When I was nine, my mom and her friend would get together over chai and talk Astrology. I sat and listened and read every book they were reading.

Then I conducted a 25-year-long research experiment.

I learned the signs. I asked questions. I discovered patterns. I saw how some signs meshed and others didn’t. I noticed how understanding the Mercury and Rising signs of friends magically improved our communication. I made sense of relationships with Venus and Mars compatibilities. I witnessed the chaotic rebirth of so many Saturn Returns. And I realized that those who worked on themselves consistently, listened to their gut more, who had self-compassion, embodied the better attributes of their signs and were able to lead more fulfilling lives.

I found that Astrology reminds us to stop hiding from ourselves.

We tend to let Astrology define who we are, but really we make our own decisions about that. I’ve learned what we see in our chart is more valuable than what it says.

For me, when I read a chart it’s like painting an abstract portrait, one thick with paint, a pentimento, an overpainting with generations of our ancestors underneath, along with a lifetime’s worth of lessons, the weight of it all, literature, philosophy, art. The colors are mixed from all I have learned about signs, planets, houses, people; the brush is the ways I have learned to find meaning in chaos. Astrology is the easel, the framework, the structure. We are the artist and our lives are our art.

For me, it’s more than just the math of Astrology — you don’t need me for that. Instead it’s the cinematic poetry of life, your life; a way to help you find your way back to yourself.

Astrology helps us see ourselves, helps us grow, helps us choose our path, helps us follow our bliss. Astrology gives us a set of tools for self-reflection and it is up to us to do something with it.

In other words: It can get real deep.

And the only way to get real deep and spill that chai is with a glass of chai…