Catholic Astrology

Some basic, ground level reflections on astrology and how it is viewed by the Catholic faithful.

I'll attempt to articulate through the written word some thoughts concerning the question of Astrology and its validity within the Christian, specifically Catholic, tradition.

The first thing to do would be to correct two common misunderstandings.

a) That of the notion of a simplistic "Sunday paper horoscope" that can predict the future events of a large swath of people simply because they share a birthday … or even birth month.

b) The other, that giant balls of burning gas or masses of rock in the vast reaches of space have a one-to-one, causal effect on our future and/or personalities.

Both are to be dismissed outright and are not what is meant by astrology here and generally speaking this was not the understanding of astrology in the ancient world (though St. Augustine seems to have come upon some "superstitious stargazers” as they were called)

Instead, and I think it apt considering the general acceptance of this concept by Catholics, what astrology can be likened to is the four temperaments.

Firstly, in the sense that we can agree that the four temperaments do not, at all, take away from the free will of a human, which can be the first issue Catholics have with astrology, if it is given any amount of merit at all, that it amounts to a strictly deterministic worldview. It can be agreed that in the context of the Catholic spiritual life that what the four temperaments do is establish certain parameters in which a person can exercise their free will, and even, to the extent that the person is self-reflective enough, disciplined enough and submits to the graces of our Lord, can overcome and master.

Knowing of the four temperaments, and which ones are more dominant in our personality can even speed along this process and allow a person to exercise their free will to a greater capacity in the sense that they "know their enemy", so to speak - that is, are aware and have a greater understanding of their own strengths and weaknesses.

The origins of the four temperaments are found in the ancient world, especially among the Greeks (though a common conception in many cultures) and may be recognised in the four elements of Fire, Air, Water and Earth (Choleric, Sanguine, Phlegmatic and Melancholic respectively).

Now, it would be foolish to think that the 'real' physical things we call Fire, Water, Air and Earth have a direct one to one causal influence on our personalities. No one would presume that one who is of an overly choleric temperament must have been born in a physical fire or had been in any way especially touched by fire in their life. Instead, they were a means to categorise much more subtle forces at play beyond the purely physical world. Not that these categories were at all arbitrary, they actually participate in the reality of their corresponding 'subtle force' but they allowed the understanding of metaphysical 'things' through their physical manifestations that we more easily perceive and comprehend.

All that has been said here, then, could be said of astrology in that the celestial bodies, it was believed in the ancient and medieval world, participate in the same subtle forces that move us as humans, the forces that effect our temperaments, our emotions, our personalities etc.

That is to say, that a certain planet or star or constellation does not CAUSE the personalities and temperaments we were born with, but that they reflect the dynamic interplay of subtle forces that do give 'form', so to speak, to the 'matter' that is our personality types.

The question of why the time of our birth would be involved in the coincidence of the positioning of celestial bodies that provide a sort of ‘map’ into our interior life (known as the Natal Chart, which is, it should be said, only a small fraction of what makes up the different disciplines of Astrology) is answered simply, in the context of the Catholic tradition, why not? Is God not sovereign over His creation? Is the answer of “it is most fitting and God’s good pleasure that it be so” not a valid enough answer for many other questions of the faith?

All this is said not necessarily to convince anyone that this manner of understanding the cosmos, and therefore the human being in relation to it, is beyond refute, but instead, simply to give a correct understanding of astrology so that it is not so easily dismissed as superstitious nonsense because of common misconceptions.

The stumbling block to appreciating (if not necessarily accepting it just yet) such a worldview, I believe, lies in the unlearning of the modernistic and materialistic concept of a universe founded in a strictly material and horizontal causality. By which is meant that one physical thing or instance in time has its cause in a preceding physical thing or instance going back in linear time like falling dominoes in an unending line.

This is to address misconception b).

Now, as Catholics, we would hopefully dismiss such a worldview, most especially as somewhat deterministic, but also because it disallows for the providence and interjection of God in history. God, who is the true cause, the first cause as St. Thomas Aquinas has made clear, being beyond a strict physical causality.

However, more often than not, I think (correct me if I'm wrong), although we may intellectually assent to a causal domain beyond the physical, we more often than not live contrarily so. This is evident in the assumption of most astrology sceptics, Catholics included, that the notion of gases and rocks in space determining our fate is the only manner in which astrology could be conceived. We have, hopefully, put that to rest.

If, it would seem, many Catholics believe via the faith in unseen, spiritual causality, then why are we so quick to dismiss so many spiritual practices on the basis of a modern, materialistic worldview of strict physical causality?

An, hopefully, effective way to break the mind out of this modernism, is to ponder the question: Does the instrument cause the music, or does the music cause the instrument?

It may seem obvious, or maybe it doesn't, but we have to conclude that, in as much as we conceive of music as not simply the vibrating sound waves coming forth from the instrument that then hit our ear drums, sending perceptible information to our grey matter (which would be the modernistic, rationalistic and deterministic explanation), but instead as pre-existing this sonic manifestation in the form of an idea in the mind of the composer who orders certain transcendental 'things' such as proportion, harmonic relation and other mathematical principles that are then "given life", so to speak, via the instrument, that the music therefore causes the instrument, in a certain respect. Or at least precedes it.

Miles Davis famously said concerning Jazz that "It's not the notes you play, but the notes you don't play". This is true of music in general and more accurately refers to its transcendent nature. There is something of the music beyond the notes on the page and even the sound in the air.

And what of the response we have as the listener of the music coming forth from the instrument.

