Is Astrology Real?
Recently, I have been asked by friends whether astrology is something really occurring or just another dogma to believe in. Are the natural cycles of time, movement, and change something profound to be observed, recorded, and learned from? In response to this I have been looking to my own education in Chinese Medicine and intuitive sense of qi (energy/movement), to the classical work, the Dao de Ching edited by Lao Tzu (emerging circa 400 BCE), and to the words and works of my Orthodox Daoist teacher, Liu Ming, for guidance to help convey the traditional Chinese notions of the cycles of nature and the relationship with human life on earth.
Early on the morning of March the 5th, 2016, an incredibly bright flash of lightning illuminated my house, and one of the loudest cracks of thunder I have ever heard tore open the sky, letting loose a downpour of rain. Sensing the feeling of something in nature changing, I stayed awake in the wee hours to contemplate this shift. Over the years, seasonal changes have become like a clockwork, and as I become a more astute observer of the outer environment the associations with internal life and health become more obvious. The Chinese Almanac (Tong Shu) and the classical Chinese teachings aimed at harmonizing human-beings with nature make a lot of sense when we begin to take the time to observe our interconnection.
Aspects of the Almanac
- 28 Lunar Mansions (xiu). Based on the names of constellations (which vary in size from 3–36 hrs ) which the moon passed through during it’s 28 day journey through the night sky along the ecliptic. During the Zhou dynasty (1045–221 BCE) the once astronomical system changed to a mathematical sequence. The xiu were seen as a patterned lesson offered by nature, the wisdom of which becomes available in the synchronicity of our own activity within a larger natural flow.
- The Solar Index. A set cycle in a 12 day sequence of of yin (receptivity) and yang (action) changing into each other; a microcosm of the larger pattern within a solar year — young yang growing in strength to it’s peak then declining to be overtaken by young yin which also peaks to be overtaken by yang, etc. This procession continues forever, comparable to the cycle of the seasons.
- The “Qi-Nodes.” A division of the year’s solar cycle into 24 nodes, using the solstices, equinoxes, and the beginnings of each season as guideposts, marking 15 degree segments of the sun’s movement along the ecliptic. Often used to anticipate and plan for seasonal changes, applied to farming and also to health, diet and exercise (when to exert or rest, fast or feast).
- A lunar (moving through each individual lines of the hexagram and changing every 6 days) and daily (changing each day) sequence of Hexagrams from the Yi Jing (I-Ching/Book of Changes) 64 images comprising the patterns of energy (alternating yin and yang) and relationship found in the human experience.
- The more commonly familiar system of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly branches. Combining the yin and yang aspects of the five elements, (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) and the Chinese zodiac animal images (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, etc). This system attributes a stem and branch to each shí hour (consisting of 2 hours), day, month, and year.
All of these differing systems can be understood separately, but are much more potent when combined. For instance, if all the different systems of the Almanac happen to be saying the same thing on a particular day, this information is much more powerful than simply referencing just one of these resources.
Origin Stories: Where Did It All Begin?
The origin of the Chinese cosmological system solidified around the 1st century CE from the consolidation of many varied Central Asian tribal groups and their cultural resources combining together into a single system, unified by an understanding of the human relationship to nature and change. This consolidation was a massive feat and is hard for us to comprehend or even imagine. Today it would be something like attempting to combine the tenets of physics, Christianity, Vedic Astrology, Indigenous American shamanism, modern medicine, industrial farming, and Zen Buddhism together into a single unified world-wide cultural system which works together for the benefit of all human beings regardless from where they come or what they believe.
The big question addressed by the Chinese in this process of consolidation (and for us if we were to attempt the same merging of ideas today) was: is there a common aspect within these seemingly disparate cultural resources which could tie them all together into a single system? Instead of taking an approach of trying to find the “right” or “real” cultural system and denying or eliminating the rest, the Chinese took the approach that if there is any truth in our human experience it will exist in all of these seemingly different faces. They felt that looking at these resources together and finding a common thread of innate human nature underneath and within them, that a civilization could be built up upon what is pervasive — a civilization which would include the wisdom of the observations of every culture and every tribe regardless of their differences. One of the results of this consolidation was the creation of the Chinese Almanac.
