On Sunday, September 19th I was invited by my friend Giorgio Tarditi Spagnoli to join him in his annual path of anthroposophical meetings called “Vivente Antroposofia” (Living Anthroposophy) to talk about the Archangel Michael (who’s now ascended to the spheres of the Archai, the Spirits of Time). The event was hosted on Opera Omnia Online, a project by Antonio Passarelli.
While Giorgio introduced us to the rich symbolical meanings of the sword and the scale, walking us through the Mysteries of Mithras and the Myth of Perseus, I focused more on the Astrosophical perspective.
In this article I’m going to briefly describing my contribute to the session we led together, which in my opinion turned out to be a beautiful tribute to the forces of this high spiritual being.
St. Michael and the Dragon Raffaello, 1506
Michaelmas 2021, Choosing the right moment
What we want to do in this article is take a look to the chart of the festival of Michael, which falls on September 29th (today!). So in order to have a chart to work on, we had to choose the very moment in which Michael’s day begins. As you may know, astrology is an Art of Time, and the moment an event begins (whatever it is) describes its whole potential.
So we decided to take the very beginning of the day, but understood from an esoteric perspective. Traditionally, this moment corresponds to the sunset of the previous day. That is September 28th at 18:57, Rome (Italy).
I consider myself a free researcher in western spiritual disciplines, in particular Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy and the Neoplatonic Hermetic tradition. I have a three-year training in Astrology at the CIDA delegation of Trieste, the Italian Center for Astrological Disciplines. I graduated in Computer Engineering from the University of Trieste.
September has come, and the great wheel start spinning again. Coldness is the movement of the Soul that goes from without towards within. Everything begins to shrink, slowly getting back into itself. It’s the movement of our consciousness coming back home. The last part of Summer wants us to wake up.
But have we slept, during the last months? Did we allow the Sulphur of the Dragon, entangled in the summer heat, to trick us into an illusional head space, built on the fake tower of our instincts? Dear illusions, they help us to carry on after all. But maybe now the time has come to leave part of them behind.
Michelangelo’s Pietà, St Peter’s Basilica (1498–99)
The Sun has entered Virgo—the Virgin Mother. In Nature there is this mysterious space, very difficult to spot. It is the space between the physical and the etheric, the dense and the subtle. When does the subtle worlds become physical? Where is it, this ineffable space when one fades into the other? When the subtle becomes heavy, when the etheric becomes matter?
This gesture is so delicate and quick, mysterious and challenging. It’s the place where we fall, it’s the error. But it is also the womb of possibility, holding the mysteries of the substance and transubstantiation. There, a Goddess dwells who holds out her hand to us. The spirit of a gentle alchemy.
Courtesy Becomes Sensitivity of Heart
In a moment full of struggle and anger, this saving presence draws near. Up in the sky we not only have the stars of the constellation of the Virgin. The white light of these stars turns into the golden light of the Sun, filtered through the Sign of Virgo. And in the world—through the holiest of the spirits—it transforms in love, in all-prevailing Love.
Usually, we find this Zodiacal Virtue expressed as “Courtesy becomes steadiness of feeling”. But in my opinion, this translation misses the sense of touch brought into the sphere of the heart. So I prefer translate it as “Sensitivity of Heart”.
At first, courtesy is just about manners. But in time it trains our soul to feel that subtle space between us and the other person. What’s living there, again in this mysterious place in between? All the unsaid, all the words we are too afraid or too proud to say. Courtesy, that sometimes we can just call kindness, is about honoring this space.
It becomes the art of welcoming the other person, inviting them to connect to us. And it doesn’t matter what we say. Sometimes it’s better to say nothing, so that something else might find for us the words we don’t have.
This is in my opinion the sensitivity of heart—one of the doors to the Sophia.
Upcoming Astrological Events
Tomorrow Mercury is stepping inside the shadow period, before turning retrograde in Libra on September 27th. This transit is going to complete the three stages of the Elemental Triangle of Air we’ve been talking across the year.
As we’ve seen, Air is the main element of the year. And with a Mercury in Libra challenges are going to focus on the relationship with others. So please, be kind with people.
In October we are going to also have an interesting new Moon in Libra, which is going to involve Mars before the planet enters in Scorpio, its nocturnal domicile.
Then we are going to have Eclipse Season 2, starting with a Partial Lunar Eclipse on November 19th. Immediately following, we are going to have a Total Solar Eclipse on December 4th.
December is going to be very interesting, also because we are going to talk about Venus Retrograde in Capricorn and Jupiter getting definitely back to Pisces (I’m going to consider them as part of 2022, though).
On top of that, we’re also going to witness to the backlash of the Saturn Uranus Square, since it’s going to be perfect again on Christmas Eve.
Thanks for reading, as always if you enjoyed this article please subscribe to the Astronomicon Newsletter with the bar at the top of the website to receive weekly updates and not to miss future posts about the Wheel of the Year. Thanks again and have a good week.
I consider myself a free researcher in western spiritual disciplines, in particular Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy and the Neoplatonic Hermetic tradition. I have a three-year training in Astrology at the CIDA delegation of Trieste, the Italian Center for Astrological Disciplines. I graduated in Computer Engineering from the University of Trieste.
When we deal with spirituality it is inevitable to stumble upon the Chakra System. Imported and popularized in the West through the Theosophical Society at the end of the nineteenth century, chakras have become a reference point for thousands of practitioners.
It is undeniable that Eastern esotericism has been widely adopted and adapted in all Western countries. With the Chakra System becoming a fundamental structure for the inner development of the individual.
