The spiritual portion of the world of action is the place where astrology takes place. In my previous article, I explored three spiritual worlds that exist above ours using the language of metaphor.
Astrology takes place in an interesting realm, the spiritual portion of the most physical world. The world of action. Let’s explore what that means.
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Rakia is the name of the section of the higher part of the world of action where the planets exist. That’s a lot to take in, but the point is, here is where astrology happens, and I think that’s all we need to know right now.
What does that mean for us as astrologers, and us a spiritual people?
The Spiritual Role of Astrology
Let’s begin with the division of ourselves. What are we? We are a composite of the earth, the divine breath (or wind), and being made in the image of the Creator.
In order to continue, we will have to look at the Jewish Scripture, known as the Tanakh. You need to worry if you are not interested in “The Bible” or religion as such. We are not doing a conventional religious reading of the bible.
We are discovering some of the secrets hidden within the Jewish Scripture, called Tanakh. For our part, we will use a Jewish English translation done by Judaica Press, accessed at Chabad.org.
But this won’t be a class on religion, it’ll be a class on you and I and everyone else living in this world. It’ll be a class on the varying parts of our spirit and psyche.
Our Spiritual Components
Let’s learn about our fundamental spiritual makeup.
Now no tree of the field was yet on the earth, neither did any herb of the field yet grow, because the Lord God had not brought rain upon the earth, and there was no man to work the soil. And a mist ascended from the earth and watered the entire surface of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden from the east, and He placed there the man whom He had formed.
(Ber 2:5-8)
From here we can discover the portions that make us who we are, as well as clues to our fundamental missions in this life.
Let’s decipher what this means for us.
The Animal Component
It is written here that, “the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground…” This refers to our animal nature.
What is the connection between earthliness and the animal nature? We find this in the previous chapter, where the verse states, “And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kind … ” (Ber 1:24). Here we see that animals are made from the earth, and so is our body.
We can understand this as the body being similar to an animal. In Jewish thinking, this concept is referred to as the nefesh habahamit, which could be translated as, “the animal mind.”
The animal mind includes our instincts, natural appetites such as hunger, and even our emotions.
The Intelligent Component
The Tanakh goes on to say, “and He breathed into his nostrils the soul of life, and man became a living soul.” This refers to our spiritual nature. The breath, the soul.
In Jewish thinking, this can refer to our nefesh hasichli, which could be translated as, “the intelligent mind.” It refers to our reason, and to being clearheaded.
One of the benefits one can get from meditation is the ability to filter between the often frantic and earthly instincts that issue from the animal mind, and the quieter, more profound insights and guidance that our own intelligence has to offer.
We have inner knowledge, and it comes through clarity from our own intelligence. That intelligence usually stems from the soul. Though, it should be made clear that intelligence and reason are limited. There is a greater source of insight, which is the soul itself.
Similar to the nefesh hasichli, is the nefesh Elokis, or the G-dly soul. This our innate drive to do the right thing. The nefesh Elokis knows right from wrong, and it wants to do right. This could be the very source of our universal conscience.
But this is an advanced topic which I will set aside. We will focus on the related, but in my experience more straightforward nefesh hasichli, the intelligent mind.
Where Does all this Come From?
I am a scholar at heart. Perhaps it comes from my strong mercury and prominent Sagittarius elements in my astrology. Perhaps it has to do with my soul’s mission. Maybe both. Regardless, I always like to trace the source of ideas.
If you’re wondering where these notions come from, then I think you might be something of a scholar yourself. Don’t worry, I didn’t make any of this up. It all came from wiser, more experienced minds.
Public Domain. Source.
I learned these ideas from contemporary teachers who taught based on sources such as Rabbi Bahya ibn Paquda’s Duties of the Heart and Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi’s The Tanya.
Defining our Terms
These books speak of these two kinds of “nefesh,” or “minds.” The concepts we explored above, the animal mind and the intelligent mind. Though, instead of the term “mind,” these sages use the word, “nefesh.”
Nefesh is a deep and fascinating Hebrew word, but for now we can translate it as something similar to “soul,” “spiritual mind,” “consciousness,” “energy,” or “spirit.”
For our purposes, I will use the term “mind,” as it brings with it the least confusion and the least connotations. But remember when I say, animal mind or intelligent mind, that the term “mind” has a spiritual connection.
The mind is immaterial. You can’t catch a thought, you can’t grab hold of a feeling with your fingers. The brain is material, but the mind is immaterial, it is spiritual. Keep that in mind going forward.
Let’s now take these insights and bring them into our spiritual practice, then see how astrology works in this greater context.
The Place of Astrology
In that fourth world, called the world of action, Astrology is in the higher part, in a section called Rakia.
You might have encountered an English translation of the Hebrew word Rakia. It’s often rendered as either “firmament,” or “heavens,” referring to the layers of sky and space beyond.
What does this mean for us?
Let’s do a thought experiment. I haven’t verified this, but as far as my (albeit limited) understanding goes, it seems that our souls extend beyond this world. It has a few active layers which exist in different spiritual levels simultaniously.
That’s a little wordy, so let me be specific.
The earth, the lower part of the world of action, is physical. It’s in line with the body.
In other words, the earthly realm is at the same level as the nefesh habahamit, the animal mind.
Above that is the stars in the heavens.
Above that are even more spiritual worlds, worlds that our soul is more comfortable in. It seems to me that a higher portion of our soul remains in that world.
So what do we do when our body, our life, our existence on this earth, isn’t lining up with what we wanted? What do we do if we don’t feel like we’re following our mission?
I’ll share the answers to that in the next article.
I hope you’re looking forward to it,
Thanks for reading,
DT
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