Hello, hivers! Welcome to The Orrery, an editorial column dedicated to the study of everything related to divination, symbolism, esotericism, oracular vision, dreams and, above all, the movements of the celestial spheres.

When I say "editorial", I mean that this column isn't going to be like other curations. Although I will at times refer to authors and posts regarding these topics, there aren't many hivers working with these practices yet, so my purpose is to delve into them myself in full-fledged articles where I'll explain concepts, offer historical and mythological background, provide interpretations for planetary placements at the time of publication and many other things. I also plan to come up with specific narratives involving all sorts of characters, from well-known deities and entities, to humanized animals, plants and crystals, mostly just for fun and engagement. I'll even drop pop-culture references now and then.

Since this project is merely starting, I'm not sure whether the posts will come out monthly, fortnightly or weekly, that may depend on a variety of elements. Let's go one step at a time, then. In this first edition, I'll focus on discussing some basic concepts of celestial observation and also sharing a few insights on the major astrological events that occurred this week.

Let's jump right in!

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^Source

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"But then, new beings came, not of Thra. The Skeksis. They bewitched Aughra with stories of the Universe and built her an orrery so that she might discover the mysteries of the Cosmos for herself. And so, Aughra turned her eye to the stars and entrusted the Crystal of Truth to the Skeksis."

^{The Myth-Speaker - The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance}

This word may be unknown to many readers, so I'll start by explaining it. Orreries are mechanisms of varying complexity that have been used since antiquity to represent and predict the lunar phases and the position of other celestial bodies in the Solar System, typically using a heliocentric model. Their name comes from Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery, who in 1704 was presented with one of the first mechanical models of modernity.

All orreries are planetaria, and they can be made to fit in a pocket or span an entire room. The oldest of these devices that we've found thus far is a piece of exquisite technology known as the Antikythera Mechanism, found in a shipwreck near the eponymous island off the Greek coast in 1901 and dated to about 100-150 BC. The mechanism was x-rayed and its blueprints can now be found on the web, already many craftsmen have made their own digital and physical reproductions of it, attesting to the tremendous skill and knowledge required to make them with modern tools. As is the case with most mysteries of the ancient world, we can only guess as to how our ancestors did this.

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"As above, so below. As within, so without."
^{The Second Hermetic Law - The Principle of Correspondence}

Throughout human existence, before we could speak with words, build our own homes or grow our own food; before the rise of any civilization and the utterance of the first myth, we've been awed and fascinated by the movements of the skies. Electric power is the rule in our world today and most of us don't have to worry about wild animals, but there was a time when the night was truly black, and the only way to survive was to trust the cycles of moonlight, sunlight and starlight.

Eventually, humans became sedentary creatures with a measure of social organization, and the rules of survival changed. Not having to run for our lives or be constantly alert of our surroundings gave us more time to think and explore our world. We could finally start observing these cycles, finding patterns, slowly realizing that celestial phenomena mirrored events on earth in such uncanny ways that they had to be linked at some level. That's how Astrology, the mother of all sciences, came to be.

Every single ancient culture that we know of studied the stars with enormous precision and to astonishing degrees of sophistication. Mayans, Sumerians, Greeks, Egyptians, all of them understood the celestial cycles so well that they built entire cities, ruled their territories and officiated religious rituals in accordance to them. These studies continued to hold sway even after the rise of Christianity, but the interest in Astrology took a downturn after the Renaissance, particularly during the Age of Enlightenment, when the discipline was flatly discredited as pseudoscience and its exploration was publicly discouraged in scientific communities, a trend that continues today but is fortunately shifting.

There are many systems and traditions of astrological study, but for now I have had contact mostly with two: Western Astrology, which uses the tropical zodiac, and Vedic Astrology, which uses a sidereal zodiac. My focus will be the former.

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^{This is my personal Chart. You can get your own for free by visiting Astro or any other online calculator}

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"The starry vault of heaven is in truth the open book of cosmic projection, in which are reflected the mythologems, i.e., the archetypes. In this vision astrology and alchemy, the two classical functionaries of the psychology of the collective unconscious, join hands."
^{The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche - Carl Gustav Jung}

The main instrument of western astrological observation and interpretation is called the Astral, Natal or Birth Chart, a mandala meant to represent the Solar System and the position of several celestial bodies and mathematical points in it, with Earth at the center. The Chart is generally divided into three elements: Signs, Planets and Houses, whose positions are calculated with precise astronomical formulae.

