the-astrology-book

Longitude and latitude are the most familiar of these coordinates. Astrology utilizes
several systems of celestial coordinates. Parallel to the manner in which terrestrial
coordinates are great circles drawn on the surface of Earth, celestial coordinates are
great circles drawn on the inside of the celestial sphere. The ecliptic, the celestial equator,
and the prime vertical are examples of some of the great circles used in astrology.
Gurdjieff, George Ivanovitch
GREENWICH TIME
Because of the variation in time caused by various time changes as one moves east or
west across Earth, astrologers have found it convenient to construct tables such as
ephemerides (tables of planetary positions) with the time at Greenwich, England, as a
benchmark. Greenwich lies exactly on the 0° longitude line, which makes it relatively
easy to determine the number of hours to add or subtract to local time in order to
obtain Greenwich time (15° = 1 hour).
Sources:
Brau, Jean-Louis, Helen Weaver, and Allan Edmands. Larousse Encyclopedia of Astrology. New
York: New American Library, 1980.
Filbey, John, and Peter Filbey. The Astrologer’s Companion. Wellingborough, Northamptonshire,
UK: Aquarian Press, 1986.
GURDJIEFF, GEORGE IVANOVITCH
George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1866–1949) was not an astrologer. However, his cosmology
was largely derived from Western European occult sources and has much in
common with the popular Theosophical cosmology/astrology of his day. Gurdjieff’s
two primary cosmological laws, the Law of Seven and the Law of Three, have their
origins in Mesopotamian astronomy/astrology, echoes of which are also found in
Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and in Western European occult and esoteric
thinking derived from Pythagoras.
The forms that Gurdjieff’s oral and written teaching took—occult cosmology
and psychology, dance, psychological exercises, and storytelling—can be related to
prevailing contemporary interests in the places where he taught. In Russia, these were
Western European occultism, especially Theosophy, and ballet; in Paris, occultism, literary
modernism, the archaic epic, and dance.
Gurdjieff was born in Alexandropol, Armenia, of Greek and Armenian parents.
He travelled widely in the Middle and Far East, and arrived back in Moscow in
1912. There he began to teach an occult cosmological and psychological “system” of
ideas, which, according to his unverifiable, mythologized writings, he had gathered
from hidden places of sacred learning during his travels.
Leaving Russia because of the Bolshevik Revolution, Gurdjieff travelled via
Tiblisi and Constantinople to Europe, arriving in France in 1922. In France he established
his Institute for the Harmonious Development of Man, which attracted English
and American pupils. Gurdjieff also gave his teaching in a form of sacred dancing, and
demonstrations of these were open to the public. During the 1920s, Gurdjieff had a
THE ASTROLOGY BOOK
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