Three Things that I Learned from Reading 1000+ Natal Charts

In my career as an astrologer, I've done over 1000 natal chart readings for clients, friends, and family.

Like all disciplines and skills, there are some insights about the practice that can only come through applying the knowledge. In this article, I'm going to share three such insights I've learned over the years with you now.

These are things that I wish I would've known when I was just starting out, that profoundly inform my own astrological practice.

If you are a professional astrologer or aspiring astrologer, then I hope that these insights help you as you continue to perfect your own craft.

Before I jump into them, I want to give a courtesy reminder that early-bird enrollment is closing on friday for GNOSIS, the course I teach on horoscopic astrology, meditation, and ritual magic.

You can get a discount for signing up during the early bird enrollment period. I also won't be teaching this class again until August 2026. So if you don't want to wait sign up until next year, now is the time to sign up for the best deal.

The Senenmut Decans - on the ceiling of Senenmut's Tomb

1. Theoretical learning is just the beginning

I wouldn't trade the books I've read on astrology for the world. But they only laid the foundation for my understanding of astrological symbolism.

Books will introduce to the symbolism, but you get to know the symbolism so much more by watching it play out and affect people's lives.

It's the difference being reading someone's biography, vs. interacting with them and watching them interact with others for many years. The biography would give you a great foundation through which to getting to know them, but you wouldn't really know them.

It also provides external feedback for your understanding of the symbolism. Any mistake about their symbolism with fall flat in a chart reading. You have to be clear on what the astrological symbolism actually is - any metaphorical musings not rooted in reality will crumble.

Looking back, I would say that 90% of what I know about charts has come through the consistent reading of charts for an extended period of time.

This is why I always encourage my students to start reading charts as soon as possible. For the same reason, we spend hours examining example charts in the courses that I teach on astrology.

That way, you can immediately start seeing how the planets actually work in people's lives, and use that knowledge to inform your learning process.

2. Astrology is pattern recognition

The more you look at charts, the more you see configurations and alignments repeat themselves.

Likewise, you'll notice extremely similar life experiences coming from people with similar configurations.

Everyone with the Sun in the 10th house behaves in a similar way. They have a particular element of experience that holds true, regardless of the other placements in a chart.

It doesn't take long before you start seeing those commonalities too.

These patterns can be extremely telling about how the pieces of astrology impact people's lives. You become more and more familiar with the planets, signs, etc. because you see them showing up in similar ways over and over again.

For instance, I've seen at least 8 clients with a Mars-Saturn conjunction in Scorpio. And there are very specific experiences they each share across the board.

Of course, the meaning of these configurations will shift depending on the house it occupies, or how they aspect the moon, etc. But these subtle differences between the charts helps to illuminate the symbolism too. I've especially learned a lot about houses by looking the same conjunction in multiple different houses.

Over time, you'll identify familiar placements in new clients whose charts you've never seen before, and you find that you already have a good feel for their life before you even meet.

3. Astrology is a spiritual practice.

Astrology was traditionally used in tandem with magical and spiritual practices. There is an explicit understanding in the tradition that, with this craft, we are seeking counsel from the Divine.

To be sure, there are absolutes about the mechanics and symbolism of the chart that don't necessarily require a deep spiritual connection to tease out.

But in my experience, the capacity to unlock some of the deeper essences of astrological symbolism takes more than an understanding of the mechanics of astrology.

It requires being in integrity, having a clear connection to one's own heart and inner guidance, and being a clear channel for the wisdom that wants to come through in a reading.

Different wisdom traditions have had different ways of keeping this channel clean, from fasting, meditation, retreats, and ritual. In some parts of India to this day, vedic astrologers have mantras they recite spefically to help ensure they only tell the truth in a reading.

In my own practice, I have a prayer that I recite asking the keepers of this wisdom tradition for clarity and insight. I also have my daily spiritual practices I do to keep me in alignment. I don't think it matters so much what you do, so long as you do something.

In sum, start reading as many charts as possible to begin interacting with the symbolism directly...

