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Time Lords, Transits and Tradition

Austin Coppock

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Created: Saturday, 03 September 2011 19:18

by Austin Coppock

Traditional astrology has a bad reputation.It’s hard to discuss it without getting stuck
on the grim determinism that traditional astrologers were supposed to have ascribed
to, a nightmarishly linear and choiceless march to the grave. Indeed, the difference
between traditional and modern astrology is most commonly identified with the
extremes of the Free Will/Fate debate, with “modern” standing for “Free Will” and
“traditional” standing for “Fate.”Yet this is not entirely fair, or accurate.

These philosophical extremes have been present for virtually the entire recorded
history of astrology, with different authors presenting different positions.Each period
presents a complex intertwining of choices and obstacles, destiny and
decisions.Taking the time to understand how people in different places and periods
saw this tangle is wonderfully educational, as it opens our eyes to different astrologies
as the complex systems they are.

In the spirit of dispelling misconceptions and encouraging exploration, I’d like to

present a small offering on how predictive techniques, philosophical positions and
therapeutic solutions intersect in modern and traditional astrologies.By traditional, I
refer primarily to Vedic, Hellenistic, Arabic, Medieval and Renaissance astrologies.

Alternate Futures: Transits and Time Lords

One universal difference between Modern and Traditional astrologies regards the
different techniques used to understand the present and assess the future.

Modern astrology’s primary prognostic technique is transits, where the changing

configuration of the heavens is laid across the static natal chart.Here we see the natal
chart, a person’s seed pattern, alternately challenged and reinforced by the changing
position of the planets. The natal chart, seen as a map of our proclivities and
patterns, is pushed and pulled, activated and suppressed by changing
circumstances.The transit method draws a picture of an individual either consciously
or unconsciously navigating a sea of changing influences.Given this prognostic
paradigm, it is easy to see why there is so much focus on choice amongst modern
astrologers.

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What Hellenistic, Arabic, Medieval,

Renaissance and Vedic astrologies all have in common, technically, is less emphasis
on transits and much more on a body of techniques commonly referred to as “Time
Lords.”Some of the better known Time Lord techniques are Releasing from
Spirit/Fortune, Annual Profections and Dasha-Bhukti. In Time Lord techniques, a
given planet or house in the natal chart is activated at a certain time during a person’s
life.When a planet is “lit up” like this, its significations are amplified and it will play a
spotlighted role in both the inner and outer life of the native.

These Time Lord periods are built into the chart, an innate series of periods and
shifts. The logic behind Time Lord techniques is like that of a living creature,
programmed to grow up to a certain size, reach sexual maturity at a certain age, and
so on.Vedic Time Lords are seen as the karma inherent in the chart ripening and
flowering. It is the staged and inevitable externalization of what is present in seed
form in the natal chart.

Some of the philosophical differences between modern and traditional astrologies can
be found in this technical difference.Many traditional astrologies are concerned with
the flower unfolding of its own logic (Time Lords), while much modern astrology is
concerned with negotiating a series of passing influences (transits).A reliance on
transits inherently biases one toward a more choice based approach to astrology,
while dependence on Time Lord techniques can lead to a more determined
perspective, like the biological inevitability of puberty.

However, it is a mistake to understand Time Lord techniques without also examining

how the astrologers that used them attempted to alter the implied outcomes.

Therapeutic Solutions: Take Two Pujas And Call Me in The

Morning

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In many ways, astrology is a diagnostic art.We look at charts to assess the tangle of
forces competing and cooperating to structure a person’s life and psyche.Inevitably,
we find issues, problems which we would like to change, whether it is a psychological
tendency such as a bad temper or a material situation such as a propensity for
poverty.In medicine, after the diagnosis is made, a cure or treatment is prescribed.

For the majority of astrologers working in the West right now, that cure is therapy,
usually a mixture of archetypal psychoanalysis and counseling. Therapy aims to
better understand the nature of the natal chart in order to facilitate meaningful
psychological shifts, while in counseling one strives to illuminate the nature of
transiting conditions in order to understand how to interact with them most
wisely.Therapy and counseling make perfect sense for an astrology that sees self
knowledge (natal chart) and an awareness of conditions (transits) as being primary.

Like modern astrology, the natal chart in traditional astrologies is understood to have
certain advantages and issues programmed into it.Using Time Lord techniques, one
can see when these problems and potencies are likely to take center stage.A variety of
techniques have evolved to help people to get the best and avoid the worst promised
by these methods.

One is the talismanic approach.Here we see the long standing tradition of wearing
stones that resonate with the problem planets. This method is still practiced in Vedic
astrology today but is historically present in Western astrology as well.Other
talismanic techniques, using substances other than stones, are applied to similar
ends.

Another method of addressing the significations encoded in the natal chart is the use
ritual methods.In Vedic astrology, these are the “puja,” ceremonies performed by a
Hindu priest and dedicated to a specific planetary divinity.These ritual dedications to
planetary principles are also found in the Western tradition in the form of planetary
magick, but these practices are poorly understood today, having been forced
underground in the West during the series of Inquisitions and Witchcraft acts.

Outside of full-on ritual practice, there is a large body of meditative techniques

explicitly connected to the planets and used to facilitate a better relationship to
them.Mantra, visualization and energy work have all been used to change the way
that we connect with the planetary spheres, shifting both inner and outer realities as a
result.

The talismanic, ritual and meditative approaches are just three examples of the
arsenal of “cures” used in traditional astrologies to help us see the best, rather than
the worst, results flower during Time Lord periods.There are also herbal and
alchemical methods, karma-yogas, planetary and stellar chi kuing, and a bevy of other
interesting approaches.These methods are not a replacement for therapy or
counseling, but rather an adjunct to it- and a rather convenient one at that, as many
of the “cures” do not require the presence of an astrologer like therapy does. A client
may take up a daily regimen of mantra practice or invest in a talismanic piece of
jewelry, allowing them to take a greater level of ownership over their dialogue with
the planets.

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The Astrology of Today

With a little investigation, the caricature of traditional astrology as a grim, decision-

less nightmare quickly evaporates.As the foul mist of preconceived notions clears, we
are left with an emerging vision of dynamic and multi-faceted systems, similar but
also very different from the astrology of today.

But what is the astrology of today?It is an increasingly diverse field, populated by

methods and paradigms that stretch across the globe and deep into history. The
various modern Western schools of astrology are but one point in the great, global
tradition of Astrology. The astrology of today is not a single tradition, but an
unprecedented collision of many traditions.We stand at the precipice of a great cross-
pollination, and it would be a pity if flimsy caricatures kept us from engaging with it
fully.

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