Long before Piscean Age televangelists began to market their beliefs and appeal for funds on Aquarian Age television the first astrologer-priests preached and taught the tenets of The Religion of the Stars.
To them the stars and their constellated pictographs proclaimed the glory of God and as time passed God’s divine words were supplemented with myths, legends and traditions.
From 1919 to 1929, in the Age of Aquarius, Elbert Benjamine, the founder and then president of the Church of Light, devoted some of his time to decoding and giving the divine stellar wisdom a modern day translation.
It’s because these spiritual truths are written in the stars that they comprise the doctrines and tenets of The Religion of the Stars; and the religion’s teachings are based on observed facts, aka nature’s laws, or reasonable conclusions drawn from them.
Coming from a perspective of knowledge The Religion of the Stars recognizes that in religion all life is trying to satisfy the drives which are the motive force of every life-form on Earth.
They are: The drive for freedom from want, freedom from fear, freedom of expression and freedom of religion.
And to obtain these four freedoms in proper measure The Religion of the Stars recognizes that people need as many facts as possible about themselves, the physical world where they now live and the astral world where their souls will continue to live after their physical bodies have ceased to function.
The Religion of the Stars teaches that these four freedoms, which motivate all life, ensure the best possible progress; and it recognizes that facts are needed to determine what God wants and the best type of life to live.
It teaches the facts of astrology, the facts of extrasensory perception, the facts of induced emotion and the facts of directed thinking and recognizes that these facts need to be easily understood so that individuals can investigate and test them for themselves.
The facts of life
These facts reveal that your soul is not a vague, non-physical, misty nothingness.
It’s a dynamic thought-built intelligence which prompts your various thoughts and actions and is primarily responsible for every important event that comes into your life.
They reveal that souls are being educated to do a job – now and in the future – and that the progress of the cosmos depends upon specialization of parts and proper division of labor.
These facts reveal that the universal law of compensation compels each soul to work out its own salvation; that the reward for effort is increased ability; and that each soul, here and hereafter, has the opportunity to work out its own glorious destiny of eternal progression.
There is no vicarious atonement and no eternal suffering in hell and no blissful stagnation in heaven.
The Religion of the Stars teaches that the universe is an organic whole permeated with the consciousness of God. It is not an aimless collection of material particles obeying blind physical laws. And it teaches that this organic whole, in response to the mental design of God, is marching endlessly toward greater and greater perfection.
In this stupendous scheme your soul, both on Earth and in the hereafter, is called upon to employ initiative, and to intelligently assist in carrying forward the work necessary to realize God’s Great Plan.
God’s Great Plan
The ancient wise ones adored the heavens. They knew that God’s Great Plan was revealed through a study of God’s words which, in the language of symbolical pictograph, were traced among the stars as the constellations.
They viewed astrology as a sacred science. They knew that God’s will is revealed through the constellations, zodiac signs and planets; that God speaks with humanity through the constellations; and that your birth chart reveals your relation to the balance of the universe and to God.
The laws of astrology are nature’s laws and astrology is the science of finding and utilizing your natural potential as indicated in your birth chart.
As the science of the soul and stars it constitutes a religion. The union of astro-science and astro-religion produced The Religion of the Stars.
Science and religion had a common ancestor: astrology. And astrology is the most popular avenue through which people can become interested in The Religion of the Stars. But the popular, fortune-telling type, astrology that adorns the internet is the unworthy delinquent child of a sublime science. It’s undeserving of religious veneration.
Astrology as religion
Religion is a code of individual conduct and natal astrology becomes a religion when it shows you how you can use your God given potentiality in a spiritual way for the benefit of all humanity and the furtherance of Deity’s purposes.
If the writer of the 19th psalm spoke wisdom, the purposes of Deity can be learned not only from the prophets who employed ESP, but also from observing the positions and movements of the heavenly bodies. He wrote
‘The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.’
The Religion of the Stars teaches that astrological energies have affected the course of evolution at every step.
