I have a dear friend who is in the web marketing world. The other day she sent me the contact info for a journalist who was looking for an astrologer to write something about how each sign acts in relationships. Her email was interesting timing. Firstly, I’m actively in the process of expanding my practice, so getting more exposure with my writing is a good and needed thing. But secondly, and in some ways, more importantly, I was just speaking to someone the day before about how much I deeply dislike this approach to astrology. Post like the one this journalist was looking for information on are always coming across my Facebook and Twitter feed and lately, they just make me want to scream.
I do not wish to attack or belittle any of my fellow astrologers, but this kind of astrology is chiefly responsible for the general public’s misperception of what astrology is, and how and why it is a fabulous tool. I’m not looking to say that, what is known by astrologers as Sun sign astrology, is complete without merit. After all, there is often a crenel of truth in all kinds of stereotypes, but it’s not the whole picture.
Sun sign astrology is the stereotypes of each sign. One it is just a generalization so it’s sure to fall flat, and two, the Sun is not the only celestial object used by astrologers, nor were all celestial objects in the same sign as the sum when any one of us was born. And thus, just looking to Leo because you were born on July 28th does not take into account that, perhaps Venus was in Gemini, the Moon was in Taurus and Saturn was in Aries; all of this and more is intertwined into you the Leo. And so just reading a column or a handful of words dubbed “Leo” does not speak to your totality.
I will concede that Sun sign columns are typically what first intrigues people into learning more about astrology. But generally, it is also what perpetuates the notion that astrology is nothing more than, to quote one of the participants in my doctoral thesis, “superstitious twaddle for nincompoops”. And so, I find, as I often do, that I am at an impasse, a threshold, or as C.G. Jung called it liminal space. I can neither, in good conscience contribute to the “You’re a Gemini and as the social butterfly of the zodiac monogamy is not your friend”, click bait. Nor have I found a consistent, non-heady, non-academic way to capture an audience in the same way that the click bait, Sun Sign twaddle seems to with such consistency. And yet at the same time, I must acknowledge that twaddle has kept astrology from being taken seriously as a discipline, it has also kept interest in the cosmology alive over the last 100-years.
For now, I’m going to leave the click bait to others, and stick to more complex, flushed out astrological discussions. It may limit the number of followers I have, but authenticity has always been one of the, if not the, most important trait I value in another. And thus, I must also demonstrate authenticity as well.
To that end, as I finish typing this the Moon and Jupiter are close to conjunction. That is they are occupying the same part of the sky. With the Moon, the governor of emotions and Jupiter tied to the expansion of all he comes across we may all be having big emotions today. This will be particularly true for those who have planets and/or points in their chart at or near the middle of the Cardinal signs, that is Aries, Cancer, Libra, Capricorn. This dance is only a few hours long, but can lake groundwork for our emotional state, at least through the weekend.
There… hopefully, that was neither too academic or twaddle-ish.