Magical Doors - The Symbols of Astrology

by Jean-Marc Pierson

A word of warning

What was intended as a proper review has become more of a tale of my experiences, thoughts and associations while reading the book. So, there may be some rambling. I beg your forgiveness.

A book born from a blog

It all started on Facebook, as a way of drawing attention to his services as an astrologer. Jean-Marc Pierson had studied astrology and was trying to make a living from it, so he started writing posts on Facebook.

People told him he should write a book. So, he started a blog, never imagining that he would actually really write a book. Well, ultimately, he did end up doing exactly that!

And, boy! Pierson does have a way with words! Even just reading his Preface, his love of language vibrates in every syllable!

He is a book lover, tuning into the depth and symbolism of each and every word.

Symbols mean something that comes from another dimension, which we can call ʹmagicalʹ, with a poetical mindset, please. You can say ʹspiritualʹ if you prefer, or ʹastralʹ. This dimension lives behind our everyday world of manifestations. It is hidden from plain sight, it is ʹoccultʹ. We could also say ʹabstractʹ, provided we donʹt believe abstract realities to be somewhat less real than the world of particular manifestations.
The way to understand symbols, these magical doors, is contemplation. I hope Iʹve been able to share some moments of wonder with my words. (xiii)

In the main, he considers himself a self-taught astrologer, true to his passion for books. His (astrological) heroes are Liz Greene and Howard Sasportas.

On symbols

In the introduction, the author explains his notion of symbols.

Symbols are part of the stuff we are made of; they allow intimacy with the world of the human psyche. (…)
The fundamental rule is the law of analogy. Symbols donʹt tell, they show. For example:
Aries, whose symbol is the head of a charging ram, can convey anything with the characteristics of a charging ram. It may be the violence of a fist hitting a face, or the instinctive enthusiasm of a male individual for a female partner. It may mean attacking a problem, taking action, mustering strength, focusing and moving forward powerfully in any kind of circumstance. It can happen physically, emotionally, socially, intellectually or even spiritually. Like we say: ʺAs above, so belowʺ (and the other way round).
Never ask ʺWhat does this mean exactly?ʺ when looking at a symbol. Symbols do not have exact meanings. They should be interpreted analogically.
Symbols give us clues. We are always deciphering riddles. (xv, xvi)

Whatʹs inside

The not-quite-200-page book has a simple build-up:

• There are 11 short portraits of the planets, including Chiron.
• An intermediate chapter, explaining the differences between planets (= actors), signs (= costumes) and houses (= stages).
• 12 stages of life, i.e. houses.
• An intermediate chapter distinguishing analogy from equivalence.
• 12 signs, from Aries to Pisces.
• And four chapters on principles of astrological interpretation, plus Black Moon Lilith
• and the lunation cycle as a clown story!

They are short and snappy chapters of 2 to 6 pages. Entertaining and to the point, just like blog entries. But they are much more than that. They are fireworks and oceans of language, of symbols and metaphors, analogies and imagery, fusing the cosmic with the mundane, which you often only realise after you have read it. Itʹs a marvellous representation of Piersonʹs natal Neptune, Moon, Cancer watery understanding of archetypes poured into a vase of Saturn on his Descendant. (See pages 175/6 for how this has played out in the authorʹs early life.)

To business: The planets

I have taken so many notes and quotes on the individual planets that I could almost recite the whole book here, but I will try to refrain from that and give you the gist.

I like to think of the planetary energies as our psychic organs. (1)

In this analogy, Jean-Marc Pierson likens the study of astrology to the study of anatomy. All humans have the same basic make-up as far as bodies, limbs, organs etc. are concerned (mostly anyway). So, this is the common ground. However, there are also differences in the way they are shaped and work. Similary, each astrological chart is made up by the same planets, the organs, in different signs and houses, but there are endless ways they combine, making every individual unique.

But first things first:

However, understanding what is true for everyone is necessary before getting into specifics. (1)

To really get the basic idea about the individual planets and connect the universal with the mundane, Pierson suggests to ask certain questions about the planets, which are the ʺactorsʺ in our play of life, our sub-personalities or inner cast: several people sharing one body.

Imagine walking through the streets, trying to identify different planetary energies in your surroundings.

