Pagan Astrology Spell Casting, Love Magic, and Shamanic
Stargazing
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Pagan Astrology
“Pagan Astrology combines a practical and easy-to-understand
overview of the basics of Western Astrology with techniques and ideas
to build astrological altars, work rituals, and perform magic using the
unique forces and qualities of the astrological signs. Astrologers will
particularly appreciate the magical prescriptions to counteract the
energies of afflicted planets. This is a book that could grace the shelf of
any student of the planetary mysteries.”
ELLEN EVERT HOPMAN, AUTHOR OF A DRUID’S HERBAL
OF SACRED TREE MEDICINE, A DRUID’S HERBAL FOR
THE SACRED EARTH YEAR, AND BEING A PAGAN (WITH
LAWRENCE BOND)
Contents
Cover Image
Title Page
Epigraph
Author’s Note Regarding Planet Pluto
Introduction: Stars and Stones
PART ONE
Charts
1 Deciphering a Chart: For Beginners
WHAT’S GOING ON HERE? MAKING SENSE OF ASTROLOGICAL SYMBOLS
ASPECTS
BUT NOW WHAT? COPING WITH YOUR TRANSITS
FIGURING OUT THOSE TRANSIT THINGIES
2 Using Your Chart: For Astrologers
PART TWO
Planets in Motion
3 Planetary Gifts: Those Glyphs in Your Chart
THE PLANETARY GLYPHS
THE SIGN GLYPHS
THE HOUSES
4 Moon Magic: Lunar Cycles
I. NEW MOON
II. CRESCENT MOON
III. WAXING QUARTER MOON
IV. GIBBOUS MOON
V. FULL MOON
VI. DISSEMINATING MOON
VII. WANING QUARTER MOON
VIII. BALSAMIC MOON
5 Mercury Magic: Words of Power
6 Venus Magic: Synastry and Love Spells
VENUS INVOCATIONS
SYNASTRY
7 Mars Magic: Anger Management
INVOCATIONS FOR MARS THROUGH THE SIGNS
8 Jupiter Magic: Laying It On Thick
JUPITER IN ARIES
JUPITER IN TAURUS
JUPITER IN GEMINI
JUPITER IN CANCER
JUPITER IN LEO
JUPITER IN VIRGO
JUPITER IN LIBRA
JUPITER IN SCORPIO
JUPITER IN SAGITTARIUS
JUPITER IN CAPRICORN
JUPITER IN AQUARIUS
JUPITER IN PISCES
9 Saturn Magic: Black Stones
SIMPLE SATURN RITUALS
INVOCATIONS FOR SATURN THROUGH THE SIGNS
INVOCATIONS FOR SATURN THROUGH THE HOUSES
SATURN AND BLACK STONES
10 Uranus Magic: Changing the World
URANUS IN ARIES
URANUS IN TAURUS
URANUS IN GEMINI
URANUS IN CANCER
URANUS IN LEO
URANUS IN VIRGO
URANUS IN LIBRA
URANUS IN SCORPIO
URANUS IN SAGITTARIUS
URANUS IN CAPRICORN
URANUS IN AQUARIUS
URANUS IN PISCES
11 Neptune Magic: Lifting the Veil
12 Pluto Magic: Into the Darkness
INVOCATIONS FOR PLUTO THROUGH THE SIGNS
PART THREE
Magical Prescriptions
Tools, Holidays, Altars, and Practices
13 The Astrology of Magical Tools
14 The Astrology of Pagan Holidays
SAMHAIN
YULE—THE WINTER SOLSTICE
IMBOLC
EOSTRE—THE SPRING EQUINOX
BELTANE
THE SUMMER SOLSTICE
LAMMAS
THE AUTUMNAL EQUINOX—MABON
15 Planetary Altars
16 Magical Prescriptions for Westerners
THE REMEDIES
17 Planetary Hours: Shortcuts to Scheduling
PLANETARY HOURS
CALCULATING THE PLANETARY HOURS
WORKSHEET FOR PLANETARY HOURS
Recommended Reading
About the Author
About Inner Traditions • Bear & Company
Books of Related Interest
Copyright & Permissions
AUTHOR’S NOTE
REGARDING PLANET PLUTO
The International Astronomical Union’s 2006 decision to reclassify
Pluto from a planet to a dwarf planet presented a challenge for
astronomers who clearly consider it a strong planetary force. The
International Astronomical Union’s planet classification system is
far from “watertight” and most certainly does not represent any
type of agreement among astronomers. Only 4 percent voted on
their planet definition, and most are not planetary scientists. Their
decision was immediately opposed by hundreds of other
professional astronomers in a formal petition. There are various
inconsistencies in their nomenclature; their definition states that
dwarf planets are not simply a type of planet, but are not planets at
all. This is entirely inconsistent with the use of the term “dwarf ” in
the rest of astronomy, where dwarf stars are still stars, and dwarf
galaxies are still galaxies. Their definitions also define objects
solely by where they are while ignoring what they are. If Earth were
in Pluto’s orbit, according to the IAU definition, it would not be a
planet either. A classification scheme that takes the same object and
makes it a planet in one location and not a planet in another location
is essentially useless.
