Here is a letter to some of our experienced female students at the Blue Rose, sent on the 31st May 2020 on reflection of the continued hegemonic masculinity within Astrology
Dear Ladies
As more experienced astrologers that have journeyed with us in the Blue Rose, and as ladies, it is ironic that I, as a man, write this to you. Having listened to a podcast this morning on a couple of technical features within astrology, something I seldom do, I found myself (yet again) deeply frustrated with the overarching, deeply ingrained masculine bias inherent within astrology.
I cannot fathom why this is, since astrology is a beautifully balanced divination, requiring the use of Yin and Yang hemispheres. Yet, as you know from my ‘restrained’ rants, there is a deep desmission of the Yin, which borders, IMO, on a pathology.
For example:
We talk of the Sign you are born under and refer to the Sun; we refer to Saturn as father; we talk of Out of Bounds planets being Marverick and uncontrollable, when all they do is step beyond the boundaries of the Sun’s path, especially when you consider it is the Moon, Venus, Ceres and Pluto (as well as Pholus and Nessus) that predominately step ‘out-of-line’; we call nocturnal planets, less mature; we favour the North Node over the South, the Ascendant over the Descendant, the MC over the IC; Retrogrades are disturbed; the Yin Stars are largely Evil; Midpoints have been reduced to their predictive power; Fixity is deemed lesser as a mode than Cardinality and Mutability; the Water Houses are interpreted with great trepidation; Pluto is a bloke, so too Neptune and Saturn; The Black Moon is beyond words in terms of her insanity… I could go on. Almost 100% of the books we have from history are written by men (not from recent years), and yet look at the conference attendees, look at how many men are in the Blue Rose classes, look at how many women currently practise astrology, and yet, again ironically, look at those astrologers who are revered…
And so, as Karen and I write one of several books that we have envisioned to voice a more reflective, deeply Yin exploration of our beloved craft, I am writing to you as women to encourage you to explore beyond the tradition. There are more ways to astrology than just writing – the embodiments and ceremonial practices, for example, are something that we have guided you to remember, and are deeply Yin. But there is so much to research and to be honest, I am a man and therefore cannot truly know the feminine beyond the relationship I have with my own Feminine expression. But that is filtered through my Masculinity. I am fortunate to have Karen in my world and have learnt and experienced so much through her, Sarah and Maya. But I am conscious that if I continue to write, as I do, I am another Man possibly mansplaining the feminine… Hence my email to you all.
You are all talented and passionate ladies. And you have taken the time to remember astrology, as well as been drawn to walk the path with both Karen and I. Please have the confidence to explore the Dark Side – what the feminine is called!! Please have the confidence to look beyond the white, male, northern hemispheric bias deeply ingrained in astrology and openly express the feminine. Nah, not just the Feminine, the Spiritual Feminine, after all there are quite a few talented female astrologers who have kept within the Masculine Bias, yet have written in a deeply feminine way.
The books we are writing explore a deeper, spiritual dimension to astrology, based on our experiences. But there is only so much time and there is such a vastness within astrology that has been filtered through the Masculine. and we know that we cannot cover all those topics, even if we have classes and embodiments lined up over the coming year or two that will explore the Feminine. So please seriously consider using your skills to not only explore astrology, but to forthrightly communicate, the Feminine. After all this is the time of the Deepening of the Feminine, as we move through the last years of the Kali Yuga.
Thank you for taking to to read this restrained rant from a frustrated male astrologer.
A
