Or for that matter why isn’t Jeanne Avery being asked to head up a committee to explore peaceful resolutions to conflict in Middle East or Deborah Houlding among those advising Tony Blair on national policy? Why isn’t Rebecca Trents speaking at United Nations? Again, for not-so-well informed, Jeanne Avery is an astrologer for rich and famous who can be visited at www.jeanneavery.com. Deborah Houlding is a world-class “classical” astrologer in UK who can be visited at www.skyscript.co.uk . Rebecca Brents an astrologer and editor of Enchanted Spirit, one of most successful metaphysical ezines on internet which you can visit at www.enchantedspirit.org .

This question is worth contemplating. Why aren’t astrologers being included? I am not inclined to a powerless, exclusionary or conspiratorial interpretation as if these talented and capable people were sitting at home by phone waiting for it to ring. On contrary, I would rephrase question and reverse it. Why don’t world’s leading astrologers “get” themselves asked to high profile conferences on global matters? They could, so I guess answer must be that they aren’t pursuing opportunities. Why, then?

I think this has something profound to do with nature of astrology and astrologers, and perhaps with their tacit understanding that this is “not way”. Before I explain what I mean by this, let me set stage for you.

Astrology and its practitioners are ruled by planet Uranus and sign Aquarius. Aquarius is opposite sign Leo, which among other things represents ruler or king. Aquarius also represents “everyman” or “the common man”, as in a brotherhood of equals and also represents a revolutionary force opposed to king or more correctly, opposed to mythical heroic image of king. We might understand from this that astrologers find themselves or put themselves at opposite “ends” of spectrum from hierarchy. This polarity worked well through many centuries of history. For example, at some times in our heritage as human beings astrologer was natural opposing companion of king, not unlike Fool, king’s other stalwart companion. The Fool is ruled by Uranus as well.

We see many fools in Shakespeare’s play, most famous being one in “King Lear”. To get a little Shakespearean on you, then does this mean that astrologer is a Fool? Certainly not! Or, wait a minute, does it?

How are Fool and astrologer one and same? The Fool told king true things that those close to him sometimes wanted to keep him from knowing, out of fear of repercussions or because they were fawning for favors. Here’s an example from Barbara Tuchman’s book, "Distant Mirror: The Calamitous 14th Century". It is year 1340 and French have just been soundly defeated in a naval battle at port of Bruges. No one wants to tell king. Back then, sometimes even messenger of bad news got killed. “Jester” is another name for Fool. Tuchman states, "No one dared tell outcome of battle to Philip VI until his jester was thrust forward and said, ‘Oh, cowardly English, cowardly English!’ and on being asked why, replied, ‘They did not jump overboard like our brave Frenchmen.’ The King evidently got point. The fish drank so much French blood, it was said afterward, that if God had given them power of speech they would have spoken in French.” [pg. 7, “Distant Mirrors”]

The purpose of Fool is to -- and power of Fool is derived from -- standing permanently outside circle of power so that he is immune both from punishment and from temptation or corruption. This way he is “allowed” to tell truth. It creates a pure, idealistic Uranian environment. Uranus at its very best! The “real truth” about some important things seems to come from a very far away place and is often so simple as to sound like it came from a fool.

I'd been in similar dire situations before and I'd always evaded worst. How did I get out of danger before? Quick, you idiot, think! You don't have all day!

The impending disaster pumped my adrenaline-and my memory. I let go, I reminded myself. That's what I did in past situations. I just let go of having to control whole thing. I released my need to be right about how life operates. I allowed picture to change. That's when circumstances shifted and something unexpected, seemingly impossible, occurred. Let channel switch, Keith! I coached myself into letting go into safety once again. Averting most probable outcome, I robbed death of its prey yet another time.

Yes, rather unceremoniously, I was reminded of natural malleability of physical universe by a six-hundred-foot free fall straight down a sheer cliff. The threat of a perilous plunge into empty space re-impressed on my young mind lessons I learned in similar predicaments: go with slide on ice rink, relax into tackle in football and turn toward skid in car. Now I call it "the decision to surrender." Back then, I called it "just letting go."

I was fourteen. My girlfriend Cheryl and I decided to go for a hike down a precipitous gorge in upstate New York. We had most of crisp spring day to play before reporting to work as dinnertime servers at a local restaurant. The trail was winding and steep. Three hours later, we arrived at bottom of granite and shale canyon.

After spending an afternoon swimming in rippling stream, it dawned on us we didn't have enough time to hike back up zigzagging trail to top and get to work on time. We concluded we could still make it back to our job deadline if we climbed straight up vertical cliff.

Ascending steep cliff turned out to be quite easy. Protruding from sheer granite wall were small rock ledges as easy to climb up as rungs on a ladder. Within thirty minutes we were twenty feet from top. We would have been home free, except that previous night's rain had soaked soil near crest, loosening shale ledges. As we neared top, each time we placed a foot or hand on next rock outcropping, shale broke away from cliff. Very quickly, we found ourselves frantically moving our hands and feet from one shelf to another, searching for something solid to support us in order to clamber up last few feet to safety.

With total panic on her face, Cheryl looked over at me-a silent plea for guidance screaming over space between us. I didn't know what to do next. I had no answers. Like her, I'd also run out of ledges within reach to grasp. I felt myself beginning to slide down cliff.