...paying attention the similarities and patterns you uncover with different placements and different experiences...

and keep up a daily spiritual practice while you do it.

It won't take long before your connection with the symbolism of astrology feels profound, and you're blowing away your friends and family with accurate assessments based on their chart.

It just takes practice!

Merlin

P.S. I'm running my course GNOSIS for the 9th time in August, and it's currently available for an early-bird discount!

P.P.S. I'm not running it again for a year until august 2026, so if you don't sign up now you'll have to wait a year to do so again.

Returning to Astrology's Embodied Roots

Don’t you find it strange that astrology – a practice rooted in stargazing and close observation of the heavens – now happens almost exclusively indoors and on computers?

Instead of examining the stars, most astrologers now exclusively look at natal charts on screens. Many students of astrology can't point out the planets in the sky, let alone calculate charts by hand. Rather than feasting our eyes on the beauty of the stars, we mostly just look at screens.

Do you know what it feels like in your body to see a planet and not just a glyph of a planet? Do you know how to spot Saturn in the sky? Do you remember the last time you connected with the brilliance of Venus, the third-brightest planet in the night sky?

Most astrologers and students of astrology don’t. A real disconnect has developed between the discipline of astrology and the real, tangible happenings in the sky that give astrology its meaning in the first place. Astrology has ceased to be an embodied practice.

As a result, a lot of people's understanding of the planets comes merely from books and teachers, not from witnessing and experiencing the planets themselves. It's quite literally second-hand information. Many astrologers live in a hall of mirrors composed of human perceptions of the planets, never breaking free to witness the planets themselves.

But there is a way out of this hall of mirrors. You must engage in embodied spiritual practices that reconnect you to the celestial power source that gives horoscopic astrology its meaning. It’s not enough to read books on astrology and spend all day looking at natal charts. You have to reconnect with the real world from which astrology originates.

In my courses and apprenticeships, I teach a lot of embodied practices for reconnecting with astral and planetary energy for this very reason. A complete education in astrology must rewild people and revive their tether to the stars.

Here I want to teach you a simple practice you can do to reconnect with the power of the planets in a very tangible way.

Just after sunset tonight, go outside and look to the western horizon. Shining brightly about 30 degrees above the horizon you will see the planet Venus. You can use software on your phone that identifies points in the sky if you want to make sure you've correctly identified Venus.

Once you have seen Venus, sit down and take 5 deep, smooth, steady breaths. Notice how your body feels, what your mind is thinking about, and what emotions you are experiencing as well. Just take a note to become more aware of your current loved experience.

Then, while still breathing slowly and deeply, fix your gaze on Venus, and open your palms to face her to help receive connect with the planet. It is like you are doing zazen or another open-eyed meditation, only your object of focus is the planet Venus.

Soak her energy in. Lose yourself in the awareness of the queen of love.

After about 10 minutes of gazing at Venus, check and notice how your body feels. Has the energy in your body altered? Has your mood shifted? Do you feel any subtle shifts or variances in your energetic makeup?

After a little while, you'll begin to feel saturated with the power of Venus. Your mood and energy will sync up with hers, just as if you had been staring into the eyes of a lover, soaking yourself in their energy and being.

Like any spiritual practice, this exercise brings many holistic benefits. By steeping yourself in Venusian energy, you become blessed with the good fortune and gifts that she offers. Venus uplifts people's moods and brings a deep sense of nourishing contentment. She makes people feel more comfortable in their bodies.

Venus also opens opportunities for connecting with friends and lovers easier. She even brings physical healing and was considered the celestial queen of good health and wellness. The Pythagoreans used to wear good-health talismans with the 5-pointed star of Venus’ synodic cycle for this very reason.

For the purposes of learning horoscopic astrology, connecting with Venus like this gives you direct, unadulterated awareness of the energy of Venus. You begin to understand her essence on a far deeper level than any book will bring you.

Doing this practice once creates a noticeable shift in one's aura. Doing it for several days in a row helps to bring more of her energy and blessings into your life. Ritual magic with Venus becomes more profound.

