learn how to use the planets and stars in your magickal …2 practical astrology for witches and...

Using the Planets and the Stars

for Effective Spellwork, Rituals, and

Magickal Work

Practical Astrology

for Witches and Pagans

Ivo Dominguez Jr .

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ISBN: 978-1-57863-575-7 U.S. $18.95www.redwheelweiser.com

Learn How to Use the Planets and Stars in Your

Magickal Work

More often than not, people think of astrology as a tool for divination or the exploration of one’s personality. Astrology is considerably more than that. It is a sacred science, a highly descriptive symbolic language, and it is also a technology that can be applied to ritual, herbalism, the use of crystals, and much more.

But it can be daunting to take on the study of Astrology. After all, it’s a field so huge it would take several lifetimes to master it. And that’s why Ivo Dominguez Jr. wrote this book—to provide practitioners of magick with a Pagan perspective on Astrology and the core concepts of Astrology that are most useful to building rituals and creating effective magick.

When we look at an astrological chart, what we are actually looking at is a map of the multiple planes of existence summarized and flattened into an understandable diagram—a kind of magickal cartogram. Now, what to do with this map? How can we best use it in our magickal work? That’s precisely what you’ll discover in the pages of this con-cise, focused, and expertly presented book.

First published in 2016 by Weiser Books, an imprint of

Red Wheel/Weiser, LLCWith offi ces at: 665 Th ird Street, Suite 400San Francisco, CA 94107www.redwheelweiser.com

Copyright © 2016 by Ivo Dominguez, Jr.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or trans mitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permis-sion in writing from Red Wheel/Weiser. Reviewers may quote brief passages.

ISBN: 978-1-57863-575-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available upon request

Cover design by Jim WarnerTypeset in Warnock ProCover photograph © Lincoln Harrison Photography. Cole Bay, Freycinet National Park, Tasmania, Australia. Additional rights required if sold. www.lincolnharrison.com

Printed in Canada

MG

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Th e paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992 (R1997).

CHAPTER 1

Introduction

It has often been said t hat the West lacks a sacr ed language with the subtle and sp ecifi c spiritual vocabulary of a lang uage such a s Sanskrit. We actually do have such a language, a rich symbolic lan-guage, and it is A strology. More of ten than not , p eople think of Astrology as a t ool for divination or t he exploration of one’s per-sonality. Astrology is considerably more than that. It is a sacred sci-ence, a highly descriptive symbolic language, a technology that can be applied to all aspects of Magick, and much more. Unfortunately, most books on Astrology are written either for the specifi c needs of astrologers or as entertainment for the masses. Moreover, the vast majority of a strologers are not in volved in Mag ick or W itchcraft and as such ha ve little awareness of our us es for Astrology. I had the go od f ortune of t aking an in terest in A strology in t he e arly 1980s, not long af ter I had put m y feet on t he path to become a witch. I am thankful that I had access to teachers of both Astrology and Witchcraft so that my evolution as a practitioner included an organic synthesis of t hese disciplines. Over the years, I ha ve had many friends and students ask me to write a book about Astrology for magickal practitioners. Th is book is m y response to their re-quest, and an eff ort to share the gift that I was given so many years ago by my teachers.

People ar e of ten da unted a t t he pr ospect of le arning enough Astrology for it to actually be useful in their magickal practices. It is true that Astrology is a huge fi eld of study and it could take several lifetimes to achieve mastery. Th e same can be said of Mathematics, but many people are able to learn enough math so they can function in their day-to-day life and manage their fi nances. My intention with

Practical Astrology for Witches and Pagans2

this book is to teach the core concepts of Astrology so that Witches and Pagans would then be able to truly apply Astrology to their prac-tices. Th e use of jargon cannot be avoided in any technical fi eld, but I have kept the use of jargon to a minimum and have defi ned the terms that I’ve used in this book. When I learned Astrology, I was required to learn how to do the calculations to cast a chart by hand, and then take the numbers and transcribe them onto the chart. Because most of the people reading this book want to be able to use Astrology for spiritual purposes, not necessarily become astrologers, there will be very little math in this book.