What kinds of buildings, for example, would be Mercurial (associated with Mercury, the communicator)? - The post office, shops, schools, train stations, pavements and roads.

What animal is Venusian to you?

How would a Martian child behave at school?

...

You get the idea.

A good way to learn about planetary energies is to observe life and put mental planetary tags on everything. (9)

And:

Astrology is mental yoga. It consists of understanding energies to the degree that we can guess what happens when you mix them. (8)

After Mercury, Venus and Mars come two of the Big Three, the Moon and the Sun:

If our personality was a kingdom, the big three would be the three most important people. The Sun would be the King, the Moon the Queen, and the rising sign would be the Knight-who-interacts-with-the-outside-world-on-their-behalf. (13)

Pierson takes you by the hand and leads you into everyday situations that express exactly the meaning of each planetary energy. You read it and you have instant images in your head, smiling to yourself knowingly.

True to analogous ʹthinkingʹ, his narrative flows along a stream of consciousness, covering widely different aspects of a planetary energy. The reader can immerse themselves in the imagery and the world of the planet.

Not all chapters follow the same pattern or structure, though. Rather, the structure and content emerge from the specific energy itself, even if the connection to everyday life is always present. (Remember the Neptune, Moon, Saturn elements in the author’s chart?)

Just savour this sentence, expressing the ʺSun as the spiritual being withinʺ:

We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience. (19)

So simple, yet so profound.

And one last example from the planets to let the imagery do its magic for you:

Are you familiar with ʹMiracle Growʹ? Itʹs plant food. How those plants grow! Itʹs incredible! This may be the worst of all my metaphors, as Miracle Grow is not organic. However, for an introduction to Jupiter, itʹs pretty perfect. (25)

And donʹt miss out on the story of ʹtulip maniaʹ for Jupiter gone wrong! Itʹs so fitting!

The chapter titles are the first to-the-point, all encompassing descriptions of the planetary energies. And the sign and house energies for that matter. See what images come up when you read:

• Hey! Mars!
• Mother Moon
• Big Jupiter
• Ouch! Chiron!
• Have your cake and eat it in the Second House
• Death in the Eighth House
• Leo: Life is a spiritual show
• Libra: Balance is stronger than strength
• Sagittarius: Where is the grail?

The wolf in a tutu dress

Chapter 12 is about wolves in tutu dresses and what is essential in a chart. What???

Well, itʹs about the distinction between planets, signs and houses. See here:

A planetʹs energy is what it is before being a planet in such or such sign.
If a planet was a wolf, it could be a wolf in sheepʹs clothing, a wolf in a tutu dress or even a naked wolf depending upon circumstances, but in all cases, it would first and foremost be a wolf. If we focus on the tutu dress and forget the animal in it, weʹll miss the point. If we focus on the wolf and forget about the tutu dress, we will still miss something important, but we wonʹt miss whatʹs essential. (51)

Of course, you get that the wolf is the planet and the tutu dress the sign. And now, it just depends on which stage of life the wolf in the tutu dress performs - that will be the house.

In this chapter, Pierson also clears up any mumble-jumble notion of the sometimes hotly disputed ʹastrological alphabetʹ, in which apparently planets, signs and houses are wildly mixed together. He offers a refreshing view, or rather a clear distinction between and definition of signs, planets and houses and how they are connected - or not. In essence,

Astrology works with the law of analogy, which is a very ancient principle of hermetic philosophy. People who accuse the astrological alphabet of equivalence seem to forget that analogy is not equivalence. Similarity is not identity. (53)

Next come the houses

I realize I would love to go through the houses with you, showing how brilliantly the author builds up the cycle of life, explains the complexity and yet simplicity of the moment of birth and the incarnation of our soul self into a personality on earth. How he leads us through the stages of life from baby to adult to death and ultimate reconnection with the whole. How he starts from these very basic and very common stages of human development and from there develops a myriad of meanings associated with a particular house and area of life, expanding on ever more overarching themes.

Does that make sense at all? Let me explain. For example, in the second house, we start with the new-born baby (first house) needing feeding. So, we have mother, nurture, feeding. This is about receiving and having, which in turn is about attachment or bonding, which again are to do with values and possessions. Some people see love as a value or possession (ʺI could eat you upʺ), and love is definitely about self-esteem, which often involves our own body, which is again a possession, but also a connection with nature. Nature is about resources, so the second house is also about inner resources and how to get what we want or need. So, the essence of the second house is: to have.

