Soul Cycles

An Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living

Socrates

Why are we here?  What meaning will our lives have a hundred years from today?  My twenty-five year career in astrology began with these questions.  In the midst of studying English literature at University of Massachusetts in Boston, I read Jess Stearn's, The Sleeping Prophet--a biography of Edgar Cayce.  For the first time I connected with someone who had answers to these questions.  Edgar Cayce's remarkable channeling validated the intuitive experiences I had since the age of three.  If according to Cayce, "the psychic was of the soul", so apparently was astrology:  "The signs of the zodiac are Karmic Patterns; the Planets are the Looms; the Will is the Weaver."  His guides cautioned that "the mind was the builder" and no outside force even astrology could surpass the will of man--if he chose to apply it.

Paramahansa Yogananda echoed this sentiment in Autobiography of a Yogi:

A child is born on that day and that hour when the celestial rays are in mathematical harmony with his individual karma. His horoscope is a challenging portrait, revealing his unalterable past and its probable future results.  But the natal chart can be rightly interpreted by a few man of intuitive wisdom; these are few.  

One such astrologer was Yogananda's guru.  When he saw an early death for his pupil, the wise guru made an amulet to protect the young Yogananda during the upcoming disastrous cycle.  Impressed by this story, I began to believe there was something to this pseudo science after all.

Up until this time, I felt astrology was nonsense and those people practicing it were charlatans manipulating a gullible public.  In fact as a child I had come upon an astrology reading my mother hid in her drawer.  I was truly embarrassed by her lack of intelligence.  However, being a wise college junior, I decided to investigate.  So I sent my birth data, March 25, 1947, 2:00 A.M., Boston, MA; checked the block marked female; and mailed the form to Time Pattern Research in Long Island.  I was amazed at the twenty-page computer report.  On page three it stated, "You will have an interest in occult matters and a very balanced attitude toward them.".  On page five, "You will have much to do with male relatives other than your father."  Both statements were true.  I certainly had been intuitive all my life.  And while very close to my grandfather, I had not been close to my father since the age of eight when my parents divorced.  I returned to Boston to live with my mother's family, while my father remained in Los Angeles.  Maybe this was just a coincidence; however, being "progressive in outlook and both original and prolific in ideals" (page 4), I had to find out more about astrology.

After receiving a B.A. in English, I started classes at the New England School of Astrology in September of 1969.  Classes were conducted by Frances Sakoian and Louis Acker, who later coauthored The Astrologer's Hand Book.  Both were astrological wizards.  I took most of my classes with Frances, an attractive red-headed grandmother who gave great encouragement to all of her students.  Since I was taking a journalism class at Boston University at the same time, I decided to do a piece on the school for BOSTON AFTER DARK.  Frances loved the article and felt that I would make an excellent writer.  However, my focus was on astrology and the esoteric sciences and I continued to study under the direction of two professional mediums--Rev. Gladys and Rev. Kenneth Custance.  I completed my mediumship certificate in May of 1972 and I was now free to prepare for the American Federation of Astrologer's Professional Exam.

Frances Sakoian who had a flair for teaching taught me the basics of astrology--planets, signs, houses, aspects, progressions, and transits.  However, after three years of study I had taken almost all the classes the school had to offer.  I needed a private tutor to prepare for the upcoming eight hour exam.  Through another astrologer, Mary Letourney, I met my mentor, Dorothea Lynde.  Unfortunately, Dorothea never wrote any books.  She always said, "My students are my books."

In 1975 after five years of study, I received my teacher's certificate from the American Federation of Astrologers.  Over the years, I have been grateful for the many fine books written by Frances Sakoian and Louis Acker.  Even though Frances has passed on, I still feel connected to her through her writing.  Dorothea Lynde and I remained close until her death in 1995.  In fact I can still feel her over my shoulder, when I need some advice.  About this time, I realized I wanted to leave a more permanent