Essentialist Astrology is a philosophy of practice based on the following principles:
- The Cosmos was formed by a loving Creator
- Humans are Axial Beings
- As Axial Beings, each one of us is a microcosm of the Cosmos
- The entire sensible Universe is but one sphere of the Cosmos
- The movements of the planets and the stars are reflections of the movements of the Cosmos
- Our Creator loves each one of us and ordered the entire Cosmos to help us with even the most minute and mundane matters of our everyday life
The Cosmos was formed by a loving Creator
Astrology only makes sense, only works, if there is some loving Intelligent Creator who formed the Cosmos.
The modern secular scientific community teaches that astrology is nonsense based on old superstitions and has labeled astrology a pseudoscience. Even so, there are many in the various astrological communities who seek to be acknowledged as a modern secular science.
The truth of the matter is that according to the rules created by modern secular science, astrology cannot have any validity. No one has found any mechanism by which the stars and the planets can influence our everyday lives.
Yes, there is some evidence that the Moon and even other planets may have some influence over our hormones, but this is very basic compared to the influence that astrology has over every aspect of our everyday lives.
The only way that astrology makes any sense at all is if there is an Intelligent Creator who ordered the Cosmos in a way that can give us information about our lives.
Essentialist Astrology does not espouse any particular religion. I belong to a religion, but the tenets of Essentialist Astrology hold in any religious system that acknowledges an Intelligence or Intelligences that order the Cosmos.
Humans are Axial Beings
In the modern scientific worldview, humans are different from animals because of their intelligence. Yet, it has been found that some animals, such as dolphins, and even octopi, are highly intelligent as well.
In a more Traditional worldview, it is not the intelligence of humans that makes them special, but our power of choice. For the most part, animals are who they are created to be. Yes, they have individual personalities, but there is a limit to how much they are able to vary from their Archetype. A cat will always be a cat.
Humans have the power to vary greatly from who they were created to be. Most religious traditions talk about a Fall of some kind, in which humans disobeyed or fell from Grace in some way.
The meaning of this is profound, but in a basic sense, it means that we have a choice to follow the Divine Harmony or to depart from it. Humans can choose the Light or choose the Dark. This is what makes us Axial Beings.
Animals can be naughty. Anyone who has had a pet can attest to many such incidents. Usually in doing so, however, they are being true to their Archetype, and for the most part, morality does not apply to them. There are rare exceptions, of course. A dog can go rogue or can give her life for her Mistress, but for the most part, a dog is going to be a dog.
Free Will is the ability to choose between Light and Dark. It is not the same thing as the Power of Agency. Power of Agency means the ability to act in the world according to our wants and desires. This can be limited by many things, and a person’s Natal Chart can show how much Power of Agency one has or does not have.
Our Free Will is absolute, however. No matter our circumstances, we can choose to turn to the Light or to the Dark. For this reason, our choices have moral implications in a way that the choices made by animals do not.
As Axial Beings, each one of us is a microcosm of the Cosmos
As we are Axial Beings with the freedom to choose, each one of us is a microcosm of the entire Cosmos. Everything in manifestation resides in each of us. The only thing that exists outside of us is the Absolute.
This concept falls within the Mysteries, the things that we cannot truly understand until we have reached Enlightenment. At best, we might have mystical fleeting moments of understanding that are lost when the moment is over. We can only really accept this as a doctrine and an article of faith.
Yet, this doctrine has important implications. Our choices matter on a level far greater than our individual lives. What we do, what we think, what we say, what we wear, what we choose to put into our minds matters and has an impact on the entire Cosmos.
The entire sensible Universe is but one sphere of the Cosmos
The Cosmos is vast, much more vast than even the entire Universe that we can measure with our most sophisticated instruments. The Traditional Model of the Cosmos passed down from Ancient Times is a map or model of the Cosmos.
The entire sensible, measurable Universe is but one Sphere of this Cosmos. It is the Sphere of the Earth, which is also called the Sublunary Sphere.
This was known in Ancient Times, but the knowledge has been lost or forgotten in the West. It was already starting to become misunderstood by the time of Aristotle and was completely lost by the time of the “Enlightenment.”
I discuss this in greater detail in the video below:
You can also read more about this in the article linked below:
The movements of the planets and the stars are reflections of the movements of the Cosmos
While the Solar System, our galaxy, and the entire sensible and measurable Universe are all a part of the Sphere of the Earth, they give information as to the entire Cosmos.
Their movements are a reflection of the movements of the Cosmos. They play for us a beautiful symphony that for millennia has been known as the Music of the Spheres.
Our Creator loves each one of us and ordered the entire Cosmos to help us with even the most minute and mundane matters of our everyday life
This principle is the basis of all astrology, not just Essentialist Astrology, whether an individual astrologer is consciously aware of it or not. This principle is also why modern, materialist scientific teaching is so adamantly opposed to astrology.
For astrology to “work,” the Cosmos must be arranged in such a way that it gives meaning to our individual lives.
We are not insignificant creatures on an insignificant planet in the backwaters of a mediocre galaxy, who were brought about by random events as the modern scientific worldview would have us believe.
We matter, and we are deeply loved and cared for as individuals.
Astrology does not just work for big, important world-shaking events. It works for very minor and mundane matters, such as finding the keys we lost the other day.
The level of love and care our Creator has for each and every one of us that is shown by this is truly beyond what can be expressed in words.
Implications of these Principles
The implications of these principles are profound, and they place great responsibility on an astrologer who is interpreting the movements of the planets and the stars.
It means that being asked to do an astrological reading is an honor and a privilege that should be approached with both humility and sobriety.
The techniques of astrology are not rigid or mechanical. They are unique to every individual and every situation. Essentialist Astrology is not tied to any particular set of techniques, either from the West or from the East.
Instead, the techniques of each astrologer are a part of their particular toolbox. If our Creator has ordered the entire Cosmos to help each one of us, it also implies that She will arrange it so that the tools used by an astrologer will be the right tools for an individual person or situation.