Okay – horoscopes are fun, but what if you take them a little more seriously?
This is a series of four articles about my personal experiences as an avid follower of Jonathan Cainer’s astrological forecasts.This is the third article (links to article 2, article 3 and article 4) Since writing The Quintessential Gemini (published by Sapphire Star) in which Katherine Dale lives her life according to her daily horoscope, I’ve been asked many times over ‘is Katherine YOU?’ Well, acquainting myself with what the stars forecast for me IS a part of my daily life, courtesy of Jonathan Cainer. However, I don’t live my life according to my horoscope forecast as is the case with Katherine Dale. But it did give me the idea for a novel that is rather amusing!
Maybe fact is stranger than fiction though ….
My own sun sign is Gemini – but what we must all remember is that whilst we share with everyone born under the same sign certain traits, we are each unique. Everyone will have all 12 signs of the zodiac and all 10 planets in their horoscope – it’s the order of things that makes each chart unique. Later in this series I will talk about the differences I found when I had a personal chart reading based on my exact time and place of birth.
For the last couple of years I have kept copies of my daily, monthly and yearly forecasts as they have been updated. It’s a sort of experiment if you like, as I’m going through a time in my life when I don’t really have a master plan for the future – I’m taking each day as it comes. Now that’s pretty scary for someone who has always organised every single aspect of their life and enjoys achieving targets!
In June 2010 – a year after the start of an ongoing period that would change my life beyond belief and even my wildest dreams (and continues to do so), I commissioned a full birth chart that is still being played out. The level of accuracy is astounding, as I’m told my life as such is an unusual one for a Gemini. The changes that I’ve experienced since the beginning of 2009 have taken me in a totally new direction and have led me to acquire skills I never dreamed I’d need.
I believe coincidences and luck are not random things that happen and I have found that my forecasts constantly give me advance warning as each new step (or coincidence) takes me along this new path I find myself travelling. It began towards the end of 2008 when my forecasts started to hint at a growing interest in the esoteric things in life and then came references to a major change in direction for me that would give vent to my creative side – writing a book was one example given. At that time I remember laughing and thinking ‘one day, not for quite a few years though …’
Like most writers I knew from an early age I wanted to write, but I also ‘knew’ that it would be later in life when family demands weren’t pressing. When I did begin writing in 2009 many will say it was down to a series of coincidences. For most writers, financial constraints dictate that you can’t simply give up a good career to begin writing – and at that stage all I had written was some poetry, short essays and reams of notes with various ideas for full-length stories. Fate engineered a pressing need for me to walk away from my job to look after my mother, but she died very unexpectedly three months later. It then took me another six months to sort out her affairs and to give me a ‘break’ away from the distressing tasks I had to do, I spent a few hours each day writing.
My next post is going to quote actual forecasts from around that time time
, by two different astrologers. Of course I had no idea whether I would ever be able to write a complete manuscript and had given no thought to what came afterwards – that’s the problem with having a dream! I had left behind the second (and more personally satisfying) career I’d had in my life, Interior Design, my first career had been in finance – so I assumed once I had sorted everything out I would go back to work. Writing was, therefore, simply an interlude. That was when I decided to keep the forecasts to re-read them in the future when I could really evaluate them meaningfully. The stars were predicting major changes in my life, things I couldn’t really comprehend or even imagine happening. This was going to be a test and would probably change forever the way I regarded astrological forecasts in the future.
Do you read you own forecasts regularly? Do you look at them occasionally? If you would like to share something that can be discussed here, I’d be thrilled if you would Email me at lbhalton@googlemail.com.
It still surprises me though, that my love of following what the stars say sparked the idea for The Quintessential Gemini. That’s the fun thing about life, ideas seemingly come from nowhere and this idea came from
the daily horoscope I receive on my Blackberry every night before I go to sleep. As I lay in bed one night reading what was in store for me the next day, I thought ‘What if someone really did try to live their life according to their daily horoscope?’ In the rose-tinted picture in my head of when I found time to write, it was always straightforward romantic stories – life, love and relationships. It had never crossed my mind to include astrological connections or a psychic theme. That’s where fate, and therefore, the stars decided to take me….








I think I may start again. I stopped reading when I was going through a series of personal losses – on an ‘I’d rather not know’ basis. If I struggle with the meaning, I’ll come to you!
xx
Hi Linn – I’m an avid star sign reader and I’m a Pisces with Libra rising (I know about Libra being my ‘ascending’ sign because I had a chart drawn up according to my date and place and time of birth by Jonathan Cainer (many years ago actually – but you only need to do a personal chart once). I don’t follow Jonathan so much these days but I do have a favourite astrologer who does an indepth monthly forecast – and I read it like a weather forcast to guide me on when the stars will be in my favour or if the reverse might be true. Now, unlike the heroine of your book ‘The Quintessential Gemini’, I do not live my life according to my horoscope but I definitely do choose to book appointments, sign contracts, or take specific actions on certain days if the stars are favourable. Great post Linn – I could talk for hours about astrology!
Janice xx
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Sometimes it’s tough when the signs are indicating it’s a difficult time Sheryl and I myself have had a few of those years having lost loved ones. I think you are right, sometimes you just have to get through each day and you aren’t really any better off having someone tell you about the inevitable. As Janice comments, it’s useful as a guide and nice to know when the cosmic climate is positive – it can’t do any harm to make those big decisions when there’s a little extra help in the air!