(delivered to the CIDA congress, Venice, Italy 26 November 1994)
Astrology is the ultimate system for integrating the cosmos with
the individual. It has survived the demands of countless
civilizations throughout history as each has redefined and recreated
the archetypal principles upon which astrology is founded in terms
which it can understand and use in an optimal way. I was originally
trained as an architect, educated at Cornell University and practiced
architecture in New York City and Rome in the 1960s, and my books
represent an attempt to restructure the astrological paradigm to
include both a modern understanding of the universe, developments in
human biology and genetics and also our psycho-spiritual being. In
order to do this, I call upon a powerful metaphor and its accompanying
mathematics: the movement of the solar system through time resonates
and exchanges information with the genetic code DNA within every
living cell, and that astrology is the science of information exchange.
One of the most powerful modern ideas is the Relativity Theory of
Einstein, which revolutionized physics earlier this century. The
classical Euclidean or Galilean universe was static: bodies moved in a
clockwork universe in perfectly circular orbits and time was an
absolute measuring scale from past to future. The relativistic universe
is one in which all bodies are composed of swirling energies,
constantly in movement, and there are no absolute vantage points nor an
absolute time. With no absolute time, every being has its own
independent conception of time, relative to all others. This
challenging principle can and should be applied to the philosophy of
astrology.
To illustrate this, we must visualize the solar system. We believe that
every year the earth orbits around a static Sun suspended in space,
returning annually to the same place. But, it is not that simple! Our
Sun orbits around its sun, probably the star Sirius (which itself
orbits around the Galactic Center), at a speed of about one and
three-quarter million kilometers per day (±72,000k/hr), pulling the
planets along with it, making their orbits appear to be spiral paths.
The innermost spiral is Mercury, followed by Venus and Earth. Along
the length of the central filament of the sun, each spiral revolution
of the Earth is one year. The asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter
appears as a haze of smaller bodies, while the outer planets gracefully
arch their way through time and space. The inner planets are wound
tightly and the outer planets soar along at a distance. This spiraling
pattern has been likened to a step-down transformer of cosmic energies
originating from the galactic center, each planetary spiral manifesting
a different frequency range. This image shows planetary movements as
patterns in time which describe a process of development.
The astrological horoscope is a slice through this spiraling circus at
a specific time of birth, its angle reflecting the location. When
seen from this perspective, everyone alive experiences the same
spiraling pattern from our own relative vantage point, the birth
horoscope slice, the only distinction is that each one of us enters
at a different relative place in space and moment of time. From the
present moment, the spiral projects back into the past and forward
into our common future.
My basic hypothesis is that there is a resonance, a formal and
mathematical relationship between the spiraling movements of the solar
system in time and space and the spiral structure of the DNA molecule
by which all organic life is structured. Knowledge of life is encoded
in the spiraling DNA structure which is a reflection of the galactic
model. The path of the sun through time is can be seen as a straight
line, but when the path of the earth is the central viewpoint, it is
a spiral within the sun's apparent spiraling path. The pattern of the
solar system in time in the macrocosm reflects the pattern of the DNA
molecule in the microcosm.
The physicist Jacques Bergier was quoted by Dr. Theodore Landscheit as
stating: "If (the physicists) Ducrocq, Hoyle, Narlikar and Costa de
Beauregard are right, the universe is just as well organized and
functions just as precisely as a DNA molecule in the nucleus of the
cell. Just as one has succeeded in discovering the genetic code, one
should also be able to find the astronomical code. The communication
of information is not restricted to living organisms, it is also an
integral part of the universe, just as matter and energy are."
My assumption is that the information carried by the DNA molecule
reflects the movements of the solar system spiraling through time, and
that they are the key to the astrological code. The question is: How
can this cosmic process be understood and applied personal life?
The experiments in biological time of Pierre Lecompte de Noüy
(1883-1949) form the basis for the relationship between astrology and
biology. During the First World War, de Noüy discovered that the rate
at which wounds healed varied according to the age of the wounded, and
that the metabolic process, the rate at which the body consumes and
utilizes oxygen and food, is the key to understanding this process.
