There Is More To Astrology Than Horoscopes!
Astrology is an ancient, complex metaphysical tradition that originated over 4000 years ago in Mesopotamia. Yes, indeed! Old Babylonia was its birthplace, not Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Neither was it concocted by an enterprising editor of some trendy newspaper or magazine.
Actually, the first horoscope in the modern press is credited to the British astrologer Richard Harold Naylor who wrote a horoscope for the newly born Princess Margaret, titled What The Stars Foretell For The New Princess. It was published three days after her birth on August 24, 1930 in the Sunday Express weekly newspaper. It was so popular with readers that he was asked to write more horoscopes for the publication.
The sun sign astrology we see in modern day horoscopes was not originally intended for the individual, but it has become a useful gateway to entice people into a deeper exploration of astrology. Nothing wrong with a little ‘cheese for the mice,’ as long as we bear in mind that true astrology does not exclusively revolve around our birth sun sign.
Our sun sign is only one letter of the astrological alphabet, albeit a highly significant letter. The other planets in our natal chart do view our sun as the center of things, but the cosmos and our individual lives contain so much more.
The layered complexity of a nativity, a client’s individual birth story crystallized in an exact moment of time and place, is a story as rich as the history that birthed it. Ancient Babylonia carried the first seeds of the western, tropical system of astrology that many of us practice today.
Let’s Go Girls, Vesta Is Calling Us!
Vesta, or Hestia as she is known in Greek mythology, is an asteroid located between Mars and Jupiter that is currently retrograde until October 5th, 2022. This means it is currently in close proximity to Earth and actually visible to the naked eye until Sept 11th, 2022. Women in particular should be watching her path, and engage with her empowering, divine feminine energy at this time.
Some experts believe that according to a formula that predicts the spacing between planets in any given solar system, known as the Titius-Bode law, Vesta may be located in an area that once contained a planet that no longer exists.
German astronomer H.W. Olbers first spotted the asteroid on March 29th, 1807, and his colleague Carl Friedrich Gauss named it Vesta. It takes 3.63 years for Vesta to travel around the sun, nearly twice as long as the orbit of planet Mars.
Vesta is the virgin goddess of the hearth, home, and family in Roman mythology. She is ‘the fire that warms, but never burns.’ In ancient Roman times, six vestal virgins had the sacred duty as priestesses at her temple to tend the vestal flame.
This was considered a very important job, as this sacred fire was deemed to be vital to the security and stability of Rome and therefore could never be allowed to go out. It took extreme focus and care to keep the flame alive.
The vestal priestesses did not have to comply with of the usual social and cultural obligations imposed on women in those patriarchal times. They were not required to marry and have children, but instead took a 30-year vow of chastity in order to fully devote themselves to service.
Dancing In The Multiverse
A movie I recently watched gave new feels to my feelings. Viewing the new sci-fi action adventure Everything Everywhere All at Once was for me like an Olympic event! The film dances in the multiverse and feels like an acid trip fueled by bizarre scenarios from the most imaginative cinematic minds. And yet, it reveals so simply and clearly what’s fundamental about life.
Certain pre-destined events happen in our lives over which we have no control (fate), but there are also many things that happen to us that we absolutely do control through our free will decision-making process.
This movie portrays the power of our free will eloquently. Every choice the lead character, Evelynn (Michelle Yeoh), makesaffords her a different life in another universe.
Evelynn is a worn-out, disappointed immigrant who operates a laundromat with her highly dysfunctional family that includes: a grumpy, narrow-minded grandfather, a geeky but highly lovable husband (Ke Huy Quan), and a distant, rebellious daughter who desperately desires her mom’s support in coming out to her grandfather. On top of all that, the family faces financial ruin when they can’t pay their taxes.
Just when Evelynn’s world is about to entirely collapse, the multiverse steps in to transform her into an antihero of incredulous proportions. Who’d have ever thought that downtrodden Evelyn could be the one to save the multiverse from ruin!
When a way cooler, Kung Fu fighting husband from another universe enters the milk-toast body of her husband, and places the heavy mantle of saving the world on her shoulders, Evelyn’s response is that she’s nobody, nothing. She can’t be the hero of this mission. But Mr. Cool delightfully replies, “You’re capable of everything, because you’re so bad at everything!”
But, It’s Mercury Retrograde…
Mercury went direct, finally, on June 3rd and not a moment too soon! If I can help it, I try to avoid signing new leases, having a carpenter come over to begin a new project, having a contractor pave our streets, or a daughter begin rehearsals on a very important one woman show she’s performing in New York City this summer.
You’d think having a resident astrologer on board would prevent all calamities from occurring. Not! That’s because I’m the town crier three to four times per year when Mercury retrograde takes to its sickbed. You can see me yelling through the streets warning all to thoroughly research, plan, to look before leaping, and expect delays, setbacks, and re-dos of whatever it is you’ve haphazardly done before.
Allow me to introduce myself: I’m the astrologer who cries wolf to a legion of fans who roll eyes at me. “No not this retrograde thing again! We’ve heard that before. Again, and again.
And you’ll hear it again because Mercury retrograde is one of those red flags that wave in your face and cause you to trip on a crack that needs fixing. It’s a backwards trickster this Mercury retrograde, and you’d best pay heed.
