A spirit, who gave his name as Astriel, to the Rev. G. Vale Owen, an Anglican Reverend who received a series of messages from the spirit world in the 1920’s told the good reverend the following about the influence of the planets upon us:
“Yes, friend, there is after all, something in the astrological idea, and perhaps your scientists do well to give it a wide berth, for it may not be much understood by, and would probably be fraught with danger too, such as they who do not understand that spiritual power is spiritual power. It is real and tremendous, and every sphere of all these is reinforced or modified by the others. The study of these things should be approached with the utmost reverence and prayer, for these are realms where the Angels of high estate go softly, and we of lesser estate look on and wonder after the Sublimity of that Being Who unifies all this in Himself, and Who has no Name that can be transmitted to us who only can reach out after Him a little way and then our arm is shortened; who can only see a little way and then the light beyond is darkness by reason of its intensity.”[i]
There are concepts in the paragraph above which must be explained in order to comprehend Astriel’s meaning. Even after one is introduced to the concept of overlapping and intersecting spiritual power, Astriel lets us know that understanding the state of God (“Being Who unifies”) lies beyond our and to
a lesser extent his reach. Nevertheless, to even to begin to envision what Astriel reveals about the influence of spiritual spheres upon our life should allow us all to place our lives in a different context.
We are not on earth to be conceived, raised, and tossed out into the working world without a purpose. Not the dreams of our parents, not the desires of our extended families, not our own chaotic choices that we made in our early years are the primary drivers of our destiny. We are placed individually for a specific purpose and we are pushed ahead collectively for a targeted destination. And the position of the planets, stars, and galaxies have an effect.
Astrology – Modern Thoughts
Astrology has its fans and detractors. To its opponents, it is a scam, a method of fleecing gullible people out of their ready cash. Most have heard about the college study, where each student was asked to supply their personal information so a complete astrological profile could be written. The next week, the professor handed out the results. He handed each student their own report. He asked the students to silently read them and then comment on their precision. Most of the students were amazed at how accurate they were. Many were convinced that somehow their personal feelings and milestones in their life were correctly interpreted by reading the stars.
Until the professor asked each person to give their profile to the student in front of them, so each could read what the other thought was a revelation. To their astonishment, each paper was exactly the same. The profile was written general enough, but with hints of specificity that each student at first believed it was meant entirely for them.
Granted, fooling college freshmen isn’t a difficult task, but the story gets at the crux of what the detractors despise about astrology; generalities that could mean nothing and something depending on each individual’s interpretation. To the non-believers, astrology is a worthless diversion for empty heads. The accessibility of astrological advice in newspapers and magazines for the general public reinforces their opinion on a daily basis.
On the other hand, there are personal stories of charts and fore-warnings of great accuracy. In fact, I will relate one told to me by a friend. He is from India. It is customary, for his family, at the birth of a child to have an entire life-chart created. At his birth a chart was completed. As a typical boy, he had no interest in it. As he grew older, he never even gave it a second thought.
When he was married, his mother gave it to his wife. His wife read the entire tome and was astounded. It correctly foretold the year in which he broke his arm, it even properly foretold the very arm that was broken. Plus, the year of his marriage and other factors were uncannily accurate. It even foretells the year and manner of his death, but, he told me, his wife would not let him see that part.
How does one reconcile these two extremes? I suggest we think of Astrology the same way many now do about near death experiences. For many years they were dismissed as hallucinations caused by 
the temporary lack of oxygen to the brain, or some other medical cause. Given recent research that has eliminated each theory and proves that experiences persisted even after accepted clinical brain death occurred, one is left with the response that something did occur, although exactly what caused it is not currently provable. Doubters will still look for material causation and Spiritist will sit back and know that the spirit world is interacting with some souls for a purpose. A purpose that invariably entails a lesson given to assist a person to grow spiritually.
Hence, while there certainly exists many who dabble in talking to spirits as a con game and a way to make a living out of the desire of people to speak to the departed, there is also a legitimate phenomenon taking place. For those who have experienced it themselves and for those practitioners who speak to souls in the spirit world to genuinely help others, know that we are on this earth for a purpose and that we are connected to the spirit world.
Spiritual Zones Surrounding the Earth
The layers of the higher regions, levels of heaven, is revealed in the book, Life Beyond the Veil, in The Lowlands of Heaven section. The book was psychographed in the 1920s. It was a communication to the Rev G. Vale Owen from Astriel in the spirit world that educates us in what it really means to talk about the “powers above us”:
“When we said ‘the powers which watch over the world,’ we did not, of course, mean to localize
these powers on one side of this planet, but to imply the all-enveloping watch which the heavenly powers keep about the sphere which is called Earth. These powers are resident in zones of which the Earth itself is the center, and they lie in concentric circles around it. The inferior zones are those near the planet’s surface, and progress in power and glory as the distance is increased. But yet, space must be enlarged in meaning when applied to these spheres; for distance has not the same obstructive sense to us as it has to you.”[ii]
Astriel is expanding on what Jesus told us in John 14:2:
“In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”
Heaven isn’t just one enormous location, but a series of spheres which encapsulate all lower ones, like the Russian doll whereby the larger doll holds all of the others, with each higher level reserved for those who made the effort to ascend. And this is only the rings of heaven for those who have risen up from earth.
