γνῶθι σεαυτόν, Gnōthi seautón
“Know Thyself”
Sometimes these daily prompts make me think they were written by the Oracle of Delphi. Only yesterday I was in the office of the managing director to break the news with him that I am about to embark on a new path. So, considering my career path, after meandering through various roles and attempting different career paths to support the family, is something that has been on my mind for a long while.
My day job is in finance with a particular emphasis on the markets and planning. However, my love is Astrology and I enjoy counseling clients on personal matters that seem more significant than their asset allocation, timing when to take their social security benefit, or how to reduce their estate tax exposure by mangling ownership of their assets through clever trust arrangements.
Over my career I’ve developed a cynical mantra that suggests what I actually do is sell solutions to problems people don’t really have. Like the sweet, if somewhat opinionated 86 year old, who makes great coffee, married rich, and has a sizable estate of $7MM. She also inherited a sufficient military pension on top of social security, plus health insurance. Even without the houses and investment portfolio she’d have nothing to worry about. But oddly, she does worry! Even though there are thousands of people living in the same county who don’t know where their next meal is coming from, she worries about whether or not “she’s making money.” She also believes that her circumstances are a matter of her own doing and that others just didn’t work hard enough, weren’t as smart as she is, or are somehow less than and therefore not deserving because they are lazy. This of course is a generalization, and to be fair the woman does have a ton of energy and puts it to good use through charitable work. Nevertheless she makes her biases clear to me in private, thinking that I am a person more of her same ilk.
She is just one example of privilege blended with just the right amount of self-importance to challenge my thinking on what truly matters in this world. Do I want to help this sweet old woman, who to be honest doesn’t really need my help, or shall I regroup and make a concerted effort to reach out to a population that can benefit more from my counsel? To be clear, I am not admonishing her for her socioeconomic level, for living in the top 2% of society. My cynicism is related more to the attitude and focus about what’s important. I also am honored to have astrology clients with three times her net worth but the experience from sharing astrological insights together with them leaves me exhilarated, not drained.
I am an Astrologer and the timing for a life change couldn’t be better. Uranus just broke out over my Descendant, as Neptune, then Saturn traversed my natal Sun. There is the potential here suggesting that I am stepping into a new identity.
Jupiter in my chart is at 00 Aquarius (the site of the epic Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, combined with the recent ingress of Pluto into Aquarius) and being in a fixed sign, I am not especially concerned with material well-being. It’s taken me a long time to embrace the philosophical bent I have as something special and something to cherish. Mercury is in Aquarius as well, and is considered exalted so the intellectual and socially minded style of communication is perhaps more concerned with the welfare of all than with the ambitions and cupidity of a few. My emphasis would be naturally drawn to more social work than sales or finance.
Mercury is precisely at the midpoint of Uranus and Pluto in my natal chart: My mind never stops; one idea after another constantly invites new ways of looking at things, imbued with original thinking, new perspectives; forcing individuality into focus. A humanistic approach to life has been growing undeniably and now coming to fruition!
At its core, my chart suggests that I am driven by a need for being significant in the lives of others, to be charitable and empathetic to their needs. With so much pain in the world, it seems trite to counsel individuals on how to protect their wealth when what’s more at risk is their heart.
Therefore, along with the transits of Saturn and Neptune to my natal Sun (identity), transiting Jupiter has made supportive aspects to natal Uranus, Pluto, and the Midheaven, while the next eclipse series moves through the 3rd-9th house axis of learning, communication and higher education.
This week I was accepted for study in a social work program, to get a toe-hold on the path toward earning my LCSW.
Leading up to the course work I am finishing up study of a few specific astrological treatises that I intend to use as I flesh out and complete a writing project this summer. I will be a Full-Time student and opening up my practice more vigorously to book sessions.
The trend of people reinventing themselves to pursuit their “true calling” or VOCATION seems to be growing. Perhaps I’ll catch a wave.
Below are a few excellent resources for readers facing a similar dilemma on the threshold of their “second act.”
Finding Meaning in the Second Half of Life
Claiming Your Place at the Fire
HVA
💚🍀
Hudson Valley Astrologer 
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