(...this essay can be found on p 20 of my new book ‘Postcards to the Future’, published Autumn 2021 and available everywhere from Amazon, including Amazon UK. There are 59 other “Mercurial Musings” to choose from! Enjoy…)
Anyone who has ever written a regular column will know that there are times when inspiration is – not to put too fine a point on it – notable by its absence. At other times, so many ideas are flying around that catching one by the tail to pin it down is, to say the least, tricky. And – you never know, as the last deadline is met and you can now relax for a few weeks – which set of conditions is going to prevail the next time.
So, Reader, there I was, new deadline appearing over the horizon, and…nada. Nix. No–thing. At all. Braincell dry as an old chewed-up bone. In this situation there are generally two options: blind panic – or blind faith. I have six fiery planets. This is often a curse, let me tell you, but in the matter of column deadlines, it is a blessing. So, armed with nothing but blind faith, I headed for the office.
To pass time sitting on the bus, I check my phone. Ahah – there’s a message on Messenger. A colleague is beginning a new project for the international company he works for, an unusual company where his boss is an astrology appreciator. He is making a podcast series on Turning Points: asking people to talk for five minutes on the one decision which changed their lives forever. He is inviting me to contribute.
“Ping!!” went the braincell, hit by a mini bolt of inspiration. I had my topic. I’d ruminate on what it was that inspired me to take up, and continue, the long-term study and practice of astrology. That decision certainly changed MY life forever.
So – what was it ?
Was it my youthful awe as I watched the Northern Lights enacting their glorious colourful dance, just above the skyline near our house? Perhaps it was lying cosy in bed, listening to the roaring gales of January tearing the world apart – wondering what the Power was behind that raging wind. Was it the growing excitement, as I grew up, of being able to spot familiar constellations in the clear, unpolluted night skies of my native island?
Or – maybe the Fates had already decided, leaving me a clue to be decoded many years later, via the placement of Uranus, the astrologers’ planet, at 25 Degrees of Gemini, in the tenth house of my natal horoscope?
I have recently been revisiting the significance of the placement of Uranus’ discovery degree, ie 24 degrees 27 minutes Gemini,(i) in the horoscopes of those drawn to the practice of astrology. A dip into my horoscope collection, lifting out three male and three female birth charts, found that all six prominent astrologers chosen have this degree either conjunct, square or opposite natal planets, Nodes or Angles: the lately deceased and much-missed Donna Cunningham, Michel Gauquelin, Liz Greene, Isabel Hickey, Johannes Kepler and Noel Tyl. (ii)
Johannes Kepler Asc 24 deg 25 mins Gemini
Furthermore, when I was 27 years old, progressed Sun crossed asteroid Urania, placed at 19 degrees of Virgo in my first house, square tenth house Uranus. That year, as mentioned in an earlier column, I had a totally random encounter with a pair of astrologers who predicted my future astrological career.
So – did I choose that career or did I come in with it already chosen? Was it Fate, or free will? We will, of course, never be able to answer that question. MY conclusion, hardly stunningly original, is that we dance to the tune of both. There are times when the power of Fate feels strongly present. Other times, the unglamorous wrestle with inertia, poor judgement, and other ills to haul our lives into a reasonably satisfying shape feels very strongly to be determined mainly by our own conscious efforts.
In the latter case, a major ingredient in the shaping process, in my opinion, is the power of inspiration. At twenty-four years of age (second Jupiter Return, anyone?!) I was fortunate enough to have what I later realised was a mystical experience, something which has continued to inspire me. This may well have created a spiritual backdrop for the subsequent encounter with astrology as foreground; when I met those astrologers I was going through a crisis involving wondering what, after all, my life was FOR…not an uncommon state for one’s late twenties!
Their accurate reading inspired me to investigate astrology further, initially via the UK’s Faculty of Astrological Studies. On discovering that I, too, could produce accurate and affirming feedback from those strange marks on a piece of paper which seemed helpful to people trying to understand themselves better, I was hooked. For the rest of my life.
Astrology has continued to inspire because it continues to challenge me. It challenges me because we are working with living energies, patterns whose essential meanings we have established over millennia, but whose manifestations are endless and only partly predictable. Despite decades of experience, I still get that tight anxious feeling before every new client I see, being very aware of my responsibility at least to do no harm, at best to help the person before me see their life in a more constructive, bigger context.
