"How can you believe in astrology?," my devout Christian friends have asked me. I tell them that astrology is not a belief system, but an archetypal, poetic language. I don't ask you if you believe in Japanese. I ask if you speak it. I don't ask you if you believe in music, I ask if you play it. I happen to speak the heavenly tongue of astrology along with thousands of other highly intelligent, inspiring, spiritual and even scientific astrologers.

Their skepticism persists due to what they've been taught about the Bible and so I decide to go into their home field and initiate the conversation about Biblical insights into astrology, one of my favorite topics.

"The Bible totally supports the practice of astrology," I boldly claim staring into horrified eyes.

"That's crazy," they say. "Astrology is the work of the Devil. You don't need the stars to direct your life, you just need Jesus."

"But, even Jesus respected the wisdom of the heavens," I say. "Let me see your Bible. I'll show you proof that astrology is a divinely bestowed gift to humanity." I open to the Psalms and begin reading verse 19:1-3, "The heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech. Night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard."

"That sounds to me like the heavens are supposed to speak, to declare insights, reveal knowledge and that no language even exists that does not contain the voice of the heavens."

"Okay, so one Psalm by King David says the heavens speak.God can speak through anything: people, places, events. It doesn't mean we have to govern our lives by the stars."

"But, it does indicate that we can have a conversation with eternal being through the motions of the heavens. The Bible speaks clearly about the purpose of the sun, moon and stars." I open to Genesis 1:14-18.

There you have it. Even in the King James Version. When I interpret charts I illuminate for clients their potential, both shadow and light, to help them accept their whole being and to help them live the full expression of their gifts. We also probe and improve on their weaknesses. When I look at the transits and progressions, I explain the qualities and potential of the seasons, days and years, giving guidance based on the motions and cycles of heavenly bodies reflecting psychological states and the flow of events. My aim is not to predict the future, but to help people live more fully in the present, navigating the currents of life with skill. We all have heard that to everything under the sun there is a season (Ecclesiastes 3:1-10). In Psalms 104:19 it says, "The moon marks off the seasons and the sun knows when to set." When I read a chart, whether it's for a person, city, nation, or event, I am using the heavens as the Bible says, to read the signs.

"Wow," the person says, still dismayed by my intense faith in astrology. "That's interesting."

"That's just the beginning," I continue. "Let's see how deep the rabbit hole goes. My study of astrology has given vital proof of divine intelligence behind the universe."

Mazzaroth, The Twelve Signs of the Zodiac

In Job, God asked his humble servant a series of questions involving the wondrous miracles performed. In Job 38:31-33, God asks, "Can you bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades or loose the bonds of Orion? Can you bring forth the Mazzaroth in their seasons? Or can you guide Arcturus with his sons? Do you know the principles of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?"

Thus, God is proclaiming that there are principles in the heavens and that they govern life on earth. Furthermore, God is responsible for bringing forth the Mazzaroth in their seasons. Most Bibles avoid translating this sacred word, Mazzaroth, because it literally means "the twelve signs of the zodiac" in Hebrew. So, God created the zodiac and brings them forth in their seasons. He explains that heavenly constellations like the Pleiades and Orion have influences that can be unleashed.

We don't have to be afraid of signs from the heavens. God speaks through them. In Judges 5:20 it describes the stars in battle. "They fought from the heaven. The stars in their courses fought against Ciceria." In Jeremiah 10:2 it says, "…do not be dismayed by signs from heaven." We need to be open to the realization of messages in the heavens. In Psalms 136:7-9, it says, "Who made the great lights? His love endures forever; the sun to govern the day, the moon and stars to govern the night." In Psalms 147:3-4 it says, "God heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of stars and calls them each by name." The Hebrew word shem means name, a mark of character, individuality, honor and authority. Stars have all that, according to the Bible. Again, in Isaiah 40:26 we hear, "Lift your eyes on high and behold who has created these. He who brings forth the starry hosts by numbers one by one and calls them forth by character."

In Daniel 1:20 it says, "Daniel was given divine insight by God, even the ability to understand visions and dreams. In every matter of Babylonian wisdom and understanding, they (Daniel and his friends) were ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in the whole kingdom." Thus, the followers of the Eternal One imprisoned in a land of astrologers cultivated the wisdom of the heavens that was ten times better than the average astrologer of the day.

In Psalms 89:35-37 God says, "I will not lie to David that his line will continue forever and his throne endure before me like the sun. It will be established forever like the moon, the faithful witness in the sky." God describes the moon here as the faithful witness in the sky. In astrology the moon governs daily emotional tides and colors events and moods by its changing position.

