Dane Rudhyar, Author, Astrologer, Composer, Artist, Modern Renaissance Man
(1895-1985?) March 23, 1895, Paris, France, 00:42 AM.
(Source: from his wife, L. Rael, taken from a given time of “midnight to 1:00 AM”, and used by Dane Rudhyar, himself.)
Died, September 13, 1985, San Francisco, CA.

(Ascendant, Sagittarius; MC, Libra; Sun and Venus in Aries; Moon in Aquarius; Mercury and NN in Pisces; Mars, Pluto and Uranus all conjunct in Gemini, with Mars/Neptune conjunct the seventh house cusp, and Jupiter also in Gemini; Saturn and Uranus in Scorpio)

Dane Rudhyar was a pioneer (Sun in Aries) in the field of transpersonal astrology, also known as “Humanistic Astrology”. He was deeply interested in the psychospiritual meaning of astrology (evidence of his second ray soul and his Rising Sign, Sagittarius), focussing far less upon the event level of astrology – though he was surely capable of doing so (offering significant rectifications of the charts of many important individuals, including the chart of Alice A. Bailey his close friend and, presumably, ashramic brother). His search was for the archetypal patterns (second ray and Sagittarius) which caused and gave significance to outward manifestations.

Rudhyar wrote voluminously (expansive Jupiter, exoteric ruler of his Sagittarian Ascendant in verbal, thought-filled Gemini) on astrology and related psycho-spiritual fields. Mars, exoteric ruler of his Aries Sun, conjunct both Pluto and Neptune in Gemini, promotes intensity and depth in the expression of thought. A high note of idealism sounds through his writing as a result of this Mar/Neptune conjunction – both planets of the sixth ray. Additionally, the Sun is found in the third house of mind, and also the house of the writer and thinker. Further, the North Node (indicating a focus to be applied) is also placed there.

His was a mind of unusual subtlety, sensitivity and depth (Mercury, the esoteric ruler of the Sun sign – valid in the chart of initiates – in Pisces, exoterically disposited by Neptune, and exoterically by Pluto, both conjunct in Gemini). His depth of psychological insight is indicated by the planet of transformation, Uranus, and the planet of realistic assessment, Saturn, both in Scorpio.

It is interesting to note the position of Chiron on the MC, conjunct the Earth (heliocentrically considered). Chiron, at its higher level of expression, is a second ray planet, a healing, guiding planet – and indeed Rudhyar was the wise guide (Chiron) to more than a generation of progressive, spiritually-inclined astrologers and spiritual seekers. Chiron, the “Quest Guide” (though placed, for Rudhyar in Libra) is naturally associated with Sagittarius, his Ascendant, and thus the indicator of soul-direction in this particular incarnation. The Earth is the esoteric ruler of Sagittarius, and is conjuncted to Chiron, indicating a practical dharma for Rudhyar as one who indicates the Path, and the wise (Sagittarius) and balanced (Libra) manner of treading it.

“Sagittarius, which is governed esoterically by Mother Earth, produces those conditions whereby the Path itself achieves glorification.”(EA 130)

Dane Rudhyar had great versatility – as a thinker, artist, philosopher, poet, metaphysician, astrologer and composer. He was a modern Renaissance man. This universality is reinforced by his four Gemini planets, with Jupiter among them trine his eclectic Aquarian Moon. More deeply, it indicates the inclusiveness of his second ray soul. He was a good friend of Alice A. Bailey (who considered him a brother in the second ray Ashram). They held each other in the highest respect. Dane Rudhyar (according to the Tibetan in unpublished writings – a “world disciple”) was one of the few people (not a member of the Tibetan’s Groups of Nine) to receive the installments of the book on Esoteric Astrology which A.A.B. and the Tibetan were in process of writing. In Rudhyar’s classic Astrology of Personality, there are a number of tabulations taken directly from the Tibetan’s books – notably A Treatise on Cosmic Fire and Esoteric Astrology.

While there can be no certainty in such matters, a reasonable ray chart for Dane Rudhyar might be conceived as follows: III 2 4-367.

His great fundamental intelligence suggests a monad upon the third ray (as is the case with at least seventy five percent of disciples in the world today, having come from the “Moon-chain”:) – a third ray which, interestingly, would find expression through the ‘Earth Point’ (considered as the Monadic Point) in third ray Libra. That his soul is focussed upon the second ray – wise and full of loving-understanding seems clear. Second ray Jupiter in second ray Gemini would be the planet and sign through which this second ray could most powerfully express, aided by intelligent, intuitive Mercury in second ray Pisces (a most intuitive placement). An artistic, expressive, versatile fourth ray personality is likely – expressing, of course, through the entire chart, but finding special points of expression through the circulatory fourth ray Aquarian Moon (the sign of which it is the hierarchical ruler) and fourth ray Mercury in intuitive, synthesizing Pisces.

