Jacob Collier's astrological muses

A week ago Jacob Collier won his fifth Granny. Not bad, considering that he was born on the 2nd of August 1994 (in London). Collier has Mozartian levels of musical skill, and he knows how to use Youtube. Watching him perform is a humbling experience for most musicians. Let's take a look at his unusual talent through the lens of astrology.

A Philosophy of Astrology #5 ~ The Geometry

In the previous episode i was complaining and being negative. I suggested that astrologers ignore celestial information that can be used to sharpen or disambiguate their interpretations. In this episode i'll complain some more, but this time about the use of aspects.

A Philosophy of Astrology #4 ~ The Subjectivity

In the previous episode the astrological world view was characterized as 'essentially holistic' because it integrates planets and people, cosmos and consciousness, in a deeply coherent way. So why do critics think astrology is superstitious nonsense?

A Philosophy of Astrology #3 ~ The Coherence

For thousands of years, astrologers worked with the Sun, the Moon and the planets that are visible with the naked eye, from Mercury to Saturn. A relatively small selection of stars, often the brighter ones, was also considered. Nowadays new asteroids, stars, black holes and so on are discovered automatically on a daily basis. Some of these newly discovered celestial objects are relevant for astrologers.

A Philosophy of Astrology #2 ~ The Web

If we look at basic claims of astrology, and take them serious, it seems that reality as it appears to us, and life as we know it, are informed by a holistic, deeply mysterious web of synchronized symbolic concepts and processes.

A Philosophy of Astrology #1 ~ The Intro

Let's try to think about astrology. Is it absurd? Is it meaningless? Is it the voice of the Gods? And what do we mean by astrology and by philosophy?

Predicting the American election with asteroids

Predictive astrology is hard. Richard Tarnas explains it like this: "astrology is archetypally predictive". Meaning you can only predict in a general sense which kinds of qualitative influences are to be expected at a certain moment. You can see which dice will be rolling, but the numbers they're going to land on are anyone's guess.

The astrology of 2020

Chill out folks. Astrologers knew. And altho it's bad, it's probably not the end of the world. Let Richard Tarnas school you.

Asteroid tales ~ C.G. Jung's Red Book

Carl Jung's influence on contemporary astrology is considerable. He introduced new ideas that remain popular, like collective unconscious, archetype and synchronicity. In some sense Jung was also an astrologer, although he didn't do a lot of 'cookbook-astrology'.

Astrological tarot spreads

Astrology + Tarot can be a powerful combination. The house-based 'Astrological' or 'Zodiac' spread seems to be the most popular starting point. But if your astrology isn't based on the concept of houses, you might prefer spreads that use planets, asteroids or harmonics.

Greta Thunberg ~ Wounded healer

In Greta Thunberg's horoscope the Sun is conjunct Chiron, the Wounded Healer. That's saying a lot. Also a quirky Venus square Uranus and an empowering Jupiter trine Pluto. Planetary Golden Aspects are strong for Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto. Asteroid themes include singleminded leader and hunter. Neither modest nor meek.

The aesthetic fallacy

Hard scientists love to project concepts like elegance and beauty on simple equations like E = mc². A revealing choice perhaps, but also quite absurd. Economic use of symbols is really about compressing a body of theory and data to its absolute limit. But if beauty = max compression, the most beautiful painting would be 100% abstract.

The retroactive effect of asteroid names

The movements of the stars, the planets and even the asteroids are of great interest to astrologers. To most stargazers, a piece of space-rock becomes more useful when it has been named. The name connects the physical object to the realm of meaning; an important starting point for astrological interpretation. But that's not the whole story. Many names of astronomical objects are in fact deeply weird.

Avicii vs. Pluto ~ some astrological resonances

Two years ago, we checked the birth charts of hundreds of musicians to learn more about a new astrological technique. Back then, Avicii's chart stood out because of an intense Pluto. The name Avicii actually means 'Lowest level of Buddhist Hell' and Pluto is of course the King of the Underworld. Here's a closer look at Tim Bergling's birth chart.