(c) John, Rekesh 2004-2007. No part of this work may be copied or reproduced without the author's permission
7 - Rhythm
Aliyah maps the movement of the heavens to life on earth.
The motion was incessant, regular, rhythmic, and determined. The circle of movement completed itself many times over, returning to its origins each time, only to begin itself anew. Did it lay to waste each of its cycles through meaningless repetition? Nay, each onward movement and return always contributed something new, accumulated experience and provided an impetus to another motion of a greater order, providing the latter its momentum to move forward. The incessant cyclic rhythm thus created a higher rhythm in that greater order, which too completed itself time and again, returning to its origins over vast periods of time - to start all over again. Even this great rhythm gave of itself to an even greater one that spanned ages, and so on to higher levels that embraced eons and unspoken time scales, till time itself vanished into the timeless.
* * *
Emma threw down the magazine in disgust. “Would you believe it? It says here that Librans will find romance and intimacy this week. And I just broke up with Peter! What kind of an idiot dreams up all this balderdash? What a load of baloney!”
Aliyah looked up from her desk and said softly, “I am sorry about your boyfriend.”
But Emma seemed nonchalant. She had been through this before, or perhaps knew Peter better.
“Oh bother him! Good riddance! But I know you’ve been studying this nonsense for months now. What have you got to say about this?”
“What would you like to know?” Aliyah smiled, “Like how long it would take for Peter to show up with apologies and flowers?”
‘That will be the day!” Emma grimaced, “He can’t tell a rose from a chrysanthemum! But that’s not what I asked you,” she continued, “Why are you dragging yourself into this hocus pocus weirdo stuff? Are you finally getting serious about this guy?”
Aliyah refused to fully acknowledge that her heart strings had literally pulled her into her new pastime.
“Oh, this is just an interesting hobby, nothing more,” she explained.
Emma was not deceived, “Yeah? So how come you run off to him frequently these days? Think you can get him to give you his birth date and time?”
Aliyah took a mock swipe at her head. Emma ducked and they both giggled like children.
“Well, maybe!” acknowledged Aliyah, “But I do find there is some truth in these planetary rhythms and their effect on people. I’ve been doing some analysis.”
“C’mon girl, be serious. Are you telling me that these planets zillions of miles away from the earth control my personal life? Give me a break!”
“Whoever said they control your life? That would be the most ridiculous conclusion to make.”
Emma was confused. “If you think so then why are you reading all this stuff? I see you doing calculations and making doodles, those things you call charts. What did you find in them that is scientifically valid? ”
“Well, I’ve done some trials and I’ve found something that might interest you too. But tell me, why did you break up with Peter?”
“Why I didn’t break up with him earlier, you mean?” Emma fumed. “The bum kept me waiting for an eternity at the café by the water front. Didn’t show up until an hour later, and not a single phone call either! And this is not the first time, I tell you! That’s the classic Peter!”
“So you had a fight?”
“If you call making a scene ‘fighting’, yes! And do you know this time he had the silliest of all excuses? He said his watch stopped! I got so mad …”
Aliyah’s eyes widened, “Really, so he did not make his appointment because of his watch? Very curious!”
“Curious? Curious? That’s all you’ve got to say?” Emma exclaimed. “The idiot ruins every plan I make!”
On she went, triggered by Aliyah’s response, giving voice to some choice expletives and phrases that helped let off some steam. And finally she quieted down.
Aliyah smiled, for she knew this was just another fight between Emma and Peter. “But it is curious Emma! Look at your watch, or at that wall clock for a moment. Do you see those hands? Would you say that they control your life?”
“Control my life? What do you mean? Well I do keep time, and I hate being tardy.”
“Still if you think about it, don’t those hands have magical powers?” Aliyah was laughing, “They wake up people in the morning, put them to sleep at night, drag many to their offices, make people meet one another, force them into all kinds of activities... Now don’t you think that’s magic? The very orientation of those hands has so much power over us!”
“Now you are laughing at me! What is your point? You know very well that clocks have no magical powers. All of us simply order our lives around them. So what’s the big deal?”
“Well, you just described the astrological system. The clock does carry a good reflection of it. The planets do not control you any more or any less than those hands do. As with the clock, any appearance of control is by arrangement and by agreement. It is all about making and meeting appointments.”
Emma sat down heavily. “Appointments? What appointments? And explain yourself on whatever you just said about my watch.”
“Let’s take the last one first. Tell me this. How many digits are there on your watch?”
“Twelve, silly!”
“And how many are the astrological signs, the signs of the zodiac?”
“Twelve,” answered Emma shortly, “But that is just a coincidence.”
“Perhaps. Now let us take the hands. You have the hour hand, the minute hand and the seconds hand. Can you guess what they represent?”
“How should I know? I mean, they of course tell time, but what else?”
“The seconds hand is the fastest moving hand, and it makes a full round through the twelve digits much faster than the others. Now if you think about the solar system and the earth, the seconds hand making a round through the twelve digits corresponds to the earth rotating on its own axis. In doing so, an observer on the earth sees all the twelve zodiac signs in one rotation. That is, the celestial sky around the solar system in one quick cycle.”
“Hmm, that is an interesting observation. But how does that relate to astrology?”
“Well, astrological systems map the Zodiac against the place and time where one is born. That is, the position of the planets against the Zodiac at the time of your birth, but as viewed from your birth place. This is an earth-centric view. As the earth makes a full rotation, the zodiac with all the planets and the Sun would appear to make a full rotation around the earth.”
“You are saying that the seconds hand represents the earth’s rotation, moving through the twelve zodiac signs.”