And if you make it a consistent practice to connect with Venus in this way, in time you'll have a far deeper understanding of her energy than what you could receive in books. Your capacity to interpret and connect with her symbolism in a natal chart will develop dramatically.

Imagine what would happen if you watched Venus in this way for several months. You would notice how her energy shifts and changes as she moves from one sign to the next. Venus in Taurus feels different than Venus in Gemini. How would her energy change as she perfected a square to Saturn or a trine to Jupiter? What might you feel this year as she slows down and stations retrograde in the late summer?

Can you imagine how much this will change your capacity to interpret Venus in the signs and in aspect to other planets in natal charts? You now have embodied knowledge of Venus – not just second-hand news from a book.

Now imagine that you have done this practice with all the planets, whenever they are visible in the sky, for years and years. Just think of the grounded, embodied gnosis of planetary energy you would carry within your very being.

This is the kind of tangible gnosis that the ancient astrologers carried. Their delineations and prognostications were felt. They had a first-hand report and first person-rapport with celestial energy. You can achieve this too.

Here’s the cold, hard truth: these civilizations and square walls in which we shelter ourselves do nothing for our spiritual connection or astrological prowess. Enmeshed in the human world where all we see are the crafts, deeds, and musings of humanity, we imprison ourselves in an echo chamber of human perception and regurgitated, social simulacra.

There's a reason why most mystics throughout history leave civilization and society to retreat to become desert hermits, forest yogis, or mountain sages. The connection to the natural world - the really real - gives spiritual insight and wisdom its power.

No other living wisdom tradition has lost their natural, earth-based connection to the extent that astrology has. If astrology is going to remain viable as an authentic wisdom tradition, it needs to reconnect with its physical, embodied roots.

So if you want to become a real astrologer - one who doesn't just read symbolism in natal charts but connects to the absolute Spirit of the lofty heavens - then return to your embodied roots.

In doing so, you will return yourself to the celestial source that feeds astrological wisdom, and help restore the tradition of astrology to its foundation in the real stars within and without, and not just the stars on a piece of paper.

Tropical vs. Sidereal Astrology

The greatest, most long-standing debate within astrology concerns the use of the tropical versus sidereal zodiac.

All astrologers agree that the ecliptic around the earth through which the planets travel comprises 12 distinct celestial entities known as the signs. However, astrologers disagree vehemently about the exact placements of these signs, how to measure their placement, and where exactly on the ecliptic the sequence of signs begins.

The two greatest competing views are the tropical view, that the position of the zodiac is defined by the position of the sun at the vernal point or spring equinox; and the sidereal view, that the position of the zodiac is defined by the position of a particular fixed star known as an ayanamsha.

So vast is the chasm between these two positions that they have birthed entirely distinct, semi-unintelligible systems of horoscopic astrology and natal chart analysis. Indian astrologers developed Jyotish Astrology, and Greek and Egyptian astrologers developed Classical or Hellenistic astrology.

At the outset of horoscopic astrology in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE, there was no difference between the two zodiacs - the placement of the vernal point aligned with the placement of the fixed star used in India. However, due to the precession of the equinoxes, the placement of the fixed stars will slowly “slip” in the sky at a pace of 1 degree every 72 years. Now, after several thousand years, the difference is irreconcilable.

The tropical system that traditional astrologers like myself use often comes under fire for being less “real” since it isn’t based on something you can see. And the fact that the constellations don’t line up with the signs of the zodiac is often used in popular culture to lampoon astrologers, especially Western ones.

In this article, I want to address these criticisms head-on and explain the reasoning behind the Western tropical model. Like most things that Western astrologers do, we have a lot of reasoning behind it and it’s not being done by accident.

After that, I’ll examine the sidereal system in more detail, and clear up a lot of common misconceptions about how the sidereal zodiac is actually calculated, and that sidereal astrology isn’t based on the placements of the constellations any more than Western astrology is.

Finally, I’ll close by talking about these competing zodiacs and their relationship with each other. I do think they are compatible, and I want to show how.

