I beg to differ, Jim.

“I don’t know how many of you people believe in astrology.  I am a Sagittarius. The most philosophical of all the signs.  But anyway, I don’t believe in it.  I think it’s a bunch of bullshit.”   

                                                                                                                                             -Jim Morrison

                                                                                                                                  

Many people never learn the importance of getting a true sense of self and self worth.  They want something that delivers a fast and easy feeling of comfort and fun, but in truth all they are really getting is a delusion of worth.  With a few more toys and distractions handed to us as necessities of life, the need for a solid center in our soul may disappear with the current generation.  If you have enough selfies and social network friends to keep you occupied and delusional about your reality, you may be fine for the moment, but I look at the people around me and I cannot see anyone who is really happy.  Ego and narcissism are running rampant and I do not see an end to it.  Unless some unexpected disaster or tragedy befalls us we will do nothing to turn the tide of a culture lost in hell.  Is it safe for you to walk down the street alone in your town?  When was the last time you had a good relationship with someone where you felt listened to, understood, and loved?  You may think that these things have lost their relevance, but if you still want to feel human and truly alive you will have to reach back in to the past to find a future.

It was by accident that I discovered astrology many years ago.  My sister had a book called “Sun Signs”,  by Astrologer, Linda Goodman, sitting on a shelf in her house collecting dust.  I knew nothing about the subject except what my “sign” was.  After reading only a few pages in the section about my own sign I was hooked.  I saw myself in so much of what was written there and I felt like someone was finally giving me permission to be me because I was entitled to be. That pivotal moment in time changed my life forever and set me on a path that was paved with extreme highs and extreme lows but also with immense satisfaction in finding that I was what I was for a reason.

As a devout ‘hooked on astrology’ person, I have made it a life study but you do not need to adopt a scholarly interest in the subject to benefit from it’s wisdom.  A scholarly interest in yourself and a few good reference books will work wonders for your self confidence and peace of mind in living with yourself and others in a very cold and complicated world.

I could not recommend a better book  to start you on the path to self knowledge than the first one that I picked up by Linda Goodman.  “Sun Signs” takes you to the heart of what it means to be an Aquarius or a Virgo or a Libra.  It tells you how to recognize people born under each of the 12 signs of the zodiac, and what both genders are like in each division.  You will find yourself reading about everyone that you know and discovering an “ah ha!” moment in every chapter.  Getting to a genuine sense of your own personal reality with astrology will take you beyond the pages of this book, but it sets the framework for a higher sense of what you have within you to find inner peace with yourself like no other book I have ever read. It is available through many internet booksellers and possibly at your local public library.

Once you understand that there is an underlying reason and intelligence behind what you are like and why you are like that, astrology can open up a whole new world for you. The things that people tend to tease you about and use to mock and demean you with are many times fully explainable as things that are unique to your birth sign and not character flaws but issues that challenge you to seek balance in your life. You are not what others tell you you are. You are what you were born to be and the sum total of what your life circumstance has given you to work with. Some people have to work much harder at balancing what they are told by others and what they really are.  Many times there are past life reasons for a set of circumstances that you find yourself in (working with your past lives will be discussed in future posts) but your ability to balance your world is greatly enhanced if you are operating from a position of strength in a core belief that you are what you were meant to be already, and this faith in yourself can keep you strong and balanced when other people and life upsets would have you fail and fall.

There is a different school of wisdom in the teachings of the Chinese zodiac. This system is also based on 12 signs which are calculated specifically on the year that you were born, beginning with the first day of the Chinese new year each year.  The start date of the zodiac varies from year to year but the beginnings are always in either late January or early February.  Each sign is represented by a creature in the animal kingdom starting with the Rat, which is, similar to Western Astrology which starts with Aries.  The other signs are the Ox, the Tiger, the Rabbit, the Dragon, the Snake, the Horse. the Goat, the Monkey,  the Rooster, the Dog, and the Boar. Character traits for the signs mirror traits like those of the animal representing them.  

“The New Astrology” by Suzanne White, is a wonderful book on the Chinese system that is easy to understand quickly.  It is a book which is a good reference for learning how Eastern and Western astrology can blend and be used to give a very good overview of your character, using both systems in a complementary way.  Suzanne describes all signs in the Chinese and the Western systems.  She has charts for both which make it easy to determine your personal profile and then she combines them in chapters that cover every possible combination  I found this book to be very helpful to me in discovering a more complete picture of a person in a super easy to understand format.

As much as I love this book and have used it as a reference for charting profiles on many people, I will say that Suzanne tends to have a bit of bias toward certain signs, most particularly the Boar.  It is just her personal opinion as the writer and interpreter but it can be annoying to those born under that sign.  Another issue that probably sends serious Chinese astrology followers into fits is her substituting the title Pig for the Boar, and Cat for the Rabbit in these divisions.  She explains her reasons for doing this and I have never found it to be a real hindrance in my studies but it may be an issue for some people who are real sticklers for accuracy.  Her analysis of these signs is accurate enough to understand the picture/profile of those born in that time-frame, though, except for an unflattering opinion of those in the Boar/Pig division.  It is not without it’s personal quirks and biases but it is a good starting point for learning some astrology basics.  The book is available at many online book sellers and probably also at your local public library.

Either of these books are  excellent places to begin your journey into finding your true self and learning to make use of what the Universe has provided you with to make your life better and easier to navigate in tough times and in uncertain times 

The elements of your future can be found in your past.  Take the time to look for them.  You have a standing invitation.