Malvin Artley has been a practising astrologer for the past 10 years. He is an
accredited member of the American Federation of Astrologers.
Malvin is the author of Bodies of Fire: An Exploration of the Lesser Chakra System. He has authored numerous articles and was a member of the faculty of the University of the Seven Rays, a non-profit organization dedicated to the teaching of the Trans-Himalayan tradition as expressed through the books of Alice Bailey, Helena Blavatsky and others.
His primary focus over the past 25 years has been on the sciences as they express occultism and with bridging work between the two. His
special interests are the human subtle energy system and all
the chakras, or energy centres, physics and technology, astronomy and all
aspects of Chinese occultism. He has done extensive work with Chinese
astrology and the cycles they use and seeks to synthesize the great
Western and Oriental systems on such matters.
Malvin lives in Adelaide, South Australia. He also works in the engineering trades and sends out periodic emails about astrological happenings and developments. Click here to subscribe to Malvin's periodic letters.
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The Imperial Astrologer
Esoteric Astrology in the Light of Ancient Chinese Knowledge [part 2]
 Part two of this intriguing article by Malvin Artley goes on to examine the function of The Imperial Astrologer in the light of esoteric teaching, yoga and ancient philosophical insights.
All this brings me to the subject of this article and a thing which all intuitive astrologers and clairvoyants alike will find most enlightening in these days of accelerating consciousness and upheaval.
I will slightly reorganize the Chinese text on the matter: "By the Literary Star, Kuei [one of the stars of the Northern Ladle] are six stars in a square called Wen Chang Kung, the Palace of Literary Genius. The names of the individual stars are Shang Lang (Chief of Staff), Tse Chang (Lieutenant General), Kuei Hsiang (Honourable Counsellor of Rites), Ssu Ming (the Controller of Fate), Ssu Lu (the Controller of Rewards) and Ssu Chung (the Controller of the Centre)."
This last star—the Controller of the Centre—is the Imperial Astrologer, Prognosticator and Interpreter of Strange Events.
For the astronomically-minded, this star is known as 23 Ursa Majoris in the scientific nomenclature. It has a spectral class of FO with an absolute magnitude of 1.6, which makes it roughly twice the size of our Sun and green, at that. This places it in a class of solar system which is more expressive of Will than of Love (Our Sun is more expressive of love. "God Is Love."), and it thus is a great transmitter of beneficent force and power to the local universe. It has a right ascension of 9 hrs 29min 49sec, which places it roughly at a projection of 23 Virgo in the Zodiac (I will have to check this, so don't quote me on it. If I find out differently I will let you know.) It lies at a distance of 85 light-years, which places it in the local neighbourhood of the main stars of the Northern Ladle. All this data is from older texts and will have to be double-checked. The key point here is the identity of the star and where to locate it in the sky. Unfortunately, people in the Southern Hemisphere will be unable to see it, unless you want to hop a plane northward. Even folks in the Northern climes would likely have to use binoculars to see it clearly some nights, for it is somewhat fainter than the other main stars of the great Bear.
The Oracle
Now, everyone knows that any imperial court has to have an oracle. The recent Matrix movies have brought this back to our consciousness. We all (or most of us) want to know what the future holds for us and what the reasons are for all the bumps in the Road of Life when they occur. The astrologers of ancient China had their oracles, too. But, chief among them was this "Controller of the Centre". Whenever major decisions of state were to be made or whenever there were odd occurrences within the empire that could not be explained through the usual motions of the planets, this star was consulted.
Oracles are a strange and mysterious business to those who are unfamiliar with their workings. To start with, the oracle must have access to knowledge not privy to the masses or the uninitiated. A true oracle must also have a requisite purity of body and mind along with quiet emotions in order to bring through the needed information intact and uncorrupted by personal concerns. In short, the oracle needs to be an Initiate to be a bona fide mouthpiece for God. An oracle is thus an interpreter for the Mind of God to the masses of humanity. There are oracles who walk among us to this day. But the Imperial Astrologer is a Cosmic oracle. As such, it was consulted solely for matters of state and never for personal concerns. To do so would have broken the connection between the oracle and the consulting astrologer.
People might suppose that this oracle was consulted by simple observations of its appearance on a given night and any events that may have occurred close to or connected with it. We should be aware, though, that for an empire of the size and importance of ancient China there would have been astrologers in the court who were either Initiates themselves, or who were guided by Initiates. All nations are guided by Initiates and angelic Presences from behind the scenes, impressing the minds of the leaders and thus guiding the fates of the masses. There would have also been quite a number of lesser astrologers and their helpers who would have gauged stellar influence by observing the appearance of certain key stars. But, the chief astrologers would have all at least had their intuitive faculties strongly developed, and I have the feeling that more than a few of them would have been fully clairvoyant. Of course, the information thus obtained would have been stepped down for the court and the means of its obtaining would have been a closely guarded secret and not for publication. It is doubtful even the Emperor would have known too much about what the old astrologers really got up to at night.