The Signs are What (The energies / actions at play.)
The Planets are Who (The actors / psychological aspects using or acting with those energies.)
The Houses are Where (The areas of life where those actors / energies are at play.)

The Sun and the Moon are more aptly called Luminaries. Each Sign and House is ruled by a Planet/Luminary in the order presented below. I included a short list of some of the main aspects of life that these elements represent:

House 1 - Aries - Mars: Survival, Self-Affirmation, Identity, the Ego, Action, Initiative, Conflict, Progress.
House 2 - Taurus - Venus: Household, Finance, the Physical Body, the Land, Food, Material Wealth.
House 3 - Gemini - Mercury: Communication, Ideas, Patterns, Thoughts, Logic, Otherness, Close Relatives.
House 4 - Cancer - The Moon: The Mother, the Home, Family, The Unconscious, The Past, Nourishment.
House 5 - Leo - The Sun: Creativity, Children, Joy, Attraction, Consciousness, Games, Discovery, Novelty.
House 6 - Virgo - Mercury: Order, Service, Profession, Stability, Organization, Productivity, Health.
House 7 - Libra - Venus: Legality, Diplomacy, Partnerships, Balance, Justice, Beauty, Cooperation.
House 8 - Scorpio - Pluto: Medicine, Secrets, Power, Transformation, the Underworld, Sexuality, Desire.
House 9 - Sagittarius - Jupiter: Generosity, Ideologies, Education, Long Distances, Expansion, Wisdom.
House 10 - Capricorn - Saturn: Authority, Mastery, Responsibility, Hierarchy, Status, Control, Restriction.
House 11 - Aquarius - Uranus: Humanity, Friendship, Technology, Networks, Change, Higher Awareness.
House 12 - Pisces - Neptune: Dissolution, Unity, Magic, Dreams, the Beyond, Mystery, Sacredness.

Aside from these elements, the Chart may also include Asteroids such as Chiron (the Incurable Wound) or Eros (Creative Force), as well as mathematical points such as Lilith (the Dark Feminine) or the Nodes (Karmic Process). There is of course much more information here, which I may expand on in later posts.

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To conclude this first edition of the Orrery, I'll sum up and provide a quick interpretation of the main astrological events this week, and list the coming events that may be of interest this month.

Saturn went Direct in Capricorn on September 29th: Capricorn and Saturn both represent the vertical structure of power, the organization of government, the delimitation of national influences and the patriarchal paradigm. This whole mess we've been experiencing this year is tightly related to the energies of Pluto, Jupiter and Saturn conjoined in this sign, which are laying waste to the current order of our society, and with Saturn going direct, we can only expect a renewed attempt by the authorities to restrict freedom of movement and thought, but with Mars retrograde in Aries, that's not sitting well with people; we're already seeing popular uprisings all over the world. Saturn will enter Aquarius on December 17th, and Jupiter will conjoin with it on December 21st, ushering in a new paradigm for a global society.

Full Moon in Aries, in conjunction with Chiron, on October 1st: I'm sure we all felt the massive energy of this lunation, the sense of loss, the dread and anxiety, the deep introspection. This Moon brought to the surface profound feelings of hurt, shame and grief, allowing us to open those dusty cupboards, basements and attics of our minds and start cleaning up for new things to come.

Mercury entered Scorpio on September 27th and will go retrograde on October 13th: Scorpio is the Sign of deep passions and desires, of secrets and power, and Mercury enters the Underworld to allow our logic to make sense of the most profound emotional questions in our lives. The mercurial vision is calling us to find silence and explore these depths in a no-nonsense, effective and expedient manner, but also to reach out into our fears in order to find the invulnerable gold of new perspectives and inner change. It's a time of tremendous self-revision and revelation.

Get ready for a very important New Moon in Libra on October 16th: Plant the seeds of what you feel you deserve, start that artistic project you've been thinking about, cleanse your energy so that you can engage with the world in a more balanced, approachable way.

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That's all for now! In case you need a more detailed view of what the Signs are telling you, be sure to check out @Tarot911's Weekly Horoscope, posted every Monday. I've set them as 5% beneficiaries for this post!