I discovered Western Astrology in December, 1998 when I went to a professional astrologer for the first time and it was a total revelation! Up until then I was aware of Sun signs and newspaper horoscopes but I had no idea that I had my own ‘chart’ with all the planets accounted for in different signs and making aspects to each other that were either harmonious and flowing or dynamic and challenging. And I had no idea how accurately they would describe who I was, who my family was and when past major events had happened, too. I was seriously blown away by the reading and when I walked out of George Strutch’s office I felt so wildly happy and excited that such things existed in our world! My view of the world and what was possible was flipped on it’s head! Deep down I had always known that the world wasn’t the dry, rational, solid, boring empirical thing that we’d been led to believe it was…no. Now I knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was a much more magical, unknowable, creative and malleable thing! So, that was the beginning of my love affair with astrology. You know this old saying: “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” ? Well, that’s how I feel about astrology. Sure, I know that not everyone has an aptitude for it (some Sagittarius planets or a a strong Jupiter and 9th house help as well as a strong, well-placed Uranus preferrably aspecting your Mercury 🙂 ) but being able to interpret your own chart instead of relying on someone else is just such an amazing, self-empowering tool – I wish everyone could learn and use it!