I have been an astrologer since 1986, but I still learn from almost every reading I give. In astrology, there are more often than not fairly typical ways that people express things in their charts, and sometimes I can fall into a little bit of a rut by only sticking to those archetypes. Fortunately I am not a “by-the-book” kind of astrologer, so I always pay attention to what my client is telling me.
More often than not, the area where people will surprise me the most is “creativity.” I take a very long view on creativity. I expressed this idea at length in a previous post last year (http://wp.me/pJ9hq-f1) but in a nutshell I think creativity covers far more than the so-called “creative arts,” like music or painting or writing. I think all of us are creative every day in many, ways. The problems we solve, the spontaneous things we think of, the choices we make, are all forms of creativity. I consider the healthy exercise of our creativity one of the more important aspects of our lives.
Several weeks ago during a reading I became a little confused. When I see something that is clearly a major influence in someone’s chart, and they insist nothing of that sort is going on in their lives, my first response is questioning the birth data. “Are you sure you have the correct birth time?” But not every bit of confusion in a chart reading can be clarified by correcting the birth time. Sometimes a major influence is in effect for the entire day of a person’s birth and it is unlikely a person doesn’t know what day they were born. My second response is “What am I overlooking or misunderstanding in this chart?”
This client was particularly fussy and precise, and these traits turned up in the chart, but there were also many indicators of a profoundly creative nature. I usually expect that to have a major influence in a person’s life. Even if it were not a career choice, I would expect some sort of writing/painting/music/poetry, etc. Yet there seemed to be no evidence of this. I knew I had the correct birth time, because this person went to the trouble of getting an exact photo static copy of it before the reading.
So I rolled onward, continuing my reading, hoping to figure it out as I went. I got to the part of the reading when I suggest new methods to try and work around, or work with, the more difficult parts of a chart, and every suggestion I made was met with several “scenarios” of how that suggestion could go wrong… and after a bit, I saw exactly how the creativity was coming out. All these “scenarios” were acts of creativity, creating excuses out of thin air. When people dream stuff up, and fantasize, they are being creative… but I had never considered that the fantasies of fear and failure were also forms of creativity. I would not call them particularly helpful forms of creativity, but there they were. I had fallen prey to my own Pollyanna-like beliefs. This client was richly creative.
I encouraged a different use of creativity… maybe painting as a hobby? Learning a musical instrument? I am hoping if the urge for creativity is satisfied differently, there will be less use of it to block progress.
And then I wondered, do I use my creativity in the healthiest possible way?
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NOTE:
I co-host a weekly internet radio show called “What’s Your Sign? I Have Your Number” with Sharita Star, numerologist and a fellow astrologer. It is on the HeyZ Radio Network on Monday evenings from 7pm to 9pm at http://heyzradio.com/shows/signs-numbers/ We discuss astrology, numerology and have assorted guests, ranging from fellow astrologers to psychics, mediums, entertainers, tarot card experts, reiki masters and all things metaphysical. To listen, go to the Chat Room on their website when the show is on the air. If the sound gets spotty during the broadcast, refresh your browser. There is also a downloadable app here: http://heyzradio.com/app/ if you wish to listen via smart phone or tablet.
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NOTE #2:
Once a month I host an astrology meetup in NYC, usually on the second Tuesday of the month at the Quest book shop. If you are in the NYC area and are interested, you can register for free at http://www.meetup.com/nyc-astrology/ and get monthly announcements of upcoming lecturers. All levels of astrologer are welcome, from beginner to experienced professional. There is an intro chat for beginners, and then the main lecture. February 10th will be a lecture on Medical Astrology.