Many astronomers favor a broader planet definition that includes
any non-self-luminous spheroidal body orbiting a star. The
spherical part is important because it means an object is large
enough for its own gravity to pull it into a round shape—a
characteristic of planets and not of shapeless asteroids. Astrologers,
in general, have rejected the IAU definition, because for us the
important part isn’t even the size of the rock, it’s the strength of the
effect of the cosmic force marked and interpreted by that planet.
The force that Pluto marks for us is awesome and powerful, and we
find no reason not to refer to it as a planet, regardless of the
transient squabbling of astronomers.
INTRODUCTION
Stars and Stones
A strology is the art and science of calculating cosmic currents by
observing heavenly bodies. That’s the nutshell description . . . and to most
outside observers, that smacks terribly of magic. Most astrologers, though,
would disagree. Starting with Evangeline Adams (the first astrologer to try
to scientifically prove the validity of astrology in a court of law in 1914),
the astrological community has been attempting for a century or more to
prove that astrology is completely scientific, with nothing spooky or
supernatural about it.
Of all the divinatory methods, from tea leaf reading to Tarot, astrology is
the one that attracts the most “left-brained” types. After all, it’s got more
math than any other method, except maybe the I Ching. If one could grade
divinatory methods the way one grades sciences—with physics on the “hard
science” end and psychology on the “soft science” end—astrology would
unquestionably be the “hardest” (with maybe scrying as the “softest”). It
lends itself better than any other method to statistics and lab testing, and the
hope of most of its practitioners is to someday allow it to join the ranks of
ordinary sciences, like long-lost-twin astronomy.
In order to do this, the practice of Western astrologers has been to pare
off and throw away anything that reeked of the Mysteries. This included
anything remotely religious—after all, the existence of deities and spirits
can’t be proved scientifically—and anything associated with magical
practice. Of course, this is nearly impossible in the end, because every
divination method in existence sooner or later brushes up against the human
need to explain the spiritual nature of the Universe . . . and that includes
astrology. To the desperately bowdlerizing scientists in the astrological
community, I can only point out a truth about that hardest of sciences,
physics. The further into esoteric physics that physicists go, the “spookier”
their theories become. Everything comes around in the end.
Some astrologers, seeking something a little more spiritual, gravitate
toward the Vedic astrology practices of India. In studying traditional Indian
astrology, they run smack up against the practice of astrological “remedies,”
which is an ordinary and expected part of the Indian astrologer’s daily
repertoire. The practice goes like this: The astrologer looks at your chart,
checks it against the current planetary positions in the sky, and figures out if
any of those moving planets are contacting yours in a way that messes with
them and makes your life miserable (or, conversely, make things more
fortunate). For the nonastrologers in the audience, we call these “transits”
and speak of a transit of heavenly Planet X “afflicting” your natal Planet Y
if it’s bad.
So far, so good; this is exactly what a Western astrologer is likely to do.
The difference is that the Vedic astrologer then consults a chart of
“remedies,” which are actions you can take to “propitiate” the injurious
transiting planetary energy and lessen its effect on you. These can be as
varied as wearing a particular gemstone or giving hay to a sacred cow.