Wow! Itʹs an associative marathon, and yet, it all makes total sense.

I was just starting to read the chapter on the third house, entitled ʺMagic in the Third Houseʺ, when an association came to me. ʺMagical Doorsʺ reminded me of a scene in ʺHarry Potter and the Order of the Phoenixʺ, where Harry and his friends are in a room in the Ministry of Magic. A round, dark room with 12 doors (!). Every time, they open a door, a new room (world) opens up and shows them a mystery. They donʹt understand it all but are still fascinated by it. Whenever they leave a room and close the door, returning to the round dark one, it starts to spin and all the doors are in different places. The adventure begins afresh. Magical Doors indeed!

Keep an open mind and be prepared for the adventure that is astrology. Jean-Marc Pierson introduces you to more than just 12 doors and rooms. He leads you through the magical world of astrology - keeping the spirit of adventure and (self-)discovery alive in the reader - no matter if they are fully-grown and powerful (astro) wizards or still a sorcererʹs apprentice.

So, summon the book (Accio book!) and open the magical doors with the Unlocking Charm Alohomora! to get into the Department of (astrological) Mysteries!

Explore! You will find a few very new and inspired angles on well-known astrological lore. Thereʹs often a twist when you least expect it.

The magic of language

This would have been quite a good ending to my review (or at least, I thought so when I wrote it...), but of course, the book wasnʹt finished yet.

So, if you'd like to follow me a little further, I'll continue to rant and rave a bit longer. Iʹm just soo in love with Piersonʹs magical language. The snappy style pulls you through. There is a pace to the wording, no matter if it goes into deep waters or takes you along a walk in your neighbourhood. Often short sentences, true to blog style, pull you along, but they are never boring or superficial. A firework of words - or a streaming river, sometimes solid as earth or light as air. Interspersed with philosophical, even spiritual musings.

I loved listening to the philosopher Alan Watts explaining that the purpose of life is no more about reaching a goal than the purpose of a piece of music is to reach its end. The pleasure of listening to a piece of music is felt as the music is playing. Life, if created by a Great Spirit, (eternal, absolute and needing absolutely nothing), can only be a work of art, a creation.
Love then is the only reason. (...) (73/74 - on the fifith house)

Itʹs like having a pleasant chat in a coffee shop, yet so much more. Leaving, you feel that you had a lovely time and find yourself contemplating on the wealth of wisdom you have received. And even if you only partly or donʹt agree with some of the associations, you feel invited to interact with the author and rethink his or your own views. (Which happened to my partner when reading the chapter on Pluto. However, you should know that he has Pluto exactly on the South Node, currently activated by transit and progression and what not, plus a tight natal Jupiter/Uranus sextile Sun/Mercury - just so you know what youʹre up against ... But he would absolutely recommend the book, and THAT is saying something. ;-) And if you read Pierson's chapters on Jupiter and Uranus, the bits about connections with Mercury, you will know what I'm talking about.)

Anyway, back to my review:

It was a joy to follow the authorʹs development throughout the book. As he states at the beginning, he started the book as blog posts, the first one on Mercury. And in Mercurial fashion he starts. If the first entries were still a little cautious and feeling his way into the matter (notwithstanding his great use of illustrative language!), the author gets into his stride, becoming ever bolder and ever more authentic in the course of the book. I imagine it may have been some kind of ʹHeroʹs Journeyʹ of self-discovery to him, too. On the journey through the houses (evolving as a human), the style becomes ever more fluid, one theme flowing into the next, perfectly naturally, yet you wonder how you got there. For example, in House eight:

Money is value. Money becomes a symbol of value. Emotions are attached to wahtever is valued and emotions flow like money, they can be shared like money and they have power. Symbolic logic is a strange logic! (about the eighth as opposite house to the second. 89)

At this stage, I wondered if Jean-Marc Pierson had a website (and I really wanted to find his chart! -- later, my partner alerted me to the fact that the birth data were on the back of the book *roll-eyes*). And, hey presto: On his website, Pierson writes about himself:

I love metaphors. I am a storyteller.

Thatʹs certainly true, and he does it well!