Rahab, The Planet Between Mars and Jupiter

In Job (one of the oldest Biblical texts) 26:12 it says that by, "God's wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces." Rahab is the ancient planet between Jupiter and Mars, which is now an asteroid field. The ancients recorded this planet in their star charts and created many myths about its mysterious destruction. The content of these stories always concerned the loss of the sacred feminine. In modern astrology we are attempting to heal this gap in consciousness by reintegrating the feminine archetypes into our work. In the original Hebrew both the masculine and feminine archetypes are equally respected and integrated into the symbols of their language.

The Hebrew word for light used when God says, "The sun, moon and stars were created for giving light on the earth," is aur. The Hebrew writers were well versed in the sacred language of archetypes. They were able to contemplate truth through symbol as each letter of their alphabet held an archetypal meaning. Aleph, the beginning letter of aur symbolizes unthinkable vibration, the sacred spirit of life, infinite potential and eternal possibility. Vav, the middle letter, symbolizes the process of divine fertilization emanating from the creative void. Raysh, the final letter, symbolizes the hidden movement of cosmic possibility as creation. Hidden in the letters of Hebrew light we discover its deeper meaning, the infinite potential of the sacred spirit fertilizing creation.

The first line of the Bible says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." When you break it down into archetypal Hebrew it means the first fruits of the spirit aspiring to express eternity through a fountain of divine wisdom were the creation of the celestial dimensions and the manifest world. Now that casts a whole new light on Biblical translation. The Hebrew word for astrologer is ashaph which breaks down to the spirit communicates through the sacred flames.

The word aur, for light, means illumination, but also radiance, happiness and joy in the original Hebrew, just as night layil also means adversity, challenge and resistance. You hear the ancient root of light in words like aura, aurora, our own Uranus, the planet of divine intuition and in Ur, the ancient city of light, home of the legendary Abraham, father of the Hebrews in the land of Chaldea.

According to Berosus, a Chaldean historian and priest, in the tenth generation after the Biblical flood there was a man among the Chaldeans (astrologers) called Abram (later changed to Abraham) who mastered skill in the celestial language of the heavens.[1] Close to the beginning of the Age of Aries, two millennia before Christ, God called Abraham to migrate west to start the Hebrew civilization.

The Old Testament, from which I've been quoting, describes the Age of Aries from the perspective of the Hebrews. Terah, who was the father of Abraham, left Ur at that time. Ur was a flourishing port city, a center for trade between India and Egypt. To symbolize the Age, Abraham sacrificed God's provision, the ram. Across the world, bull sacrifices from the Age of Taurus were giving way to ram sacrifices as the equinoxes precessed and the quality of times changed. God became known as Jehovah, the warrior God, as Aries exemplifies the archetype of the warrior, pioneer and leader. It was a militant age of sacred ram veneration.

The Twelve Tribes

Abraham was a wise spiritual seeker, but also a brave warrior. Moses later became another fiery leader of this Age. They both studied the ancient sciences of the Egyptians and understood that the twelve signs of the Mazzaroth were the immortal thoughts of God that penetrate creation. The twelve tribes of Israel (Abraham's grandsons) are associated with the twelve signs of the zodiac. According to Jewish astrologers, the Hebrews accepted Deuteronomy 32:8 as proof of the fact that people are divided into twelve distinct personality types. It says, "When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the boundaries of the people according to the number of the tribes of Israel." In astrology twelve archetypal forces divide people.

The characteristics of the twelve tribes were given both by Jacob in Genesis 49 when he blesses his sons and again in Deuteronomy 33 when Moses blesses the tribes. They correspond to the basic meanings of the twelve signs used today. God ordered Moses to have the twelve tribes camp around the holy tabernacle in the exact order of the zodiac with the entrance to the temple facing east. The four gateways to the camp were Judea, Rueben, Ephraim and Dan. These four tribes correspond to the exact description in Ezekiel and Revelations of the four living creatures before the throne of God, which were the lion, the bull, the man and the eagle. These four ancient symbols correspond to our own astrological signs of Leo, Taurus, Aquarius and Scorpio which contain the four royal stars of Persia, Regulus in Leo, Aldebaran in Taurus, Formalhaut in Aquarius, Antares in Scorpio.[2] God even directs Moses to have the tribes march through the desert starting with Judea (Leo) and going backwards towards the camps of Rueben (Taurus), Ephraim (Aquarius) and Dan (Scorpio). This is the exact motion of the equinoctial precession that gives rise to the flow of the astrological ages, a 26,000-year cycle.

Moses, like Joseph, was well versed in Egyptian astrology. As the adopted son of pharaoh's daughter he was well educated in all the mystery school wisdom of Egypt. The Hebrew word for Egypt is mitsuri, the land of mystery. In Acts 7:22 it says, "Moses was trained in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action." He was the perfect warrior prophet for the Arian age.

