Astrology is not a religion in fact it is a study, a study of life. But, because it deals in archetypal truths, shows unvarying cycles and can register major events in individual lives and national history, astrology is quite closer to describing "the will of God". But today the potential depth and meaning of astrology has been lost and its now nothing but a magazine column or a party gossip. The relationship of astrology and religion is that only a religious mind can help astrology resolve the eternal problems related to fate and freewill. Astrology was the foundation of all the ancient religions: Egyptian, Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Zoroastrian, Mithraism, the Druids and the Norse gods. It was also at the heart of the Mayan, Aztec and Inca religions in the Americas with the Sun as the supreme God. It is not surprising to find the planets at the heart of the ancient world religions of today: Judaism and Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and the Tao

The Gods, the indefinable divine Spirit, should not be confused with the everyday astrological spirit of Jupiter. The mundane may mirror the divine but the divine is of a different, higher order. The Kabbalah is quite explicit about these ascending metaphysical levels, finally attaining the divine. The characters of the eight principal Hindu Gods fit the characters of the eight principal Sephiroth, or Shining Ones, of the Tree of Life. There are some remarkable similarities between the Birth stories of Krishna and Christ. Ganesh, the expansive and beneficent elephant God who represents the divine Spirit of Jupiter in India, is translated as Lord of Hosts, one of Jehovah’s favorite titles.

Yahweh (Jehovah) and Allah, the Merciful and the Compassionate, are the names of God in Judaism and Islam. It is well recognized that they refer to the same deity as the Christian Father, the One God of the Old Testament, perhaps seen in different lights. The favorite title of Allah, ‘the Merciful and Compassionate,’ precisely defines the combined Sagittarian and Piscean character of Jupiter, particularly on the Tree of Life where Jupiter’s Sagittarian Sephira, or Shining One, is called Hesed, Mercy. The Piscean nature of Compassion is in little doubt among astrologers. The famous sacred Tetragrammaton, Yod-He-Vau-He, which spells the name of Yahweh, comprises four letters from the higher triad which centres on Jupiter’s throne at Mercy.

Buddhism dogmatically denies any external deities but in practice Tibetan Buddhism acknowledges a full pantheon. Tibetan Buddhism also recognizes the four astrological elements, earth, air, fire and water, at its very heart. More graphic evidence of the Tradition of the Tree of Life can be seen in the image of Avalokitesvara, the God of Compassion, which reproduces the central column of the Tree. Several elements in the story of the Buddha strongly echo the Tradition of the Tree, particularly his ascension to the top of the Bodhi Tree when he attained Enlightenment. The top or Crown of the Tree of Life, the Shining One of Neptune, is the favorite throne of the Lords of the past age of Pisces, Christ, Krishna and Buddha.

Perhaps the clearest evidence of the worldwide knowledge of the Tree of Life can be found in the most far-flung and unexpected quarter. The eight tri-grams of the Tao date back over three thousand years and are used for oracles, divination, for a faith which has temples of the ancestors rather than the gods, though the Tao does recognize a Supreme Unity, Supreme Spirit, or God. The eight tri-grams are traditionally placed on a wheel representing the eight directions. In this arrangement their different elemental characters relate extremely closely to the zodiac characters of the major planets in the corresponding positions on the Tree.