Astrology? Oh god...
I turned in my lesson three answers to Frater Thabion this afternoon and jumped directly into the next lesson, the fourth and final (or so it seems).
Lesson three was an ordeal of sorts. I met the challenge quite adequately and have a lot of practice and experimentation to do as I grow but I feel like this program is really clicking with me. Lesson three still had a good deal of work associated with it. So I was a little surprised by the fourth lesson more or less being an overview and a recommendation to get down with astrology.
When we start talking astrology, I tune out a bit. I think it might have something to do with the star-child/hippy vibe that comes associated with astrology. I see reiki studios and pastel colored memes on Facebook about the cosmic wisdom of dolphins and that stuff just doesn't ride with me. As an aspiring magician, I skirt the line between the occult and the new age movement and I'd really rather stick to spooky victorian occult aesthetic with Ouija boards, top hats, and seances than trip the line and fall into a world of dream catchers and deer-skin drums.
Crowley made a big deal out of astrology, though. Other magicians did too, of course, but I read tarot most effectively with the Thoth deck and to fully grokk that deck, you need get your head around some real Aleister Crowley concepts. The cosmic stuff, that is. Not the part where you're eating food made out of cum and menstrual blood. Dude had some problems, man.
So, in my studies while learning how to read the Thoth deck, I spent some time getting to know the astrological method. I also have a pretty significant obsession with UFOs and while doing the reading on that topic, where flying saucers cross over into the occult, such as Kenneth Grant's incredibly bonkers Outer Gateways or Alan H. Greenfield's Secret Cipher of the UFOnauts and Secret Rituals of the Men In Black. When trying to reach out to alien consciousness as Dr. Stephen Greer of the Disclosure Project outlines, it helps to know what you're looking at when you look at the sky. Their position and relation to you are going to play a big role in whether or not you get through for a proper CE-5 contact sesh.
So yeah. Here it is again. Another neophyte skillset required by the OTA that I already have some experience with. I thought that I might end up having to wait another week while I did the research, and I'll be doing the research but I feel like I'm adequately in a good position to move on to whatever awaits me after lesson 4. I've seen some rumblings about pathworking, which is something that I'm seriously looking forward to.