The older we are, the longer healing takes, and indeed the longer are
all physical, mental and psychological reactions. De Noüy calculated
that the impression of the passage of time for a twenty and fifty
old man would be four and six times faster than for a five old child.
Time is not linear for us, because time passes faster and faster and
faster as we age.
Biological time is the relationship between metabolism and perception.
As metabolic rate slows down, time passes faster. Therefore, as we
age, our life seems to compact, compress and move faster. At conception
the metabolic rate is determined by the very fast ‘molecular’ time
scale of the ovum. As we grow larger and more complex, our metabolism
slows down, a process which continues throughout life, while at death
our metabolism ceases. As we age our metabolism gradually slows down,
our time sense accelerates. This is why time seems to pass so slowly
in childhood, but faster and faster as we age, until near death time
passes so quickly that we cannot keep up with it. Youth and old age
are characterized by fast and slow metabolic rates.
The mathematical expression describing the compaction of life in time
is a logarithmic progression.
The lifetime of a human ovum is one lunar month, and the average
lifetime of the cellular body is one thousand lunar months, or 77
years. The timescale of the ovum is one thousand times faster than
the timescale of a person at 77 years old, and the lifetime of the
ovum is one thousandth that of the cellular body. We also perceive
time passing one thousand times faster at death than at conception.
An average lifetime can be subdivided into three octaves using a
logarithmic scale: Gestation, Childhood and Maturity.
In Gestation, the physical Body is created within the mother; during
Childhood, from birth to seven years old, the emotional body of the
Personality is created and then developed within the home and family
system; and during Maturity, from seven to death, the mental body is
created in the world. Each successive octave occupies ten times more
calendar time, but the same quantity of energy and growth is put into
each octave, therefore they seem to be the same length. As we age,
time seems to contract, compact and accelerate.
When the logarithmically graded time scale is wrapped around a circle,
conception coincides with death, closing the circle. At conception
this pattern is all potential, none of its actuality has been realized.
Shortly after conception the soul enters the space-time continuum of
the spiraling solar system, leading to the creation and acceptance of
the karma of the astrological pattern which manifests through the
genetic code. The soul enters the space-time continuum where it becomes
subject to more rigid laws than in its previous domain of spirit,
which signals an incarnation, birth onto the cross of matter and the
wheel of karma. At the moment of death the life is all actual, all its
potential has been utilized, and the identical code registers as a
"last judgment," flashing by before in the instant of death. All
events in life are stages in the transformation of potential into
actual reality.
The logarithmic time scale is superimposed upon the horoscope and
further subdivided into twelve developmental stages, the twelve
houses, as a pattern of life through time. The positions of the planets
describe: events in life occurring at specific times from conception
to old age; archetypal and individual psychological mechanisms which
determine character and behavior; influential individuals in life and
their equivalent inner mechanisms; and bodily glands, organ systems
and the times of their release.
Integrating the concept of biological time with astrology creates a
revolutionary picture of the whole life, based on mathematically
derived principles; a valuable tool in psychotherapy, healing, the
raising of children, in relationships, executive placement, work on
the self and individual awareness for personal growth.
Whereas the traditional astrologer works with the birth horoscope slice
and one or two other slices taken to represent transits or
progressions, Life Time Astrology leads to a comprehension and
description of the entire process of life, beginning at conception.
The path around the periphery of the horoscope circle symbolizes the
events and mechanisms of life activated at spiritual, psychological,
emotional and biological levels.
Due to the phenomenon of biological time, events early in life are more
powerful than later events because they carry a greater energy charge,
they occurred when life energy was more potent and time more elongated.
Early events seem to last forever, while later events fly by us.
Therefore we return to the earliest events of our lives to discover
the deepest meaning of our existence. The events of gestation, from
your mother's and your own point of view, as well as the long-forgotten
events of early childhood may be reconstructed, together with the
people who participated in them. Both the outer environment and inner
psychology are shown in the horoscope in symbolic form. Life is a
cyclical process and knowing the origin of behavior patterns is a great
help in understanding the present and future.
