Alright… I confess!!
I really struggled with learning astrology when I first started.
I couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me! I’d read about a planet or a sign of the zodiac and afterwards wouldn’t be able to remember anything about it. It was like in one ear out the other.
I thought maybe I wasn’t smart enough, couldn’t understand it, it was over my head, or that I just wasn’t meant to be an astrologer…
Until I started to study medical astrology and began to directly see the astrological forces in people and plants.
You see, I think a lot of the time when people approach the study of astrology, it often remains in the realm of the intellect, with a focus on memorizing the qualities and characteristics of each sign and planet.
But who likes to memorize?! I certainly don’t.
I’d rather learn something by heart.
And the difference between learning something by heart vs. memorizing information in the mind lies in have an experiential understanding- something that you directly perceive. And the only way to directly see the astrological patterns and experience them is to have the pattern become a sort of lens that you see the world through.
It all clicked together for me when I could see the patterns of the planets and sign within people’s bodies, their constitutions, their symptoms and diseases, to understand the specific meaning behind the organ systems. The way Venus is all about relationship, harmony and balance is so perfectly reflected in the way the kidneys maintain the balance of the blood, minerals and solids in the body. The activating power of Mars being expressed through immunity and the adrenal glands. The force of the Sun distributing the life force through the heart. The mediation of the inner and outer dynamic of Mercury being expressed with breath in the respiratory system.
In this way, the psychological dynamics of the plants are immediately reflected in their physiological correspondences- giving you a more grounded understanding of their unique qualities and characteristics.
And then when you add plants on top of it, it enters a whole new level!
You understand the force of Mars on a whole new level when you feel the burn of Cayenne, feel it circulate through your blood. The uplifting and yet calming quality of Jupiter can be directly experienced through Lemon Balm. The clarity in the mind and intellect of Mercury through Gotu Kola…
In this way, you take directly experience the unique forces of the planets through the actions and properties of medicinal plants, anchoring that knowledge into your body where it blossoms into wisdom and understanding.
This is the only way I could learn astrology, and it not only made it possible for me to learn the system on a much deeper level, but it literally transformed the way I see the world around me, the people I work with, and the plants that I know, love and use as medicines.
