36. Astrology

 
It is called the royal art, and not without good reason. But not that it is the above all the arts, nor that is it reserved only for earthly kings, but whoever is really able to practise it could assume a royal rank in the spiritual realm, since he would thereby be the arbiter of many events and non-events.
 
But there is not a single person on earth who has been entrusted with these abilities. Consequently, all work in this field must remain only pitiful attempts, unreliable even if the practitioner is serious, and even pernicious if, instead of deep seriousness, self-aggrandizement and morbid imagination are involved.
 
Astrological calculation alone can be of little use at all; for to the radiations of the stars, as the actual force of the effect, also absolutely belongs the living ethereal world in all its activity, such as, for example, the world of thought-forms, of karma, currents of darkness and light in the material world, and much more. What man can now boast of having a clear and sharp view of all this, down to the deepest depths and the highest heights of the World of Matter!
 
The radiations of the stars only form the paths and channels through which all ethereal animistic life can penetrate in a more concentrated form to a human soul in order to have an effect there. Expressed figuratively, one can say: The stars signal the times when the returning reciprocal actions can flow to a person in a more concentrated and closed way through their rays. Unfavourable or hostile stellar radiations are followed by evil reciprocal actions hovering in the World of Ethereal Matter for the person concerned, whereas only good ones, according to their nature, follow favourable radiations. Hence, the calculations themselves are not entirely worthless. But it is an absolute prerequisite that if a person is subjected to unfavourable radiation, then unfavourable reciprocal actions are also returned for that person, or that favourable reciprocal actions are returned if the radiations are favourable. Otherwise, no effect can take place. Again, however, the stellar radiations are not shadowy, ineffective on their own without connection with the other forces, but they also have automatic effects within a certain interception. If only bad reactions are due and at work for a person in the Ethereal World, their activity will be blocked, suppressed, or at least strongly curbed during the days or hours of favourable stellar radiations, depending on the type of radiation. The reverse is also true, of course, so that when good reactions are at work, unfavourable radiation can intercept the favourable ones for the time corresponding to the radiation.
 
Even if the channels of the stellar rays run empty through lack of homogeneous effects, they still serve to temporarily block any other interactions that may be at work, so that they never remain completely without influence. It is just that good rays cannot always bring good or bad rays always bring bad, if such things are not available for the person concerned in the reactions.
 
Astrologers cannot say: "Well, we are right after all." Because being right is only conditional and very much limited. It does not justify the often presumptuous assertions and commercial claims. Empty star radiation channels can certainly bring interruptions, but nothing else, neither good nor bad. Again, it must be admitted that in a certain sense the temporary interruption of evil repercussions is in itself a good thing. After all, it gives those who are badly afflicted by evil time to breathe a sigh of relief and thus the strength to continue to endure.
 
The calculations of astrologers could be welcomed in spite of everything, if the much grandiloquence and advertising of some were ignored. But there are also other important factors that make the calculations very unreliable, so that in reality they do more harm than good in the general public.
 
For not only the few stars that are at present available to the astrologers for their calculations are to be taken into account. Countless other stars, not even known to astrologers, play such a large role in diminishing, strengthening, crossing and displacing the effects that the final picture of the calculation can often be quite contrary to what the best astrologer is able to say today.
 
Finally, there is yet another decisive point, the greatest and the most difficult: that is the soul of each person! Only those who, apart from all other requirements, can weigh each individual soul with all its abilities, qualities, karmic entanglements, as well as in all its striving, in short, in its true maturity or immaturity in the beyond, could at best dare to make calculations down to the last degree! No matter how favourable radiations of the star may be for a person, nothing luminous, therefore good, will be able to strike him if he has a lot of darkness around him due to the state of his soul. In the opposite case, however, the most unfavourable of all stellar currents will not be able to exert so much pressure on a person whose state of soul tolerates only purity and light around him that he suffers serious harm; it will always turn out good in the end. The Omnipotence and Wisdom of God is not as one-sided as the disciples of astrology imagine in their calculations. He does not determine the fate of his people, that is, their weal and woe, solely on the rays of the stars. They certainly have a powerful influence, not only on each individual, but also on the whole of world events. However, they are also only tools in it, whose activity is not only connected with many others, but also remains dependent in its possibilities of all effects. Even if some astrologers believe that they are working from inner vision, from inspiration, this cannot contribute so much to the deepening that one should place much greater trust in the approximation of a reality of the calculations.
 
Their vision cannot come from a high vantage point; a veil remains drawn from there, through the immeasurable gulf that exists between the all-seeing spirit and humanity. The calculations remain one-sided, piecemeal and inadequate, full of gaps, in short: imperfect and therefore wrong. They cause unrest among people. But unrest is the soul's most dangerous enemy, for it shakes the wall of natural protection and often lets in evil that would otherwise not have found a way in. Many people become restless when they tell themselves that they currently have evil radiations, but they are often too trusting and therefore unwise when they are convinced that they are subject to good radiations. Given the inadequacy of all calculations, they only burden themselves with unnecessary worries instead of always having a free, joyful spirit that can muster more strength for defence than the strongest evil currents are capable of exerting. Astrologers should, if they cannot help it, quietly continue their work and endeavour to perfect themselves in it, but only in silence and for themselves, as those among them who are really serious do! They should spare other people such imperfections, as they only have a corrupting effect and bring as fruit a shaking of self-confidence, a damaging binding of free spirits, which must be avoided at all costs.