I remember when I was in high school, there was a three-ring-bound manual on human anatomy that contained within it a s ec-tion made of clear acetate sheets printed with the diff erent systems in the body. By fl ipping the sheets, you could remove one layer at a time, starting with the skin and ending w ith an opaque sheet that had the bones printed upon it. Looking at all of it at once was quite a visual jumble, but lo oking at one sheet at a time or a handf ul of sheets at a time made it easy to learn anatomy. Th e same principle applies to le arning A strology, except there are more she ets than there wer e in m y h uman ana tomy man ual. E ach cha pter builds upon the next and provides a systematic introduction to the basic building blocks of Astrology. Material in each of the chapters refer-ences other chapters in the book as a way of encouraging you to see the connections between all t he pieces. Some of t he information is repeated more than once, and t his is in tentional a s repetition is an important part of learning. Moreover, this is a book you will want to read several times in or der to fully absorb the ideas and the techniques. Writing a book like this one is m uch like taking a beloved but lengthy novel and turning it into a movie. Much must end up on t he cutting room fl oor if it is t o remain a manage able length. For those of you who have studied Astrology, you may fi nd that some concepts and t echniques that you hold e specially dear have been omitted. At the end of t he book, there are suggestions on what areas of study should be pursued next.

Introduction 3

I str ongly enc ourage you t o ke ep a j ournal a s you r ead and make notes of any questions that occur to you; most of them will be answered as you continue reading. If you have books on herbs, crystals, spell work, and s o on t hat make r eferences to astrologi-cal correspondences and correlations, you may wish to have these next you as you read. Th is way, as astrological concepts are covered in the book, you may look at materials you have already read with new insigh ts and underst anding. Too of ten, r eferences t o a stro-logical concepts in tables of correlations and correspondences, the choice of s ymbols or c olors for an alt ar, the recipes for incense, and the rest are nothing more than rote transmissions without any understanding of the underlying principles. It is my hope that after reading this book you will be able to look at your reference books that provide correspondences for herbs, oils , cr ystals, and s o on and understand how and why there is a Planet or a Sign associated with them. Additionally, you should b e able to look at recipes or magickal formulae and b egin to understand them as a c ombina-tion of ener getic ingredients as described by t heir Planets. Using Astrology as a tool you will be able to create new recipes, rituals, and spells based on the knowledge that the physical ingredients are representations and anchors for particular types of energy.

If you don’t already have an astrological calendar or datebook, plan on getting one because many of the techniques presented will only be useful if you c an look up t he current astrological condi-tions. You may also wish to search online, fi nd a few websites that provide free astrological charts, and bookmark them. If you have a smart phone, a variety of apps are available that may be helpful as well. It will also be useful to have a copy of your birth chart. If you do not already have one, you w ill need your date of bir th, time of birth, and location of birth to have a chart cast. I also suggest hav-ing an assortment of colored pencils, markers, and paper as there is no b etter way to learn how t o write the glyphs, the symbols of Astrology, than by doodling them again and again and again. It is not that much diff erent than a child learning to write.

CHAPTER 2

The Worldview of Astrology

A Brief HistoryTh ere are several ancient and well-developed systems of Astrology; however, it is Western Tropical Astrology that is the most fully in-tegrated into the magickal systems that Witches and Pagans work with, so we will be focusing on it in this book. Western Astrology has roots as deep as those of any other system in use today. Sometime around 500 BCE we saw the development of the twelvefold zodiac with 30° Sig ns among t he Chaldeans. Th e Four Elements system that is so broadly used in both Magick and Astrology was catego-rized and refi ned by Empedocles sometime around 450 BCE. Th e great foundational blocks for what we call Western Astrology were actually set in the Hellenistic period in Greece. I will point out that though t he w ritings ar e in Gr eek, man y of t he a strologers wer e Egyptians, Babylonians, and Semites. It is interesting to note that around 200 BCE there was an explosion of creativity in important esoteric disciplines. Th e invention of wha t we c all A strology o c-curred at roughly the same time as the core of Hermetic ideas were being w ritten dow n, and shor tly thereafter A strology w as trans -mitted to India via the Middle East. In India, Astrology evolved in a diff erent direction, but it s or igin is still cle ar. Depending upon which s cholars you tr ust, t his is als o t he same time p eriod t hat gave birth to the earliest forms of what we would recognize as the Qabala. You may ask yourself why is this history lesson important? I am including it because history shows us how deeply intertwined Astrology is with the systems of thought and theory that undergird almost all mag ickal practices in the West. Moreover, Astrology is


