Continuing on from my February newsletter where I shared my experience at the sacred sites of Meath in Northern Ireland last year, we can see how, as modern astrologers, we keep the sacred tradition alive through our engagement with astrology. But there is a far deeper vein of gold running beneath the observation of planetary movements and their correlations to our lives, which I have already hinted at, and that is the relationship between the external cycles of the Sun, Earth and Moon and the inner Spiritual development of humankind which runs through diverse spiritual traditions.
In the alchemical and mystical Christian traditions, it has been known as the Sacred Marriage. But what does this Sacred Marriage allude to? Who is marrying whom?
The Sacred Marriage represents the coming together of the solar and lunar principles within each and every one of us, which were celebrated in Neolithic times at sacred sites such as Newgrange, enacted through actual marriage ceremonies as well as ritual celebrations. It is in the fertile physical form where this union of opposites takes place, in the swollen or pregnant earthen mounds of these ancient cultures and symbolically in the depths of our own psychic being.
The Sacred Marriage represents the promise of transformation through the vitalising solar principle that impregnates the lunar waters held within the dark and raw substrate of our own psychic being, the earth. At the winter solstice, the light of the rising Sun would literally penetrate the dark womb of the earth at Newgrange, travelling down the inscribed passageway to a chamber at the centre where rested a large bowl of consecrated water. At this darkest moment and shortest day of the year, our ancient ancestors recognised the fertile potential of the ‘still’ point in the annual dance between the Earth and the Sun as the time to plant the seed of all future endeavours.
We could link these early megalithic cultural symbolic practices to the later rise of the “sacred marriage” between the Sun and Moon, or psyche and soul, that so epitomised the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and later enlightened beings who left such an influential spiritual legacy for humanity to follow. We can continue with this line of enquiry to the later medieval practice of alchemy, an underground movement for conveying ancient wisdom in a time of heavy religious persecution, and to the birth of religious mystical traditions such as the Kabbalah, Sufism and Christian mysticism, and the early 20th century occult revival, which emphasised the sacred union between light and dark, spirit and soul, the joining of the two lovers in a perpetual dance of ecstatic union.
This symbolic union can be seen in many cultural myths, beliefs and practices, from the great myths of Osiris and Isis in ancient Egypt, to the Greek Adonis and Aphrodite, to the Hindu Gods, Shiva and Shakti, and in Buddhism as Tara and Avalokitesvara. In more modern times, we can see this ancient wisdom of transformation and spiritual rebirth suffuse the work of early psychological explorers like Carl Jung and Roberto Assagioli, through their respective ideas of Anima and Animus and the I-Self axis. And, of course, in the essential Gnostic myth, the “Fall” of the divine Sophia, or knowledge, into the world of matter, is followed by the descent of (the solar) Christ from the heavenly realms in order to rescue her. This is the primal purpose of Christ as saviour and redeemer, after which the divine consorts enter the bridal chamber, or the womb at Newgrange, to unite in sacred marriage. This is a story of planting the seed of awakening.
In astrology, the moon’s birth to the essential light of the sun symbolises the awakening of the developing self or personality to the core essence.
In September of this year, I am excited to be hosting a Masterclass here at my home in South Wales, exploring this very theme. We will be diving deeply into the process of the Sacred Marriage through our lens of astrology and spiritual psychology, as we draw upon the rich mystical roots of alchemy and the poetic beauty of hermetic mystical Kabbalah to reveal how astrology can open up insights into the core nature of the human being in a radically transformative and healing way. We see then that at their best, these spiritual models, alchemy, Kabbalah, and astrology itself, are essentially secret “esoteric” but practical guides to profound self-development. They provide a scaffolding from which the sincere human can build the temple of the self.
Am I saying that astrology is as much a spiritual teaching as a mystical system of thought, such as Kabbalah, alchemy or the Egyptian initiatory mythos? Yes, I am. The sacred sites at Meath and the neolithic sites here in Wales speak to the ancient need of humanity to experience vibrantly their “place in the universe.” Astrology and sacred astronomy are the tools that humanity have developed to explore this place, marking in their earliest stone carvings, lunar phases, solstices and equinox alignments throughout the year. All of these Neolithic rituals celebrate the Sun, the Earth and the Moon. From the perspective of the earth, that we occupy, the sacred marriage occurs between the Sun and the Moon, a paradoxical marriage of strange equality: although the sun is gargantuanly larger and more central to the life of the Solar system, it also happens to be exactly as many times further away from planet earth as it is larger than the moon. So the one place in the solar system that they appear to be the same size, and therefore seem to have an “equal marriage”, is on planet Earth.
We very much look forward to greeting you.
Blessings, Mark.