Tropical System

Let’s start with an image of the world according to the ancient mind. Every scholar, astrologer, occultist, and magician from the time of Plato’s academy, through to the catholic universities of the Middle Ages and the Renaissances, from Arabia to Paris, thought that the universe looked something like this:

At the center of the universe is our Gaia, a sphere of water and earth. Surrounding us are a sphere of air and a sphere of aethereal fire, and following that are the seven spheres of the planets. At the edges of the universe is the sphere of the stars and constellations called the Heaven of the Firmament, and then the final, outermost sphere stands the Crystalline Heavens, which the ancient Egyptians said was made of lapis lazuli. Surrounding this entire cosmos is the Heart and Mind of the Creator-deity, known in Western esotericism as Atum, The One, or Nous.

This final sphere - the crystalline vault of the cosmos - forms a complete revolution around the Earth every single day, carrying the planets, sun, moon, and stars with it. For this reason, it’s also called the primum mobile or first moveable. The Sun rises in the east and sets in the west each day because it's being carried by the primum mobile. Images of star trails in the night sky capture the motion of the primum mobile.

The crystalline heaven, in the Western mind, is the abode of the signs of the zodiac, rather than the realm of the stars. Western astrologers start the zodiac with the vernal point - the point on this heaven that the Sun occupies at the spring equinox.

Western astrology assigns the signs to the crystalline heavens because the signs of the zodiac represent unchanging, immaterial ideals. They represent the realm of absolutes and divine consciousness - the divine spark that we each carry within us that transcends the waxings and wanings and the ebbs and flows of the material world. They are of the realm of spirit, not matter.

Likewise, of all the realms in the universe, the crystalline heaven is the sphere most closely associated with the realm of spirit. It is the furthestmost sphere from the earth and the closest to the seat of the Divine Progenitor of creation. So it makes the perfect homes for the signs.

In contrast, because the constellations and fixed stars are more material, and because they do move (albeit very slowly), they can't be the home of the realm of the unchanging, eternal ideals that the signs of the zodiac represent. The stars are more of the realm of matter relative to the crystalline heaven. There’s a difference in kind: the signs can’t live here any more than a 3D being can live on a 2D plane, or in this case 12 13th-dimensional Gods slumming it up in the 9th dimension of the fractal cosmos.

So it's not that the tropical zodiac is based on something less real or more abstract, we just don't root the signs of the zodiac in the constellations. It doesn’t make sense with our models of the cosmos.

In fact, in the mind of the Ancient Egyptian or Greek philosopher, the crystalline heaven above is more real because it doesn’t move. It’s less material, less impermanent, and physically stationed closest to the Divine Progenitor, who is the realest of the real.

Interestingly enough, there are even fragments of ancient source texts describing astrologers and magicians ascending into the heavens and seeing the signs of the zodiac inscribed on the crystalline heaven. It’s always been a deep part of the astrological-magical consciousness.

This, in a word, is the Western model: the signs reflect the realm of the ideals and spirit, and so they live in the plane of existence most clearly associated with that. I’m not saying it’s better than the sidereal system, I’m just saying that it has its own logic to it.

So the arguments levied against us that we somehow “don’t know” that the constellations moved are absurd - we astrologers never thought that the signs mapped onto the constellations in the first place. All these arguments do is betray the ignorance of the person making the accusation.

The Sidereal System

In contrast to the tropical model, the sidereal system used by Jyotish astrologers still relies on the stars. The Indian schools of astrology first started rooting the signs of the zodiac in the realm of the stars to accommodate the precession of the equinoxes. Rather than the vernal point, they use a particular star called an ayanamsha to start their zodiac.

At first glance, this model seems more intuitive because it still gives the signs some kind of link to the constellations that share their names. But it’s not the case, as many people assume, that the signs of the zodiac in the sidereal model are identical to or coextensive with the placements of the constellations. The signs are still idealized 30-degree divisions into 12 distinct entities.

In contrast to these idealized divisions, the constellations vary greatly. They have differences in size, sometimes overlap each other, or admit gaps between them for people to sneak things like Ophiucus in when you’re not looking.

