Scoping It Out
Telescopes & Horoscopes
Khafiz Wrobel

"There is one God, but within that God are many. There is one self, but within that self are many. There is one body, in one time, but the self has other bodies in other times. All 'times' exist at once. Historically speaking, mankind chose a certain line of development. In it his consciousness specialized, focusing upon sharp particulars of experience. But inherent always, psychologically and biologically, there has been the possibility of a change in that pattern. Such a development would, however, necessitate first of all a broadening of concepts about the self, and a greater understanding of human potential. Human consciousness is now at a stage where such a development in not only feasible, but also necessary if the race is to achieve its greatest fulfillment."--Seth, through Jane Roberts.

Several centuries ago, a very brilliant and creative person lived in Italy. His name was Galileo. Many scientific experiments he conducted were fairly revolutionary for his period. As befalls many thinkers who are slightly ahead of their times, Galileo ended up facing the inquisition. The bone of contention in this case was whether or not the Earth revolved around the Sun. Galileo was for--the Church against. Because martyr-hood wasn't his thing, Galileo recanted and was allowed to go free. It has always been rumored, however, that as he turned from his inquisitors he whispered under this breath, "But it does move."

Galileo could ignore the common sense evidence of his eyes (the Earth is stationary) and the dogma of the church (the Earth is the center of the universe) and support his belief that the Earth did revolve round the Sun. The reason was because he was the inventor and earliest user of what we now call the telescope. Prior to Galileo, mankind polished glass into various prismatic shapes and found that certain combinations of lenses held together produced a magnifying effect. Objects on Earth, for example, could be made to look much larger than they did to the unaided eye. Galileo, apparently, was the first to turn the telescope toward the heavens.

This must have been one of the ultimate mind blowers of all time, for, among other things, Galileo saw the moons of Jupiter circling their mother planet. That telescopic vision of smaller bodies circling a larger one gave factual support to the monk Copernicus' hypothesis that the Earth moved about the Sun.

Galileo published his findings and it is popularly believed that he was laughed out of the academic community. The majority of the authorities, to whom he looked for approval, simply refused to look through the telescope. I suppose one reason for their hesitation was the unconscious realization that if they took one look through the telescope it might be the end of the world as they knew it. This telescope could be dangerous to their world view. Another interesting reason for skepticism was the fact that Galileo didn't really know how the telescope worked. This is true, for the laws of optics weren't under-stood until Newton's day--quite a bit later. All Galileo knew were the new facts. He saw craters on the moon, rings of Saturn, and the four inner moons of Jupiter. He didn't know why his combination of the lenses allow-ed this to happen, but he thought it absurd to deny that it did.

What we have here with Galileo, it seems to me, is a strange but not that uncommon historical parallel between the telescope and the horoscope. The telescope is a tool that gathers and focuses light. It allows us to see physical things otherwise invisible. It works whether or not you understand the principles of physics involved. The bottom line test of the telescope is using it as it is supposed to be used and see what you see.

I suggest the same thing can be said for the horoscope. The horoscope is also a tool for focusing. It allows us to focus on the dimension of meaning. One of my key beliefs is that we live not only in a world of facts, but also in a world of meanings. They are part of the fabric of the universe. We can discover meanings in the events of our lives. A focusing lens enables us to do so. The horoscope is one type of focusing lens. Like the telescope it works, whether or not you understand why.

It is absurd to argue against astrology, as modern day academics do, on the grounds that it is "scientifically impossible" It is just as absurd as it was for earlier skeptics to deny the properties of the telescope. I've never found anyone who couldn't use the horoscope to focus on the world of meaning. All it takes is desire to do so and some instruction on how to use the tool.

Galileo, as we all know, had the last laugh, for facts have a peculiar stubbornness about them. They just don't go away. I suspect there were people in his day who held out to the end. However, people who refused to consider the possibilities of the telescope and the brave new world it implied, probably went to their graves muttering things about the devil and human folly. In our own time we are confronted with a similar choice. Are we not going to consider the possibility that horoscopes work? Are we at all interested in expanding the limits of who and what we think we are? What type of strange fear kept Galileo's contemporaries, especially the intelligent ones, from looking through the telescope? What are we afraid of? Ourselves?

Khafiz Wrobel is an astrologist in Humboldt County, CA. He has also been a guest on Spirit Talk TV.