Ancient voices re-entered Western astrology after hundreds of years during which they lay mute; untranslated from the original Greek language. The recently translated teachings set the Western astrological world on fire. They are stunningly eloquent.
A small example is found in the significance of the Equinox to balance in daily life. On September 22 we entered the dark half of this year; the Equinox point. Equal day and night (perfect balance) happens twice in the yearly journey of the Sun. Only twice in the year. And its’ duration is fleeting.
From this, the ancients postulated that life is not about perfect balance, even though it does occur occasionally. Life is messy. There are areas of life for everyone where balance may never be within reach – relationships, money, career, health, etc. This can be comforting to know, but we still have life to contend with. Their answer to handling the messiness was consciousness, awareness, daily practice.
If one is unaware and caught up in finding the “perfect fill-in-the-blank”, it becomes easy to blame life, others, conditions or the environment. The ancients agreed that the unaware person was then in a state of being “grabbed” by fate and in a state of “reaction”, which is always tricky and often makes matters worse.
The ancient teachings propose that a road to consciousness is found in recognition of one’s own daily reality, no matter what their station in life. There are many paths which usually include a self-examined life, daily spiritual practice and taking personal responsibility. Rather than being “grabbed” by fate, it becomes possible to “grasp” meaning and work as conscious co-creators through deliberated action rather than impulsive reaction. Peace through awareness can be attained.
The enlightened ones cultivated consciousness by following the Sun’s yearly journey and folding their daily practices into the seasonal/agricultural cycles on the material plane while their spiritual practices aligned with the cycles of the soul from birth to death to rebirth. They taught that the Fall Equinox signals a time where darkness is taking over from light and the Sun is considered to be in its “fall” (Libra). They made the distinction of the “darkness taking over” rather than the “light fading” within their fascinating texts. On the material plane this is evaluating the harvest while on the spiritual this is the judgement of the soul before death and rebirth.
The Sun is the light of kings, an egoic individuating light, making one thing or person distinct from the other. When the Sun moves into darkness, it loses its agency and is called to a time of evaluation, judgement and enhanced awareness of and merging with others. Co-creation means deliberately taking the time of darkness and the pain of its diminishing egoic effect to look deeply into the heart.
An unbalanced pursuit of material success in whatever form is just that, unbalanced. Times of enlightenment often happen in the darkness where there may be a realization such as “material success alone only breeds more hunger and reaction”. Enlightened examination is a revelation when one learns to put the results of power, talents and success achieved into higher service and, in turn, gaining an increased sense of nobility, ease and belonging. The ancient souls understood the vital need for the ongoing dialectical between being positive, moving forward, gaining power and being constricted, diminished and cut back.