In sum, the only way that Indian astrologers incorporate constellations is to start the beginning of their zodiac with the placement of a fixed star. Moreover, there's lots of disagreement about which star to choose - and the different ayanamshas can vary up to 9 degrees. Each Ayanamsha could, in a way, be its own unique zodiac.

No one - except for one fringe type of astrology that has no historical basis - uses the actual constellations. Instead, most astrologers incorporate the stars and constellations through conjunctions and parans that planets will make with stars. This way, we can still talk about the relationship between planets and the starry constellations.

Two zodiacs, two operating systems

My goal with the above is to show you the inherent logic that both system contains. I don’t want to claim definitively that one model is better, but clearly, I have my preferences for the Western system.

For one, the mythology, history, and symbolism behind the planets, deities, and signs are far more familiar to me as a Westerner. And in my mind, if you’re going to use abstract, 30-degree divisions of the sky, it makes sense to map them onto a division of the universe associated with abstractions and ideals.

That said, there are some techniques in Jyotish astrology that I greatly admire. They also have a strong tradition around prediction and making concrete delineations about people’s charts, instead of just relying on psychology. In many ways, Hellenistic astrology as I practice it has more in common with Jyotish astrology than it has with modern astrology in terms of scope, predictive focus, and interpretations of the planets, signs houses, and aspects.

I don’t believe that these two models are mutually exclusive. Instead, I view them as two separate operating systems for computers - like Windows or Mac. Each system has unique, effective techniques for interpretation that only work on its own platform. I love Dasha systems and Nakshatras, but they don’t work with a tropical chart. I love zodiacal releasing more than any other predictive technique, but it works very poorly with a sidereal chart.

Some astrologers have taken to using sidereal charts and tropical charts together in chart interpretation and using the corresponding techniques with each system in the analysis of the native’s life. This is the equivalent of running a ghost drive of a different OS on your computer so you can switch over to that OS whenever you need it for a specific task.

To me, this kind of approach to me is the real way to reconcile these two systems. If you want the best of both worlds, use sidereal and tropical systems alongside each other in your chart analysis.

This approach sidesteps the question of which system is better. I think that’s a bad question - they each have unique interpretations they can offer based on techniques that only work with their zodiac model. It also bridges these together in a practical way, instead of claiming that one system describes the soul and the other the spirit, or other such unhelpful meaninglessness.

If you are just getting into astrology and deliberating between these two models, I hope this analysis of each system helps you to decide one on. If you have already landed somewhere, then I hope that this helps you to understand the reasoning and cosmology that informs the astrology you practice.

So the next time someone tries to make fun of you for not “realizing” that the signs and constellations don’t line up, just let them know who the real fool is :)

Dealing with Negative Energies as a Magician

Happy early Halloween everyone! I had a lot of positive feedback to an earlier video where I answer the very important question about how we know that astrological spirits are good and have your bests interest in mind. If you haven’t seen it yet, you can watch it here.

I’ve also had a couple respond saying that they’re completely convinced that planetary spirits are helpful and they have no doubt that they’re calling in something good…

…but that still leaves open the possibility that a negative spirit could slip through your ritual while you’re trying to contact a good one. Can that happen? If so, what can I do if it that occurs?

In the spirit of the time of year, I’m answer both of these questions in this video. The short answer to the first question is that it can, but it’s extremely difficult and exceedingly rare. Here’s why:

The setup of a magical ritual as I teach it in my course GNOSIS and in the minicourse Secrets of the seven stars involves gathering together a myriad of objects, incense, and oil that all vibrate very strongly with the energy of the planet you wish to summon. The presence of all these objects in one place vibrating with the energy of your planet will actively push out any negative energies or entities that don’t vibrate at the same level. In this way, your magical altar setup is a massive amount of protection in its own right.

If something does slip in, it’s almost certainly because it was already attached to you in some way, whether from birth, ancestry, past life, etc. That’s the only way most negative spirits could overcome the forcefield of the materia magica.

If you’re new to astrological magic and nervous about something like this, know that everything carries risk. Just like driving a car - you probably won’t get into an accident, but you could. You have to weigh the risks vs. the benefits and decide for yourself.