The True Method
The true method of conversing with the Imperial astrologer would have been along the lines of a meditative practice, such as the type outlined in The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, for instance. Occultists would be well familiar with this body of work. In fact, in that work two stars are singled out for meditative work—our Sun and Polaris. For a bit of background, Yoga is defined as "union" or "conjunction" (not in the astrological sense) with the divine, spiritual essence within each of us. A sutra is simply a method or an instruction—a thread of consciousness which leads to the universal Truth one is seeking. There are several different types of yoga—Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Laya Yoga and Raja Yoga, to name a few. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are classed under what is known as Raja Yoga—the Yoga of the intellect, or the Yoga of mental discipline. What most people know as Yoga is what is called Hatha Yoga, or the Yoga of the physical nature with all its attendant postures. All Yogas demand a strict mental discipline or adherence to their form and practice. None of them should ever be attempted except through the guidance of an expert Teacher.
In the Patanjali sutras we have the following two stanzas:
"Through meditation, one-pointedly fixed upon the Sun, will come a consciousness (or knowledge) of the seven worlds [states of Being or planes of Nature]."
"Concentration upon the Pole Star [Polaris] will give knowledge of the orbits of the planets and the stars."
In addition,
"A knowledge of all lunar forms [all types of bodies in the personal worlds] arises through one-pointed concentration upon the Moon."
From the preceding we can see that the Sun deals with Consciousness or Being, the Moon deals with matter and body and Polaris deals with the cycles that govern all of our manifested local universe. Also, we can begin to get a clearer picture of why astrology affixes the definitions it does on the Sun and the Moon. These methods of meditation can also be applied to any planetary body to give specific knowledge. For example, meditation on Mars would yield the inner workings of the persona. Meditation upon Venus would yield the very essence of Yoga itself and the means toward union with all Lives. Meditation upon Saturn would yield the knowledge of all causes and possible outcomes in the human worlds. And this would only be scratching the surface. But, I want to add my own version of a sutra here:
"Through one-pointed meditation upon the Controller of the Centre [the Imperial Astrologer] comes knowledge of the future in its most equitable outcome for greatest Good."
What the Chinese were calling "strange Events" in connection with the Imperial Astrologer were actually the workings of the Will of God behind the scenes, prompting people toward a new vision or outlook on things. Strange events always give us cause to stop and think, rather than our usual running to and fro always with our minds elsewhere than where they should be.
The Imperial Astrologer is actually a sort of Cosmic Lord of Karma or Adjudicator—a Knower of causes and a keeper of fidelity with God's Law, that we should all live in harmony with each other and with our solar neighbours. But, it is not the agent of enforcement. As the Oracle, the work is always to advise—to mentor—and to maintain equilibrium when things go a bit awry in the stellar Home. Like the earthly astrological counterparts, the Imperial Astrologer is a mouthpiece and advisor to the Beings or people in authority actually doing the work of maintaining law and order, equilibrium, harmonization and restitution in whatever sphere they run.
Renew Our Ancient Connection
With all the strangeness and disharmony in the world at the moment, it would seem to be a good idea to renew our ancient connection with the Imperial Astrologer. All astrologers who work with mundane charts and with people of importance and influence would do well to meditate upon that marvellous Being and seek guidance for the most auspicious outcomes for all concerned. In fact, all astrologers and quite a few oracles in other walks of life would reap rich dividends by communing with our ancient Friend.
As bearers of Light in this world we are all mouthpieces and agents for the Divine in our immediate spheres of influence. Our judicious, impartial and clear interpretations of events in our own and other people's lives bears our closest attention. Wisdom, born of our own Being and experience is ever our guide. A periodic consult with an Oracle to gain perspective can hardly go astray, though. But, just as Neo in the Matrix—initially guided by the oracle—found that the oracle, too, is bound by certain laws, we know the Laws of God are for our learning and are there as guideposts. But that eventually helped him find the power of his own free will. And our own free will is a gift from God that can move mountains when rightly applied in the spirit of love and brotherhood. Let our free will help others to equipoise and onwards to freedom!
May the Imperial Astrologer and our highest Essence guide us on the Path of Truth toward the best possible outcomes in all our lives and for the world at large.
All Poise and Contentment be yours,
Malvin.
Return to part 1 of The Imperial Astrologer
 Malvin Artley is an accredited member of the American Federation of Astrologers. His primary focus over the past 25 years has been on the sciences as they express occultism and with bridging work between the two. His special interests in those fields are the human subtle energy system and all the chakras, or energy centres, physics and technology, astronomy and all
aspects of Chinese occultism.
He sends out periodic emails about astrological happenings and developments. These email messages are sent as a gift and a sharing. They are sent to people of many persuasions, not just astrologers. Blessings. Click here to subscribe to Malvin's periodic letters.
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