Intuition and Study

As I've been discussing the intuition recently, I want to make a few points from the student's perspective.

There is rarely anyone these days taking up a formal course of study in astrology who hasn't had some exposure to it previously. This is not an ideal situation because there are preconceptions and learned information that may be incorrect. Apart from having to undertake an Un-learning process (just to add to the difficulties of this study), there have been occasions when some of these students, having studied for a short while, feel that their ability to judge a horary chart has been diminished.

There are two main reasons for this: they often have to unravel most of what they have learned and, where they have relied on intuition, it retreats as new directions are laid down.

For those who have not followed a formal course of study but have been practising horary with some success we have to ask how that is possible. As a very long term student, I know how difficult it is to reach a stage of any security in judgement. So, when an astrologer is achieving good results with their early attempts, I don't think it's right to put it down simply to beginner's luck. I'm sure that there's more to it than that.

For a student to make any real headway, a natural aptitude is required. This can take many forms, for example, they may have a profound philosophical bent, or they may have a clear and logical mind. whatever it is, it can be of great help to them. If, however, they have a strong intuitive faculty, this can be a hindrance. That might seem a strange thing to say, but the early successes I mentioned above are often sourced in the intuition. At that early stage, with an untrained, undisciplined intuition, successes often lead to failure and, perhaps, giving up astrology altogether. There is, of course, the other danger, that success without very much effort leads to ego-inflation and then the inevitable fall.

So, having had a number of successes without too much toil, the brave student takes on the task of formal study. Then everything seems to fall apart, apparently unable to judge even the simplest of horaries. This happens because study requires the intellect and the intellect restrains the intuition. The situation isn't helped because in the Traditional Horary Course we expect students to be able to support all statements with hard astrology and just getting the right answer isn't enough, it has to be for the right reasons. This runs counter to intuition, but if the study is pursued and if it is done thoroughly, the intuition will fall into step and respond to the right stimuli, instead of just when it feels like it. Patience will usually answer most of the questions.

The symbols work their magic and impose onto the intuitive part what it needs in order to become reliable. It takes some time and this varies from person to person, but it will happen. The degree to which it acts depends on the intuitive capacity of the astrologer, again this will vary. It will happen IF the ego is kept out of the way because that will corrupt the student and then fancy replaces knowledge and intuition.

To undertake formal study in a magical art, such as astrology, puts the intuition under the student's conscious direction and that has to be worth a little hard work, or even a lot, don't you think?