If something does happen, there are proactive, sure-fire, time-tested things you can do to manage it. It’s really not a big deal - you just troubleshoot it the way you troubleshoot anything else. And I say that as someone with 10 years of ritual magic under my belt who has had to deal with literal necromancers and warlocks throwing all kinds of twisted nonsense at me. I’m fine. You’ll be fine.

And so in the video I also talk about long-term and short-term ways to counteract dealing with negative spirits as a magician. If this is something you’re concerned about, then this video will have enough information to arm you and prepare you in case something does happen.

I hope that you find this video informative and that it assuages your fears and gives you the empowering knowledge you need to step on the path of magic! In 10 years of consistent ritual practice, I’ve never had a problem I couldn’t handle. Just using the techniques I talk about in this video, you’ll be absolutely fine.

In my career as a magician and magical teacher, I’ve dealt with a lot of negative spirits and have had a lot of experience banishing them from the life of my friends and clients. I’ve also had to ward off a lot of black magic sent at me by other practitioners, which is a lot harder to do than banishing some random spirit.

If you feel like you need help with this, you can schedule a reading with me and we can talk about it. Some of my clients come to me specifically for magical and ritual help, and it’s something that I offer in addition to astrology - it’s just not something I advertise too much.

Just specify in the intake form that you want to talk about clearing black magic, and give me some context so I know what to prepare for our session.

-Merlin

Cazimi in a Natal chart

Hello everyone! In this video I continue talking about cazimi in traditional astrology.

To review, cazimi occurs whenever a planet is conjoined the Sun within a degree (not 16 minutes). When the planet is so closely conjoined the Sun, it becomes very powerful and gains a great deal of authority in the sky.

In a natal chart, any cazimi planets will become much more powerful and take up a lot more authority in the natal chart. I explain in the video that cazimi planets almost “become the Sun.” in the natal chart - inasmuch as they have been elevated to the throne. This will affect the psychologial significations of the planet, as well as the destiny and big picture outcomes of the individual’s life path that the Sun usually has authority over. It also makes the houses that the planet rules a lot more powerful.

To see cazimi in action in a natal chart, you can see me go through Alan Watt’s natal chart so you can see for yourself how cazimi shows up in the life of a noteworthy individual.

-Merlin

Chart Demonstration - Astrological Prediction in Action

Hello everyone! In this video, I want to demonstrate the predictive power of astrology with an example chart.

A little while ago, I had a client come to me asking about career. She said her career and work life were drying up, and wanted to know when things would start to turn around and improve.

I made some very cut-and-dry predictions regarding her career based off her natal chart and the transits to it , and a little while ago she reached out and said they all turned out to be true.

So this video will demonstrate the reasoning that I used to get my accurate predictions.

If you’re a student of predictive astrology, you may find this video helpful as you are trying to learn how to use natal charts in this way.

There are two big takeaways for practicing predictive astrology that I outline in this video.

1. prediction is specific. I don’t try and give a holistic assessment of the chart or go all over the place trying to analyze a million different factors while I’m doing prediction. I look at the salient significators and I move forward based off that. In this case, the woman asked about career, so I limited my analysis to that.

2. prediction is possible. I feel like I have to say this again and again because so much of the astrology that people come into contact with is not predictive, and a lot of astrological enthusiasts non-reflectively reduce astrology to psychology. And while there’s not anything wrong with psychological analysis in astrology, you can do a lot more with it if you practice. In this example, I gave concrete descriptions of her life and some outcomes based on predictive techniques, without factoring in any psychological elements, and you can learn to do the same.

If you practice reading the chart with an eye for concrete intereptations like the one I give here, you’ll be able to predict with astrology too.

I have received a lot of messages and emails from people saying that they would love to have a (predictive) reading with me, but there aren’t any available time slots on my calendar. I have since opened up more times of the day, as well as increasing the limit to how many sessions I’ll take in a day, in order to accomodate people.

If you’re interested in getting a reading with me, you can sign up by clicking the button below.

