Astrological magick as applied synch

This post was inspired by this post from the author of Blogos and in particular the following quotation from it which describes the synchs surrounding the performance of some theatrical works of ritual magic with a Jupiterian theme:

We were treated to two brutal storms in the immediate aftermath of each show and although theatrical ritual is the most powerful I no longer think of these rituals as magickal causes so much as rites that are ”timed” to happen at the same time as the inevitable (although this year super charged because of environmental change) storms.  I might think I am doing the ”timing” but this is delusional, I know only one iota of the workings of my own mind let alone that of higher dimensional entities that might treat reality like a notepad.  It is not so much an act of summoning the storm as much as it is the storm summoning me.  This ”de-centralizing” of the magical act – no longer ”I am the boss twisting reality/probability around me with my strangely attractive sigils”, or whatever, but that cause and effect are entangled – reduces the selfishness and ego that is at the heart of many sorcerors’ efforts and sublimates it into wizardry.  I don’t do the magic but the magic is done through me.

One of the most perplexing and intriguing side effects of magical work seems to be an increase in the incidence of synchronicities (or synchs if we’re being lazy), highly meaningful coincidences that have some sort of symbolic resonance with the work itself.  Jung, who coined the term, chose the word to refer to events that occur broadly coterminous in time but which cannot be connected by a causal principle, e.g., performing a ritual to a storm god and having a storm bust overhead directly afterwards might seem to be linked by cause and effect if we happen to believe in magic, but only if we believe that our magic began to create the necessary pressure differential in the atmosphere by manipulating hot and cold weather fronts before we even performed any magic to that end.

In a sense, what we are doing when we perform a magical ritual is creating a particular symbolic resonance and hoping that it coincides with a desired result of a similar resonance.  If we want to manifest wealth in our life, we might wear clothes we associate with the wealthy or in shades of blue, we might invoke a Jupiterian deity, burn candles four at a time, use cedar as an incense, cultivate feelings of generosity and abundance, etc, and we continue with these until these symbols spill over into our lives and begin to attract other things of similar nature such as wealth.

And, at some stage, that’s precisely what happens.  Of course, hopefully we eventually get the wealth for which we enchanted, but it suddenly becomes more likely that we encounter storms, lightning, good wine, powerful and wealthy people, Catholic cardinals, and eagles along the way (hopefully we avoid getting sexually harassed by bulls and swans). Whether this happens because, when we are in a magical mindframe, our intuition is heightened and sensitive to these events, or whether we somehow access some higher order of mind where causality does not have quite the same meaning, I really don’t know, but when these types of experiences begin to happen more frequently, one idea that this leads us to is the existence of highly significant moments in time, and moments in time that are connected by symbolic resonance rather than a causal principle.

One begins to notice that many magical results come about by being in the right place at the right time, being highly aware that a particular time or event is meaning-laden and highly significant, and taking advantage of the opportunity presented.  Miss this moment and one often finds that their magic fizzles out without the desired effect or otherwise goes awry. Get it right, especially the first event in a sequence, and one finds oneself lead to a desired destination by a stream of such meaningful events.  In other words, Chronos speaks, as long as we are able to listen.

Which leads me in a roundabout sort of way to astrology and why I find it works so well in taking advantage of these magical moments in time. The fundamental premise of astrology is that the movement of the heavens corresponds in symbolic form to events that occur on the earth, and, that from these movements it is possible not only to predict the likelihood of an event occurring but also to determine a time when it is most likely to occur.  In other words, astrological magic is a way to consciously make use of significant, highly charged and meaningful moments in time that reflect a particular symbolic influence. I find that if one is aware of the potential of a particular period of time, it is a little easier to manifest future events that are consonant with the symbolic nature of the moment.