Once upon a time (many times), I was asked what a birth chart could possible reveal since astrology is, so, well, you know, bogus. Sometimes, remarks like this irritate and piss me off. Other times, I think, Yeah? Let’s see what your birth chart tells me.
Astrology is a symbolic language, what with all these symbols in a circle divided into unequal 12 slices. How can any of it possibly mean anything? But 3 days after our daughter Megan was born, our friend Renie and my astrology mentor, read Megan’s birth chart. I remember we were sitting at our dining room table at our condo in Fort Lauderdale, and Renie was studying the chart I’d had printed at a New Age bookstore. Astrology software programs back then were rare and personal astrology programs on phones and computers didn’t exist. Then again, Smart Phones didn’t exist, either.
The highlights of her chart: she was born the day after a solar eclipse in Virgo, so both her sun and moon are in Virgo, 6th house. She has Pisces rising, Sagittarius at the Midheaven – career area. Some of what Renie said has unfolded. Imagination, compassionate, a huge heart, artistic. Art would be a big thing in her life. Picky eater, Self-critical. Detailed, a master at details. Would work with animals in some capacity, perhaps as a veterinarian. Intuitive, perhaps even psychic.
What Renie got wrong: Megan’s not a vet.
But she works with animals – dolphins at an internship in the Florida keys, then later at Disney, where she worked with dolphins. She has a dog walking business, majored in art, has an Etsy store and a secondary business painting pet portraits. I remember Renie saying that she might be a writer, too. But since Rob and I are writers, that made sense. Sure enough, she finished her first novel – Dystopian – and is looking for an agent. We’ve read the novel in its various incarnations and although we’re biased parents, we think the story is terrific and salable.
I later reealized the writing possibilities Renie saw had to do with the Virgo mind – a master of details, an excellent communicator ruled by Mercury, the planet of communication. When I became more proficient at reading charts, I understood her Sagittarius Midheaven is ruled by Jupiter, the planet that governs- among other things – publishing.
So Renie’s reading was accurate in terms of archetypes and possibilities. But a birth chart is only a blueprint, the soul’s blueprint of intentions. Our free will – our choices – determines how the possibilities manifest themselves.
One thing is for sure. The night that Renie was studying Megan’s chart, I never imagined that we would be texting and talking about our respective books, ideas for books, or the finer points of writing. I LOVE IT.
