Nina Kahn - Astrology for Life

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YOUR PATH IS
ILLUMINATED BY
A ROAD MAP
OF STARS.

Ambika Devi

Welcome to the magical, mystical, and endlessly fascinating world of astrology. Astrology is fun. Its magical. Its insightful. And I believe it gives us a little sense of home and interconnectedness within an otherwise very large (and often confusing) universe, especially when we learn how to apply it to our everyday lives.

Most of us are already quite familiar with astrology in the form of our Sun signs and horoscopes. Learning my Sun sign and reading about its stereotypical qualities was certainly enough to get me hooked on simple astrology in my preteen years, and had me flipping to the back of every new issue of my teen magazines to see what was in store for Libra in the coming month. But Sun signs and horoscopes are actually just the tip of an extremely vast, glittery sparkle of a cosmic iceberg, and astrology can be used for so much more than just a fun tip-off about what your day, week, or month may bring. It can also be used as a tool to make your day-to-day life more magical, spiritual, and in sync with the stars.

Astrology spans far beyond the overgeneralized horoscope page at the back of a print magazine. The rest of that cosmic iceberg is a vast and complex world of astrology that begins to feel really daunting really quickly. It can make the concepts of astrology feel just as distant as the stars in the sky. But once you take the time to get to know the basics of astrology, youll get more familiar and comfortable with its archetypes and symbolsand suddenly, they wont feel so distant. In fact, youll probably be able to feel their presence and effects quite strongly.

Were all on a quest to find ourselves and make sense of this thing called life. Whether its navigating our relationships, building a career and finding a life purpose, or simply getting to know ourselves on a new level, we can actively use astrology and the ever-changing placement of the planets to guide us.

Astrology is a language. If you understand this language, the sky speaks to you.

Dane Rudhyar

Getting Cozy in Our Corner of the Universe

Astrology can help us feel connected to the mysteries of the cosmos in a way that wouldnt otherwise be possible. I mean, its hard to feel at home in a solar system thats larger than our lil human brains can even really comprehend. Were just a bunch of tiny beings that are inherently and intrinsically part of a much larger cosmic systemone that we, admittedly, can only begin to understand. Sometimes, when were so hyper-focused on our phones and our in-boxes and our jobs and our schedules, its easy to think that our daily dramas are everything. Its easy to forget that weve all just sort of magically grown into existence out of thin airor rather, exploded out of a staralong with everything else in our universe. Its both mind-blowingly spectacular and terrifying, when you think about it. Im always struck by how incredible it feels to remember that I am really just a speck of stardust.

With astrology, the planets and other celestial objects in our solar system begin to feel less like foreign, alien concepts and more like our friendly celestial neighborsneighbors who have the power to affect our planet in a gravitational sense, but perhaps in a symbolic sense, too.

When we begin to think of the whole, wide universe (a concept so great its difficult to even wrap your head around, really)the fact that its infinite, that its bounds are perhaps beyond what our minds can logically conceptualizeour lil solar system begins to feel a lot cozier, doesnt it? In a universe thats boundless and full of an infinite number of solar systems, the planets, stars, and asteroids floating about in ours feel like home. There are billions of stars in our galaxy, but we (us and other planets) all revolve around just one. Of everywhere we could be in the whole wide universe, were here. Together.

In teaching us ways that we can align ourselves with the energy of the planets in our solar system, astrology helps us feel so much more in touch with our celestial neighbors. For example, instead of thinking of Saturn as a distant, random concept of a planet, I now think of it as an amazing force in my life personallyan energy that interacts with my astrology to teach me lessons about responsibility, boundaries, and how to be an adult. We all orbit the Sun together, and when you take the infinite nature of the universe into account, this means we all live pretty close to each other, too, right? Were like a big, cosmic family. And through astrology, youll learn how these celestial objects can affect your life, as well as how we can connect with these elements and call upon their energy to help in all different situations. It can help us feel more in sync with the boundless, cosmic universe of which were already so much a partwhether or not we even realize it.

Astro Therapy

Astrology can serve as the springboard for deep soul-searching, self-reflection, and personal growth, which is why I often think of it as a sort of cosmic therapy. It is a tool, among many other tools in our spiritual toolboxes, that can be used to guide you in your life. For the record, I have a real, live, human therapist, too, but theres something different about exploring your innermost qualities by using the cosmos as your backdrop. Theres something much more primal and ancient and exhilarating (and obviously, its a lot more fun and magical, too).

But just like any other type of therapy, it requires work on our end. Youre in charge of your own destiny, and you have free willso you can certainly take in the wisdom offered by astrology and use it to prompt reflection and changes in your life, but you cant expect the planets to do the work for you. The planets may have influence, but they dont have magical powers. Astrology is merely a tool that can help you align yourself with the cosmos and gain a deeper understanding of yourself and the circumstances that you (and we collectively) are working with. Thats helpful, but the rest is truly up to you. Reading about astrology is one thing, but actually applying it to your life requires work, responsibility, and accountability on your end, too. Figuring out how to make it happen is the adventure.