Why Astrology?
Photo Credit: @jsrl on Unsplash
Hello all! Happy Solar return to me! January 6th is my 55th birthday and marks the 55th time my sun returns to where it was in the sky at my birth. It also marks the beginning of my career as an astrologer as I am releasing my first offers today. Why astrology? Because I am truly a Capricorn sun who loves strategy, order and planning and being aware of what is happening in the cosmos as it relates to by birth chart has proven to be a fantastic way for me to create more balance and better care for myself and my needs.
I should stop now and tell you that up until five years ago, I thought astrology was a bunch of nonsense used to admonish people for their less than positive characteristic traits based on their ‘sign’. That was before I learned about astrology as a structured method to better understand your relationship to the moon, stars and planets as opposed to the highly entertaining, mostly un-empowering pop astrology published as horoscopes for entertainment. First and foremost, if you only want to use astrology as entertainment then by all means, read your sun sign horoscope and have fun. No need to read further, but if you want to add another layer of nuance to how you connect to the cycles of nature and the world around you so you can live more intentionally, then read on.
The first and biggest Aha! moment for me came when I learned that most horoscopes are not written for your sun sign but for your rising sign, the sign that was rising on the horizon at the exact moment of your birth. The sun sign is where the sun was in the sky at that time. In whole sign house systems, horoscopes are written based on your rising sign falling in the first house. From there, each of the signs are placed into their respective houses. Yes, your sun sign could also be the same as your rising sign and fall in the first house, but it may not. (I should note here that I am discussing whole sign house systems which places each sign into its own house - there are other methods that do things differently).
Each house represents a slice of life and the sign that falls into that house along with any other planets help provide more insight into that part of your life. An astrologer writes collective horoscopes by looking at the sign and the house for a person’s rising sign. On a collective level, everyone with the same rising sign will have the same astrological signs falling into the same houses. Thus a collective horoscope is written. A more individualized reading would look at your actual birth chart and not only take into account the house and sign but also other placements such as if you have any planets there, any aspects (relationships to other parts of your chart) and/or angles or nodes depending on the reading. This makes the reading much more personalized to you.
This does not, however, make the reading a pre-determined, fated snapshot of your personality or your future. For me, that is not a realistic or empowering way to use astrology or any information for that matter. I use my astrology just like I use other tools such as Oracle cards or Tarot, to help more deeply tap into my intuition, so I can use that information to be more intentional about how I live my life. I love living in tune with the cycles of the moon and seasons so adding the cycles of the planets helped add another layer for me.
I hope to share more about astrology in future posts as well as continue to share other aspects that make up intentional living for me. If you are interested in your astrology, consider letting me help you by booking one of my readings. As a birthday gift to you from me, I am running a special offer on my Align with the Astrological Seasonal Reading subscription. Click here to learn more about this introductory offer.