Astrology and Me
My journey with astrology started waaaaaaaaaay back in the 1970s. Back then, there were no computer programs available to hippies like me. I learned how to do everything with a book, an ephemeris, a compass and protractor, a pencil, and a very large eraser (math has never been my strong point). In those days, it could take an afternoon to draw, calculate, and cast a birth chart, never mind look at transits or anything beyond the basics. I loved the work, hated the time suck.
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Fast forward to the early 90s, when I got my first personal computer. It was an IBM compatible Amstrad, and the first thing I did was order an Astrocalc chart interpretation program. I loved it. I could punch in the info and boom, there was all the math done for me. It opened up such a huge window! By this time I was doing the odd psychic fair or mind-body-spirit festival, but the problem there was that desktop computers were fairly large, and I couldn't hulk it around to the different venues.
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Enter Tarot and Other Portable Tools
I started reading cards, simply because they were so much more portable! Astrology was never far away, though. Once I became connected to the worldwide web in the late 90s I started doing online and email readings for people. I researched and learned and continued to grow in my knowledge. Somehow the practicality of astrology always appealed to me more than the tarot or other oracles. Where dealing cards or casting stones was a random outcome, astrology was a blend of astronomy and interpretation. I could see the planets—most of them—in the sky. I understood the importance of the Moon.
By the time the new millennium dawned I was doing readings for a living.; crystals, rune stones, tarot, and astrology. Astrology was still the least portable, so had to be reserved for email readings for the most part. Of course, now that there are smart phones and tables, that's not a problem. I can bring up the software anywhere—I can even do a tarot reading from my phone, should I not have my cards to hand!
A Way of Life
Now, my tarot and astrology tend to permeate everything I do. I've been stargazing for well over half my life. The idea of planting my garden without knowing what the Moon was doing is foreign to me. The designs of the tarot and the symbols of the runes find their way into my pottery, just like numerology creeps into my knitting stitches. It's simply part of who I am, and I've learned to accept that. It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but then, it wouldn't do for us all to be the same, now, would it?
