Learning Astrology

The author Vicki Noble writes that to learn astrology, "you have to study a lot and think only a little, letting what you know surface through your life experience, your intuition and your dreams." Noble was one of my teachers, and like her, my path to astrology began with the study of the Tarot, and through a series of lifechanging initiations into women's mysteries -- what Noble refers to as a "shamanic awakening." I learned astrology through the elements, and through clairsentience, the way of knowing through the body. It's one thing to read interpretations of the Moon in Scorpio, and another to feel the Moon passing through the signs.

This was the first experience of planetary energies, and still the foundation for nature-based spiritual traditions. Before it rose and fell with astronomy as a "science," astrology was experienced as an intimate body-level knowledge of the cosmic energies at play that could be celebrated and worked with. This is a time of awakening to that wisdom, when people are re-discovering this relationship to the universal energies in all kinds of ways -- reiki, feng shui and yoga, for example.

For me, birth charts came much later, but for some, they're a logical entry point. Astrologer Chris Brennan's Tips to Learning Astrology starts with charts, and encourages taking advantage of online resources, especially Astrodienst, reading lots of books, and ends with going to conferences and joining associations. Brennan has put together a list of tips that can be used as a reference or to follow in a linear way. It's especially valuable for those interested in astrology as a profession, but don't know where to start.