What is meant by ‘spiritualizing’ astrology?

—A Devotee

Astrology is a very deep subject, but most people consider it to be a kind of superstitious guide to material progress. If you use astrology only for guidance in material matters, you will be doing its teachings an injustice. Astrology is the mathematics of your life, the mathematics of your past actions.

The relation of the stars to the human body is very subtle. No matter where you may live or the nature of your environment, the surrounding rays of the earth and universe act upon your body, and your body responds to those rays.

In other words, there is an ongoing interactive relationship: 1) between the stars and the rays around your body, and 2) between  the signs of the zodiac and the twelve centers in the spine — the spinal plexuses (or chakras).

As a child of God, you have been given the free choice and intelligence to surmount the difficulties of life. You are made in the image of God, not in the image of the stars. If your body and mind are very strong, and certain evil vibrations from the stars begin to shed their rays upon you, you will experience no reaction as all because you have become impervious to their rays.

But suppose your body and mind are weak through the transgressions of wrong eating, wrong thinking, bad character, and bad company. Then what will happen? The stellar rays will have the power to affect you.

Twelve centers in the spine
You are unaware of how you are changing your body and mind through your actions, and how those changes are affecting the twelve centers of the spine. These centers, which correlate with the twelve signs of the zodiac, have powerful electrical currents. Millions of volts of electrical currents are lodged there.

However, only people whose bodies, minds, and material environments are “out of order” experience disharmony between the spinal centers and the twelve signs of the zodiac.

While studying astrology in a reasonable way, you must always remember that God’s influence is the supreme influence. By communing with God in meditation, you will reinforce the power of the twelve centers in your spine, which will then act in cooperation with the twelve signs and planets.

In other words, by communing regularly with God in meditation, all planetary forces will automatically begin to harmonize with you. The more you commune with God, the more harmonious they will become. That is the true meaning of “spiritualizing astrology.”

Your karma (past actions) was once governed by your will power. Its lawful effects seem irrevocable. But the effects of past actions can be changed by seeking God. Unless you remember that, and act accordingly, you will not be able to spiritualize astrology.

God is joy. If you can hold onto your happiness during all the events in your life, then you are above the influence of the stars. If you can retain your smile in spite of everything, that shows the awakening of the consciousness of divinity within you. Immediately the stars will smile with you. No longer can they shed their evil rays on you. This is spiritualizing astrology.

From Inner Culture, April 1941.