The Chinese Almanac was a document produced by the Chinese government continuously for 2,000 years (right up to communist times) which displayed the consolidated tribal resources for counting, tracking, and mapping the cycles of time and change — an almanac for human beings to live in harmony with the cycles of time. Some of the tribal resources of this system were based on Astrology/Astronomy, but not all were. When they were combined together, the Chinese relied upon mathematics as the basis for these differing counting systems. This subsequently turned what we call Chinese Astrology into a system of observational chronology as opposed to astronomy. Though the Chinese observation of stars and planets eventually became a purely mathematical progression, the imagery still exists in the Almanac, called the Tong Shu — a manual for harmonious conduct.
How To Engage In Practice
In order for modern people to use these systems of Chinese Astrology to their greatest benefit, it is important to see these systems through the eyes of those who created them. Chinese Astrology and the Chinese Almanac are not meant as tools to tell you what life is, rather they are promptings to allow you to engage with your own experience of human-nature as it relates to the larger cycles of time, movement, and change. From the ancient Chinese perspective, we as human beings (and all things nameable and unnameable) are viewed as natural, normal parts of nature and are not separate or different in any way from it. The events of life are not based on the influence of gods, astrology, or extraordinary beings exhibiting control over nature. All of these things simply co-exist within and part of an endless cycle. The traditional Chinese perspective didn’t see time as ever having a beginning point, and concurrently, no ending point.
Human beings emerge out of the vast unknowable ocean of time and change (just as all beings and things do) and resolve back to that great ocean without cause or motive. Hence no “right” or “wrong” way to emerge and resolve — the only “right” is found in the way everything actually occurs. As we observe the changing of seasons, the rising and setting of the sun, the movement of the moon and stars throughout the sky we can also observe the recurring patterns of the cycles of time. The idea giving rise to Chinese Astrology and the Almanac was that by identifying and following the patterns of change in nature, as a part of nature, we as humans can live in accordance with the flow of qi. When we are in harmony with the current of life and not fighting to swim upstream, life can be abundant, harmonious, and supported by time itself.
The many teachings of the Dao (the way) continue today as a manual, pointing out the subtle profundity of what is actually happening around us and within us every day. We are participants being guided by our own experience, as we also acknowledge that this is part of a larger whole of humanity and the cosmos. The Almanac isn’t an imposing system telling us what to do or how things will be, it is there to reflect upon, as we observe change and stillness in nature and ourselves. When we take the time to observe nature, it is clear that there are many patterns and cycles of change at work. Without needing to “believe” in it, it is happening all around us. The ancient wisdom of nature is without dogma, it merely exists.
According to the Almanac, the qi-node we entered the night of the aforementioned thunderstorm, is called “Insects Stir,” and represents the beginning of the movement toward spring. The green dragon, the heraldic animal associated with spring, is awakening from hibernation at this time having descended into the lakes to sleep under the ice during the previous winter. When they begin to move the ice cracks, creating thunder and lightning. It seems all too fitting, that in my coastal California home where thunder is rare, the heavens opened up with a piercing force to be reckoned with the very day the Insects Stir qi-node began its cycle in the Almanac.
The profundity of the Chinese tradition is not found far away in a land full of secret esoteric teaching meant only for special people. It is found in our experience here and now, every moment of every day. The Almanac is one of the many tools the Chinese tradition generated as a means to connect with, understand, and express ourselves as healthy normal human-beings regardless from where you come from, what you believe, or what language you speak.
Thank you very much for reading. I am a licensed acupuncturist and teacher based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
To view and track the Chinese Almanac there is a great app available on iOS
Thank you to my friend and colleague Daniel Burgess and to my teacher Liu Ming, for their valuable contributions to writing this article.
