We’ve really got into astrology lately. There’s something about feeling more connected to yourself and having a greater understanding of your path in life. It feels quite empowering and almost like you’re connecting the dots to help give more clarity to your journey. We’ve recently welcomed Astrologer, Francesca Oddie, to provide monthly horoscopes (click here to discover them) and we’ve asked her to talk about astrology in more depth and why it could be the next big trend in wellness.

People keep asking me, “why do you think astrology has become so popular?” In all honesty, I’ve been so busy willing astrology to get “big” that I had not taken the time to ask why this might be. I felt the trend coming, the signs were there and the shift has been part subtle, part seismic.  The question remains, is this a trend or is astrology back for good? Only time will tell. Though, I like to think that astrology is on the brink of “scientific” vindication.

First of all, we might ask why the Wellness Industry is booming? The quickest answer to this question is that people want to feel (and look) very well. They want better sleep, manageable emotions and a sense of calm.

Astrology plays a part in this story because it is able to articulate some of our seemingly irrational feelings and it can describe their root. Understanding something helps us to accept it, when we accept it we can start to move on. I could wax lyrical about the benefits of astrology all day but in short, astrology can help us to understand and improve ourselves, our relationships and our life choices. It does this simply, by highlighting what you already know about yourself and adding clarity.

Modern Astrology
Fifty years ago it took a considerable amount of time and kit to work out someone’s birth chart. An ephemeris, protractor, compass, 30 minutes and a good head for numbers.

The birth of the Internet has spearheaded the Age of Aquarius and it is easy for anyone to go online and calculate a free birth chart.  The obsessive, intrigued and fascinated amongst us have been able to indulge ourselves in endless hours of Googling. Is he rising Leo? I bet she has a Taurus Moon. We can Google our hunches and there is something enormously satisfying in that. The internet has provided an endless resource for the astro-curious and fed their hungry minds

The Moon
It could be that the Moon has led lots of people to astrology.  “Her” (as astrologers like to refer to the moon!) continual change of form and seemingly obvious effect on our behaviours have grabbed our attention. Yoga with its sun and moon salutations connects us all deeply to the cycles of nature and as yoga has become more popular, so has our fascination with the moon.

A Full Moon is a hugely energetic, uplifting but potentially fractious time of the month and it’s really hard to deny that fact.  Maternity wards are Bedlam and the police are inundated with “domestics.” The fascination with the moon is a slippery slope into a wonderful world of astrology.

Planets
Astrology is the study of planets in the sky, their relative positions to each other and how certain planetary positions match and correlate with our experience on earth. It can sound remote and unconvincing but really Astrology is just the study of nature. Days, months and seasons dictate the mundane environment of our daily life. Why would the influence of our solar system begin and end with the Sun and Moon? How can we draw a line in the sky that accepts the Sun as the giver of life and the root of our food chain, and accept that the Moon affects tides… but then entirely disregard Mercury, Venus and Mars as having an impact on life on earth? Surely it makes more sense for there to be an influence?  

We know that all life on earth is connected, that storms In the USA traverse the ocean and make an impact in the UK a few days later.  We know that nature is in motion and has no distinct boundary. As we think more about life on earth, health, natural medicines, plants, sunrise meditations and green juices; it makes sense that the understanding of astrology and the simple rotation planets and asteroids in our solar system have an impact on us on earth.

Online
The internet gives us NASA images, constant news feeds, access to scientific investigations and instant access to information.  It is the internet and its endless images that have connected us to astrology and its associated wisdom. But it is also the internet and the fact that it is taking us away from our true nature and leaving us feeling ironically disconnected from the people we love that is making us want to get back to nature.  We want to connect with our intuitive mind, with the calls of our body and understand that perhaps anxiety isn’t a disease in itself, perhaps it is the soul screaming to be heard as we continue to ignore what our higher self wants us to do.

Astrology is powerful, tarot is powerful, the esoteric arts are mysterious but they hold basic and simple truths that we have as a society become very disconnected form in our search for the perfect image. Astrology sees beneath the veneer and offers an explanation and I think this is why it is making a comeback and I think the Wellness community are the perfect audience to appreciate what it has to offer.

words by Francesca Oddie