Sound like magic to you? It did to me, when I read about it, and I wasn’t
surprised to find that most Western astrologers dismiss the Vedic remedies
as bunk. Frankly, I suspect that they work as well as any spell, and probably
better than most, given the long history of their use. The one problem I have
with them is that they are culturally specific; we don’t have a lot of sacred
cows wandering around, nor can we donate a cow to the local temple of
Shiva, usually. That’s why I’ve worked out a modern Western version of the
astrological remedies that any of us can use without trouble. More on that
later.
In the meantime, while India had a large number of lay astrologers
giving out religious rather than magical advice, in medieval Europe
astrology was used extensively on the magical side of things . . . but only
for certain kinds of magic. Throughout the European medieval period, being
an astrologer meant that you were a literate, educated individual with access
to a great number of unusual books and other reading materials. This almost
guaranteed that you were not a member of the lower classes, which were
the huge unwashed bulk of European humanity at that time. If you were
upper class and educated, and you had access to astrological materials,
chances were that you also had access to magical textbooks such as
grimoires. Greek and Roman and Arabic writing, Qabala, Christian
demonology, and other trappings that became associated with the amalgam
we now refer to as “ceremonial magic.” Such magicians used astrological
charts and symbols to add power and “kick” to many of their spells, be it
timing the magic by the planets or invoking their energies to a particular
purpose.
In the meantime, some of the common folk were practicing magic, too.
They were mostly illiterate, so they couldn’t read books on strange Greek
and Roman names for stars or constellations, or stories of the Greek and
Roman gods and goddesses for whom they were named. They couldn’t do
much math, so they couldn’t read ephemeris charts, and anyway, books
were only for the rich. Their magic was based on keen observation of nature
—plants, animals, trees, stones, and humanity. They were not unaware of
the heavenly bodies above them; they figured out that the Sun meant life
and joy, and the Moon meant mystery and the feminine cycles. They might
not know Venus’s name, but they knew that one could wish for love on the
morning and evening star. They might not know when the Moon was void
of course, but they knew that aboveground herbs were best harvested on the
Full Moon, and root crops on the New Moon.
When the modern witchcraft revival started in the 1960s, most of its first
public practitioners had experimented with ceremonial magic—some, like
Gerald Gardner, had been long-term members of groups such as the Ordo
Templi Orientalis—and they borrowed heavily from those traditions.
However, as the various Pagan sects progressed and modern Paganism got
more and more embroiled with movements such as environmentalism and
feminism, the magical practice started to turn back to the old hedge-witch-
inspired spells and traditions. The green magic of old—peasant magic,
kitchen magic, the work of granny witches and cunning men—didn’t use a
lot of astrology because of the previously mentioned class issues. Many of
the modern folk who looked into astrology noticed that it seemed to be
mostly used by ceremonial magicians and decided that it must not be
“natural” enough to be of any use in folk witchery. The fact that astrology
does look complicated, with lots of numbers and charts and complex
combined symbols, often puts off people who are looking for a simpler,
more “instinctive” system of magical practice.
So the lines got drawn . . . and a chasm grew between astrology and the
magical practice of both modern witches and Pagans. But there are many
commonalities that bridge that chasm, if anyone bothers to notice. The first
obvious point is that of the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water. They
are not only the basis of the natural world and of folk magic—most folk
magic can be sorted by element, if you try—they are also the basis of
astrology. Everything in this divinatory practice lives and dies by the four
elements. In both astrology and modern witchcraft, the elements also
symbolize—and are bound up with—the same qualities. Air is the mind,
intellect and words; fire is will and passion and action; water is the
emotions of the heart; earth is the physical body and everything used to
maintain its life and comfort. This sacred quadrangle is reflected over and
over in Western occult practice of any kind, from the suits of the Tarot to
the Guardians of the Four Quarters of the Earth.