Vibrational sound waves hitting our eardrums sending perceptible information to our grey matter does not, cannot and never will explain the profound experience of emotion and inspiration that can arise in oneself when one hears a Mozart symphony, for example, or, better yet the Feast of the Epiphany Mass "Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus" that causes the external surrounds to fade, one's eyes to close, breath to still, and soul to rise to the heavens in an inexplicable calm and peace.

Instead, I would argue, that both the listener, the instrument, the musician (even more so when the musician IS the instrument as in the example previous i.e. Gregorian and polyphonic vocals) and the composer all participate to the capacity that they each are able, in something beyond the sum of the physical parts involved, and none of those parts being the true cause. The listener, especially, receives the music in a mode perceptible to the senses (the sonic mode) but which awakens him to a, let's call it heavenly reality (to the extent that the music is ordered towards the transcendent principles we mentioned) that already exists within him, or maybe he exists or subsists within it.

Now, let's suggest, as others have done, my favourite being J.R.R. Tolkien's creation myth, the Ainulindalë, in his Middle-earth work "The Simarillion", that God is the Master Composer of a Grand Symphony of which the created world is the instrument that 'gives life' or maybe more accurately, communicates life, which is this Grand Symphony, in a manner perceptible to the human mind and heart.

In fact, this Grand Symphony was called The Music of the Spheres by ancient people. It was the contention of the Pythagoreans, for example that man was no longer able to perceive The Music of the Spheres in its fullness because of the beastly state we live in proceeding the Golden Age, or, as Catholics we would recognise as our post-fall, wounded nature.

The celestial bodies then, as per astrology in the manner that we are discussing it, would have their motions, cycles and rhythms as their participation in this Grand Symphony.

Psalms 19:1

The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands.

And to observe the motions, cycles and rhythms, that is, the celestial symphony (within the Grand Symphony of the Master Composer), is to participate and recognize that same Symphony at play in ourselves. It was another contention of ancient man, Christian doctors and theologians included, that Man was a little cosmos. That everything that went into the makeup of the cosmos was fractally reflected in the makeup of man.

Not only that, but instead of being mere passive instruments to the Grand Symphony of the Master Composer, He has given us the ability to compose our own part into it, provided, that is, we compose in harmony with Him.

Our free will, cooperating with God's grace and natural law.

***Of course, we know Angels have free will also and that would begin a discussion of what their part is in the Grand Symphony, something for another time perhaps.***

Now, am I proposing astrology, in the sense discussed above, as a necessity in order to align ourselves with the providence of God (to use a more traditional but perhaps less poetic term for what I've been discussing)?

Of course not.

But there are images from the Christian medieval world, even on Church doors, of the classic depiction of the symbols of the astrological zodiac, 12 in all, encircling not the sun, as what we would see in the pagan cultures, but instead the Christ.

Mark 4:22

[22]For there is nothing hid, which shall not be made manifest: neither was it made secret, but that it may come abroad.

Luke 8:17

[17]For there is not any thing secret that shall not be made manifest, nor hidden that shall not be known and come abroad.

The Incarnation fulfilled even what wisdom the ancient pagan was able to glean, though devoid of the Christic Revelation, from their philosophising, speculation and pondering of the “Book of Creation”.

It often asked, and is a common stance among Catholics, for what reason, even if astrology held some credence, that it would be necessary or worth putting time to, given the Truth that we have through Christ and His Revelation?

Given the devotion of a growing number of Catholics to the Latin Mass, maybe I can give an answer that is specifically relative but also ties into the discussion of music that I've made use of.

What is the necessity of Georgian Chant in the Extraordinary Form? Certainly, from what we understand of the Mass and what is happening, what it is we are participating in, Gregorian Chant is not necessary strictly speaking. And this will be the argument of modernists who furrow their brow and shake their heads at the stubborn vanity of the Traditionalists who can't seem to let go of the superfluous and outdated chanting and overall pomp and circumstance of the "Old Rite" …

But there are degrees of necessity. Certainly, there is a hierarchy of necessity. And in as much as it becomes the primary focus of the Mass, in and of itself and for its own sake alone, the Gregorian Chant, or any of the aforementioned 'pomp and circumstance', should be questioned as to its necessity. But in as much as we, as we should be striving to do in the maturation of our spiritual life, understand the right ordering of these different manifestations of the Beautiful, the True and the Good within the Mass, so that they are centred around and draw us into that which is the First Cause of the Mass, namely our Lord Jesus Christ truly present in the Eucharist, then they are far from superfluous.

And whilst not absolutely necessary, they are relatively necessary, absolutely. God knowing us better than we know ourselves knows what we need to be drawn back to Him. There are forms of music, bodily orientations, movements and gestures of the participants, prayers, decor and design of the temple and a host of other liturgical rubrics that more fully and more fittingly participate in and communicate the Grand Symphony of Our Lord's salvific masterpiece.

The intention here was not a defence of the Latin Mass, though I'm pleased it went there and hopefully you can recognize the relevance.

We were first placed in the paradise of Eden as priests. There was no Mass, but there was certainly Liturgy. Amongst a number of authors and scholars including David Fagerberg, Jean Borella, Jordan Daniel Wood, Michael Martin and Sebastian Morello (to name only a few) whom I recommend to everyone inclined to the sorts of things I've been discussing, there is the idea that the physical world is necessarily theophanic in nature, holey Sacramental and Liturgical. Since the fall, our disordered nature tends to disorder nature, but maybe these seemingly superfluous things that may have once led us away from the invisible God have been redeemed by God, made perfectly visible as the Word Made Flesh and put them in their right order so that they can serve to truly know ourselves and to draw us back to Him.

PEACE IN THE LAMB OF GOD