The short version is that it happened gradually.
The long version
is that, as is the case for many people, I knew about astrology and mocked newspaper horoscopes sometimes, but it didn’t take up much space in my head. Though my parents WERE pretty into Chinese zodiac signs (I’m a metal horse btw).
When I was living in Glasgow in my mid twenties, my roommate mysteriously alluded to something called a ‘Saturn return’ and it was a few years after that that I stumbled upon Chani Nicholas’s work and got hooked. Then, when the pandemic began in 2020, I waded further and further into Chani’s offerings, buying her year ahead guide and a solar eclipse workshop. Something about the layers of information, the symbolism of the language, the kaleidoscopic understanding of human behaviour, the capacity for curiosity and judgement neutrality, and the way that astrology could speak both to the individual and the collective had me enthralled.
Discovering my true rising sign
The accidental obsession deepened when I read Chani’s article encouraging people to seek out the most exact birth time possible. I got hold of hospital records and discovered that my mum’s recollection of my birth time was wrong! Only by half an hour, but that was enough to change my rising sign
Because I’d already attached to one type of rising sign, this was a little destabilising, but also honestly a bit of a relief. I’d been feeling a bit funky about the rising sign I thought I was, and to discover I was a very different rising sign explained A LOT about why that first one wasn’t resonating.
Diving deeper & deeper
The more workshops and teachings that I devoured of Chani’s work, counter-intuitively the hungrier I got to learn more, so at some point I heard (or read – I’m a bit fuzzy on this) Chani list other astrologers she liked/followed, and through that I discovered the enormous resource that is ‘The Astrology Podcast’ hosted by Chris Brennan.
As may be obvious by now, I’m the kind of person who can get really hooked on a subject and can become quite obsessed (hello scorpio moon). When I found Chris’s podcast, I quickly realised that there was no way I could binge all of his content without driving myself insane. His archive is so deep and extensive, that I was forced to slow down, which sort of relaxed me. I’d met my match.
And after getting to know his style, in June of 2023 I took the plunge and signed up for his Hellenistic Astrology course (Hellenistic = an ancient form of astrology) and the next level of learning began! For those who know more – this plunge was made during a mercury ruled 9th house profection year
I’m rounding the corner on the final Module of the course, which has been at times revelatory and at times a little freaky – which I’m told is normal
Current reflections
Something I’ve been learning lately is that astrology has a way of pulling its own time magic into your life without you having to do anything to cause it. For example, recently one of my workmates celebrated her 15 year workiversary (!) For context, Pisces happens to be the sign in her 10th house of career. And on the day we planned a surprise party for her, Venus had just moved into Pisces. Quite simply, some love and connection was showing up in her work life, in the skies AND in the office. And I had no hand in choosing this date, it just happened that way.
This is a good lesson for me to be learning, because due to having a lot of planets in fixed signs, I can have trouble letting go and letting the astrology show up on its own. I like to feel in control, but astrology – whilst something you can study and observe – is also thankfully beyond human control.
Another thing I love about astrology is that I don’t believe there will ever come a day when I won’t feel like a student. There’s such depth and diversity to astrology as a practice, and such a wild variety of approaches and niches. So there’s always a new approach to consider, a new technique to study, a new astrologer who has incredible takes.