It becomes clear that the signs of the zodiac are symbols of the
developmental stages in life. The interpretation of the astrological
horoscope is a description of your lifetime from conception through
death to transcendence, following the sequence of houses.
- Gestation is the creation of a physical body within your mother; a recapitulation of the entire evolutionary process beginning as a one-celled ovum; the initial relationship between your parents; the nature of the sexual act of conception. Gestation is the domain of the collective unconscious.
- Childhood is the creation of an emotional body within the family system and shows the personality determined by the birth process which then develops during early family life. Childhood is the domain of the personal unconscious.
- Maturity is the creation of a mental body within the world and shows how we are educated, find our life work, produce a family and negotiate and understand our world. Maturity is the domain of the conscious life.
The horoscope is the unfolding of life from its potential pattern. The
times of the beginning and end of the twelve houses are determined
mathematically, as you can see from this example horoscope with a
dating disk within it. The houses have an archetypal timing based on
the average lifetime, closely matching the developmental phases
identified by the psychologist Piaget and others, but for every
individual, unique times are determined by the relative sizes and
duration of the houses. As we pass through each house, all previous
developments are assimilated and integrated to higher levels of
awareness and consciousness, and psychic energy is transferred
to ever higher levels. Due to the mathematics of the logarithmic
time scale, the duration of each house is almost equivalent to the
entire preceding time from conception to the beginning of that house.
The aspects are very important in Life Time Astrology as they not only
connect planetary energies, but also show the relationship between
events at various stages of life. The aspects penetrate from the
time-bound sequence of our linear life around the circle into the
timeless and eternal center, they are our ways of going beyond
ourselves and into the core of ourselves. Indeed I use all of the
aspect points projected around the horoscope as "sensitive points"
which define an harmonic pattern of influences throughout our entire
life.
Traditional astrology may be restricted to perceptive character study
or the investigation of psychological mechanisms in individuals, but
often the whole remains an enigma. The leap to a biological time scale
is like the change from the static Newtonian world view to Einsteinian
relativity.
While the horoscope is a circle, it must be also be seen from a higher
spiritual dimension as a spiral, as in models of the four bodies. When
the horoscope circle is extended along its time axis, like the solar
system through time, it generates a cylinder, with the center of the
horoscope as a central axis. Our spiritual ascent spirals around the
periphery of the cylinder, like walking up a spiral staircase. The
horoscope is a slice through the cylinder at the time of birth,
although slices can be taken at any point. As we age, the cylinder
fills up with experiences. The present moment is the surface of the
cylinder.
But, we are not confined to the physical world of the three octaves.
There is a fourth, Transcendent octave during which we create a
transpersonal or spiritual body outside time. Transcendence is the
higher octave of gestation, a knowing and experiential return to
the collective unconscious, but on a higher level. Indeed this fourt
dimension is the culmination and synthesis of the entire process of
life and our goal in achieving unity with our world and our place in
time.
Over the past twenty-two years Life Time Astrology has developed as a
new and valuable tool for astrologers, applied to the psychological
life process as well as the dynamics of healing, expressed in my book
Astrology and the Art of Healing. Exploring the dynamics of conception
and gestation has provided great insight and challenging opportunities
for many astrologers and their clients. I am sure you will find that
Life Time Astrology will enrich your astrological investigations and
support your spiritual intentions.
Copyright: Tadd Mann
Bio: Tadd Mann
A T Mann was born in New York in 1943, and graduated from Cornell University in New York with an architecture degree in 1966. He worked as an architectural designer in New York City and Rome before becoming an astrologer in 1972 after a journey the East. He lived in London, England for eighteen years and presently lives in Idaho.
His books include - The Round Art: The Astrology of Time and Space, Life Time Astrology, The Divine Plot: Astrology and Reincarnation, Astrology and the Art of Healing, The Mandala Astrological Tarot, The Future of Astrology, Millennium Prophecies, Sacred Architecture, Sacred Sexuality (with Jane Lyle) and The Elements of Reincarnation.
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