Elements & Evolution: The Spiritual Landscape of Astrology

Very good book.

I've been following Eric Meyers' writings for years, and if ever there were an advertising campaign for "Think Big," I'd put his name on the billboards. While it's probably fair to say that astrologers as a whole aren't exactly the epitome of a mainstream world view, Eric is the kind of visionary who's constantly yanking on the astrology community's pant leg, saying "come on, guys, let's stop regurgitating what we already know and take this a few steps further!"Elements & Evolution really is the double-dog-dare-you to move beyond astrology as a fun but benign little personality test and look at no less than the unfiltered potential it holds: an understanding of consciousness, soul, god, all there is -- whatever you'd like to call it. Inviting in those who may just be "astro-curious," it starts out with a review of the archetypal significance of the four elements -- fire, earth, air, and water -- before launching into the metaphysical parts of the book which he terms cyclical and progressive evolution. From quantum physics and biochemistry to archetypes and universal symbolisms, literally no rock is left unturned to explain how pretty much any theory or explanation for the mystery of the universe can be hosted on the astrology server.This, of course, shouldn't come as a shock. After all, you don't need to be a rocket scientist to wrap your brain around the idea that astrology would have an inside track to the meaning of life and the universe. But as many astrologers, mocked and marginalized by a society praying at the altar of empirical evidence, have instinctively retreated into distant corners of public discourse, it has created a huge void in our deeper understanding of silly little things like the human soul or evolution of consciousness. It's a void I see Eric stepping into, and if all the talk about 2012 and elevated levels of consciousness are worth their salt, then I can't help but think that this book will get a lot more views in the years to come.As an astrologer who usually stays in the closet at social functions for fear of being browbeaten by one of those unyielding and overzealous left brain-types who thrive on shrinking the parameter of discussion just to prove you wrong, I'd love to carry Eric in my pocket some time. I'm not saying this because I'm craving one-upmanship or want to pit astrology against natural sciences. Just the opposite: I truly think that Eric holds some of the keys to bridging the divide between mind and soul that has caused humanity so much confusion in our mentally dualistic and psychically fragmented world. His ability to use his tremendous intellect to make sense of things that by nature are designed not to make sense is a great offering to a world in transition. It's up to us to receive it.

Originally formulated in the West by Empedocles and rooted in the Aristotelian qualities, the concept of the elements has had a profound impact on Western thought. From their association with Galenic Medicine through the four humours- to Temperament theory- to modern Jungian Typology the elements have provided an archetypal foundation to a wide array of disciplines through the ages. This foundation has also been influential in astrological philosophy through the categorization of the four elemental triplicities. Just when you thought this age old subject had been exhaustively studied, Eric Meyers in this his fourth book of astrology offers a refreshingly new and innovative approach to the elements and their contribution to spiritual development. A key notion introduced in Elements and Evolution is that the elements can be divided into charged and neutral categories. The neutral elements (Air/Earth) are associated with content, structure, consensus reality and left brain functioning. Charged elements (Fire/Water) are associated with process, nonconsensus reality and right brain functioning. In this conceptualization the neutral elements serve as a necessary foundation for the process function of the charged elements. Throughout the book Meyers artistically weaves this novel idea through the horizontal and vertical dimensions of reality creating a new cosmology that is destined to change the landscape of astrology. I would recommend this clear and well written book to anyone interested in a new worldview grounded in the elements yet extending to the farthest reaches of Psyche and Spirit. Overall an impressive achievement.

The author's explanation of the element Fire by "soul" gives away the gist and fundamental flaw of this book (and several others of the 20th and 21st centuries on astrology): reduction of astrology to mere psychology. "Soul" is equivalent to "psyche", the Greek word meaning "anima" in Latin. The traditional doctrine is clear: Earth - Body (corpus), Water - Soul (anima, psyche), Air - Spirit (spiritus, intellect), Fire - Transformer (amongst the other three). In additional to the muddling of etymology, various (usually Abrahamic) biased theological overlays have obscured the underlying astrological symbols.May one also recall that Sun is Feminine and Moon is Masculine in most semitic languages and e.g. in German? And that "Goddess" was predominantly Female until rather recently in human society? Reflection on such items might lead the author to different conclusions on fundamental astrological symbolism, taking into account cultures before antique Indo-European Greece.Analysis of the soul (primarily symbolised by the Moon) is a significant discipline of astrology. However, instead of reducing astrology and the Elements (and, in passing, "spirituality") to mere human psychology, denying its predictive capabilities based on the Hermetic correspondences between macrocosms and microcosms, why not restore it to full bloom? Until the recent occidental psychologisation especially virulent in current anglophonic culture, depriving astrology of capabilities to predict events, both inner and outer, would have voided it of interest to most humans.The post-renaissance developments of astronomy and information technology should considerably enhance astrology's predictive techniques, in contrast and complement to this book's "spirituality".

Eric Meyers has help highlight my interest in Astrology, the inner and outer person. I am still reading this and am completely satisfied.