Astriel tells us what the rings around the earth mean to spirits:
“For instance, when I am in the tenth of these zones, my cognizance is limited, more or less, by that Tenth zone as to its outer or superior boundary. I may, on occasion and by permission, visit the Eleventh zone, or even go higher; but residence in those higher zones is not permitted me. On the other hand, the zones inferior to the Tenth are not impossible to me; for the zone in which I dwell, being a sphere, includes within itself, even geometrically considered, all the nine inferior spheres. So that we may, for the sake of clarity of understanding, out it thus: The Earth is the center about which many spheres are, and is enclosed in all those spheres. And the residents in the earth life are potentially in touch with all those spheres, and actually so in ratio to their altitude spirituality considered – spiritually, because these spheres are spiritual and not material.”[iii]
In essence, we, in our physical bodies, are carefully watched over by the higher spheres above us. Our thoughts, wishes, and prayers are analyzed and possibly acted upon by legions of workers whose job is to determine our progress during our trials on earth.
Now consider the larger picture. Imagine the earth circling the sun, but much larger, with spiritual spheres accompanying the earth as it revolves around the sun in its orbit. Simultaneously, the other planets in our solar system are also rotating, with much larger foot prints.
Add the spheres that surround our solar system, and other solar systems revolve around hubs in our galaxy, you begin to get the idea of intersecting circles on a colossal basis. Astriel tells us in his words:
“But as you progress outward you come into a more complicated state of affairs. For not the Earth only but every planet in this Solar system has its like complement of spiritual zones or spheres. So, as you go farther and farther from the Earth, you come to a realm where the spheres of Earth and the nearest planet interweave with each other. As every planet is served with like attendance, so the complication is multiplied, and you will begin to see that the study of spheres is not so simple as good people among you evidently think it to be, who demand from us information as to the meaning of this thing.
Draw a diagram of the Solar system, with the Sun at its center and the planets roughly in their respective places around him. Then begin with Earth and encircle him with say, a hundred circles. Do the same with Jupiter, Mars, Venus and the others and treat the Sun in like manner; and you will have a faint idea of our work and its absorbing interest, but profound depths of meaning, who include in our studies that of the Spheres of God.”[iv]
Astriel continues with explaining to G. Vale Owen, what applies to our solar system applies to every other solar system. As to the question of how many spheres there are, Astriel tells us that spirits on the tenth level do not know that answer and would have to greatly ascend before being able to come close to a number.
Spiritual Influence of Other Planet’s Spheres
Finally, we arrive at the influence of other spheres from other bodies than the earth:
“We have said that these spheres are spheres of spiritual power. Now, two worlds affect each the other by means of that which your scientists name gravitation. Also, two spheres of spiritual power, coming into contact, cannot fail to act and counteract each on the other. Referring to your mental diagram of the Solar system you will see that Earth is, of necessity, acted on by a large number of spheres, and that the greater number of these are they which are those of the Sun and other planets.”[v]
Hence, the very fact that the earth comes into contact with the spiritual spheres of other planets, means that in some manner we are affected by that influence. Just as gravity continually modifies the 
rotation of the earth around the sun, we too are exposed to spiritual power with could alter our own personal trajectories.
In the book, Genesis – Miracles and Predictions According to Spiritism, assembled and partially written by Allan Kardec with excerpts of communications from spirits, we are told, by the spirit Arago, how the human race progresses, by revolutions. Upheavals that may span centuries, thus unseen by individuals, are nevertheless driven (wholly or partially) by planetary/spiritual influences.
“Within a particular planetary system, all the bodies comprising it react upon one another. All physical influences are in solidarity, and there is not one of the effects that you designate as great disturbances that is not a consequence of the combination of influences within the entire system.
I will state further that planetary systems react upon one another due to the nearness or distance that results from their orbital movement through the myriads of systems that compose our nebula. I will go even further and state that our nebula, which is like an archipelago in the immensity of space, with its orbital movement through the myriads of nebulae, is subject to the influence of those it nears.