Not only that. Thereʹs a deep humanity, love and understanding shining through his writing. Check out his website and blog, also the one called ʺI wish you the bestʺ, and you will find deep knowledge and wisdom.

I really should stop here. Because what else can there be to say? But, then, Iʹm only half-way through the book! All the signs are still to come! And a chapter on

Analogy rather than equivalence

This is a charming, disarming, fluid and yet logical treatise on the astrological alphabet, analogies, progressions and the Hermetic Law of ʺas above, so belowʺ. Simple, yet profoundly convincing!

Itʹs obvious if you think that spring is like morning, summer like midday, autumn like evening and winter like night. We do think and feel like this. The law of analogy implies that the way we think and feel about the world is not random nonsense but meaningful reality. (110)

The chapter ends, closing a circle, with a twist: What do progressions have to do with signs and houses?

There are metaphors, analogies and meaning everywhere!

Itʹs these simple truths and connections that are just taken for granted and often fall by the wayside, unless we consciously perceive them. Magical Doors is a true treasure chest for any astrologer - student or seasoned.

Besides being a joy-to-read introduction, it is a highly philosophical - and spiritual work.

The signs

ʺBefore the beginning, there is no time.
Without time nothing can start.
The absolute absoluteness of the eternal present moment is, and this is it.
At some point, however, there must be a starting point. (...) Thatʹs the Aries moment. The first one.
(113)

Well, what an entrance!

And then, Taurus:

... What if nature was the Great Spiritʹs body?
Aum...
Nature is Spirit dressed up in trees, rivers, mountain, clouds, plants, animals and us. (118)

Gemini:

We are Godʹs fingertips. (124)

Cancer brings an interlude on consciousness and whether science can prove it - or not.

This book reconciles us with life, making it the most natural thing to accept it as it is - and work on it!

Itʹs all about the esoteric, philosophical, metaphorical, and connecting the vast, the cosmic, with the small - our daily material existence - with ease and elegance. If anyone ever succeeded in connecting the dots of astrological metaphor and the symbolic meanings without throwing it all into one pot, itʹs Mr. Pierson in this book. Itʹs not just a book for the mind, the intellect, but also for the heart. It appeals to and ensnares our senses, it is a whole touching a whole - and all its parts. Itʹs associative writing to perfection!

As a gardener, analogies with nature and its growing and decaying processes are second nature to the author, as becomes clear in the Scorpio chapter. You might have guessed.

I just canʹt stop reading (and writing). I have to plough (or rather float) through it all from cover to cover. Sorry, dear reader. But the end is nigh. Worry not.

The final chapters: How to interpret a chart

At this stage, I really tried to get a feel for a possible natal chart of Pierson, and just as he was talking about the ʺValue of very fast moving things in the astrological chartʺ (chapter 38), he obliged with some details. The above mentioned dominance of the energies of Neptune, Moon/Cancer and Saturn.

The following chapters cover topics of interpreting a chart, and they got me contemplating about myself and how I go about interpreting charts. With Mercury in Gemini opposite Mars in Sagittarius, I tend to find it hard to analyse a chart and put it back together again. After some intense taking things apart and gathering information, my head starts spinning, and I canʹt see the wood for the trees. I cannot seem to bring it together. Or the contrary happens: I work with horoscope constellations, letting the client feel the energies for themselves and only adding the odd piece of background information on the symbols and their positions, thus stealing myself out of doing a proper analysis... Though, I must say, it works!

Anyway, the final chapters of this book gave me an idea of how to go about interpreting a chart without feeling lost in a vast ocean of information. They offered me an island, a place of solid earth, a refuge.

Jean-Marc Piersonʹs writing is a perfect expression of someone who dissolves boundaries and brings new structure to the resulting (apparent) chaos.

What I did notice: The very short chapters at the end seem to have a different style (and purpose?). They touch on themes, such as chart interpretation and synthesis, the Black Moon Lilith and the lunation cycle (I LOVE the lunation cycle as a clown story! It gave me a real Eureka! moment concerning my lunar phase.) However, to me, they do feel a bit like appetizers, like making your mouth water but refusing you the full 5-course menu (apologies for my Taurus analogies...). Maybe there is a 5-course menu on the stove? A continuation of the Magical Doors?

I, for one, would savour that very much!

Where to order:
The Wessex Astrologer or amazon.com