It teaches that invisible energy streams from the planets exert pressures on living things and inanimate objects; and that they’re influencing the course of history at this moment and will influence it throughout the future.
The Religion of the Stars, via its understanding of natural law and your birth chart provides knowledge that reveals and emphasizes the reality of your relation to life, the universe and to Deity – the source of all life.
Your birth chart is a map of your soul aka unconscious mind or character.
It allows you to glimpse your cosmic purpose and to build your life so that your feeling of being an important, useful citizen (Sun) becomes a permanent expression of your character.
The religion gives instructions on how this feeling of importance, which is needed in order to live effectively, can be attained.
The Religion of the Stars
The Religion of the Stars presents Deity as the universal presence, ‘in whom we live, move, breathe and have our being’; and holds that you can contact this presence yourself through prayer, meditation and other devotional exercises. The idea of individual importance is clearly conveyed.
It teaches the facts of astrology and instructs its members to observe the positions of the planets in their birth charts because practical experience shows that they map their natural aptitudes, temperament and trend of fortune in each department of life. And that subsequent to their birth they influence what they think and do and the events that define their life story.
The Religion of the Stars gives instruction in optimal living embracing your physical, mental, emotional, moral and spiritual development.
It knows that finding your place in the scheme of things, so that you can function at peace with yourself and your world – continually utilizing your developing powers in a higher mode of expression – is a high personal priority.
It teaches that you will get more out of what you do and maximize your mental, emotional and spiritual development when you take pleasure in doing something that contributes to the welfare of others and makes the world a better place.
And that this requires intelligent effort motivated by the desire to benefit the world guided by birth chart knowledge; the development and application of natural talent in some field which benefits others; the cultivation of noble emotions; and an attitude of constructive thinking.
It teaches that your spiritual development follows a natural course; that spiritual progress is made by doing; that you can only become spiritual by using up your energy doing spiritual things; and that spiritual endeavor builds a spiritual body that’s made of spiritual substance.
The Religion of the Stars embraces the facts of extrasensory perception and encourages its safe and sensible development as a means to personally learn something of the inner-plane astral world and after human-life conditions.
It teaches that there’s a universal moral code by which the morality or immorality of any act to be gauged.
This code states: A soul is completely moral when it is contributing its utmost to universal welfare.
Those who hold and believe in this religion are called Stellarians. They believe that God speaks to them through the positions of the planets in their birth charts; that the constellated teachings have a practical and spiritual application in their lives; and that a personal map of their character facilitates the devising and application of personalized techniques for correcting character flaws and defects.
The Religion of the Stars desires to move remote astro-science from its isolation and embed it much more in your normal human experience.
The Religion of the Stars today
The Religion of the Stars is unique in the current religious landscape because its teachings are grounded in truths that can be personally tested.
And because religion forms the pattern of human conduct, it has far greater significance than the industrial, technological and scientific advancement that is currently taking place today.
Science gives power to accomplish; but whether that power is used for the benefit of humanity or enables the few to subjugate and exploit the many, is a religious consideration.
In the Age of Aquarius religious teachings will determine if selfishness or the humanitarian spirit will prevail.
The Religion of the Stars is based on the wisdom which expresses the Aquarian spirit of altruism and the spiritual text associated with Aquarius: Do and think unto others as you would have them do and think unto you.
The religion is inviting you to forget what you’ve been told and start again but it does not place reliance on authority so when it comes to its teachings you’re expected to do your own thinking and base your conclusions on personal experience.
Elbert Benjamine’s Church of Light was incorporated to teach, practice and disseminate The Religion of the Stars. Its teachings, as set forth in 210 lessons covering each of the 3 branches of occult science, were written by CC Zain under the auspices of the now defunct Brotherhood of Light.
Words written by Elbert Benjamine and Edward Doane are scattered throughout this article on The Religion of the Stars.
Astrology for Aquarius – sharing our knowledge