one of t he f ew sacr ed s ciences t hat ha s b een in c ontinuous and unbroken development since ancient times.

Astrology and A stronomy shar e similar t erms and lang uage, which c an le ad t o s ome c onfusion. Th e same c an b e said f or Alchemy and Chemistr y. Th e mo dern m undane s ciences ar ose from the older sacred sciences, but the diff erences between them are caused by more than centuries of development in diff erent di-rections. Although both sorts of s cience study the natural world, the sacred sciences focus upon the subtle and the unseen whereas the mundane sciences focus upon the dense and the tangible. Th e rift between the two ha s been growing for centuries, but p erhaps some of the mundane sciences will grow closer to the sacred sci-ences as they approach deeper mysteries.

How Astrology Is a Sacred ScienceScientifi c method can be thought of as the set of techniques for the investigation of phenomena , the acquisition of knowledge, the cre-ation and testing of theories, the sharing of those results, and ongo-ing reexamination of all of t hese things using a r igorous protocol. Science is based on empirical and measurable evidence (as defi ned by the capabilities of it s time p eriod) and ha s at its core the tenet that the universe will reveal itself through reasoning and ob serva-tion. Inde ed, s cience and sacr ed s cience wer e one and t he same but over time t hey began to dr ift apart, with the so-called Age of Enlightenment in Europe being the great schism between the two. Th e single bigge st diff erence b etween t he m undane s ciences and the sacred sciences is t hat in t he sacred sciences the basis for evi-dence and observation is diff erent. Intuition and inner e xperiences are considered as observations and sources of data within the sacred sciences. One of the things that remains similar is that there is still a process of investigation and of testing for these less tangible obser-vations. In Astrology, additions to what is considered to be accepted knowledge is not instantaneous nor simply taken as a given because

Th e Worldview of Astrology 7

a noted astrologer had an epiphany. It is a sacred science because it takes many observations that are then tested, and then found to be consistent with repetition by multiple practitioners. Also, anything that is ne w that is c oming into Astrology must not disr upt the ex-isting accepted prac tices and t heories unle ss they provide a mor e comprehensive perspective that proves its worth.

A go od e xample f rom t he m undane s ciences is t he shif t in understanding f rom Ne wtonian ph ysics t o Einst ein’s ph ysics t o Quantum physics. Th e addition of the new theories and additional accepted facts do not do damage to the system as a whole because each of these things applies to specifi c frameworks. Th e mundane sciences are constantly, though slowly, changing the boundaries of what is considered to be known. Although we will primarily work magic using t hese S even Elder P lanets, le t me us e U ranus, one of the Outer Planets discovered after the advent of t elescopes, as an e xample of how sacr ed s cience de als w ith ne w ob servations. Uranus was discovered in 1781 by Frederick William Herschel and was a sho ck to the scientifi c community as it w as the fi rst Planet discovered that could not b e s een w ith the nake d e ye and mor e than doubled the size of the Solar System due to its distance from the Sun. Th e name for the Planet was changed twice before fi nally it became set as Uranus.

Astrologers did not pull out t heir cr ystal balls nor c onsult an oracle to de termine what Uranus me ant in t heir char ts. Instead, over the course of years and decades Uranus was added to charts, both current and historical, to observe what had occurred when it was in particular positions. Over the course of many debates, with many publishe d ar ticles and b ooks, a c onsensus was reached on what impact Uranus had in the chart. It is this process of investiga-tion that makes Astrology a sacred science. Even a century after its discovery, astrologers were still debating the fi ner points, such a s which Sign was ruled, if any, by Uranus. In Z adkiel’s Text Book of Astrology (1879), he states:


Some mo dern a uthors have a ssigned Aquarius to U ranus, thus either robbing Saturn of his “day house” or forcing upon him a partner. However until experience teaches us in what signs U ranus a nd N eptune a re mo st p owerful, I m ust de-cline to endorse so hasty an attempt to provide for one of the “houseless wanderers.”

