Jeanne Avery - The Rising Sign: Your Astrological Mask

In loving memory
Claude Philippe
Elizabeth Hughes Gossett
Granny, Papa, and Sada, my Mother and Father

and for Sharon, Diane and David,
Berith, Lee, Tony, and Francesca,
and the newest light of my life, Charles

Without the help of my friends, I would not have been able to complete this book, let alone get through most of my life. I am also extremely grateful to any of my clients who waited so patiently for their charts at deadline times, but there are certain people I want to thank, who went above and beyond the call of duty in patience, loyalty, and support for my project.

It was due to Jess Stearn that I found Doubleday, but to the magic of the universe and one chance phone call that I found Jean Bennett Cumming, my first editor friend. With expert use of her Aries energy, she quietly and consistently continued to promote my book until we obtained a contract. Jean then left Doubleday to have an adorable daughter, and I was awarded a prize in Nan Grubbs, a wonderful friend and editor. Nan, a Gemini with Virgo rising, never criticized, diplomatically set me straight, got tough when necessary, and gave me her special brand of enthusiasm when she liked something. She never stepped on my sensitive Scorpio with Cancer rising toes. But it was Ferris Mack, my special astrological angel who, in spite of unmerciful teasing, introduced me to Fields Syndication, who publish my daily and weekly newspaper column. If not for Ferris, and many lunches, I would not have a chance to write about my favorite subject.

My research dates back to the five wonderful years of weekends spent on the farm with Claude and Helga Philippe, my first surrogate family, and their fascinating guests. It was there that I met Elizabeth Karaman, who insisted that I turn professional and who became my first real client. Patty McLain predicted that I would give up acting for a life of astrology and a lot of travel. Patty McLeod, Jess Stearn, Nancy and Michele Hively, Lynne Forbes, Jack and Sally Nevius, and Aude Howard housed me, or my furniture, between my moves from East to West Coast and back again. Lynne Palmer, an excellent teacher, persisted and taught me astrological math. Nancy Hughes, my childhood friend, Fran Hartman, Patty McLain, Carl Sadler, and Greg Sierra aided me in my early days as an astrologer, as did Harvey Rosenberg, Gayle Gleckler, Marion Weisberg, Johannes Michael, Angela DiPene, Larry Keith, Luther Henderson, and Olga Stevens later on.

But without David Cogan, my business manager, Susan Horton, and Adrienne Landau, the actual writing process would have been impossible. My darling Dorothy, with her constant loving energy, healed me long distance, and it is finally, with deep love for Susan and Jennifer Strasberg, who shared their home with me and are indeed family, that I complete the dedication of this book.

Having your astrological chart read is like getting an I.D. card from the Universe.

TRISSIE CALLAN

When I first began to study astrology, I had no idea that I would someday become a professional astrologer. The theater and music have always been my first loves. (My singing and acting debut came at the age of four when I played the lead role in a kindergarten production. It seemed perfectly natural to be on stage, front and center.) If I had known anything about astrology then, I might have saved myself a lot of time by looking at my own chart and realizing that I was destined to find my way to this precise moment in time, writing, lecturing, and practicing astrology practically around the clock. But self-discovery can take a good many years, and life has a way of presenting opportunity in its own good, sweet time. All of the impatience of youth would not bring things around any faster.

It was precisely the frustrationand the thrillof not knowing just when Id work again as an actress (a common syndrome among those in the profession) that led me to study astrology, in an attempt to decipher the rhythm of work and life in the theater. I had the additional excitement of living life as a single parent, long before it was fashionable, with three wonderful and uniquely talented children. Each child, in his and her own special way, responded to the circumstances of our life together in quite a different manner. It was like having three only children. The stimulation and companionship they provided made life especially exciting and challenging for me, and the fact that we were all involved in the theater kept things moving at a very fast pace. What started as a sharing of my life and interests, like Topsy, just kept growing. The juggling of schedules and experiences kept things from ever being boring or static, but sometimes presented me with challenges that were quite hair-raising. I was finally forced to take a look at the perils-of-Pauline type of life I was living, in New York City instead of some greener jungle, so that I might try to give up some of my cheap thrills for more productive kinds of excitement. Since I have a deadly fear of living an ordinary or boring existence, it finally dawned on me that I might be creating the circumstances of my life in order to avoid that possibility.

I began to experiment by deliberately, consciously manifesting different outer circumstances, such as more interesting roles, better salary and lifestyle. Sometimes I was quite good at it, but other times outer events took longer to become reality than I would have liked. Carl Jung said that if you are not aware of an energy on a conscious level, it manifests on the exterior as fate. Fate, in the guise of some very heavy externals, forced me to take a more serious look at the astrological research I had been conducting while sitting around on sets, waiting for lights to be adjusted and cameras to roll. (My curiosity about what makes people tick could be satisfied through astrology, whereas direct questions would have been considered quite rude.) My rebellious nature began to emerge fully, to be transformed into an activity ruled by that rebellious, or unusual, planet Uranus. But it was only after a few years of practicing astrology that my second love finally came into view.

I was always intrigued by underlying motivations, environmental conditioning, and manifest behavior characteristics. In the process of developing and learning acting technique, one learns how to diagram structures of plays, scenes, and characters. In order to portray a role successfully, with depth, one must delve into the innermost core of the character to understand his or her emotional response, why it is activated, and what led to that particular manner of reaction. One must also be able to get to the same emotional response in oneself, to know how it is triggered, and to be able to re-create that sense memory on cue. My own chart indicated which emotional responses were easy and natural for me, and also described the ones that were not, and why. The astrological chart became my therapist.

It was when I was reading a chart for someone else, however, that I made the most important breakthrough, psychologically, for both the other person and myself. Harvey Rosenberg, an extremely talented man, denied the existence of yet another talent that I described in the reading of his chart. Yet, scarcely one month later, in a therapy session, Harvey regressed to a childhood experience at a very young age when that talent was clearly marked. It was a trauma that made him repress a strong musical talent and send it underground. Less than two months after the reading of his chart, Harvey had his first job as an audio consultant for an advertising agency and began recommending a chart reading to the therapists he knew. It became truly apparent to me then that the astrological chart could act as a healing agent, pointing the way to the core of blocked energy, talent, and expression. The awareness of that potential seemed to enable the person to begin a process of making healthier decisions, which in turn could lead to a fuller, more productive life. The chart seemed to give permission to explore new possibilities.