During the recent retrograde, I did my best to sound the alarm, but I was unilaterally ignored to the detriment of all who claimed they never heard my siren.
First case in point: My husband had my brother-in-law pop by for a sleepover yesterday with ulterior motives to utilize his unparalleled carpentry skills to beautify our wall. “All you gotta do is slap on a simple rock board before we add the stone,” proclaimed hubby. “Nothing to it for a master carpenter like you. Come on over for dinner, movies, and don’t forget your saw and tool kit!”
But it’s Mercury retrograde,” I whispered to my husband.
Jupiter, Pluto And The Judgment Of Solomon
One of my favorite astrologers, Christopher Renstrom, is an uber-wise storyteller who has a knack for bringing profound astrological messages to life. He recently spoke about the separating Jupiter-Pluto energies, likening both Jupiter and Pluto to judges: Jupiter symbolizing Zeus, the benevolent King of Mount Olympus, and Pluto to Hades, his brother, the King of the Underworld.
In many ways these energies are opposite to one another, one reigning in the light (Jupiter), the other in the dark at night, beneath the surface of things (Pluto). Yet, both kings preside in judgment over matters brought to their attention.
Christopher went on to relay the story of The Judgement of Solomon from the Hebrew Bible, in which Solomon rules between two women both claiming to be the mother of a particular child. The explained that this story beautifully exemplifies Jupiter and Pluto in their role as judges over life and death.
In the story, two women had given birth, but tragically one of the babies did not survive when the mother accidentally rolled over on the child in her sleep. In the morning, she secretly switched the two babies, giving the deceased newborn to the other mother. This mother awoke and found the lifeless child, but knew this wasn’t her baby. She knew the living child belonged to her instead, but the other mother denied this and wouldn’t give up the living child.
The case went before King Solomon, who agreed to listen to anyone’s complaint, no matter what walk of life they came from. And so, each mother, in-turn, argued her side, with no corroborating witnesses to back them up.
Solomon listened intently, then asked for a sword. He then ordered the living child be cut in two, with one half handed to each of the mothers as a fair resolution of the dispute. But the true mother of the living baby implored the king not to kill the innocent child, but instead willingly relinquished the baby to the other mother. The illegitimate mother, however, demanded the child be killed so no one would have it, dispensing her own morbid sense of justice.
Saturn Squaring Nodes Of Fate
Saturn is currently in the sign of Aquarius until March 7th, 2023. To honor this placement, let us consider what’s important for the collective and the world. We are in challenging times. A time weighed down by the Nodes of Fate, signalling that important decisions are to be made for humanity as a whole.
And we are all being asked to step-up and take responsibility (Saturn), to plan for the future (Saturn in Aquarius), and firm up our foundations with dogged determination (Saturn in Aquarius).
The time has come to fill in the gaps, and set up new rules and boundaries (Saturn), if we are to evolve on earth in a manner built on integrity (Saturn).
Weighty words indeed, but this is Saturn (Cronus) we’re talking about: a fellow in Greek mythology you don’t want to mess around with. A severe Titan he was the Lord of the Universe, but he feared he’d be overthrown by one of his children, in the same way he forced his own father, the sky god, Uranus, to flee Dodge.
Why would Cronus/Saturn do such a thing to his father? It was a choice he made to stand up for his family; for his mother who was grieving over the monstrous injustices done to her children who were imprisoned by their father, Uranus, in the pits of Tartarus.
Cronus was the strongest of the Titans and took up the challenge to do the right thing. When one is fearless and faces the future (Aquarius) with an eye toward humanity, instead of the selfish needs of the self (low side of Saturn), one can achieve great works that will be rewarded.
And They Call It Puppy Love
Many supernatural events occur at my home. When you actively work with the Divine on a daily basis, you can’t help but be plugged into energy that is wondrous at times. Also, my intentions are always set for positive, high vibrational energy to come in, so I don’t worry about the other kind.
When my daughter visits, the wattage is amped up to even higher levels, as she is quite a spiritually gifted creature herself! Recently, before she came home she experienced a vivid dream involving our new puppy – an adorable black, white, and brown King Charles Cavalier. He was due to arrive in a few days.
In the dream, the new puppy was happy to meet her, affectionately licking her face. She then named him ‘Admiral Halsey,’ after the delightful song Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey by Paul and Linda McCartney. What a perfect name for a pet, I thought.
But I had not mentioned any of this to my husband, as he was away at the time, visiting his mom. We lost our beloved family dog, Oliver, nearly a year ago from cancer, and my husband made it clear he didn’t want to go through anymore dog tragedies. He was adamant about not getting another dog, and there was no changing his mind on the matter.
The grief I felt for Oliver was immense; the tears I cried could have easily flooded the Nile! I will never stop missing him and I longed for a dog in our home. The desire kept on growing, until the burning need became so great, it compelled me to cast a horary astrology question to find out if I would ever be getting another dog, or not. Horary astrology is an ancient divination technique in which one casts a horoscope to answer a current question or address a burning issue in the here and now.
I was not expecting a positive outcome for the horary chart, and so you can only imagine my great surprise and utter euphoria when it very definitively showed that not only would I be getting another dog, but he was going to be arriving very soon!