Modern witches do sometimes grudgingly use astrology in gardening,
especially gardening by the Moon. Traditionally, plants are better off when
planted on Waxing Moons and harvested during Waning Moons; the
astrological sign of the Moon will also affect growth, so certain plants
should be sown or transplanted during certain Moon signs. However, even
some die-hard green-thumb witches are put off by the complicated dance of
sign and phase, and most almanacs, while useful, don’t allow for the varied
planting dates in a large area with many climatic zones. One of the things
that I felt would be most useful to gardeners who are intimidated by
astrological gardening is a simple, straightforward chart that could be
adjusted to their particular area.
Astrology is most frequently used magically to find out when rather than
why—meaning that it is used to figure out when the best time for a ritual or
working might be. While doing a spell at a nonpropitious time doesn’t mean
that it won’t possibly work, the addition of astrologically appropriate
energy gives it some extra grease, so to speak. Sometimes that extra bit of
juju makes the difference in a spell with a lot of probability stacked against
it. Using propitious times can also make a difference for rituals, because the
very atmosphere will be saturated with a particular energy that can be
tapped for the efficacy of the ceremony.
One classic method of scheduling rituals is the practice of choosing an
astrologically auspicious time for a wedding, checking Venus and its
aspects and rulerships, as well as comparing the potential happy day with
the charts of the bride and bridegroom. I wrote about this practice in my
book Handfasting and Wedding Rituals, but at the same time I was using
astrology to schedule the right day—or the right time of day—for all sorts
of regular rituals as well.
Rituals can also be created to celebrate the astrological currents
themselves and to give the participants a better idea of what kind of cosmic
flux is swirling about them. For example, a fellow astrologer and I created a
ritual called “Changing the Dream, Dreaming the Change.” We first
conceived of it when Neptune, the planet of dreams, went into Aquarius, the
sign of change. While transits do color everything with their energy, we as
human beings do have free will as to how we respond to those energies,
thus tilting the future in a way that we would prefer. We chose to design a
ritual that would harness the energies of these two forces in combination,
and thus use the power of the cosmic currents to carry our will.
We first did the ritual years ago, when slow-moving Neptune entered
Aquarius. Now, as Uranus (the ruler of Aquarius and the planet of radical
change) has passed into Pisces (the dreamy, mysterious sign ruled by
Neptune), the two are in mutual reception. That’s an astrologer’s way of
saying that two planets are in each other’s signs, which usually means that
they are working together in some way. This is a doubling of the Uranus-
Neptune energies. Recently, we performed a larger and more elaborate
version of the ritual during the summer of 2009 at a major Pagan gathering,
as the two planets are currently in a semisextile (mildly positive) aspect to
each other, as well as in mutual reception. We think that this will give us the
best possible energy for creating change in the world through creating new
images, visions, archetypes, and dreams.
Here’s another important application for astrology: it provides a complex
and highly useful symbol system for creating spells that are more
complicated than just “love” or “money.” If “bring me love” isn’t enough
(especially if you’ve tried it before and only managed to get attractive but
unsuitable dates), and what you really want is “bring me intense, deep,
radically honest love that will see and honor my darkest parts,” then
perhaps using the symbolism of Venus in Scorpio—including its associated
stones, plants, and color—will give more magical specificity to your spell.
If what you really want is “bring me casual, friendly love that will be
straight with me, and be a good traveling companion,” then you might want
to look at the attributes of Venus in Sagittarius. Sure, you could just stick in
various objects that symbolized those things to you, and it’d work . . . but
using the astrological associations lends the strength and power of the
actual cosmic clock to your spell.
By learning the language of astrology and applying it to magical work,
you give yourself a much wider and variegated vocabulary to work with.
You also give yourself the chance to learn about the universal currents of
life and what they are doing to you on a daily basis. As astrologers have
found, it can give you a jump on life.
Astrologers themselves have a lot to learn from magical practice,
because it involves taking direct action in places where most astrologers are
only watching passively. A friend of mine with a science background, upon
learning astrology, commented that it was really “applied astronomy,” so to
speak—doing more than just observing the planets, actually working with
the patterns that their motion betrays to us. Doing astrological magic takes
the application process one step further. These energies are here already; we
know what they look like and a good deal about their effects, although
there’s always more to learn. We might as well use them to the fullest, even
if it may seem to cost astrology what pathetic scraps of scientific reputation
it already has. After all, I’ve always believed that it is bad science to