But why are there exactly seven chakras or lotus flowers? And what does their number of petals depend on? The answer lies in the relationship between Man—the Microcosm—and the Macrocosm.
In this article we are going to talk about chakras in relation to the planets of Astrology. And by looking at their movement in outer space, we are also going to understand why the chakras, by mirroring those movements, have just that number of petals.
I consider myself a free researcher in western spiritual disciplines, in particular Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy and the Neoplatonic Hermetic tradition. I have a three-year training in Astrology at the CIDA delegation of Trieste, the Italian Center for Astrological Disciplines. I graduated in Computer Engineering from the University of Trieste.
In a previous article about Astrosophy we discussed about the spiritual origins of the Sidereal Zodiac. In this post, we are going to continue this series that focuses on the Three Zodiacs. We are going to be talking specifically about the Tropical Zodiac, and its relationship with the spiritual hierarchies and the Soul World.
In this way, not only we are going to better understand its genesis as we have done for the Sidereal. But we are also going to deepen its relationship with the Soul World and the planetary spheres.
All this, to develop further the impulse for an integrated form of Astrology that takes into account the Zodiac Archetype on all its levels of manifestation: Spiritual, Soul and Physical.
Again, let’s start from the general scheme of the Three Zodiacs. As we know, the Zodiac Archetype unfolds on three levels, manifesting itself into the:
Spiritual World as the Sidereal Zodiac;
Soul World as the Tropical Zodiac;
Physical World as theAstrological Houses.
As we have done for the Sidereal, we can ask ourselves: where does the Tropical Zodiac come from? While the Sidereal is ancient as the stars in the sky, we are going to see that the Tropical is way much younger.
I consider myself a free researcher in western spiritual disciplines, in particular Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy and the Neoplatonic Hermetic tradition. I have a three-year training in Astrology at the CIDA delegation of Trieste, the Italian Center for Astrological Disciplines. I graduated in Computer Engineering from the University of Trieste.
The Sun is about to reach its maximum peak, as the shadows at noon are getting shorter and shorter. The Soul of the World soars towards the cosmos, abandoning itself to the heights of the stellar worlds. Human senses become more powerful as light and heat penetrate deeper and deeper into our bodies. Besieged by the summer, consciousness surrenders to a sweet numbness.
The heat makes us feel attracted to the sea and its refreshment. Fire calls Water, Gold calls Silver. Out in the world, the alchemy of nature takes place, working in secret on the union of opposites. At the Summer Solstice, matter becomes subtle and turns into spirit—into the thinnest ethers. And with our participation, human vices are transformed into virtues.
But what does all this have to do with the sign of Cancer? And what is the relationship between this water sign and the summer heat? In this article we are going to talk about it in relation to the Virtue of the Zodiac given by Rudolf Steiner: Unselfishness becomes Catharsis.
I consider myself a free researcher in western spiritual disciplines, in particular Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy and the Neoplatonic Hermetic tradition. I have a three-year training in Astrology at the CIDA delegation of Trieste, the Italian Center for Astrological Disciplines. I graduated in Computer Engineering from the University of Trieste.
As summer approaches and the Sun intensifies its power, the dragon crawls closer and closer to it, ready to swallow its light. Its jaws prepare to inhale the evil fumes that are going to rise up with a rebel yell from the Earth.
And its coils loosen up to grab Mercury and its metal in their grip, to corrode it. What forces are going to be unleashed? And why Mercury is involved in this cosmic event?
In this article we are going to talk about the upcoming Annular Solar Eclipse, taking place at 19° 47′ Gemini on June 10th, 2021. We are going to deepen its meaning talking about the lunar nodes and the eclipse ruler.
And we are also going to tackle the shadow aspect of Mercury, and the ways it could manifest through a so called Mercurial Doppelganger. This is going to be the second and last eclipse of season 1. Let’s check it out.
I consider myself a free researcher in western spiritual disciplines, in particular Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy and the Neoplatonic Hermetic tradition. I have a three-year training in Astrology at the CIDA delegation of Trieste, the Italian Center for Astrological Disciplines. I graduated in Computer Engineering from the University of Trieste.
When the Sun enters Gemini sunlight becomes the undisputed protagonist of the season. In the previous air sign of Aquarius, we experience the dawn of the year, celebrated at Imbolc or Candlemas. There, the pale white light of winter breaks through the expanses of snow and ice.
Gemini instead announces the return of the light in all its power and glory, leading us little by little towards the summer. The sunlight begins to hurt the gaze here, or at least that’s what usually happens.
Here in Europe, we are living a kind of second autumn. Temperatures are still very low, and when the sun pierces through the rainy clouds it feels like having an epiphany of sort. They all complain about the weather, that’s able to change the mood even to not weather-affected people. We all need more sunlight, we all want spring to come back.
A lot of things are happening during the Sun’s stay in Gemini. As we discussed in previous articles, Jupiter has recently entered Pisces. On top of that we are already in the shadow zone of the second Mercury Retrograde period of the year, happening right in Gemini. And lastly Eclipses first season is going to open with a Total Lunar Eclipse in Sagittarius, taking place on May 26th during Vesak, a Buddhist festival.
In this article we are going to continue our journey through the Virtues of the Zodiac as described by Rudolf Steiner, talking about the qualities of Gemini.
I consider myself a free researcher in western spiritual disciplines, in particular Rudolf Steiner’s Anthroposophy and the Neoplatonic Hermetic tradition. I have a three-year training in Astrology at the CIDA delegation of Trieste, the Italian Center for Astrological Disciplines. I graduated in Computer Engineering from the University of Trieste.
