Sime~Gen Inc. Presents

ReReadable Books

(May 2007)

"The Soul-Time Hypothesis: So What Of Astrology?"

By

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

I’ve been talking about the Kabalah of Time in this column since the July 2006 entry, archived on simegen.com. Since January, I’ve focused closely on Time and the Soul. Throughout, I’ve made casual references to Astrology.

Kabalah is the mystical dimension of Judaism, so you might assume it rejects astrology as some other religions do. But that’s not the case. It just views Astrology as differently as it views Time. Because Astrology is about Time.

I have only superficial knowledge, but I’ve found a way to think about Astrology that makes sense to me. The key concept is that humans have Free Will. Choices matter.

So how come almost all languages have the word Fate? Even Hebrew has the word bashiert.

Well, the Soul, we learned in July 2006, enters manifestation through Time. Once inside Time, you can’t "see" outside, and you don’t "remember." So the sweep of Time feels "inevitable."

Try this. We live inside a giant clock. It has a second hand, minute hand, hour hand, day, month, year hands. In fact it has a "hand" for each of the astrological bodies we track.

That clock ticks, as discussed last month, in the rhythm and tempo of the soul. It may be that we each live in our own Time Zone, defined by our birth moment. But the giant clock of Time is like the atomic clock in Denver read by satellite by our watches. Time is the same for everyone. But we all use it differently, as you can dance several different dances to the same rhythm.

Just because the Clock says 10AM does NOT mean that something will happen to you. It says 10AM for everyone, but only some people have a 10AM appointment, and some will miss that appointment by accident or intent.

Your appointments are set up at birth, even appointments with death or soul-mates. But you have free will. You may choose to miss those appointments. And so astrologers can’t say, "On this day, you will break a leg.." Or "On this day, you will meet a tall dark stranger."

And so in the Hellenistic (scientific) view of the universe, that invalidates Astrology – it can’t make consistent predictions so it’s not scientific, therefore it’s not real.

But in the Kabalistic view of the universe, the fact that Astrology "doesn’t work" (i.e. sometimes compelling transits don’t manifest) proves its validity. Why? Because in the Kabalistic view of the universe, the soul enters manifestation through the dimension of Time, and thereafter the human being keeps appointments, or not, by choice.

In the general magical view of the universe the results of your actions depend more on who you are than on what you do. What has your soul learned? How does your soul handle power? What experiences do you need?

In the Kabalistic view of the universe, the results of your actions depend on how you perform the 613 Commandments in the Torah. The Commandments are kind of like fiber optic threads connecting to the Infinite Light. Your choice to do a Commandment "lights" those threads so you can "see" where you’re going. You channel more power more accurately and your experiences refine your soul.

That’s why Great Masters may have very challenged natal charts and somehow dance through life avoiding obstacles or turning the energy to better use. They can see the clock, know what time it is, what their appointments are, and choose whether to be there.

But it’s an appointment kept or missed that gives us the experiences we have in common; your first time out alone, the keys to the car, your own job, your own car, marriage, death of a parent, birth of a child, all so we can communicate and form bonds to one another.

You can share the impact of an experience to form a bond. But you can’t transfer a new experience from one soul to another via language. You can, however, waken in another the memory of a Past Life’s experience.

And that’s what Art does – waken the soul.

Many writers work with the Beat of subjective time we discussed last month, the foundation of the music of the spheres. Some may bypass chances to illuminate our common Life Appointments while other writers dwell on the details of those Appointments and lose the Beat. As we discussed last month, screenwriters, must do both at once.

E. E. Knight gives us another Novel of The Vampire Earth, Valentine’s Exile. This is a series that started with a fast tempo, an exacting martial beat, action-action and no time to think. The Hero, Valentine "came of age" learning the martial arts. So the plots were standard action plots.

Now we pause to get some of the long range consequences of those hot-action decisions in a crisp 326 page book. Our Hero Valentine falls victim to a highly placed political enemy he made a couple of books ago. He is jailed under a death sentence for that mistake.

He is rescued by loyal friends and taken into Exile where he tries but fails to keep a promise. In this book, we lose "the beat." We have the substance of the experience of a Hero in Exile, but the "beat" of story advancement vanished. Technically, that’s because we have a Hung Hero – a Hero who is rescued, not by his own doing, and who can’t act to clear himself, so he gives up and does something else instead. His "life appointments" are on hold while he experiences failure. Get this book at the library.

Sherwood Smith has written an amorphous 568 page introduction to a science-fantasy story, Inda. It starts on the last page. It is burdened with awkward names and places, overly intricate politics, undisciplined point of view meanderings, and never explained Magic. So why mention it in a column where you only find ReReadable Books?

Because Smith has powerful visuals and could be a dynamite screenwriter if she learns the beat. Emotionally, Inda is one long unpunctuated sentence. She says she’s been writing about Inda’s universe since age 6, very like Marion Zimmer Bradley created Darkover in childhood. But MZB did not publish that material, the Sevener Novels. She redesigned her universe to follow "the beat."

Inda is the 11 year old heir to a noble position sent to learn martial arts. Knight’s Valentine made an enemy in a previous book – Inda is born to a position that makes him a threat to a highly placed enemy. Inda’s enemy frames him for murder just as Valentine’s enemy does.

Inda is jailed then rescued by loyal friends and sent into exile where, instead of addressing his problem, he waits to be rescued. At age 16, he gets captured by we-don’t-know-who (someone familiar). The book stops there without ending. Obviously there will be a sequel. If Smith learns the beat discussed last month, it’ll be good.

Katherine Kurtz gives us a new Deryni novel. This is a must-own series for readers of this column. The early novels had many structural flaws, but Kurtz gained command of the material and danced to the beat.

With Childe Morgan, she’s giving us pure experience with no beat at all. This book wanders from incident to unconnected incident – mostly because Morgan is a child, like Inda, during this story, thus not affecting History. The Deryni novels are all about History. So Morgan who shapes history later, is here a helpless victim of history.

Ordinarily I wouldn’t review this book, but here with the E. E. Knight book on Exile and a book about a child warrior in Exile, Childe Morgan illustrates the importance of the Beat behind the Music of the Spheres.

Astrology is about the Music of the Spheres, and is the giant clock we live inside of. The rhythm that structures the Music of the Spheres is inherent in the universe. You can’t have Art without both the rhythm of the universe and the Soul’s Experiences on the beats.

Read these three novels from the library to see if you agree. If you want to buy them to reread them, let me know.

For contrast, here are three novels by Linnea Sinclair that I’ve reviewed in this column before – because they hit their beats and provide an experiential ride of a lifetime. Gabriel’s Ghost, Accidental Goddess, and Finder’s Keepers. They are out in new Bantam Spectra paperback, and should continue to be favorites with an expanding audience.

Accidental Goddess is about Gillaine Davre who wakes up 300 years after her heroism got her worshipped as a goddess. But she sees her deeds as an accident. Then she falls in love with one of her worshippers while threats loom from all sides, threats a goddess should handle easily.

Finders Keepers and Gabriel’s Ghost are in different universes. Just read everything by Linnea Sinclair – DISCLOSURE: she’s on a 7 author co-blog with me at http://www.aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com  and acknowledges me sometimes in her books.