Charles Harvey - Astrology - The only introduction you’ll ever need

By drawing out and clarifying different talents and aptitudes, the astrologer can help the individual to obtain a larger picture of the kind of work and career they are likely to find really satisfying, and in which they will feel motivated to work hard to succeed. Or, in the case of workaholics who are determined to make life tough for themselves, astrology may help to identify those areas where they may benefit without so much stress and strain.

In the ancient world and until the end of the 16th century, astrology was always a central part of a doctor’s university training and medical practice. If you studied medicine you automatically learned astrology as a means of helping you with both diagnosis and prognosis. Rightly so, for the affinity between each part of the body and the planets and signs of the zodiac can give a medically trained astrologer invaluable clues as to underlying tensions and stresses and the weak areas of the body where problems are likely to manifest.

By studying the chart of an individual and the chart of the moment when he or she was taken ill, or took to their bed, the astrologer can make deductions as to the kinds of issues that are likely to be involved in the illness and the likely critical points in the days ahead. Likewise an astrologer with a medical background and training can use the birth chart to help better understand the kinds of physical problems an individual may experience, the kinds of precautionary and dietary measures to take, and the kinds of therapy that may be most beneficial to them.

However, no one without some kind of medical training should attempt to use the birth chart in this way. Just as an ill-informed reading of a medical encyclopaedia can quickly make one believe that one has typhoid fever, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s, so too can novice astrologers immediately believe the medical worst of difficult patterns in a chart, or of difficult times ahead for themselves and their nearest and dearest.

All major transits and progressions to sensitive points in the natal chart can express themselves in part through the body. The transits of Saturn, Chiron and Neptune are particularly prone to express themselves in physical terms.

An astrologer with a knowledge of medicine can use astrology to understand the processes going on within an individual at both a psychological and a physical level. For example, someone with a prominent but poorly integrated Mars in their chart is likely both to be prone to unnecessarily forceful, aggressive behaviour and to be accident-prone and run fevers.

To everything there is a season

And a time to every purpose under the heavens

ECCLESIASTES 3

If you want to launch a boat it is usually simpler to wait for the tide to come in and float the boat off the shore than to push the boat down the beach and across the shingle. Astrology can be used to elect – that is choose – the optimum time to start any particular project. Hence this branch of astrology is technically known as ‘electional astrology’. The principles of electional astrology can be applied to any enterprise that has a definable starting moment.

Choosing the right time for undertakings has always been a major role for the astrologer. It is now public knowledge that President Ronald Reagan never made any major initiative without optimizing the chances of success by getting the timing right. From his first inauguration as Governor of California to his declarations for the US Presidency, none of the major decisions in his life were taken without astrological advice. As Reagan’s aide Donald Regan testifies in his autobiography, the time of the signing of the Test Ban Treaty with Gorbachov was arranged to chime in with the heavens, rather than procedural convenience, much to the chagrin of the military.

As a result, someone who was generally considered to be a relatively simple soul managed to win almost every contest he entered, and to succeed in putting bills through Congress despite being head of a minority Government.

Getting married is a major venture for anyone, and if you have a choice, it makes good sense to plan the timing of this event. This will have implications for years to come, and can optimize the chances of mutual understanding and a long-lasting and happy bond. Indeed, throughout the Indian sub-continent and much of Asia, few couples will get married without first ensuring that the day is a propitious one for them. In this case the astrologer will look at the possible dates and see:

which dates and times yield the most harmonious charts;

the relationship between the chart and the charts of the bride and groom.

Likewise if success is going to hinge upon the wellbeing of one or two key people, then it is a good idea to choose a time which will bring out the best in them and minimize the sense of stress and strain.

The time to start any particular project will depend both on the nature of the work being undertaken and the chart of the people most closely involved with it. If you are starting a project you want to develop quickly and to catch the public eye, you will need to choose a different kind of time from a project which requires plenty of peace and quiet and a slow, steady approach.

By analogy, if you are arranging a mail-out and want to optimize the chances of it going smoothly and your communication being read, it is a good idea to ensure that Mercury, planet of communication, and the Moon, which rules the mood of the moment, are well placed. The kind of placement the astrologer will choose will be dependent upon the kind of mail involved. If the desire is to encourage a sense of optimism and wellbeing the astrologer will want to choose a different kind of climate to one which is suggesting that people enrol on a course of study, or purchase life insurance.

No matter how good the starting chart for a venture, it cannot of itself make up for lack of sound preparation and good management.

We are each born at a particular place on Earth, and our birth chart is normally calculated for that place. But there is a sense in which each one of us is also incarnated on to the Earth as a whole, as part of the world soul. This may sound like a poetic flight of fancy. In practice, this is found to be an extremely valuable reality. For example, we may have been born in Britain at midnight, placing our sun in the fourth house ( see Chapter 7 ), the position of a home-loving individual who tends to a private rather than a public life. If we move to the other side of the world to New Zealand, where it would have been midday when we were born, and recalculate our chart for Wellington, say, we will find the Sun will be in the tenth house, of public affairs and personal career achievement. Suddenly, from having been a relatively retiring, domestic individual, we are likely to find ourselves out in the limelight, perhaps seeking public office and playing a more authoritative role within the community. And for everyone there will be places in the world where the Sun comes to the fore, and places where it can hide away and obtain some peace and quiet. In short, there are different places where different faces of the soul can thrive.

Such Relocation Charts, as they are called, have been known about since early this century. If you were trying to decide whether to go to Malaga or Corfu for your holidays you could relocate your chart to each place to see what aspects of your chart are brought to the fore at each resort. It would then be possible to choose the place that looked more likely to bring out the kind of energies you would find enjoyable for a holiday.