Saturday, April 26, 2014

"Lifting the Veil; Becoming Your Own Best Astrologer" New Book just released from Amazon.com


Excerpt from one chapter of the book:

Could you become an astrologer? Why not? Astrology is simply a language of symbols, and like any language it can be learned with practice, patience and curiosity. Some people are more fluent in languages immediately and some people take longer to learn….try not to be too judgmental of your abilities right away—it’s just a matter of your degree of commitment to it and time. We all start at the beginning.

But even if you’re a beginning level French student, why not go to Paris or Quebec and start using some phrases? Why not start “playing” with this language and see if you can discover that you can do what you were afraid you couldn’t do? And if there’s any friend you know who wants to learn this astrological language with you, that’s even better. Pour over your charts together, use your reference books, and learn from each other.

Can you make a living doing astrology? Astrologers will react differently to that one. My response would be essentially yes. Astrological guidance is much sought after these days in my experience, and even more so if you have a niche within the field. If you can get yourself “out there” through giving classes, working a blog, a website, or a you-tube video, then you can begin making money. I do make a living doing astrology, but my income demands aren’t that high. I’ve also written a couple of books as mentioned before.  

I know it’s hard to start. Let me tell you a little story: My first reading was a request from a young woman in my woman’s group. She gave me Charlie’s birth information and I prepared for my first reading for hours. I was nervous as we started because I needed to tell her that Charlie wasn’t really all that “stable” (assuming this was her boyfriend) and that it looked like there could have been some abuse early in his life, which could indicate psychological problems now. I went on and on about Charlie…had he ever been to therapy? I asked. She finally grinned, and then laughed a sad laugh. Then she confessed: Charlie wasn’t her boyfriend, but her horse. Yes, her horse. The Vet had suggested she have him put down because he kept “intentionally” falling when she rode him, and she wanted a second opinion if this was a serious problem or not. After letting out a long sigh, I said, yes, it looked serious. She was sad to hear this, but she also admitted that the last time he fell he injured her and it seemed like this “reading” was confirming what she already suspected.

After that I did mini-readings for teenagers, mostly friends of my daughter; all for no fee. I knew most of them a little bit already, and I was very careful how I said things—and most of all, I made it positive.

Uranus and Neptune rule astrology, and when you have a strong transit of either, you may get “bit” by the obsessive astrology bug. It’s not cured easily. I was bit by this bug during my Uranus Opposition at age 41 and it was then that I began to become friends with other astrologers and read astrology books like an obsessive. Obsession is also a quality of Pluto transits…anyway….

Most astrologers learn the most from studying their own charts. You know yourself better than anyone else and you can tract the patterns and feelings that correlate with the moment with your chart. For some people, a planet like Saturn can be a very problematic transit, and for others it won’t be—you can look at your birth chart and see how any planet is aspected and get an idea if it’s likely to be relatively easy or not. If Saturn, or any of the outer planets is aspected in the birth chart with trines and sextiles, rather than squares and oppositions, you’re probably not going to get to too bothered by the negative possibilities of this planet. Remember to keep referring to your birth chart as you look at the transiting planets, and think back to earlier times when you had that transit. 

And because you’ve learned that planets do not make you the way you are, and that “why” astrology works is essentially a mystery, you’ll understand the delicious freedom of choice we have, and the advantages of knowing this language. Like a weather forecast, we can know when to bring a coat when it begins to get cooler. However we must always remember that we’re working with a mystery…and the laws of cause and effect, of karma, are not always immediately clear. Not even in one lifetime! So don’t expect to be the “all knowing” one.

Astrological readings are similar to counseling sessions, and it’s so important that you listen to what your client is saying. Sometimes clients simply want to vent…they need you to listen. And they want to know they’re being heard—so it’s your job to simply “mirror” what they say at times, by repeating back what they said in the way you understood it, and then look for the astrological correlate. So it’s not all about you telling them something new (which you might like to do) but also that you are hearing them on a deep level. If you don’t have good listening skills and you’re throwing a lot of astro-jargon at them, you’re probably going to find that the session isn’t satisfying. So balancing the listening, with the speaking, is crucial.

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