“That would be a close description. This movement seen in the skies is divided into twelve divisions in astrology, called the twelve houses. You can then compare the seconds hand rotation through the twelve digits, to the heavens and the planets moving through the twelve houses as the earth makes one rotation about its axis.”
“Whatever! And what about the minute hand? I suppose that corresponds to the earth’s revolution around the sun?”
“You guessed it right. It takes many rotations of the seconds hand before the minute hand makes a full rotation. Likewise it takes many rotations of the earth around its axis, before it makes a full circle around the Sun. And as the earth moves through its orbit, the Sun would appear to be moving against the backdrop of the fixed constellations, that is, from one Zodiac sign to the other. The location of the Sun in any zodiac sign at the time of your birth is referred to as your Sun sign. In astronomical terms, this path of the sun is known as the ecliptic, which is the apparent path traced by the sun through the constellations of the zodiac, making a full circle in a year.”
“You mean the Sun moves through the Zodiac? I thought the Sun was always at the same spot.”
“Well, there is an apparent movement of the Sun against the Zodiac that we see as the earth moves around the Sun. This is similar to the way a tree appears to move towards or away from you as you drive in a car. The same applies to not just the Sun, but also other planets. They too appear to be moving through the Zodiac. The minute hand then represents this slower motion of the earth around the Sun, resulting in the planets and the Sun appearing to move through the twelve Zodiac signs.”
“What about the hour hand then? What does that represent?”
“Ah, that is a little bit more difficult to understand. It represents the movement referred to as the precession of equinoxes. The principles behind this motion require understanding a number of astronomical concepts like the inclination of the earth’s axis, the celestial equator and the equinoxes.”
“I am afraid what you just said went right over my head!”
“Well there is a simplified way to picture it in your mind. Assume that you mark the location of the Sun against the constellations of the Zodiac today at this time, say 4pm exactly. Now let the earth make a full revolution around the Sun, letting a year pass. The next year, at the exact same date and time you mark the location of the Sun against the constellations again. You’ll see that there is a very slight shift of the Sun from the position marked the previous year. The Sun would appear to have moved slightly against the fixed backdrop of the Zodiac. And every year on the same date and time you can perceive this very gradual shift from the previous year, which accumulates over the years and results in the Sun appearing to cross over into another constellation or zodiac sign. It takes more than two thousand years for this apparent movement of the Sun from one Zodiac sign to the other.”
“So it is like the many rotations of the minute hand resulting in a gradual shifting of the hour hand?”
“You got it! By this notion the Sun, or the vernal equinox to be precise, is currently in the constellation of Pisces. It will transition into the constellation of Aquarius by the end of the year 2012. That is, from the age of Pisces to the age of Aquarius. By our analogy of the clock, it is then as though the solar clock strikes an hour at that time. And you know that many of our own appointments are usually on the hour or the half-hour!”
“There you go on about appointments again! What do you mean?”
“It is quite simple Emma. We use the clock as a reference to order our personal life, such as a visit to the dentist, a business appointment, office times, a lunch break, whatever. These are appointments and schedules we make, by choice or otherwise, and we try to keep them. Likewise, there seems to be greater appointments and schedules of the soul that span a life-time. These too seem to be ordered against a clock, a cosmic clock if you will, which is the solar system itself. What better choice exists than this great celestial clock-work that needs no springs or batteries, always keeps precise time, never stops but runs through the ages, and is visible to all who care to look? Its precision and durability are beyond our own watches and calendars.”
Emma found this unnerving. “That sounds spooky, if you ask me! A clock out there in the sky! Appointments of the soul! I can’t decide my own life then? There is no free will for me?”
“On the contrary! It is quite the same as all other appointments you make. You are free to make or break appointments, aren’t you? But if you think about it, there are some appointments that you would not risk breaking, and there are those that you absolutely need to make, in your own interests. Your free will always allows you not to make or meet any such appointment, but the cost in some cases would probably be too dear. Peter is probably learning something of the sort right now!”
“Peter? Huh! So the planets don’t drag fish like Peter into my life nor take them away. Isn’t that what you are saying?”
“Well, not any more than the watch on your wrist does. Any influences or arrangements that seem to happen, apparently originate from the soul or the higher self, which recognizes that the time for an appointment is at hand.”
“Soul arrangements indeed! And what about the outcome of such appointments? Are those decided beforehand? Like for example, would Peter come calling again?”
“It is much the same as any other appointment you make, like a job interview. You can make an educated guess as to the outcome, also plan and prepare well for it so that a meeting has a good chance of being successful. Ultimately it is the free will of many individuals that decide the outcome. But when it comes to relationships, most of us do not often exercise our free will to change situations, do we? We are usually driven by our emotional natures. Then it is more or less easy to foresee what happens.”
“But those soul appointments do take place, do they?”
“Not necessarily. Appointments can be canceled, re-scheduled, or entirely new appointments made. It seems to depend on a blue print or plan for your life and how it has progressed so far. Astrology cannot say anything about changes to that schedule, other than give some broad indications – for the soul itself would not know the details beforehand.”
“So there can be brilliant successes and total failures in predictions?”
“Predictions? I don’t think the system is established for the purposes of predictions or fortune telling. It seems to be there to provide a rough idea about yourself, and the challenges and the goals that your soul or higher self has set for itself. In no case is the system in control, and you should not be looking to it for petty reasons.”
“Okay, okay, but you said that it provides a rough idea about myself. How can a clock do anything like that? One of these books says that Virgo people are hypo-critical. How could such characteristics be imposed by a clock?”
Continued here