The New Astrology

By Tami Lubitch
Translated by Michal Ricardo
RE Edited by Maurice Fernandez
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Traduction from Hebrew to English of the article published in the Israeli Magazine "Haim acherim". February 2002


We have been reading the weekly astrological columns we were supplied with information such as: on Monday Virgos need to be careful of work overload (by the way, Virgos do need to be careful); on Tuesday Sagittarians may receive an unexpected offer at their work place (by the way, Sagittarians will receive unexpected offers in any case; even if they don't, they will find something); on Wednesday Arians will have a struggle that will determine their future (is there such a day on which Arians are not in some sort of struggle or competition?); on Thursday Geminis will receive an important message (who else?), that on Friday Capricorns might have a disappointment (another one), and on Saturday God rested from all His work, which he had done and took time to read the newspapers (thank God for that, since this way we have at least one days which He took off, and we are given free choice for it). Years of systematic astrological brainwash preserved astrology as a living discipline on the one hand, but on the other turned into an inseparable part of the propaganda according to which there is a predetermined future, and we are in it marionettes subsisting on different levels of the illusion of control and freedom. With eyes sparkling with anticipation we look up to someone to tell us what will happen. We received answers; we calmed down for a moment and again looked to the same spot in order to draw a few more pieces of information. We learned to believe that there is always someone who knows better than us, and the result is humanity that suffers chronic neck pains (for had God really meant we should look up all the time, His designers would have devised a completely different anatomy).

With this background we waited for a message from the planets so they themselves would testify about themselves, and when these continued in their quiet journey through the wide galaxy, we decided to hold a summit between two senior astrologers: Gil Farhi and Maurice Fernandez. Early forecasts made us expect a classic summit where first of all general complaints would be aired, then each would speak up his arguments, a discussion would follow brimming with disagreements, and at the end each would return home clearly knowing more than before he is right. To our surprise, where we expected a fundamental conflict regarding interpretations and methods of predicting, we beheld an all-over agreement and the tidings of a new astrology. This may be a top class discussion about astrology, or maybe it is about life in general and its meaning.

A range of possibilities

"Astrology for me is a tool for working on myself," says Fernandez at the opening of the meeting. "Throughout my life, astrology provided me with many explanations about my life, and served as a kind of therapy, a tool that gives perspective about what is happening to us. It helped me understand my barriers and fears. Identifying the source of the problem is the first step to solve it. This is also my approach when I teach or counsel. I encourage people to study astrology so they would be able to go through the process themselves and not depend on external authority to give them direction or tell them what is good or bad. The idea is to give them a tool that will accompany them in life, that will enable them to look at what is happening and find answers."

Fernandez was born in Burundi to a Jewish family. At the age of 13 he moved to Israel and six years later, during his army service, he learned about astrology. He discovered Jeff Green and the Evolution of the Soul, and since then, Green and his teaching accompany him. On February 1999 he opened in Tel Aviv a school that teaches systematically the astrological approach to the Evolution of the Soul, according to which we come into this life in order to grow. There are no accidents; what is happening to us, whether we interpret it as good or and, is an invitation to grow.
"For me, there is a new way of using astrology as it can be an amazing tool for inner and outer transformation," Farhi testifies on his concept concerning what is new. "We should also be careful to avoid the astrological explanations becoming an excuse for being stuck in the old patterns in our life. My interest lies in the manner in which we understand our connection with symbols. We are now at the beginning of a world revolution on the subject. The old use of astrology sentenced us to a static, unchanging character. The aspiration was to try to define in the closest way our personality layout and to predict the predestined future. The new astrology on the other hand opens possibilities. It describes questions, challenges, tasks and substantial riddles that the cosmos addresses us. The story of our life actually is our answers in this constant dialogue. The unique astrological knowledge enables us to see alternative and respond in a conscious, transforming way to this dialogue." This concept, we shall find out later, creates a real revolution.
Farhi grew up in a house where he was told in an early age about the universe, galaxies, light years and Einstein's theory of relativity. "My father was an amateur astronomer and astrologer. When I decided to study astrology I understood I had to do it uninfluenced by known Israeli astrologers. I studied on my own from the rich technical literature that exists in the world, and so was exposed to the most updated approaches in the field. I counsel and teach astrology over twenty years, but still see myself also as a student and a researcher." Today Farhi teaches beginners and advanced courses in "the Israeli Center for Soul-Body Healing" in Ramat Hasharon, runs the Astrology Forum of Walla network and published astrological articles in "Another Life."

Einstein and cockroaches

In the first stage in the meeting between Farhi and Fernandez there is an agreement that the process of chart analysis is dynamic and open. Both nod enthusiastically each time the conjecture comes up that cracking the chart structure and what it conveys is a process of dialogue in which the ultimate authority is the person. Farhi goes with it another step and says, "it is very possible that exactly in the second when Albert Einstein was born, underneath his mother's bed five cockroaches hatched from their eggs. Einstein and those five cockroaches have exactly the same astrological chart and are subject to the same energies since they are born in the same moment. When an astrologer receives a chart he or she cannot tell whether the chart is that of a woman, a man, a cockroach, a flower or an event. That is, there is a dimension an astrologer cannot know according to the data before them, and this has a crucial significance in chart analysis. This dimension can be called soul, and it may be the most important component in the whole layout, and at the same time the only thing the astrologer cannot know from the chart itself."

