Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Why Astrology?

Why do I do this? Why don’t I do something else?

I was erecting an imaginary conversation in my mind’s eye with a person who is reading astrology, and in my opinion, really shouldn’t be. I think the person lacks the depth of understanding requisite to be a practicing astrologer, however there is no regulation in the field, and any buyer of astrological services has to be aware that some astrologers are not up to the task.

Anyway, in the course of my ethereal “conversation” I sat this person down and asked, sincerely, why do you do astrology?

Of course, when we ask a question like that of another soul, we have to be prepared to answer it for ourselves. This prompted some navel gazing, and now I’ll inflict it on you all.

The short answer to the question “why do you (Rod Smith) practice astrology?” is “I can’t be anything but an astrologer.” I mean, sure I can work at any number of different jobs, and I may have to do one of those for a while as I regroup and work at building a larger clientèle, however, everything I am as a human being is tied directly, or indirectly, to my astrology.

From the moment I laid eyes on astrology as an integrated mathematical system, I could not put it down.

I had seen the sun-sign columns and dismissed them as a crutch for the feeble-minded.

The astrology I was introduced to when I asked my bother Carl, “so, how do I construct a chart, and what are these squiggles all about?” had nothing to do with feeble minds. The mathematics and physics were not particularly difficult, but they are daunting if you are not a math person. The symbolism of the planets is also daunting if you are not a metaphysical person. Thankfully, I am both.

I had been observing human behavior and asking big questions for a long time before I ever erected an astrology chart, but once I erected that chart, I understood humanity in a way that I have never understood before. Its as though a thousand of my most pressing questions were answered in that one chart. The next chart I erected answered a thousand more.

When I could lay the planets on a chart, and see their interactions working in the lives of those around me, I was gone, hook-line-and-sinker.

It took about two years of obsessive work with charts and harmonics and numbers and potentials to really grok astrology as a system for understanding people. It worked for me in a way that nothing I had ever looked at before could work, and more importantly, it worked in the minds and lives of the people in my world. I could help them make a real difference in their own lives, and so I did.

So, the answer, -why am I an astrologer?.

Because I live to make a difference, and astrology is the best tool I have to accomplish that end.

Take Care

Rod

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