Last weekend I spoke at an astrology conference, NORWAC (northwest astrology conference)…and was truly inspired by the tribal gathering of my starry eyed brothers and sisters. A lovely sense of community developed over the weekend, and so much inspiring insight and learning that I will be mulling over for weeks to come. If you missed it, they do have tapes of the lectures for sale, which are well worth it.

I find in myself a growing awareness of how we as astrologers in a western mindset have used a mechanical philosophy to interpret our craft. For those of you who know what a chart looks like, it’s like a map. And don’t we all fall prey, especially us astrologers, for mistaking the map for the territory? And not only that, but also by taking out pieces at a time without the systemic integration?

For example, I found that when I’m around folks that speak astrologese (and you know who you are) I’ll mention a tendency for clumsiness, say, and immediately follow it with “I have a sag moon” or “mars is square my uranus.” Now, granted, sometimes that does extend a cool connection with someone. But I also found that when talking with others I would sometimes use it as a shield, and I witnessed others doing the same. Here is maybe the exquisiteness of the Aquarius / Leo polarity, of having a shared language that allows us to be accepting and honoring of the light of truth we each carry, but of the necessity to shine that light regardless of the language.