Peter Morrell’s Astrology Articles

A LONG ENGAGEMENT WITH ASTROLOGY

“When young and inexperienced I preached a
sermon against
Astrology and had no knowledge of it save that gained at the
addresses of itinerant lecturers quite incompetent to deal with it.
The system may not be complete, but I regard it as far more useful,
practical and successful than any other system of determining the
destiny of man.”
[Archbishop Whateley of Dublin, quoted in Lyndoe, 1938,
Complete Practical Astrology, London, p.258]

I first became interested in astrology in 1971, during a
period when I was drawn to and studied many different ideas and
philosophies [e.g. Taoism, Buddhism]. It think it might be of interest to
others to describe these things as they evolved.

I did not really believe astrology at all to begin with and found it all
rather baffling, but I was determined to keep an open mind and assess its
worth under my own steam. My first book was Sephariel’s ‘Manual of
Astrology’ and rather ancient it was too. I also had a friend at the time
who was completely besotted by it, but who I regarded with a combination
of scepticism, amusement and amazement. Like several of my friends at that
time, he was a fine art student and was in fact writing a thesis on
Fuseli. He was also heavily involved in the hippie subculture, the Mr
Natural comics and the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers. We discussed
astrology a great deal, mostly being concerned with interpretation rather
than with explanation.

I decided pretty early on that the only way to really test the validity of
astrology is to cast loads of charts and see if they show what the
textbooks say. So I therefore set about this task with great gusto. This
took about 5 years, during which time I discovered that horoscopes are by
no means ‘random gibberish’, but do show a lot about people and events,
like accidents, explosions and mundane events. I gradually satisfied
myself that astrology is a valid and interesting subject of study. I
realised that the doctrines of astrology are better investigated in this
way, through casting and studying many charts, rather than merely being
accepted as pure dogmas or rejected out of hand as bunkum. One must
validate ideas for oneself, or discard them as bogus.

I started collecting charts, copying them from books and casting them for
people I knew, as well as for events and famous people. Nothing would
cause me to deviate from the path I had set myself to try and validate or
reject astrology based entirely on evaluating dozens and dozens of charts.
In this way I resolved for once and all to settle the matter to my own
satisfaction, in my own way and in my own time. In this way I began to see
how astrology works and to gain insights into the fundamental symbolism
which lies behind it. Needless to say I have cast and studied many dozens
of charts since. I also got interested in the statistical side of
astrology as pioneered by Gauquelin and Llewellyn. Along with astrology as
applied to history these soon became abiding passions of mine within the
subject during the 70s and 80s. All the books by CCZain, for example, were
deeply influential.

Three aspects of astrology really came to my attention in a big way from
an early stage. First the degree influences (derived from the work of
Maurice Wemyss – ‘The Wheel of Life or Scientific Astrology’, in 5 volumes
published in the 30s) and which I have thoroughly absorbed, studied and
applied. Wemyss’ books are wonderful works, containing masses of data and
many quirky ideas, but also blessed with numerous insights. In my opinion,
he is by far one of the most thorough, scientific and reliable sources in
the entire subject. Second, the theory of location which is an aspect of
mundane or political astrology. This rested heavily upon the work of
Carter, also a major 30s astrologer [Charles E O Carter, another British
astrologer and author of such classics as: The Astrological Aspects, The
Astrology of Accidents, An Encyclopaedia of Psychological Astrology and An
Introduction to Political Astrology]. Third, ‘combos’, which also derives
in part from location astrology, but which is a system in itself of
complex inter-relationships between signs, planets and houses. Briefly, a
combo is a way of seeing mars in Taurus, for example, Venus in Aries, a
Venus mars conjunction, mars in the second house or Venus in the ascendant
as much the same basic thing. If you then multiply this idea across the
planets and signs and houses, you can begin to see the complexity and
potential the idea has for chart interpretation. It maximises the
inter-connectedness and reciprocation within a chart and points up
numerous interesting new parallels and cross-links which are simply not
visible by any other means.
Being also a Buddhist, I have long been intrigued by the question of the
astrology of rebirth, and in 1992 worked out a complete system which goes
some way to provide a mechanism for the astrology of rebirth.

I make no apology for the fact that most of my ideas have been derived
from studying charts and are thus evidence-driven rather than deriving
from theoretical ideas alone. I think it is very important to develop
ideas in this way: only from very thorough immersion in the data of charts
can the truth be known. All in all I have laboured hardest at collecting
and studying charts of events and people. That forms the sound basis for
everything I know. Any theoretical ideas or techniques have been absorbed
along the way from various sources (especially Wemyss), but only those
ideas I have been able to confirm for myself have been retained as
workable and therefore valid. The rest have been discarded in whole or
part along the way, or have not yet been assessed.

At a very early stage I had difficulty deciding what the many different
elements of a chart actually signify. In the case of my own chart – which
inevitably forms the natural starting point for most people – I would
wonder what being a Gemini means. And I would look at my own life and
disposition, and my life from an early stage, to figure out the answers.
Only in this way, by contemplating the contents of the chart and
reflecting on life, can one begin to make the subtle and complex bridge
from charts to people. So, very gradually in this way, I built up a fair
grasp of the subject. Then, when we move to other charts, like exploring
new and uncharted seas, we discover totally alien planetary configurations
and we can match them up with aspects of the person’s mentality and life
events. Proceeding in this manner, one builds firmly upon one’s old
experience and makes good progress in one’s understanding of the subject.
Astrology is a vast science embracing many other disciplines. Most of all
one must be a good observer and a good student of human nature if one is
to plumb the depths of horoscopes and see through the details to perceive
the entire person. That is an art borne from massive study of charts and
much thinking and analysis. One must be just as interested in people as
one is in astrology to reach that state. Psychology and sociology seem to
be essential sciences to really doing well with astrology.

I disliked at an early stage those people who get very involved in
long-winded and really rather pointless arguments about what it is and how
it might work; or those who dismiss it all as bunk. These are all
distracting side-tracks. Astrology is a descriptive science and one must
place oneself below it in order to receive its many insights. Arrogance
and rejection form insuperable stumbling blocks which prevent any further
progress in one’s true understanding of the subject. The fact that
something cannot be explained in terms of ‘normal science’ or fitted into
the conventional pigeon-holes of ‘rational’ human knowledge, does not
prove that such a subject is bunkum or that it cannot have any validity
whatsoever. Such aspects do not prove that it is bogus. They merely reveal
that it exists in a different dimension from conventional knowledge and
the rules which there apply do not apply in this ‘other realm’. Much that
does work and which can shed useful light on life still needs to be
dissected and analysed by intelligent people, and in the future no doubt,
explanations and mechanisms will be forthcoming. Not that explanations and
mechanisms validate or invalidate anything. In my opinion they seem merely
to comfort those who like them.

****

The Heavens themselves, the Planets, and this Centre,
Observe degree, priority, and place,
Insisture, course, proportion, season, forme1
Office, and custome, in all line of Order:
And therefore is the glorious Planet Sol
In noble eminence enthron’d and spher’d
Amid’st the other; whose med’cinable eye
Corrects the ill Aspects of Planets evil,
And posts like the Commandment of a King,
Sans check to good and bad. But when the Planets
In evil mixture to disorder wander,
What Plagues, and what portents, what mutiny!
What raging of the Sea! shaking of Earth!
Commotion in the Winds! Frights, changes, horrors,
Divert and crack, rend and deracinate
The unity and married calme of States
Quite from their fixure!
William Shakespeare (Troylus and Cressida).