Nicholas Roerich - Rayology, Astrology, and Fixed Star Parans

A few years ago, my husband and I were speaking to a friend about an upcoming trip to New York City. This friend enthusiastically said, “You must go to the Roerich Museum!” I was immediately captivated to hear about this artist who had the rarity of having a museum assigned to his work alone. We went to 319 West 107th Street on the upper west side of Manhattan, where the Nicholas Roerich Museum1 resides in a lovely old townhouse, on a quiet tree-lined street. From the moment of entering this sanctuary of a museum, one feels a shift, an opening of the heart that is beyond time and space. Exploring the two floors of galleries filled with Nicholas Roerich’s art, I was deeply moved by his paintings. Through the metaphor of the great Himalayan range, mystics and Masters there contained the overarching spiritual theme of aspiring to the greatest heights of consciousness possible. I was hooked. Later on, I would discover the spiritual genius he and his beautiful, ethereal wife Helena embodied and what a mesmerizing, adventurous, and fearless family they were. This paper will give an overview of Professor Roerich’s life, adventures, aspirations and many accomplishments, as well as some of his challenges and controversies. His life will also be looked at through the lens of his astrological, Chakra and Ray make-up, and his possible placement along the Path of awakening. As his artwork is a powerful reflection of him, several paintings will also be included throughout. By Nathalie Rawat

2018

In its original Babylonian and Egyptian contexts, astrology was the interpretation of celestial signs and omens sent by the gods as warnings to rulers and the elite. Roman fondness for Stoicism fertilized the growth of astrology in the Greco-Roman world, which developed into a natural science, fully integrated with the prevailing cosmology. Astrology became popularized, and anyone who could afford some level of the service knew basic features of his natal chart. The chapter explains the various forms and purposes of judicial or divinatory astrology: “mundane” (heavenly effects on regions), “genethlialogical” (heavenly effects on a life from its birth or conception), “horary” (heavenly effects on the present moment), and “catarchic” (heavenly effects on the future). The chapter also provides an historical sketch of classical astrology, from Babylonian origins through the major surviving handbooks, and an elaborated ancient example of a natal chart (of the emperor Hadrian), its methods, and interpretation.

Continuum eBooks, 2008

"As above, so below, " the basic doctrine of astrology, has served many ends and taken on multiple forms since the historical inception of the art in the Middle East four millennia ago. Today there is a popular notion that it began to decline only late in the seventeenth century, when its tenets were swept away by scientific heroes on horseback who suddenly saw the light of objective truth-but that notion is being revealed as a gross oversimplification, thanks in part to scholarly work such as that exemplified in this massive survey of the subject. Campion's text is ample enough; its two volumes comprise 759 pages, plus 102 pages of footnotes and a 47page bibliography, but with surprisingly few (nine) illustrations, all of them appearing in the first volume. It traces the threads, some broken, others frayed, that make up the continuous chronological cord of astrology's development through history. He provides an accessible, humanistic treatment that explores the relationship of astrology to the histories of religion and magic as well as that of science, although it is science that has often relegated the deep-rooted connections between our lives and the course of the stars to the back burner of intellectual inquiry. Campion's informed treatment of astrology reveals it as the great survivor. It suffered multiple near-deaths, first in republican Rome, then in a twelfth-century conflict with Christianity, and in the seventeenth-century clash with

In search of the conscious historical process: Alexander Chizhevsky and Johannes Kepler, 2022

This paper examines the origins and philosophical concepts, which influenced Alexander Chizhevsky’s (1897–1964) approach to the universal historical and sociological processes and their synchronization with the solar activity. Alexander Chizhevsky was a Soviet-era polymath and interdisciplinary scientist, who was prominent for his use of historical research techniques (historiometry) to link the 11-year solar cycle, Earth’s climate and the mass activity of the peoples. Two major tendencies in thought had an impact on Chizhevsky's formation as a scientist and thinker with respect to the theory of connecting the Sun's activity to mass uprisings. There is a philosophy of Russian cosmism and the natural philosophy and astrology of Johannes Kepler (1571–1630). Though Chizhevsky's belonging to the first line of Russian cosmists is a priori approved, then the connection of his philosophy and research methodology to Kepler’s ideas was not in the focus of previous studies. The paper fills a gap in the inquiry into Chizhevsky’s sources and approaches to the study of social processes and their uses for the development of society. The survey examines Chizhevsky’s theory and methodological procedure for the study of historical periodicity and solar activity and its connection to Johannes Kepler (1571 – 1630) theory of universal harmony and political astrology presented in his works Harmonices Mundi and On the More Certain Fundamentals of Astrology. Key words: Alexander Chizhevsky, Johannes Kepler, Russian cosmism, solar activity cycles, political astrology, conscious historical process.

2010

Revista Concinnitas v. 23, n. 45 , 2022

The article retraces the path of interpretation of astrological iconography contained in Les très riches heures, analyzing the link between astrology, science and religion represented in it. Thus, it seeks to highlight the attempt at cosmic ordering and orientation of which art was a part, providing plastic solutions capable of representing relations between the observable and the unknowable.

Archimedes, 2019

The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.

Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature and Culture, 2019

This special issue offers an insider’s perspective on the practice of astrology in the contemporary world. It builds upon the second issue of the JSRNC published in 2007, which focused on astrology investigating the religion-nature nexus. Bron Taylor argued that the role of the journal was a scholarly commitment to ‘a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary, taboo free inquiry’ (Taylor 2007: 5) and thus accepted that the consideration of the nature of astrology was a worthwhile academic endeavour. From this second issue a question arose. The editor Michael York asked, ‘In terms of religion, nature and culture, the sociologist’s concern is the wish to understand how astrology is used. How does it impact on religious perceptions, on cultural institutions and on how we picture the universe?’ (York 2007: 146). This special issue of the JSRNC picks up on York’s question and offers an insight into astrology’s culture-nature-religion link through the exploration of a community that incorporates an alternative epistemology.