Astrology is a fascinating ancient art. It is a complex yet beautifully precise way of recognizing the connection between cosmic energies and the human experience. By learning about its influence on our human lives, we remember the connection we have with the cosmic world. We recognize that we truly are One. The well-known quote from the philosophical traditions taught by Hermes, “ As above, So Below” depicts this way of life. Here, the sky and its seasons, planets and their movements, along with other precise configurations are studied to understand what we may call the astrological language. In short, this quote refers to how what is going on in the universe, is also happening down here on Earth. While possibly thinking of astrology as a “Sun sign horoscope fun time” astrology’s real and true teachings arise from ancient knowledge that goes beyond broad and general to more individual and much more precise. Astrology holds more value than what it’s been given along with irreplaceable information for us that goes beyond the magazine description of sun signs. I hold astrology very close to my heart and have dedicated many years of my life not only pondering on its teachings but putting these into practical use. I find it important to trace back my origins with this divine knowledge.
I remember very clearly my first encounter with astrology and the imprint that has left in me ever since. I was eight years old when my father surprised my brother and I one special evening. This evening seemed like any other evening playing with my older brother in our small yet comfortable three-bedroom apartment. In this apartment is where most of our childhood played out. It was here where we created the most memories. Many memories arise as I am writing this but this one special evening was significantly different. In fact, it was life-changing. Our father excitedly announced he had a gift for my brother and I. Although I had no clue what the gift was, the fact of simply feeling the genuine excitement in my dad was enough to make me run around our center glass table that was in our cocoa-colored carpeted living room. My brother, as quiet and reserved as he usually was appeared with a big smile on his face, awaiting what was coming. My dad immediately goes into the room, comes out, and instructs us to close our eyes until he says so. So we both did. We both patiently waited and within a millisecond of him instructing us to open our eyes, I open them and had no remote clue of what I was seeing. “What do you think?!”, our father asked with a huge smile. To me, our new gift seemed to be some tool that I had not remembered seeing before. My brother, on the other hand, being older seemed stoked. Our gift that evening was our very own first telescope.
Our father still smiling rushed us outside onto the plain grass field that laid in front of our apartment complex. The cold seemed to have vanished by the mixture of all our excitement. After some manipulation of what was to me a strangely looking tool, dad pointed out that he had “found one”. I eagerly waited for my turn to see what my brother was seeing through the lens. And then the moment came when dad carefully picked me up and showed me where to look. This was the moment that forever changed me. The moment that I cherished and consider it sacred. Although I was only eight years old there was something that triggered me that day. And although I would not be able to put feelings into words of it back then, I can now, or can I? I remember the moment where I was eye to eye with the planet Saturn. Saturn the ringed planet. I laid eyes on it for more than a few seconds before my father put me back down. Once my feet touched the wet grass again, it appeared as if I too had come back from another world.
Ever since this day, I quietly asked myself many questions. I became curious of my surroundings. What really is the Universe? Why is it there? And the planets, What do they do? More than pure facts, my deeper questions were more on understanding the connection we as humans had with the universe. I pondered on these and many other questions throughout the course of my young life and onto adulthood. I continued my life with my overall general studies while secretly learning astrology. I soon realized that it was a true passion of mine, a calling, a personal mission that I was forever intrigued by and would not leave behind. It was such that I would awaken in the middle of the night and as tired as I may have been, the moment I opened my books or took out the telescope a whole new world opened up once again. This always renewed me as a full eight-hour sleep! It was a new world that seems to have no beginning and no end. To some, astrology may be something of the past. To me, it is the beginning of a lifetime filled with admiration of the sky. The same sky once observed by those before us and the same one observed that cold yet undeniably memorable night under the stars.