Hence, nebulae react upon nebulae and systems react upon systems, just as planets react upon planets and the elements of each planet react upon another, and thus successively down to the atom. Hence, on each world, there are local or widespread revolutions that do not appear to be disturbances because the brevity of life allows only for the perception of partial effects.”[vi]
Arago describes how these spiritual waves change our points of view, although we still retain our free-will:
“Unconscious at first, this turmoil, which is nothing more than a vague desire, an indefinable yearning for something better, a need for change, is expressed through silent agitation, and then through actions that prepare social revolutions, which, believe it or not, also have their own lifespan, similar to physical revolutions, because everything is connected. If your spirit sight were not limited by the veil of matter, you would see these fluidic currents, which, like thousands of conductor wires, link up things of the spirit world and the physical world.”[vii]
Unbeknownst to the billions of people on earth, there are invisible forces entering our consciousness, which causes a great many to rethink previous positions, to no longer accept what has been tolerated for decades, but to strive for something new. And the alignment and proximity of planets and solar systems have a hand in the gradual movement of a culture to a new aspiration. Like the course change of an immense tanker, which slowly veers to a new direction. The hand of spiritual force guides us onto an alternate path.
Spiritual Influence from Spheres is Constantly Changing
As with everything else on our planet and in the universe, all is in constant motion. A star or planet doesn’t just hover over us, shining its rays of spiritual willpower to spur us in a certain direction. The mix and type of influences is continuously imperceptibly shifting, modifying the thought waves entering our brain. Astriel explains the effects of the process:
“Still concerning the Solar system, we say that, on considering what we have already said, you will see that we have not yet mentioned all the complications which enter into the study of these spheres. For not alone do the concentric circles of zones about all the planets and the sun commingle with all the rest, but also the relative combination is continually changing with the changing positions of these bodies and their consequent proximity to, or distance from, one another. So that it is quite literally correct to say that during no two seconds of time is the influence from them impinging on the surface of the earth the same.
Nor is any combination of their influences identical in its effect or intensity all over the earth at the same time, but differs in different localities. There must further be taken into our calculations the stream of radiation coming to this Solar system from the systems of other stars. All these things have to be reckoned in, for bear still in mind that we are speaking of zones and spheres of spiritual beings whose powers are energizing continuously, and whose wakefulness never fails.”[viii]
Given the complexity of calculating the dominating influence of any one planet or star upon an individual, the ability to precisely chart the effects of the planets upon our future is beyond our current capability. While astrology may have correctly guessed at the effect of a planet, the actual spiritual radiations bombarding us are of a much more complex nature.
On a broad basis, I venture that astrology can predict the future like the weather stations of seventy years ago could. Sometimes they were partially accurate and other times not even in the ballpark. Only with the advent of super computers and intricate modeling of literally thousands and thousands of factors is forecasting the weather becoming more reliable.
Stars Do Have Influence
At the end of the day, do I believe in astrology? I am certain that we are influenced by planetary, and
larger systemic celestial positions. I am not convinced how astrological charts correctly map personal destinies. I surmise, hence I am only putting forth a theory, that particular astrologers are also mediums, who intuitively read and interpret planetary data correctly when it comes to individuals or even possibly entire nations concerning their destinies.
Through their connections and sense of spiritual and planetary influences, gifted astrologers, with assistance from helpful spirits, could be able to peer into the future and discern where the waves of 
invisible forces could push us. Above all else, whatever challenges come onto our path, we retain free-will to determine our choice of action and our grace in the midst of turmoil.
The spirit world is waiting for us to learn more about where we came from and where we should be going to. Learn about what the spirit world expects of you in my book, Explore Your Destiny – Since Your Life is (mostly) Predetermined.
Author:
Brian Foster was a reluctant entry to Spiritism. He grew up with a vague sense of God and a higher power, but only through events he could not explain did he discover that there is indeed a world beyond ours, an “other side” as the Druids called it.
Brian works in Information Technology and has a BSCS degree and an MBA. For many this should make him a rational human being and not one who believes in spirits. On the contrary, it is what he believes to be an accumulation of evidence that has, thankfully, brought him to realize that we are part of a bigger plan.
Brian Foster has a blog at www.nwspiritism.com.
Works Cited
Kardec, A. (2009). Genesis – Miracles and Predictions according to Spiritism. Brasilia (DF), Brasil: International Spiritist Council.
Kardec, A. (2010). The Spirits Book. Guildford, UK: White Crow Books.
Owen, R. G. (2012). The Life Beyond the Veil. Pahrump, NV: Square Circles Publishing.
[i] Owen R. G. Life Beyond the Veil, Squares Circles Publishing, pp. 133-134
[ii] Owen R. G. Life Beyond the Veil, Squares Circles Publishing, p. 132
[iii] Owen R. G. Life Beyond the Veil, Squares Circles Publishing, pp. 131-132
[iv] Owen R. G. Life Beyond the Veil, Squares Circles Publishing, pp. 132-133
[v] Owen R. G. Life Beyond the Veil, Squares Circles Publishing, p. 133
[vi] Kardec, Allan, Genesis – Miracles and Predictions according to Spiritism, EDICEI, p. 416
[vii] Kardec, Allan, Genesis – Miracles and Predictions according to Spiritism, EDICEI, pp. 416-417
[viii] Owen R. G. Life Beyond the Veil, Squares Circles Publishing, p. 135
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