About 20 ye ars af ter Z adkiel’s b ook, the tide had t urned and Aquarius w as accepted by mo st a strologers a s the Sig n r uled by Uranus.

Th e process used in Astrology to expand the base of accepted knowledge also includes tools that lie outside the toolbox of the scientifi c method. Today we identify Uranus with reform, revolu-tion, abrupt change, idealism, electricity, higher mind, and more. In herbalism and natural philosophy, and also in Astrology, there is a pr oposition c alled t he do ctrine of sig natures t hat da tes a t least as far back as Dioscorides, was championed by Paracelsus, and further developed by Jakob Böhme. Th e gist of the doctrine is that the outward attributes of a mineral, plant, or animal when viewed by a traine d and s ensitive ob server r eveals it s in ward attributes and it s connection and plac e in t he web of universal powers. F or e xample, B oneset ( Eupatorium p erfoliatum) is a plant who se st ems s eem t o p erforate or go t hrough it s le aves. Because the plant appears to b e s elf-splinting, it is us ed in t he healing of broken bones, fevers that cause bone and body aches, and as a tonic in recovery from lengthy illnesses. When we lo ok at the astrological signature of the discovery of Uranus from our vantage point in hist ory, there was much going on in t he world that showed its attributes. In t he years surrounding the discov-ery of Uranus, we see the French Revolution, the Constitutional Convention in t he U nited St ates, t he in vention of e lectric b at-tery, the eruption of several volcanoes, the rush of innovation in the exploration of the skies that was lighter than air balloons, the birth of p oet Lord Byron, the creation of an e arly version of t he


periodic table of elements, and many more things occurred today we would clearly say have the signature of Uranus.

Th is astrological version of the doctrine of signatures also applies when we look at Neptune and Pluto. Th e existence of Neptune was fi rst pr edicted t hrough ma thematical c alculations, t hen ob served and offi cially discovered in 1846. Neptune is the Planet whose power is associated with psychism, visions, spiritual pursuits, and oneness with the universe. Th ere really is p oetic beauty in t hat it w as seen through calculations before it was seen with eyes. In the years sur-rounding its discovery we see the rise of Spiritualism and the found-ing of g roups such a s the Th eosophical Society and t he Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Pluto is the Planet whose power is asso-ciated with Pluto was discovered in 1930 at the Lowell Observatory. In the years surrounding Pluto’s discovery the fi rst cyclotron particle accelerator is created, the theory that Earth’s magnetic fi eld is gener-ated deep in its molten core is proposed, Fermi achieves the world’s fi rst nuclear fi ssion, and the seeds of World War II are planted and grow. If you fi nd this sort of research interesting, you’ll be even more enthralled when later in your studies you explore how as the Planets move through the Signs, especially the outer ones, they herald t he temperament and behavior of generations.

As Above, So BelowHeaven above, heaven below; stars above, stars below; All that i s above, thus also below; understand this and be blessed

—Prodromus Coptus Sive Aegyptiacus by Athanasius Kircher (1636)

One of t he best known sacramental phrases of H ermeticism, “As above, so below” is als o ver y much of t he core of t he worldview of Astrology. Th is in turn is associated with the principle that ev-erything that exists in t he universe is in terconnected and make s up one great whole. Even though it is a standard practice to speak


of astrological events as having an impact upon our lives and our world, this isn’t the most accurate way to describe what is actually occurring. Th e relationship between the macrocosm and t he mi-crocosm is reciprocal. It is not so much that the heavens aff ect us as it is that they are large enough so that we can read what is writ-ten there, rather than what is written in a script too small upon the fi ne fabric of the reality. One of the benefi ts of making Astrology a part of your prac tice if you are a witch or a mag ician is that helps to train our subtle senses to also read those microcosmic patterns.