After this high agreement level, we move to the hot part of astrology as a prediction tool, to the question of the ability of the planets to supply the goods of what is to be.
"Some people come out disappointed from my readings," tells Fernandez, "because they came out expecting to receive definite predictions and know what is going to happen. They want certainty but I describe a process, a way, and this requires from them to make an effort. Others gain much benefit from it. They came to clarify something about the future, but in the course of the meeting forget they forget about their initial questions, because they discover something much more interesting, much more magical. They did not know astrology couldprovide such answers, so they could not come with the right questions. There is a lot of work to do on the level of information what we can gain from this tool. Today the image of astrology is terrible. People read in the newspaper every day three lines about every sign, and this for them is the whole thing."
"This is sheer entertainment," Farhi responds to the three lines meant to predict the coming day. "The connection between this and astrology is like the connection between science fiction and science. Science fiction is inspired by science, yet it is not science but merely fantasy."

A dynamic approach

One sentence pulled the ground from under thousands of years of prediction. What then? "There is a desire to close, a desire for certainty, and the old astrology that went that way failed," says Farhi. "There is another desire, deeper and more authentic - to open, open up and grow. Astrological forces open to our world; they are not closed in to form a stationary character or a prefixed destiny. The new astrology is directed at opening possibilities."
"We cannot know what is going to happen," Fernandez describes his approach. " I look at my own chart with openness. If I see for example a 90 degree angle between Venus and Pluto, I do not immediately conclude I will get divorced. To begin with, I am not married. This is connected to the place where I am at in life. But in any case you can say with certainty I will undergo some kind of transformation in my attitude towards relationships. The possibilities are infinite. The way to use the transits of planets, is to simply observe what happens in real time, and use the astrological knowledge to respond to that in the best way known. Life will always surprise us. Maybe with that Pluto/Venus square, I will see my parents getting divorced through my chart. The content may be the same, but the shape it will take changes from one end to another."
"The bottom line is no matter how we go through it, it influences us and brings a change in our consciousness, and eventually this brings about change," explains Fernandez in his own words.
Farhi adds, "what happens is there are cosmic forces that come and say, 'contain me, give me room in the system, live me.' It is impossible to know the place I assign it through astrology. We don't know what the person did with his or her life until now, and we don't know what tools they gathered in order to face it. Astrological forces are a series of questions and challenges; the old astrology believed it could supply answers. The new astrology understands that we people give the answers on the face of the earth, consciously or unconsciously. By understanding the limitations of the old astrology we discover the unique possibilities of the new astrology. First of all, it is about our ability to grow, to respond in different, renewed ways to the challenges of cosmic forces. Today we have all the perspective of an immense variety of cultures, and the new astrology renews itself not only by psychological perspectives or those of the classical world, but also by those deriving from Gnosis, alchemy and Taoism. The cosmic essences do not manifest in one specific and finite way. There is something infinite here that needs a new language, a dynamic approach to symbols, in order to find new ways of responding and containing. You don't throw the immense wealth of the old astrology but add to it options of manifesting that are a great asset to personal transformation. The practical result is that instead of prediction we give alternatives that enable people to listen to what is happening and act according to the principle of everything in its time. So if the question is when I will get married or have money, the new astrology would recommend an approach and acting that would enhance the realization of goals. We no longer wait for it to happen to us, but prepare and act so it would take place in the framework of the data."

It is important not to miss what astrology does have," Fernandez sums up. "Everything in nature is symbolized in astrology. Every essence belongs to a symbol or a combination of symbols. An astrologer knows how to define what happens and why it happens, what it requires. Talking about new astrology, it means understanding on the one hand that astrology is multidimensional but at the same time we are still subject to our karma. When an astrologer tries to give exact forecasts, he draws upon his experience, which is taken from the past. There is no way to know exactly in what form the symbols would be realized in the future. If we talk about evolution, we talk at the same breath about an element of surprise, the unexpected. From August 2001 to July 2002 there is a planetary position that shows dramatic changes (Pluto in opposition to Saturn). Nobody could have known in advance it would manifest in airplanes flying into the Twin Towers. Around April-May 2002 the same planetary position will repeat itself but we cannot predict what form it would take. Israel born under the conjunction of Pluto and Saturn will surely be affected by that transit, yet the future is virginal and open, and still influenced by natural laws, the laws of life. We are free but the question will always accompany us, whether we adjust to life. (ed: in April 2002, the Israeli army attacked Jenin following one of the most violent wave a suicide bombings during Passover. Such event led to worldwide controversy).

We don't know what is possible, but not everything is possible. The fact that we fail in life means there are limitations, logic and there are laws. Otherwise everything would have succeeded. We reached this incarnation with given resources, and the freedom to derive the best from it. The best way to make it is to activate our resources in harmony with the laws of life. Astrology helps us to locate those resources and gives us the key to trigger them in reality.

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