributes this life force to the rest of our body.
As the earth spins, causing the Sun and stars to rise and set, the winds of destiny are stirred up. The air shifts and changes, becoming hot or cold, humid or arid. These changes alter the way we ourselves act. The clothes you’ll wear, the places you’ll go to, even the activities you’ll participate in will all be in response to the quality of the air. The changes are both physical and psychological, as well as being both social and personal.
Astrology is based on a natural philosophy which views everything as connected. The qualities that constitute the world around us, also exist within us as we are not separate from the world but are a part of it. The four qualities of hot, cold, wet, and dry are seen as primary qualities which characterize everything in the world. We can apply these terms to physical things, but also immaterial things like actions, personality, and character. This is because every action we take is made possible by the air we breathe. The qualities of the air we breathe are related to the type of actions we take or are inspired by.
In astrology we cast the birth chart to study a person’s life, this chart is cast specifically for the moment someone draws their first breath. Using this chart we can diagnose their spirit, the animating force of their life. Then we apply timing techniques to forecast how the winds of destiny propel them toward different directions.
To do this we must have a deep understanding of the four primary qualities. These four qualities exist on two spectrums, one of hot versus cold, and the other wet versus dry.
Let’s start with understanding heat. Think of a pot of water, if we heat it up, what will happen? Well, if hot enough, the water will boil. The heat causes literal motion as the once still water begins to bubble and will bounce. The water will not only move but will make sound as you can audibly hear the bubbles. If you’ve brewed tea in a kettle what alerted you that the water was ready? Likely the whistle caused by steam rushing through the hole on top. Steam will rise up and permeate the air because hot air rises and expands. Another form of heat in the world is seen in fire. Fire produces light and when you place something in a fire it too will possess a bright red glow. Fire not only creates light but also sound as you can hear a fire crackle. From this we can gather that heat causes movement, it creates sound, it spreads out and takes up space. Heat is showy, expressive, vibrant and loud.
Cold stands in contrast to heat. Coming back to our pot of water, what happens if we froze it instead? What was once fluid and changing becomes solid. When water freezes it takes on a defined shape, it stabilizes and stills. Instead of being loud it is quiet, instead of expanding it contracts. Coldness is reserved, unmoving, stable, and hushed.
Moisture and dryness are usually a bit harder to grasp. The imagery I like to give is of grains of sand. Try to build a sandcastle with dry sand— you can't! Why? Because the dry sand will not stick together. To form a structure you’ll need moisture to connect the grains together. Moisture is connective, while dryness is divisive. If I asked you to separate two grains of rice it would be easy to do provided that they were dry, but if they were cooked so that they contained moisture, they would stick together like glue. Moisture creates connection, it unifies and binds. Plants need moisture to grow. Things that contain moisture become soft and pliable, they are bendable and able to adapt. Meanwhile dryness separates things, it articulates the distinction between things. Dryness draws boundaries and lines which sever and cut. Think of dry stone or rock which is hard to budge, dryness is stubborn and unchanging. Moisture is agreeable and changeable while dryness is disagreeable and rigid.
Now that we have an understanding of the primary qualities we want to relate them to people and human behavior. The easy part is that this is already embedded in our culture. You may have described someone before as hot headed, or warm hearted, or maybe someone gave you a cold shoulder. A conversation which you didn’t connect with may be called dry or an easy going person may “go with the flow.” These all refer to the primary qualities of hot, cold, wet, and dry.
The heavenly motions are a mirror of earthly events, and so if we use this language to describe earthly things we can also apply them to the stars!