Merlin

Planetary Hours are more important than Planetary Days

Hello everyone! I want to clear up a common misconception about astrological magic that the planetary days are more important than the planetary hours. It’s actually the other way around - the planetary hours are more important than the days!

So in this video, I talk about the history of planetary hours and where they came from historically, and how exactly the notion of planetary days are the seven-day week was developed out of that.

There’s also a few key takeaways for applied astrological magic from this:

First, you can use any planetary hour any day of the week to invoke the planet you wish to summon. You don’t have to wait for thursday to summon Jupiter.

Second, instead of thinking of the planetary hours on the aligned planetary days (e.g. Mars hour on a Tuesday) as being the only hours that are useful at all for magic, try thinking about how you could mix and match hourss and days for different results. What would jupiter magic look like on a tuesday, or a friday? How might Jupiterian and spellcraft be influenced by other planetary energy presiding over the days?

This gives you a lot more freedom as a magician. You’re not bound to a handful of effective hours each week for each planet - the actual situation is far more elaborate and nuanced.

There’s lots of little tidbits like this that I’ve collected about astrology, astrological magic, and other hermetic disciplines throughout the years that I have studied and practice. I dedicate so much of my time and energy to teaching other people because I love to share this kind of information with others to help them with their own magical practices.

I’m offering a course on horoscopic astrology that incorporates planetary magic with the Academy of Oracle Arts. The guides at AOA are a fantastic group of hermeticists and magical practitioners that I had the pleasure of connecting with in person a few weeks ago. They are a highly dedicated group of mages who genuinely live the magical lifestyle. It’s an honor to be invited to give a course on their platform.

The course is titled hermetic astrology - it teaches you how to read a natal chart according to the classical astrological style. We’ll be going over concrete predictive techniques designed by the ancients for discerning your destiny and preparing for your future. We’ll cover the seven traditional planets, houses, signs, aspects, as well as some predictive techniques.

By the end of it, you’ll know how to read a natal chart with an eye for prediction and concrete delineation that goes well above and beyond psychological astrology and personality descriptions.

Along the way, I also introduce the students to astrological magic and summoning spirits from the planetary realm. I give a lot of helpful information and pieces of advice about the practice of magic just like the one that I gave in the above video.

If you’ve been looking for an opportunity to learn traditional astrology, while studying it alongside more practical aspects of ritual magic that were originally an integral part of the study of astrology, then this course will have what you’re looking for.

This course is also a great primer and introduction to the topics I teach in my flagship class GNOSIS - if you have been intimidated by the intensity and rigor of GNOSIS and its fast-paced presentation of the material, you may find this course to help prepare you for the mystical and magical immersion that is GNOSIS.

You can learn more about hermetic astrology by following this link.

Merlin

How Astrologers Know Planetary Spirits are Good

Hello everyone! In this video I want to address a common question I get about astrological magic and ritual magic in general:

How do we know that the spirits we’re calling are good?

It’s an understandable question. For beginners to astrological magic, fear can be involved around the summoning spirits. There’s also a lot of historical stigma that keeps people fearful.

Fortunately, this question is actually rather easy to answer, and I have three ways through which any mage can tell for sure that the spirits they’re summoning are beneficial and helpful.

1. How you feel during and after working with planetary spirits.

2. The historical precedent around these spirits.

3. The results these spirits give you in your life.

Watch the video to hear me unpack each of these reasons in more detail. It’s my hope that clearing this fear will encourage a lot of my readership to take the step and cast their first ritual. For those of you who are already experienced summoners, you may find the information this video contains to give you more solidity and confidence in the magic you practice.

-Merlin

P.S. I’m still running my business astrology promotion, but only until this friday, september 23rd. If you are interested to see what practical assessments, advice, and timeline your chart (and the spirits of astrology) have to give you about your own business, you can sign up by clicking the link below! Use the code THRIVE25 to get 25% off a natal chart reading! You can use the link below.

Meet Thales - the First Magical Options Trader

Of all the occult philosophers in the history of western esotericism, Thales has one of the most notable resumes.