The Way of ArtAlthough A strology is a sacr ed s cience and a s such is a men tal undertaking with many rules and pr ocedures, it is als o an ar t re-quiring the intuition and t he way of b eauty to reveal its richness. It is t he way of ar t that guides astrologers, or prac titioners using Astrology in their Magick, to know which of many details actually matter and to bring harmony to the fl ood of data. Th is is certainly evident when an astrologer is doing a reading and is also the muse that har nesses t he p ower of A strology in to t he de sign of a sp ell or ritual. Th e imaginative and intuitive part of A strology’s world-view is b est e xperienced t hrough imager y ra ther t han ra tional exposition. Th e following passage may be read as a m ythic story to describe one f acet among t he many that make up t he jewel of Astrology. You may wish to use it as a guided visualization to more deeply internalize the experience. Either fi nd a friend or associate to read it to you or make a r ecording of your ow n voice. Read the pathworking slowly and not e that where you see “•••” it indic ates a pause. Remember that if you have a computer, a smart phone, or even a portable recorder you already have the tools to make a r e-cording of this pathworking that is good enough for this purpose.

The Celestial TemplePlace your hands up on your br ow. Take t hree de ep br eaths and intone the sound “Ihh” (like the “i” sound in the word “trip”) while


imaging t hat your en tire b ody is b athed in indigo-c olored ligh t. Place your b ody in a c omfortable p osition and clo se your e yes. Breathe deeply and slowly.

If you ha ve any pressing concerns or wor ries, set them aside. Tell your tr oubles that you w ill return to them later but f or now you wish to lay your burdens down. Attend to the sounds around you and an y distractions you ha ve noted, then dismiss t hem one by one. Clench your fi sts tightly for a count of 3 and t hen release them. L et all your t ension s eep a way f rom your b ody le aving through your hands.

Close your eyes and see a pearly gray swirling in front of you as if you were inches away from a g auzy curtain ruffl ed by a br eeze. You feel a tingle on your face like static electricity. •••

Step through the swirling gray. •••You are fl oating in a dark vastness that ripples with more than

the three dimensions of ordinary life. You are hovering in the place that holds and surrounds all of space and time. You see it as a vel-vety darkness spr inkled with sparks in br illiant gem-tone colors. You hear sounds so large, yet so soft, that you feel them as vibra-tions deep in your c ore and as bright warmth playing across your surface. A s your s enses b ecome mor e accustomed and mor e a t-tuned to this realm, you become aware of ever-changing vistas of overlapping, interpenetrating fi elds of fi ligrees and turning whirl-pools of a texture like silk and smoke. Embossed atop the darkness you see a spiraling web strung with spangles reminding you of the fi nest of a spider’s art dusted with the changeable perfection of in-dividual snowfl akes. You gaze upon an e ternity of fl ux and fi xity of cycles where order leads to chaos and chaos to order again. •••

After a time, your attention is drawn to a small sphere with col-ors shifting across its surface like those that fl ow across the surface of a soap bubble in the sun. Th e more you focus upon it, the larger it becomes. You do not know if it is actually getting larger, or if you are fl ying toward it, or it toward you. You are now so close, or it’s so large, that you no longer see the velvety darkness. You only see the


shifting and turning of colors through every hue and every tone. It is as if rainb ows had c aught fi re and bur ned dark and br ight and renewed themselves from their own ashes. You feel a tremendous magnetic pull and are drawn through the veil of rainbow fi re.

You have grown. You feel as if your hands could part clouds and oceans. No longer in the vastness that was vast beyond understand-ing, you fi nd t hat you ar e in a minia ture univers e b ounded by a crystalline sphere. Circling around the dance composed of cir cles, ellipses, loops, and spirals , you s ee globes of br illiance. You call it brilliance because no colors adequately name what you can see, yet each globe has a unique brilliance. When you look closely into each globe of brilliance, you see intricate patterns that fold and unfold in an unending ar ray. Each globe pulses with lights and p atterns like alphabets with no beginning and no ending. And yet, each twirling, spinning, dancing , sphere carries meanings and me ssages distinct from every other. Th ese globes of splendor vary in size and in bright-ness, w ith one shining br ighter than all. F rom the wisdom within you, you recognize these globes are the energy bodies of the Planets of our s olar system. You look to the center of t he enormous cr ys-talline sphere within which t he globes of ligh t turn in t heir stately dances. Th ere in the center you see a disc-like island bounded by a ribbon of rolling blue that seems to be both sea and sky. In the center of the island you see a great temple with one great tower.

