Claire Gallagher - Body Astrology: A Cosmic Guide to Health, Healing, and Harnessing the Power of the Planets

True storyI grew up terrified of astrology. Part of this was the spiritual environment I was raised in, but I like to think another part of this was my budding inner wisdom. Id go through great pains to make sure my teenybop magazine didnt accidentally fall open to the horoscopes in the back. When it inevitably did, Id be horrified. Am I really this prudish, uptight, goody-two-shoes Virgo you speak of? That isnt a cool way to be described when youre in seventh grade, and so my hatred for my Sun sign began. I didnt know it back then, but on my birthday, the Moon was hanging out in Aquarius (in astro-speak, we call this your Moon sign). Knowing this, it makes sense why horoscopes were offensive to me. They felt like a loss of freedom, which is one of the quickest ways to infuriate an Aquarian.

My point in sharing my somewhat misplaced childhood fear is that its totally normal to not resonate with your Sun sign. Its totally normal to maybe even dislike your Sun sign, as I used to. (For the record, Im now a very proud Virgo.) And its also totally normal to love your Sun sign but feel that somethings missing. Thats because something, or a lot of somethings, is missing. What many of us are actually averse to isnt a single zodiac sign but the incompleteness of Sun sign astrology.

My astrology fear was healed by illness. In my early twenties I developed a mystery condition that I carried for years. Doctor after doctor couldnt put me in a clear diagnostic box and so I fell through the conventional medicine cracks. I vividly remember crawling through the house on my belly when I was just twenty-one because I was too weak to walk. I was forced to quit my job and move back in with my parents, and I spent much of my time in bed crying. As the years progressed, every organ system slowly developed dysfunction and my symptom list grew unbelievably long and complex.

Like many people with similar stories, this experience led me to the world of alternative medicine. Being sick and without many resources forced me to research remedies and experiment on myself. Like a typical Virgo, I mostly dabbled in nutrition. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, even stumbled into a few dietary fads, but it was undeniable that my most significant improvements always came through food. In fact, repairing my relationship with food got me well enough to where I could start moving again. When I was strong enough, I became a yoga teacher and eventually a personal trainer. Yoga allowed me to enjoy movement while I was still healing. Later, weightlifting fortified my body and gave my delicate nervous system a more rooted home.

Eventually I gathered enough strength to upgrade my piecemeal self-healing experiment and study nutrition professionally. I moved across the country to attend the National College of Natural Medicine with the intention of becoming a naturopathic physician. But while I was there, I fell in love with the elemental language of Chinese Medicine and its ability to articulate my undiagnosable experience. I soon found myself enrolled in a dual masters program, studying both acupuncture and nutrition.

One day, rushing between class, clinic, and my part-time personal training gig, I saw in the school bathroom a flier for a medical astrology conference. It wasnt exceptionally flashy, but for some reason it captivated me. Up until that moment, my fear of astrology still eclipsed any interest in the subject. I still thought astrology was about telling the future or putting people in limiting personality boxes. But medical astrology? The physicality of that felt safe to explore. At this point, I had spent four years immersed in Chinese Medicine theory and practice. Associating organ systems and imbalances with elements, seasons, and constellations was an ancient practice that I trusted. Surely Western astrology, although a different elemental tradition, couldnt be much different? Chinese Medicine had softened me up for this fateful bathroom moment. Plus, my lingering symptoms selfishly piqued my curiosity.

Im sure you can guess the rest. I went to the conference and that was that. Within five minutes of listening to the keynote speaker, who later became my tutor, I knew medical astrology was my thing. As odd as it sounds, I felt like I already knew this system and was suddenly remembering it. In medical astrology, the birth chart becomes a map of your unique body workings, needs, strengths, and susceptibilities. This is invaluable because two people may suffer with the same condition, but because of the differences in their birth charts and bodies, their symptom pictures, emotional experiences, and pathways to healing will differ. I already knew there was no one-size-fits-all in healing, but medical astrology took the idea of bio-individual treatment to amazing new heights.