TRANSitional Astrology: Finding a Life-based Framework for my Practice

A couple of weeks ago I was fretting about finding a framework for my astrological practice. I resolved this fairly soon after by ordering over 20 books from my library system on astrology. I then pulled out my Thoth Tarot deck to locate which of the 20 to start with and was reminded that despite my many, many misgivings about Aleister Crowley, Thoth Tarot and I vibe well. Part of it is probably the loose Judaism, but the loose astrology also helps.

That's pretty much where this blog post leads. Loose astrology.

There was one book that was very specific and kind of different from the 4 Western astrology history texts, two Jyotish tradition texts by David Pingree, and many other miscellaneous traditional and modern astrological books giving instruction. It was a book on the planet Saturn, its historical connection to Jews, and the implications that come from that connection. Thoth Tarot pulled a variety of good and bad pips for all the others and pulled The Tower for:

I knew this was unlikely to be a negative Tower pull. Still, I joked, "Great! My life has already been thoroughly ruined this year and I can't wait to see how this book will do it next!" So I read it. And LOVED it!

As Moshe Idel wrote, Saturn's domain over Jews started out as an antiJewish trope by surrounding gentile groups and then evolved over mistaken transmission to something elite historical Jewish thinkers adopted with pride. Basically, Jews taking ownership of their special connection with Saturn was an empowering shift not too unlike gays re-taking slurs like "queer" and "fag." While I read it, I felt like I too was re-taking ownership over my relationship with Saturn and the other planets and how that connected to my astrological practice.

I started studying astrology because I noticed occultists I respected like Jason Miller wrote as if it was for granted that astrology worked. Ultimately, I had curiosity about how the planets could bolster my magical practice. Getting to know them through traditional western astrology instead established beautiful connections with them that I had craved with deities since returning to magic and paganism during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Later, my second spiritual awakening upon my move to California was defined by them showing me their permeation through every part of reality—including people's actions—and how I could commune with them to steer myself on an ideal path.

So I don't study astrology to learn predictive skills or learn how to elect the best times to do actions, although I do occasionally dabble in those usages as well. I study astrology to keep contact with my deities, help them work through me for everyone's higher good, and reach and connect to others who also want to live with more alignment to the planets. (Just a quick tip, if a planet is the ruler of your ascendant lord, your final depositor, or you have a lot of placements in a planet's signs, they probably move through you more than you know).

So: TRANSitional Astrology. Shortly after this realization, my nonbinary friend Calliope showed me how to read tarot involving astrology in a way that finally made things click for me. Then several more of my trans friends started pushing me to do readings. That means I am going to start giving astrology-based divinatory readings at events and markets near me, especially for people who have trans and neurodivergent identities. It's also been suggested for me to host parties based on certain astrology transits so that people can come together and share what they are going through based on how ongoing transits correspond to their natal charts.

I plan on writing a few more blog posts too on my favorite elements and methods to look at when practicing astrology, and I am super excited for this next chapter of my blog. Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. I cannot wait to see what the planets have in store for us.