Video Interview with Astrologer Erin Sullivan

February 22, 2015

Learn more about the practice of astrology, astrology as a profession and the astrology of midlife and again with professional astrologer, author and teacher Erin Sullivan! 

Please note that is is my very first Mystical Pathways interview and there were some issues with my audio that had to be edited out.  Luckily Erin comes in loud and clear! 

To learn more about Erin, please visit her website at ErinSullivan.com. To order the Astrology of Midlife and Aging, please click here.

read post

The Astrology of Midlife and Aging by Erin Sullivan

February 17, 2015

Today, I am recording my very first video interview with astrologer Erin Sullivan.  This is the kick-off for my new series and I could not have hoped for a better first guest!

Sullivan is a working astrologer, a wonderful writer and the creator of her own video course on astrology.  I have just finished her wonderful book, The Astrology of Midlife and Aging, and wanted to take moment to share a bit about what I have learned.

Astrology is not, as Sullivan's work highlights, just about birth charts - it is about the planetary cycles that occur throughout our lives. 

Planetary returns (such as the solar return that is our birthday) occur at regular intervals during the lifespan and each of these returns is an influential event. In the Astrology of Midlife and Aging, Sullivan gently but firmly walks us through the planetary cycles that occur in the second half of life helping us to meet our own selves head on.

Astrologically speaking, the time we call midlife begins between the ages of 37 and 41 when Uranus opposes its original place in our chart.  This is the time, Sullivan tells us, that "something mysterious takes place within the psyche" causing us to recollect our life, examine the things we have not done, and move forward with greater awareness and purpose - something which I definitely feel I have done!

Drawing on her extensive knowledge of astrology and the work of that great pioneer of the psyche Carl Jung, Sullivan explores this important transition as well as those that come after.  She reminds us that "midlife - all life, in fact - is a process...not an event" and then offers an astrologer's perspective on how we might align with the available planetary energies to make the most of this very significant process.

Sullivan goes on to provide specific information for the many crossover events of the latter half of our lives, including the Uranian opposition, second Saturn return and the return of the lunar nodes.  This information is organized by birth year - making The Astrology of Midlife and Aging a wonderful personal reference for anyone interested in life after forty (or 37).

I particularly enjoyed Sullivan's wonderful writing, deep knowledge and sincere thirst for  self-discovery.  "Faith in the gods is good," she tells us, "but faith in one's own deepest self, which knows who one is about to become, is better."

I could not agree more!

*Please check back for Erin Sullivan's wonderful interview later this week!

read post

Imbolc and the Energy of Springtime

February 2, 2015


I am a member of the OBOD (Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids) which means that I'm studying Druidry, though I look at  as more of a philosophy or general spirituality than I do a religion. This is partially because I don't think it's really possible to reconstruct an ancient religion without making it into something new.

But I do think that there is something of the energy of that time which remains in the natural world.  And that may be why the dreams and visions that tied me to that past seem valid in a way that clocks and calendars do not.  And so, for me, the old holiday, Imboc, isn't history. It is a place on the wheel of the year and the turning cycle dark and light and every place on that wheel has meaning.  

Outside my office window, here in Northeast PA, the snow fell all through the night and into the morning. The sky above the mountains is a light silvery gray and if the sun is lost behind the pale clouds.  But I know that it is there somewhere and I know it's returning because of this marker, this holiday, this space in time.

Imbolc is the traditional feast of the Celt goddess Brighid. A goddess of both fire and water who is revered as a Catholic saint.  As a goddess, she represented creativity, fertility, healing and light. In the role of the light-bringer she reminds us that this circle will continue to turn.

This Imbolc I will shovel new snow and water the Moon Flowers I planted on Alban Arthan and light a candle for Brighid and the return of the light.


read post
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)
© Barbara Graver.
Made by Saroya.