About

Hi, I’m Anna, and I do astrology here as Wednesday’s child.

What is astrology? Astrology is the study of planetary patterns in the astral light. The astral light is the medium of magic in Western occultism, what scientists used to call ether back when such things were studied, and its source in our solar system is the Sun, which continually streams forth a subtle force that sustains all life. This life force is influenced by the cycles of the other planets, which are not dead matter, but the vessels of the great planetary beings who have been variously identified with and worshipped as gods for nearly all of recorded history. It is transmitted by the Moon to the subtle body of the Earth, from wherein patterns in the life force influence all living things. Astrology studies the tendencies which these planetary influences are likely to manifest.

The kind of astrology I practice is deeply influenced by early modern astrologers like Alan Leo, Llewellyn George, and Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson. If you are looking for a traditional election for a talisman, you may wish to consult someone else. The astrology I do is non-fatalistic, because it is the study of general patterns, not specific choices; it is exoteric, because all strong actions leave impressions in the astral light; it is esoteric, because its framework is intertwined with occult philosophy; and it is Hermetic, because it is based on observation, and knowledge is the gift of Mercury.

Who is Wednesday’s child? That’s a line from an old nursery rhyme, which runs something like this:

Monday’s child is fair of face,
Tuesday’s child is full of grace,
Wednesday’s child is full of woe,
Thursday’s child has far to go,
Friday’s child is loving and giving,
Saturday’s child works hard for a living,
But the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

It’s a rather acceptable guide to the basic characteristics of the planets, but as I was born on a Wednesday, that’s the one we’ll examine. The ordinary definition of ‘woe’ is sorrow or misfortune. There is another meaning, fitting for a day named after Odin, the Norse god of magic, and it can be found in the old phrase ‘weal and woe.’ Weal is happiness, health, and well-being; to wish someone weal is to wish them well. Woe, in this context, may refer to the antonym of wishing ill upon someone. Indeed, to wish someone woe is a real phrase which means exactly that. To curse someone is to intently and effectively wish them ill. Some people are born with a talent for cursing; I am one of them. Fortunately or unfortunately, most of my efforts at cursing were directed at myself, so that I lived the early part of my life in increasing anger and despair. Happily, when I began worshipping the Greek gods and took up Druidry, my life turned around in short order. One of the tools I used to do it was, of course, astrology.

Astrology is most infamous for its explanatory power which may leave someone astonished at how well their birth chart describes them. Yet I find that the greatest value of any system of self-knowledge is not in how much one relates to its descriptions, but in how useful it is for practical self-improvement. Astrology shows us the general shape of the circumstances of our lives which we cannot control. It is up to us to choose how we react to them: whether we manifest the influences of our stars in a spiritually destructive or positive way.

Know thyself, for that knowledge will make you free.

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Anna