How the Stars Make Me Feel
plus a new upcoming Lot of Eros offering
One of my favorite parts of the current changing season is how it beckons us inward. The cooling weather in the Northern hemisphere, the changing leaves giving one last swan song before death, the shortening of the day and the lengthening of night may make daytime activities fewer and more difficult. But it is slowly becoming the perfect weather for curling up by a fire, making a big pot of soup, looking within and also, looking up.
I mean watching the sunset at 5pm turn your sky tangerine, maroon, crimson; tracking the sight of the Moon, Jupiter, Saturn, in the sky when you can and, of course, stargazing. I am always so struck by the fixed stars because, despite their distance and remoteness, their presence within our lives is so intimate, even if you can't name it yet.
Fixed stars are useful in the way that poetry or myth or art is useful: they are all psychopomps, getting us past the thinking mind to the wisdom of the heart and soul Though it may not always seem practical, knowing the soulful source of your life, its connection to all, is enough to change everything. Its effects, of knowing your core and your true, divine self, makes you strong, gives your sense of self more integrity, lets the blessings of life align towards you.
Fixed stars an excuse to lean into your weirdness, your intractability, all the parts of you that “don’t fit” into mundane, earthly society. There are stars of passion, of softness, of sacrifice, of wild creativity, blinding light, constant transformation, of spending time with the dead. There are whole cities within each star, teeming with life and complexity but interwoven meaning.
The fixed stars cannot fit solely into earth time. Neither can you.
As a study on the stars, and to prove that everyone knows them in some way, even if you don’t yet have the language, I did a survey of some of my favorite poets and looked for when they mentioned fixed stars— their observations were startlingly close to what I have learned and taught about them.
Here is a selection:
Frank Bidart: “
“Ulanova At Forty-Six At Last Dances Before a Camera Giselle”
The power and prophecy of the stars is great; to understand them is to understand your fate, the portion of life meted out to you from beyond. But there is also a deep intimacy, a yearning within for union with these divine beings and their messages for us. Trust that union with the stars in your chart is part of your inevitable becoming.
Bidart also compares the stars to “the dirt of our lives” but if they “still were sprinkled with glistening/ white shells from the ancient seabed”. Even the most mundane, earthly, “base” parts of our lives— our toils and worries and obligations and pains— are influenced and intermixed with something ancient and pure. I often tell my clients that while the planets, or wandering stars, tell us about our family, our body, all that we must do to survive on this planet, the stars are concerned with something less immediate and practical: our purpose. Understanding all the stars in your chart connects you to this ancient blueprint.
Louise Gluck
Excerpt from “Legend”:
According to psychologist James Hillman, the soul represents our core calling on this earth, though we were bestowed with it before we were born. “The soul of each of us is given a unique daimon before we are born,” he explains, referring to perhaps your heliacal rising star, “and it has selected an image or pattern that we live on earth. This soul-companion, the daimon, guides us here; in the process of arrival, however, we forget all that took place and believe we come empty into this world”.1 This soul-image, as Gluck describes above, is firm and unchanging. I believe studying your stars and spending time with them, connects us to this inner beacon, where “there is nothing/hard enough to change it” on this earth. Place your foundation among the stars and it will never be shaken.
Clarice Lispector,
“A Breath of Life”
“I only left what provokes and inspires me for life: a star lit at dusk.”
There is something, bare, essential about the stars. Not only fo they steadily delineate and guide our fate, our pupose, they also endlessly inspire us. As I stated above, the stars are a sign of infinite poetry and meaning in my life. I can spend time with any of them, stargaze each night for my whole life, and still not run out of awe at their splendor.
Look for yourself. Spend time with them and see the magic they give back to you.
I have many offerings to help you connect to the fixed stars. I currently have three classes on the fixed stars on my website: one is a basic introduction that anyone can learn from. The next builds on that foundations and explore the heliacal rising and setting stars, which are perhaps the loudest and most pivotal stars connected to your chart. And then, finally, I have a class on Stellar Gnosis, which helps you get beyond the paucity of quality information on the stars and begin looking, praying, spending time with them for yourself.
Learn more and purchase below:
I also have so. much. writing. on the fixed stars for paid subscribers! In addition to deep-dives on dozens of individual stars, I also have essays on the ancient connection betwen stars and decans; lists of stars of mysticism, creativity and writing ability; and so much more.
Most vitally, I offer consults to help you explore your unique connection to the stars.
This unique service allows you to understand yourself and the world around you more deeply. Connect with the parts of you that are unconventional and beautifully unique. Our readings resonate with your stars of passion, transformation, and creativity. Connect with the legion of celestial beings shaping your life and sending messages from above. They are your light within, shining brightly even if others can’t see it. Embrace an end to isolation and surrender to the mysteries. Because you, like the fixed stars, cannot solely fit into earth time.
Book your reading today and start your celestial journey ⭐
Plus, newsletter subscribers get 15% of through the next week with code BEACON
New Upcoming Offering: On the Lot of Eros with Kira Ryberg
If you have been following me and my work for any significant period of time, you know how vital pleasure, beauty, intimacy, is to my work. That’s why it felt like such a natural fit to offer a class on the Lot of Eros, Venus’s lot, with fellow astrologer Kira Ryberg.
Lots are used to pinpoint parts of your chart that highlight certain themes or specific topics for the natives. The Lot of Eros, according to Paulus indicates “appetites and desires occurring by choice,” but this encompasses so many facets of our lives: love, romance, friendship, creativity, likes, preferences, union with the divine. To unlock your Lot of Eros is to determine where your desires, love, predilections, align with your soul.
In this course, we will explore the role of Eros in our lives, the philosophical underpinnings of the concept, the bittersweet aspect of Eros, how to interpret your own Lot of Eros, as well as many chart examples to help you see how this intimate point plays out in a life.
Stayed tuned for our December 3rd launch date and further juicy offerings around this lot <3
For now I leave you with this:
Until next time,
Love,
Chloe
James Hillman, “The Soul’s Code,” p. 17
'essays on the ancient connection betwen stars and decans; '
Cool post! The minor typo cause me to, at first, read that as 'the ancient connection connection between wrens & stars'. Which I thought was a cool line!
elm
i may snarf it 💜