This post is the first in a series to help explain what I mean by astrological key.
I start with quotations from Ekkirala Krishnamacharya’s groundbreaking book Spiritual Astrology:
From p. viii: “Unlocking the keys of the stories that contain the secrets of eternal wisdom was one of the main purposes of [Helena Blavatsky, founder of The Theosophical Society]. …. Astrological key is inevitable to read the scriptures of the world and understand them in a proper manner.”
From pp. 40-41: “Orthodox astrology has not much in common with the astrology of the wisdom school. … a true student of Veda [in this case, “Hindu” scripture in its general, inclusive sense, one of its two common semantic senses], who has trained his inner sense organs in tune with his intuition at the feet of his guru, knows how the astrology of the wisdom school is concealed in the Veda, Brahmana, Itihasa, and Purana literatures [in this case, Veda is used in its other common semantic sense, its specialized, exclusive sense, where it is understood that the other categories in the list are “Vedic” or “Hindu” scriptures in pursuance of the original Veda]. Many of the fundamental concepts of the subject differ from those of popular astrology. We should not, however, discard the popular branch of astrology and its skeleton, astronomy. Like the skeletons and physical bodies of the men of the material plane of living, they contain what the average man wants and conceal the inner content to be revealed to those seeking after it. Just as the uninitiated does not respond to the effects of his chakras and certain glands, so also the higher planetary expressions and the mysteries of the zodiac … remain away from him. Similarly, he is blind and deaf to the light and music of the planets of the higher octaves. Hence great sages like Parasara, Jaimini, and Varaha Mihira separated the portion of astrology required by the average man from the larger and the higher. Only here and there did they hint at the true path. They reserved the original path for those who followed the hints. Parasara and Vedavyasa gave the whole wisdom of the lights in the form of simple stories in the Puranas.”
