2014 page 20
Book Review
By Arlan Wise
Astrology and Spiritual Awakening
By Greg Bogart
Greg Bogart writes really good books . In Astrology and Spiritual Awakening ,
Greg has taken one of these good books and made it better . It ’ s like when a person gains weight and the new pounds go to all the right places . The original version of Astrology and Spiritual Awakening , which was published in 1994 , stands on its own as a great book . Now , twenty years later , Greg adds the wisdom and insights he ’ s learned as time went by . He has updated the life stories , noticeably in the section on Ram Dass , who had his life-changing stroke after the book was in print .
This is a spiritual self-help book . It instructs astrologers and those who love astrology how to see their charts as a map
for their spiritual path . It is also a good book for learning more astrology and to see the many meanings of the planets , signs , houses , and aspects through a spiritual lens . Greg changes the dial on the astrological kaleidoscope and gives us interpretations of the basics of astrology from a spiritual perspective . He uses the charts of spiritual leaders ( e . g ., Pema Chodron , Raman Maharshi , Ammachi ) and also spiritual musicians ( Ravi Shankar , Hazrat Inayat Khan , John Coltrane ), thus highlighting the connection between spirit and music . ( Greg is an accomplished musician so he knows this .)
Each section of the book is a gem . You will learn how to find the type of yoga to practice that fits you best . ( Yoga here is used in its ancient sense with the popular physical hatha yoga being just one of the types .) He shows how to “ discern the form of spiritual practice that ’ s most appropriate to your natal chart , and to the transit and progression operative during a particular period .”
Greg explains Dane Rudhyar ’ s ideas throughout the text . One can feel Rudhyar sitting on his shoulder like an aged Jiminy Cricket telling him what to say . It is valuable and precious information that Greg preserves by translating Dane Rudhyar , who he knew personally . Greg teaches us Rudhyar ’ s concept of the 6 Shaktis and expands it by explaining its roots in Kashmir Shaivism , which Greg learned from Swami Muktananda .
There are complete and complex astrological biographies of seven spiritual teachers . The chart delineations are brilliant . This section , which is at the end of the book , gives good examples of how to use all that you have read . He closes the book with a chapter that urges you to write your own astrobiography . In Greg ’ s words which start this book : “ Astrology is the yoga of time . It is a form of sacred knowledge that teaches us to live consciously as embodied beings in a temporal world … This book describes how astrology can be utilized to understand the stages and facets of the spiritual path , the process of awakening to a more encompassing reality or consciousness – God , Atman , Buddha , the Pure Light .”
Even if you own the original edition of Astrology and Spiritual Awakening , you want to have this newer version in your library . R
The Career
Astrologer
OPA ’ s Quarterly Magazine
V23-04 WINTER
2014 page 20