Widely regarded as the first philosopher in the west, Thales maintained that spirits and gods permeated all physical things in the world. He also said that all things originally derived from water, making water the first and highest substance. This position is echoed in the hermetica, where all things are said to emerge from a “dark, watery substance.”

Thales studied metaphyics and spirituality with Egyptian priests. While in Egypt, he became the first person to accurately measure the height of the pyramids. Thales was also the first person in the west to predict an eclipse. Though extremely precocious, his active mind gave him a reputation as an astrologer with his head perhaps a little too far up in the clouds - he once fell into a well while staring attentively at the sky, serving as a cautionary tale for all of us to make sure we have our feet planted firmly on the earth.

He served as an advisor to the great king Cyrus of Persia, and is considered by some to be one of the seven legendary sages of Ancient Greece. Again, quite a resume.

Thales was also the first options trader that we have any record of.

Thales had been mocked and belittled by his peers for being so lofty and high-minded that he couldn’t make any money. Some even went so far as to suggest that his spiritual and intellectual capacities must be flawed if he couldn’t apply them to succeeding in financial, material domains.

I’m sure a lot of the free-spirited, entrepreneurial magician types in my readership have received similar critiques. If our magical, occult connections are real, why can’t we use them to make tons of money and live extravagant lives?

Thales responded that he was poor not because he couldn’t earn money, but because he didn’t care to. If he really wanted to apply his wisdom, his studies and philosophy could make him all the money he wanted. A man of his word, Thales then set off to prove his point.

According to Aristotle, Thales predicted that the weather the following year would be extremely abundant for growing olives. This was the 6th century B.C. - there were no weather satellites or mundane data collection tools that could have informed Thales of this. So when Aristotle says he predicted, he means he predicted - in the good old-fashioned magical sense.

Seeing that next year would be a great boon for the olive industry, Thales proceeded to take out loans and reserved all the local olive presses in advance at a discount. Lo and behold, the next year’s olive harvest turned out to be incredibly fruitful. Thales rented out his reserves in the olive presses when the demand for them peaked, and made a steep profit.

I see three morals here.

The first is that prediction works. Whether through astrology or more oracular kinds of divination like tarot, sufficient skill with the craft will lead to accurate predictions about concrete states of affairs. Clearly, this works for business and financial matters too -and this is one of my favorite applications of the tools of classical astrology.

The second is that magical, occult knowledge can be applied to generate substantial abundance. In response to critics who assume that there must be no value in magic and astrology because they can’t be used to generate wealth, Thales demonstrated that you actually can.

I can also attest alongside Thales that magic and astrology can be used to create wealth and build a sustainable business because I have used them for these purposes as well. I’ve studied the practical, business-oriented sides of astrology to great success, and seen the techniques of this tradition work time and time again. I’ve also made contact with spirits on the other side of the veil who are more than happy to help mages with good intentions to manifest abundance and create a life free of financial stress.

And this brings me to my third moral, and my biggest takeaway for all of you: trust that the magic will work. You don’t have to keep hustling and hustling. You don’t have to break your back in order to receive financial success. You have access to ways of moving energy, manipulating reality, and seeing into the future that kind of laborious grind totally unnecessary. You don’t have to play the same game as everyone else.

Be like Thales: use your tools, your predictive capacity, and your spiritual practices. If you do it properly, finances will flow. If you come to it with good intentions, you’ll always have what you need.

I know times are tough right now, but the current global financial situation does not negate the power of magic. Keep using your tools, and learn how to use them better. Instead of fighting your way to financial success on the material plane, try using the magical skills that you’ve accumulated thus far. See how far they can take you.

Stick it to the man. Refuse to worry about money. Find smart, fun, and fulfilling ways to use your magical abilities to generate wealth instead.

Merlin

P.S. I’m still running my business astrology promotion, but only for one more week. If you are interested to see what practical assessments, advice, and timeline your chart (and the spirits of astrology) have to give you about your own business, you can sign up by clicking the link below! Use the code THRIVE25 to get 25% off a natal chart reading!