"In the Beginning..."

At the age of sixteen I picked up an astrology magazine along with the teen magazines that day. I don't know what it was, the picture on the cover, the titles of articles, whatever, I bought it with my hard earned money.

I read that Astro magazine over and over and tried to cipher out what things meant, but it was really hard. I didn't know what all those funky symbols meant and so couldn't follow along with the articles that referred to the charts.

One day I was in study hall and started doodling on a piece of paper. I realized it was one of the glyphs I'd seen in an article and made sure I looked it up when I got home. I flipped the well worn pages again and again and suddenly found a key to the glyphs! It had the squiggles and circles and x's and next to each one was a word in English. I won't say I was struck by lightning that day, but it sure was an epiphany for me.

Every single day, week after week, I'd sit in study hall with a piece of lined paper carefully drawing the glyph of the day and writing the name after it. I began with Mercury and worked my way through the planets and into the signs of the zodiac. I filled page after page with carefully drawn glyphs until I could look at the glyph on a chart and KNOW what it stood for. Oh, happy day! I was becoming literate!!!

After that it was much easier. My next astrology magazine purchase had not only the glyphs and the one word explanation of what they stood for in the little box at the end of one article, but an article on the key words for each glyph. I added those words to my daily routine and slowly I learned that the horned planet was Mercury and it stood for communication, thought, travel. I dutifully wrote those words again and again until I had them memorized. I added the sign of the zodiac that it ruled and my education was complete.

Unfortunately, by the time I realized I would be a permanent student where astrology was concerned, I was hooked. I graduated high school and went on to college (now, that's another astrology story I'll come back and tell you later), married, had kids, went through a divorce, started a career, but all through it, astrology was my constant companion.

Do I recommend you start the way I did? Of course! Drawing the symbols, writing out the meanings and key words, associating signs with planets and vice versa gave me the foundation. Once I could "read" astrology, I could then begin to understand it. I made friends with astrology and it has rewarded me over the years. We laugh together and make plans, we look over a shoulder and see why something happened, we even dare to look ahead at the major trends and see if there are any big rocks in the road. But we don't rule each other, nor do we stop a challenge or new experience because it might be a bumpy ride. No, we just hang on tight and go for the ride!

J.W. Birch