His mind is hypothesized to be conditioned by the third ray of “Creative Intelligence”. Its great powers of abstraction and synthesis and its fluidity seems to suggest the third ray – reflective of a hypothesized third ray monad. (The mind, archetypally reflects the monad, just as the astral nature reflects the soul and the physical nature, the personality as a whole). As for the idealism or devotion of the sixth ray, this is much supported by the Mars/Neptune conjunction, both of them important sixth ray planets. This two/six line expressed very much through his Gemini planets, and thus through his writing. His physical appearance suggests a seventh ray body.

Because Dane Rudhyar is, presumably, linked to the second ray Ashram, and was, in fact, quite closely connected with the Tibetan Teacher, and because he was a psychologist of such depth, his rays may shine through more clearly than is the case with many well-known persons. He would be an excellent subject of study (as is Roberto Assagioli) for those interested in understanding the way of the modern, second ray disciple-initiate in the modern world.

Dane Rudhyar, like Alice Bailey, was a “world disciple”. The profundity of his thought and his commitment to the reformulation of the astrology (and especially the ‘philosophy of astrology’) indicates that he was certainly involved with the expression of the Divine Plan, the requirement for those who have passed through the second portal. The mere fact that the Tibetan considered him a “world disciple” would be an indication that he had passed the third portal or was on the verge of doing so. Of such intimate matters we cannot be the judge, nor should we be. We can only recognize that if the “Revelation of Unity” is the task of the third degree initiate, Rudhyar was (at least in terms of his thought) seemed to fulfill the requirement.

He was not necessarily an easy author to understand and assimilate (perhaps the result of a profound third ray). His writing was abstract (Mercury in Pisces trine generalizing Jupiter) but also clear (Mercury trine Saturn). He was celebrated by thousands of astrologers and spiritual seekers who understood perhaps very little of the real depth and subtlety of his thought.

Once when the author [Robbins] was a young man, he attended a national astrological convention in Houston, Texas and had the good fortune to speak with Marcia Moore (an excellent astrologer who was closely associated as a young woman with Alice Bailey and even more so with the groups which carried on after her passing). The author, being relatively new to esoteric astrology, was in search of a “real esoteric astrologer”. He put the question to Marcia Moore: “Who do you know that is a real esoteric astrologer”? The answer came back without hesitation: “Why Dane Rudhyar. He is the most esoteric astrologer I know”. The author now appreciates the truth of her statement.

In his first great astrology book, The Astrology of Personality, (dedicated to Alice A Bailey) Rudhyar referred openly to the esoteric astrology of the Tibetan, Whose astrological instructions he was receiving at the time. Later he discontinued reference to what students of Alice Bailey usually regard as esoteric astrology. In fact, he said directly to the author during a visit in 1975, when asked about AAB’s approach to esoteric astrology, “It’s not astrology as I know it”.

But if one reads very carefully between the lines, one understands that astrology, as Dane Rudhyar wrote it and practiced it, was the result of a deep rootedness in the Trans-Himalayan Wisdom, as that wisdom is expressed through the second ray Ashram. It is simply that he had the originality and comprehensive understanding to restate the astrological wisdom of the ages in his own distinctive terminology with the inevitable effect of concealing, for some, its roots.

This brief sketch can do no real justice to the life of a great astrologer and great man. His expression was so diverse and so comprehensive, that one could write a book about the significance of his astrological thought alone, not to mention his philosophical and psychological writings and his musical compositions and theories.

Dane Rudhyar was reticent about his astrological chart. He did not want his exact time of birth given out and was disappointed when it was. Occasionally he referred to various factors within his chart. It is known that he was married five times and many have wondered at it. He once referred obliquely to the conjunction of Neptune, Mars and Pluto at the seventh house cusp, and especially to the transcendental nature of Neptune. He seemed to be explaining a subtler, educative purpose for those marriages.

Most importantly, however, he referred to his Ascending degree in Sagittarius (“The Great Pyramid and the Sphinx”. The enduring power of occult knowledge and of its quasi-divine Custodians, ‘Seed men’ of a previous cycle of existence. “The Power of Spiritual Ancestry”). These are his own words and in them he was writing about his own essential identity, for he considered the Ascendant the most distinguishing point in the astrological chart and most indicative of an individual’s root-pattern of being.

Aries is the ‘sign of the seed’ and Rudhyar promoted the concept of the ‘Seed Man’ (one who seeded the world with the true archetype of his identity). It would seem that Dane Rudhyar fulfilled this high ideal remarkably well.