A Star Is Born

A Star Is Born

In a time long ago - Okay, March 29th 1982, (if you wanna get specific) before the internet was born and a person could reach the heights of stardom for having a cat that can flush the toilet, the earth-bound stars of Hollywood gathered at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion in Los Angeles to be honored at the 54th annual Academy awards.

The sun was moving through the constellation of Aries, the cardinal fire sign that marks the beginning of the new astrological year - the 'spark' that breathes life into the seeds of spring, giving them the courage to burst forth from beneath the earth. In Aries season, you can feel the lethargy of winter begin to fade and adventure appears on the horizon as the days get longer in anticipation of the abundance of summer. 'Charriots of Fire' won best picture that year, and 'Indiana Jone's and Raiders of the Lost Ark' brought home the most awards - a pretty appropriate example of the Aries archetype - fearless and ready for anything!

In a much less glamorous hospital room, another Aries was about to embark on the adventure of life - ME! Labor prevented my momma from attending her Oscar party, but was entertained instead by a hand written note from my Grandmom that simply stated, 'A Star is Born'.

Welp ... for the first part of my life I sure took that to heart! As a loud, and boisterous 5 year old, whilst belting 'The Sun will Come out Tomorrow' from the musical 'Annie' (on the front lawn so the neighbors could hear of course) I decided that it would be my destiny to win an Oscar on my 29th birthday on the 29th of March. I began a ritual that year of saying a prayer before bed (to any God that would listen) to help me reach my 'destiny' and become a 'star'.

Aries people are known for their 'spark' - as the first sign of the Zodiac in their highest and most positive expression, they are known for being the children of curiosity and wonder, courageous enough to march into the unknown marking the path so that others may follow their lead. In their not so positive expression, they are impatient and impulsive, and don't always think things all the way though.

So ... at 19, in typical Aries fashion, with no money or true plan, I arrived in New York City on September 11th 2001 to realize my dreams of Broadway Stardom. Since I had driven from Toronto Canada with my mattress on the top of the car, and not thought things all the way through, the torrential downpours that day had penatrated the flimsy plastic seal I had wrapped around it. So there I sat, cursing my own stupidity with a flimsy hairdryer in my bedroom (a pseudo wall with a curtain door) as two planes crashed into the twin towers.

In the spirit of being the 'children' of the zodiac, Aries people can have a tendency to be a bit 'ME' oriented - and on this morning my entire 19 year old, Aries view of life was totally turned upside down. In an instant I realized that my little dreams were nothing compared to the bigger dream that existed beyond my small and disillusioned ego self.

To this day, I am so very grateful that I was there to experience the true resilience of the human spirit at such an important time in my own little life - to witness how a city of millions of 'strangers' each who had arrived with their own dreams, banned together in the face of unthinkable tragedy. I won't ever ever forget. Because of everyone who lost, suffered and sacrificed on this day, and for those dreams that were shattered, reshaped or turned upside down, and the ones that would never be realized....I have remained inspired to show up and to dream and to live them for those who couldn't.

William Shakespeare said it best: “It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves”. My destiny changed that day, as a wider world opened up to explore. Though I have yet to win an Oscar, what I did win was much much greater than a flimsy statue: the inner knowing that my Grandmom was right - that I AM indeed a star - we ALL are!

At this moment, for the first time in over 2000 years, humanity has entered into a new astrological age—the Age of Aquarius. Throughout history, human beings have always looked to the stars for guidance. We have studied the angles of celestial bodies in the cosmos and observed and experienced their effect on our outer reality. One of the challenges in the digital age is not to become overwhelmed, and to develop a higher capacity to make choices. It has become imperative that we reclaim the wisdom known to our ancestors. We must remember that we ourselves are made up of the stuff of stars, and our unique astrological blueprints encoded at birth are available for us to understand and experience within our very beings.

As we usher in this new and exciting time of innovation and evolution, we are beginning to understand that we ourselves are made up of the stuff of stars, and I will be here as my best Aries Self, leading the way into a new and better world.