You feel a tremendous magnetic pull and are drawn down, and down, and dow n until you st and before the gates of t he Celestial Temple. L ook up on t he c arvings t hat sur round t he g ate, t ake a breath, and enter into the Temple. Soft breezes brush across your face, and f rom breath to breath you sme ll the salt of t he sea, the jasmine of summer, the musk of the forest, and more. Each breath you take carries the story of diff erent times and plac es. You step deeper in to t he Ce lestial Temple and s ee emblems of t he F our Elements t hroughout t he r ichly or namented w alls. Th e fl oor is made of polished agates arranged in concentric circles pierced by rays of lighter stones.


You follow the rings and the rays toward the center. You pass be-tween two pillars of onyx and alabaster, and discover that you are now in the great tower of t he Celestial Temple. You look upward to the high dome of the tower and see that the dome is made of 12 colossal stained glass windows that meet like the petals. Each window shows the symbols, scenes, and themes related to one of the 12 Signs of the Zodiac. Your gaze moves f rom Sign to Sign until you’ve come f ull circle, and you notic e that the imagery of the windows has changed as you were looking. Take a moment to take in this wonder. You also observe that the dome of t he Sig ns is slowly t urning although the Temple is still. You walk further in to the center of the Tower so that you can look straight up and see this marvel more clearly.

From t his v antage p oint you c an s ee t hat t he glob es of br il-liance, the Planets, are shining through the living stained glass of the Sig ns. Th e dome of t he Sig ns is t urning and t he P lanets ar e moving in t heir e laborate danc es of cir cles, e llipses, and lo ops. Th e br illiance of t he P lanets is p assing t hrough t he w indows of the Sig ns and t hat br illiance is c olored and r efracted into shaf ts that descend to the fl oor of t he Celestial Temple. You look down at the mosaic fl oor and s ee that you ar e standing in t he center of a p attern of a cir cle div ided into 12 s egments. Within e ach s eg-ment you s ee symbols for varying combinations of t he Elements, Modalities, and Polarities. Th e shafts of light streaming down from above move across the mandala of t he fl oor. As the kaleidoscopic illumination cast by the wheels within wheels of the heavens glints upon the agates of t he mosaic, fl eeting geometries form and dis -solve. From where you st and, you t urn in plac e to f ully p erceive this beauty that springs from order and constant change. Th er e are moments as you look that evoke music that only the mind can hear, feelings that reach from the depths of t he body to the heights of your spir it, a dis cernment of t hings b eyond the telling of all t he words you own, and all too much to anchor in memory.

You shut your eyes and you breathe deeply and slowly. You re-solve t o g rasp and t o ke ep a momen t of t he fl ow of cr eation in


motion. For the briefest instant you blink your eyes open and seize the v ision. With e yes still sh ut and t he p attern glow ing in your mind’s eye, you slowly take twelve steps forward toward the black and white pillars that guard the Tower of the Celestial Temple. You take f our st eps mor e. You t ake t hree st eps mor e, and you r each out your hands to feel for the pillars. You feel the solidity of stone against your hands, and you open your eyes.

You s ee a p early g ray s wirling in f ront of you a s if you wer e inches away f rom a g auzy curtain ruffl ed by a br eeze. You feel a tingle on your face like static electricity.

••• Step through the swirling gray. •••And you are in the here and the now. You are in your body. You

are in the here and the now.Open your e yes slowly. Wiggle your t oes and fi ngers. Breathe

deeply. Say your name aloud three times.

learn how to use the planets and stars in your magickal …2 practical astrology for witches and...

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