I am, of course, always curious to find out what inspires people to engage with astrology – and to keep going once they get there. There is an occasional series running on my blog, in which astrologers tell their interesting, unusual tales of inspiration and – of course! – an inevitable amount of perspiration…
Want to share your story? Go on…
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Endnotes:
First published in Dell Horoscope Magazine ‘The astro-view from Scotland’ (from the January/February 2018 Issue), this essay can be found on p 20 of ‘Postcards to the Future‘, published Autumn 2021 and available everywhere from Amazon, including Amazon UK. There are 59 other “Mercurial Musings” to choose from! Enjoy…
(i) and (ii) : all charts available free from Astrodienst: http://www.astro.com
950 words copyright Anne Whitaker/Dell Horoscope Magazine 2019
Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page of Writing from the Twelfth House
Great piece of writing Anne. I always enjoy your approach and information . My progressed sun squared my nodes when i was 27 and on my prog moon return in 12th house took up the reins of my astrology career.
So… 24 deg Gemini was where Uranus was discovered. It squares my venus.. thanks fir bringing my attention to this!
I often think , like you mentioned, at 24 there is an opening to tge spirit world it was slso so for me. I so wanted a purpose and had a yearning for development spiritually. I wonder how many others do and, even if it takes time, find it? Many i expect. You certainly have contributed so much .. thank you
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Thanks so much for calling by, Ysanne, and for sharing some of your details relevant to this post…sharing astrology in real lives is how we all learn.
And – a special thanks for your kind words about my work. Makes it all worthwhile!
Always appreciate your witty posts! My Uranus is 22 Gemini 08 3rd house. Dabbled for 45 years and now a student at FAS awaiting my Intermediate exam results. I enjoy your writing so much.
Lovely to hear from you, Carla! And some more great astrologers’ degree feedback… I started my formal studies with the Faculty Certificate – way back in 1983. You are in good hands! Trust your results are +++ !
Very strange to look back to see the links to becoming an astrologer. I was working in an office just about to leave for the birth of my first baby when a friend left a copy of the magazine She in the office, one of the girls pointed out that the resident astrologer for that magazine had a very special offer for an astroligcal reading. About ten years later I was clearing out and came across the reading, and wondered just how she had come to her conclusions. This was around 1982, very much pre computers or the availabliltiy of books – indeed our local library, very quietly, would not stock any books on the subject. I tried a local family owned bookshop. I was told no books on astrology, but if I would like to catch the lady who had just left the shop, he knew she was into astrology. I dashed out of the shop and caught up with the lady – she turned round and to my surprise was the recently retired infant school teacher at our school. Amazed, I said I had no idea she was into astrology, her reply – she would have had instant dismissal if she had breathed one word at work. She put me on to a friend who was a gifted clarivoyant as I was unsure if astrology was my thing. The clairvoyant gave a resounding yes! I found three schools of astrology, The Mayo School, I think the second was Huber and the third the Faculty of Astrologcal Studies, which was my choice. I took the exam around 1982/1983 for the Intermediate Cetificate, and studied for the Diploma until I ran out out money hald way through (never could get my head round Harmonics anyway). Like many astrologers of my time, I am always fascinated by the ciycles of the heavens especially, now we have computers, to track the long and even longer cycles and look back in time at the way they affected this planet then and how we will all dance to the tune of the cycles in this lifetime. For those who are interested, the Uranian degree in Gemini is in my first house, conjunct natal Venus, also with my . Uranus in Gemini at 16 degrees, and an anaretic Sun in the 12th in Taurus trine Moon in the 8th in Capricorn and yes, transiting Pluto is right on my natal Moon by transit at the moment with transiting Uranus in my 12th sqaure my Pluto/Mars in Leo….hmm
Interesting response, Angela, and thanks for the research feedback. Astrologers’ degree conjunct Venus in first house is a pretty strong signature for serious interest in astrology!
The link for Turning Points takes me to the retailer called LUSH. ?
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Hello Joan
I edited that link out approximately five minutes after publishing the post when I realised the same thing as you have pointed out! It was removed as soon as I noticed the original interview was no longer there.