lights in the sky, as well, astrology, seen as the worship of those lights became con-
demned as idolatry. Developments of scientific astronomy, although born to serve the
interests of astrology, rejected (in the so-called Age of Enlightenment of the 18th cen-
tury) astrology’s correspondence of the cosmos with life on Earth. The detachment of
both religion and science from ancient Pagan acceptance of the energy and divine
spirit within all of nature and within self has left many in our contemporary culture
hungering for a spiritual center. As contemporary students and practitioners of astrol-
ogy come to realize that astrology is truly a divine science, retaining a place for mys-
tery and deity within its most careful and scientific explorations and observations, a
sense of spirituality grows. Of all spiritual paths, those of Neopagan philosophy are by
far the most comfortable with astrological roots.
Within the form of Neopagan practice known as Wicca, a very basic form of
astrology is taken for granted. Rituals of worship are timed according to the cycles of
the cosmos in correspondence with the monthly and seasonal cycles of life on Earth,
and symbolism derived from those correspondences permeates virtually all facets of
supporting practice. One may or may not learn an advanced level of astrology, but all
learn the basic astrological correspondences for the tools used on altars, the herbs and
the oils in various preparations, the times to plant and reap, the days and hours of the
planets, the planet and sign correlations with the elements, and so on. Modern Wic-
cans may characterize lights in the sky as gods—the Moon is commonly seen as God-
dess (as is also Mother Earth)—but this is with the realization that they are using an
archetypal language to describe aspects of an all-encompassing energy. God/dess, the
life force, the energy of the Universe, is within self and within everything. In that, the
Neopagan view is supported by modern physics.
Beyond merely knowing of the energy, Wiccan/Neopagan practice includes
magick, belief in one’s ability to learn to focus the mind, to tap into that energy, build
it within, and direct it according to will. (For Wiccans, this means primarily to effect
creative change within self. The ethic of harm to none bars intent that manipulates
the free will of others.) Most have heard the adage “thoughts are things,” and so they
can become. The use of the “k” among practitioners differentiates the power to direct
energy from stage magic, sleight of hand, or sparkly, magical feelings of romance and
wonder. It is in choosing appropriate timing that astrological practice comes closest to
an act of magick, and a Neopagan practitioner knowledgeable in astrology may use it
to select appropriate times for acts of magick and ritual. Other disciplines stemming
from “new age” thought, train the mind in various forms of creative visualization, tap-
ping quite similar abilities as the practitioner of magick, but minus the color and fla-
vor of Wiccan/Neopagan spiritual paths, and often without that taken-for-granted use
of astrology.
Wiccan/Neopagan ritual work can be practiced as a form of astrology that has
been termed “experiential,” the dramatizing or role-playing of astrological themes in
order to raise personal awareness of them and effect healing. Experiential astrology
emerged as a tool of psychological astrology. In recent years experiential astrology has,
for many, taken on a more spiritual tone, as astrologers, who others who have become
dissatisfied with establishment religion but yearn for a spiritual center, have found with-
in their own study of correspondences a path to Spirit. In perhaps varying levels of con-Neopagan Spirituality and Astrology
[490] THEASTROLOGYBOOK