8 simple questions about astrology

Brut America

How much should we trust our horoscopes? Why do some signs get a bad reputation? And what exactly is Mercury retrograde?  An astrologer debunks some common myths and answers these simple questions ...

Transcript

00:00It cannot be that all of the Gemini men of the world are one way.

00:05It's all the Gemini men you've met.

00:16The first recorded astrological system was in Babylon.

00:21And, of course, Babylon is modern-day Iraq,

00:24and so Babylonian astrology was first recorded about 2,400 years ago.

00:28Astrology has been used across the world, across cultures, across time.

00:33For as long as there have been stars in the sky and human curiosity,

00:37people have been using astrology or working towards using astrology.

00:47I've been a practicing consulting astrologer since 1995,

00:50and I don't believe in astrology.

00:52The reason why I don't believe in astrology is because it's not a belief system.

00:56That's not what it is.

00:57Astrology is a tool,

00:59and it is a tool that has been studied over the course of many, many years,

01:04and it is a tool that works.

01:06Detractors will often say it's not science.

01:09No astrologer that I know has ever claimed that it was science.

01:13There are many systems of understanding human nature

01:17and current events that are not scientific.

01:20Is there a great deal of data and study?

01:24Yes, absolutely there is with astrology,

01:26but what gets complicated for a lot of people with astrology

01:30is that it is a very complex system.

01:33It requires a great deal of study.

01:35Astrology is math, actually,

01:37and most people don't get past sun sign horoscopes,

01:40and so they say,

01:42I went to the carnival.

01:43I had cotton candy.

01:45The cotton candy gave me a stomachache.

01:46Food is bad,

01:47and I say,

01:49well, you had junk food,

01:51and sometimes it's delicious,

01:52and it makes your day,

01:53and sometimes it just gives you a stomachache,

01:55and that can be the same thing with like pop astrology.

01:58I love it,

01:59but it's not like the full depth and complexity

02:02of what astrology is.

02:09If you don't like a sun sign,

02:11that actually says more about you and your birth chart

02:13than it does about them,

02:14because there's billions of people in the world,

02:17probably much more than that,

02:18and it cannot be that all of the Gemini men of the world

02:22are one way.

02:23It's all the Gemini men you've met,

02:25so the reason why some sun signs

02:28have worse reputations than others

02:30has a lot to do with the ways

02:32in which they tend to present themselves.

02:34An example of this would be Scorpio.

02:36Scorpios feel things really deeply

02:38and will often kind of touch in on the intense stuff

02:41that other people are a little bit timid to talk about,

02:44so is that a bad trait of Scorpio,

02:46or is that just not a trait

02:48that is easy for other people to digest?

02:51You know, that's up to your chart to decide.

02:59Your sun sign is your identity.

03:01It's your will and your sense of self.

03:03It's how you want people to know you,

03:05and it's kind of how you shine in the world.

03:07The moon in astrology relates to your feelings.

03:11It's how you process information emotionally.

03:14It's how you want to take care of others

03:16and how you show up for others.

03:17It's also how you experience love

03:19and how you feel loved and liked,

03:21and it's also to do with your memories,

03:23so the moon's a biggie in astrology.

03:25And then there's the rising sign.

03:27The rising sign is the point in astrology.

03:30It's not a planet.

03:32It's a point in the birth chart

03:34that describes kind of the energies

03:36you throw into a room when you first enter it.

03:39It has everything to do with

03:41how you show up on the surface.

03:45Now, when you're reading sun sign horoscopes,

03:48it's not wise to assume it is written for you.

03:52It isn't.

03:53It is not written for you.

03:55It is written for a group of people

03:57who all align with something that you align with,

04:01and so that's why sometimes you read a sun sign horoscope

04:04and you're like, that is exactly me.

04:06That hits the nail on the head,

04:08and other times, it really doesn't resonate,

04:11and this is where it gets a little complicated

04:14to explain astrology,

04:16because astrology is math,

04:18so when we're writing,

04:20we astrologers are writing sun sign horoscopes,

04:23what we're doing is we're taking

04:25all 30 degrees of a sun sign,

04:27and we're generalizing for them.

04:29Generally speaking, when reading sun sign horoscopes,

04:32take what works, take what empowers you

04:34and helps you to reflect on your life,

04:36and if it doesn't work, if it doesn't resonate,

04:39if it doesn't work, if it doesn't resonate,

04:41you know, don't overthink it.

04:47Astrology doesn't say anything.

04:48Astrology is not a person.

04:50Astrology doesn't speak to you.

04:52Astrologers say things,

04:54or astrology apps or blogs you've read say things,

04:59and those are written by people,

05:01and not all astrologers,

05:03like not all dentists or therapists or masseuses

05:07are gonna be a good match for you.

05:09So when you have a relationship

05:11with a skilled and competent astrologer,

05:14and that relationship is built over time,

05:16and that person has earned your trust

05:18with their competency,

05:19and they advise you on something,

05:21you might wanna listen.

05:23If you've got an app,

05:24if you've read a horoscope that's like,

05:26you're gonna be miserable forever,

05:27you should break up, use your common sense.

05:30When we're using astrology or any other spiritual tool,

05:34we do not wanna ever abandon common sense.

05:37Common sense is your best friend,

05:38keep it in your back pocket.

05:44Retrogrades are when a planet

05:46appears to be moving backwards,

05:48and it does move backwards

05:49through the zodiacal degrees.

05:51And when a planet moves retrograde,

05:53it's kind of like its primary functions

05:56are working a little differently,

05:58often pretty wonky.

05:59A really common example of that

06:01is Mercury retrograde.

06:02Now Mercury retrograde is very popular,

06:04and it's popular because it's evidential.

06:06In other words, people notice,

06:08people notice, wait, things are going wonky,

06:11it must be Mercury retrograde.

06:13Mercury is a planet that governs communications.

06:16It's what you say, it's how you listen.

06:19It's also emails, DMs, social media, internet,

06:22which is why in recent years,

06:24Mercury retrogrades become so popular

06:26because we're all on our pocket computers all the time.

06:28What we're meant to learn from Mercury

06:31retrograde is it's a time to review

06:34and reflect and reassess.

06:36And we need these times in our lives

06:39to really check in and figure out

06:41what we're thinking, whether or not it's working.

06:43Did we say things that we actually meant?

06:45Do we need to go back and fix something?

06:47And Mercury retrograde is that time.

06:54Because astrologers are humans.

06:56And if you go to the dentist,

06:58and the dentist says, you're gonna need a surgery,

07:00and you go and you get a second opinion,

07:02the other dentist might say, no, you don't, we can do this.

07:05If you go and see a therapist,

07:07one of the therapists might say, you know what,

07:09you have an anxiety disorder.

07:10And the next therapist might say,

07:12you don't have an anxiety disorder, you're anxious.

07:14There's a difference.

07:15You can get different perspectives

07:17from different practitioners.

07:18And that may be because they're using different systems.

07:21It may be because they have assessed things

07:23in a different way,

07:24or they have different tools in their toolkit.

07:26There's so many ways of looking at it.

07:28Astrologers and astrology are not a monolith,

07:31just like no other practice, no other resource.

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