Introducing Horoscopic Expressionism:
My objective is to probe the basis for the traditional meanings of astrological symbols by making comparisons between the birth chart of an individual and some characteristic expression/behavior of that individual. My hypothesis goes a little like this: if there is any similarity, consistency, or parallel, between what planets, etc., are *supposed* to mean and what the native (the person being charted) characteristically says or does, then we might gain some psychological and or philosophical insight into the nature of whatever astrology is. Though there is no reason to believe we can actually remove the total mystery these things present to our rational minds, I believe that increasing our general appreciation of astrology as an art form, seeing the symbols as symbols (not as magical causes producing predictable effects) can allow a reasonable person to enjoy astrology as an art form without the burden of having to defend it or oneself merely because astrology seems irrational. Thankfully, astrology is quite irrational, like beings who created it...:)
If one agrees that all "unscientific" pursuits are more likely some kind of art, then perhaps Astrology should be thought of as only an art and never as a science. The astrological charts, which are presumed essential to the astrologer as the initial stimulus for whatever "reading" s/he can dream up, are actually formulated drawings...stylish but crude maps of our solar system with the planet Earth as the center of the Universe. These "charts" have always been drawings. They are not cave paintings of course, but like other symbolic drawings with abstract content, there is a need to interpret the meaning of this circle of squiggles. These planets in aspects, signs, and houses are a graphic expression, like an algebraic formula with no constants...all the variables are relative to each other, and so have no basis in what we call *reality*. We are free to attempt the limits of our imaignation in this artform...the way a poet, or a novelist is free to create a character, a setting, or an entire world.
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Please e-mail your comments or suggestions to: rlsatterlee@exotrope.net
last revised Oct 23, 1998