Aaron's breastplate was set with twelve sacred stones each symbolizing a Hebrew tribe and thus, a zodiac sign. Joshua 4:6 says, "God is remembered by twelve stones in a circle." The Hebrews created elaborate rituals based on a lunar calendar. In astrology New Moons symbolize beginnings and the sacred feast of Israel instituted by God's commands to Moses through visions, were based on the phases of the Moon. The day of the New Moon was a day of feasting and blowing trumpets (Numbers 10:10). Psalms 81:3 says, "Sound the ram's horn at the new moon and when the moon is full, on the day of our feast." The seventh New Moon was the time of the holy convocation feast and the Full Moon of this month was the Feast of Tabernacles to celebrate harvest. The seventh sign in astrology is Libra, symbolizing balance and love and the Full Moon symbolizes illumination, vision and fulfillment, the time when emotional response is highest. Passover was observed from the Full Moon to the waning quarter, a period symbolic of illumination and the dissemination of truth.

The Age of Pisces

The Age of Aries gradually gave way to the next sign of the zodiac, Pisces, the archetype of universal love and compassion through selfless service. The three Chaldean Magi followed the star across the Arabian Desert in search of the incoming spiritual master of love. Three astrologers utilized the language of the heavens to discover the long-prophesized Hebrew Messiah. Modern research has revealed that Jesus may have been born closer to 7 BCE around the time of the Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus triple conjunction in Pisces. Every astrologer inspired to research the illusive chart of Christ has a pet theory as to the exact birth date. My own research lead me to conclude that he was born on September 16, 7 BCE around midnight in Bethlehem. In any case, the ultimate spiritual mystic arrived to teach the Way as High Priest of the Order of the Melchizedek (as the Bible refers to him in Hebrews 6:20).

Jesus embodied the Piscean archetype, linking the first sign Aries with the last sign Pisces, the alpha with the omega, starting not just one new age, but a whole cycle of twelve ages. People began spiritually cleansing themselves through the baptismal rites, as Pisces is a water element sign. Suddenly, water was sacred (as opposed to fire) and the fish became holy. Early Christians would identify themselves by drawing the sign of Pisces in the sand. Jesus spoke often of the age of his birth as a preparation age for the Age of Enlightenment to follow. He was referring to the Age of Aquarius that is symbolized by the cosmic man bearing the pitcher of the living waters of life, pouring it throughout the universe. At Jesus' first Jupiter return (age 12) he began instructing the Priests at the temple, saying to his parents, "Let me be about my work." After his first Saturn return (age 30) he became intensely devoted to teaching and demonstrating the way of unconditional love. He selected twelve disciples each with a character similar to one of the twelve signs. At the Last Supper Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. In astrology each sign governs a part of the body. Pisces symbolizes the feet.

The Bible is strangely silent on the so-called lost years of Jesus between ages 12 and 30. Some sources like The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus[3], channeled by a Christian minister at the dawn of the 20th century, tell a marlvelous story about how Jesus journeyed throughout Persia, India, Greece and Egypt walking all paths of life. The Christians maintain that he stayed home and humbly served as a carpenter all his life until he got the call to begin his ministry.

The New Testament is full of clues and insights that point to Jesus' respect and reverence for astrology. The most obvious quote is Luke 21:25 when he says, "At the end of this Age there will be signs in the sun, moon and stars…the heavenly bodies will be shaken." (Literally, the heavenly forces will be agitated.) It's in the red print. Jesus said it. He tells his twelve disciples that the age to come will be foreshadowed by signs in the heavens. That is what God said they were supposed to be used for. Signs give directions and guidance to help us navigate life.

The Age of Aquarius

The Age of Aquarius is surely on the rise! Astronomically, the Aries Ingress won't reach the first stars of Aquarius until around 2376 CE, but the symbols of Aquarius are actually alive in the imaginations of the people. Ever since the discovery of Uranus in 1781 the world has been struggling for freedom, independence and human rights in addition to great inventions and advances in science. In the year 2080 Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus will align in the sign of Aquarius similarly to the Piscean configuration of 7 BCE. On the solstice of 2020 Jupiter and Saturn will conjunct in Aquarius. The times are ripe for a new dispensation focused on creative originality, cosmic vision and universal awareness. The next time your religious friends start bad mouthing the celestial language of astrology you'll be armed with Biblical insight.

Astrology asks for a realization of our connection to space, divine being and the process of eternal change. As an intuitive, symbolic language and art of celestial cycles, it not only helps you navigate change, but also teaches you to tap your creative potential. Most people think astrology is about predicting the future, but really it is about diving into the unknown and living the mystery each day. Astrology opens the gateway within so you can discover the sacred silence and encounter the archetypes of creation. This unified spectrum of twelve images symbolizes the image of eternal being.

[1] The First Astrologer. Fielden, Fran. Better Books. Charlotte, NC. 1988.

[2] Brady's Book of Fixed Stars. Brady, Bernadette. Samuel Weiser, Inc. 1998.

[3] The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ. Dowling, Levy. DeVorss And Company. Marina del Rey, CA. 1907.