AA Event Day
Astrology, Karma and Reincarnation
A special day at Jamyang Buddhist Centre presented and coordinated by Roy Gillett. This workshop will relate modern Western astrology to key ideas on karma and reincarnation
Date: Sunday 19th June 2011
Review of the Day by AA Member Nick Hughes
This day workshop brought experienced astrologers with no background in Buddhism, together with experienced Buddhists with little background in astrology; plus a few who had both. This restricted how far Roy could go into the details of each discipline without losing half of his audience. However, the limitation worked out as a blessing in disguise, as rather than getting lost in intricate astrological interpretation of karma in the birth chart, Roy focussed on how each group could inform the other in simple yet very profound ways.
The day began by emphasising the importance of having the right motivation; an idea that cannot be spoken of, or addressed enough in astrological circles. Inner motivation is important for the student learning astrology, the professional engaging with a client and everyone studying their own birth chart. As astrologers we want to improve our knowledge and fine tune our skills of interpretation, but what is in our hearts when we do? Yet it is our heart purpose, even more than our precise techniques,that makes astrology useful.
The morning session offered fascinating correlations between the essence of the twelve signs of the zodiac and the twelve dependent links of the Tibetan wheel of birth and rebirth. How the zodiac can be a process of time and life cycles as well as a description of individual qualities certainly warrants further study
After studying contrasting chart examples of famous people, we split into small groups for the rest of the afternoon; each having at least one experienced astrologer along with Buddhists students of karma. The small groups enabled everyone to apply these ideas to their own lives.
It was a fascinating and thought provoking day that brought up questions of what astrology’s deeper potential could be.