This is truly one of my favorite pictures associated with Astrology. It is known as the Flammarion Engraving. It first appeared in a book by Flammarion in the 19th Century and derived it’s name from the author. Originally it appeared in black and white but this color version is perhaps even more beautiful. It shows mankind’s quest for understanding of the universe. We see in the picture, the lower part of the person is grounded in our physical world surrounded by the earth, trees, lakes and hills and a shining Sun and Moon above. The final boundary is an arc of stars through which he peers into the very mechanism of the universe above. Just as one part of us is bound by the physical, so the higher part or soul is eternally spiritual. Like the man in the picture we can live in both worlds at the same time. The angels live above and the animals below but the human being can traverse both worlds.
The picture shows how Astrology is a way to understand the operations of the universe. Most scientists tend to say ‘but how can the planets or stars effect us when they are so far away’ and go on to give formulas of the minute effect the distant planets can have on us. However their thinking is of a Newtonian era and what they miss is that we live in a holistic and intimately and instantaneously connected universe which modern physics is now revealing. Within this connected web what is going on in the macrocosm, or planets and stars, is also reflected in the microcosm, mankind. Astrology is the art that can reveal this connection to us.