Steven Forrest - for those who are new to the area - is one of the most important professional astrologers worldwide. He has been studying astrology from his teens and practicing the profession of astrologer since 1971.
He is a successful author of many books with hundreds of sales even in our country while has achieved a strong presence in the field of teaching and of astrological research. He has traveled around the world giving lectures and seminars, written articles for some of the most recognized magazines and has taught hundreds of astrologers until today.
Many things have been written for this charismatic man, by famous professionals and amateurs, but if we had to choose a representative phrase to describe his personality it would be the one that the magazine Horoscope wrote about Steven: "not only a premier astrologer, but also a wise man. "
If we had to write a phrase to outline his character after this interview, we would use the title of the famous M. Lountemis book, “A child counts the stars”. And that's because despite the fact he is going through the sixth decade of his life, he still feels all the same spellbound by the night sky and constellations as he did as a child, and his enthusiasm and unflagging interest in the subject combined with his charming way of thinking, captivate from the first second.
A few important facts from his biography are:
Despite the fact he graduated ( in 1971) from the University of North Carolina with a B.A. in Religion he chose the professional astrology practice.
He became a published author in 1984 when his first book “The inner sky” was published by Bantam Books which was soon followed by the second volume titled “The changing sky”. This was the beginning of an impressive writing career which continues until today with great success, with a long and very respected catalogue of books some of which are: “The night speaks”, “The book of Pluto”, YesterdayΆs Sky”. His beloved wife Jodie Forrest and Steven wrote the famous and very popular sky trilogy, “Skymates” , “Skymates: Love, Sex, and Evolutionary Astrology” and "Skymates: The Composite Chart". With his fellow astrologer Jeffrey Wolf Green wrote two books based on lectures they gave together titled “Measuring the Night: Evolutionary Astrology and The Keys to the Soul”.
Apart from his writing career and astrology practice he was also a member of the Ethics Committee of the International society for Astrological Research (2002-2006), participating in the writing of the Code Of Ethics for professional astrologers and was also Chair of the Kepler College Advisory Council.
In 1985 he was awarded with the Professional Astrologers Incorporated Award for "Outstanding Contribution to the Art and Science of Astrology" and he was also nominated three times for an United Astrology Congress Regulus Award (1992, 1995, and 2008).
We could go on writing about Steven, about his great career, his authentic ideas and approach or even about his warm hearted personality and the deeper understanding of the human soul and of the universal “ways” he has conquered through many years of experience in counseling and astrological research. But the modesty he shows in our conversation as well in his lifeΆs work, speaks itself better than anything else. So, letΆs meet Steven Forrest, a really beautiful mind!
******
myHoroscope: The first thing I noticed in your biography is that of the religion graduate who chooses to become a professional astrologer. Why religion in the first place and how did astrology win you over? Do you think that your religion studies were useful to your impressive astrology career and if so, in what way?
STEVEN FORREST: Like a good second house Capricorn, when I went to college I was studying economics. But I was miserable and I began thinking that this was as happy as I was ever likely to be if I stuck to that road. So I started poking around psychology and philosophy classes, but I found them pretty empty too. Finally I took a Religion class and I was hooked. At the University of North Carolina where I graduated, the Dept of Religion was wonderfully diverse – theology and religious history were part of it, but also Jungian symbolism and things like that. I can honestly say that I am one of the few people I know who has actually used his college education almost every day doing a profession I love. Religion gave me a great foundation as an evolutionary astrologer.
******
myHoroscope: I also read that you have an interest in Astronomy. Do you believe that Astronomy and Astrology are unfolding in separate ways or perhaps they are connected but in ways the people cannot perceive or scientists have not discovered yet?
STEVEN FORREST: Well, the split between astrology and astronomy is relatively recent in terms of human history. Johannes Kepler, back in the 17th century is a major figure in both worlds, for example. Certainly, under the natural laws that actually govern our universe, astronomy and astrology are different aspects of the same reality..I suspect the gap will close again eventually as the more robust truths of life overcome the current weird sociological climate that separates the two branches. It is easy for astrologers to complain about how the prejudices of the astronomers work to disparage us, but I am also appalled by how few astrologers can even recognize constellations or point to Jupiter or Mars in the night sky. I also am saddened by the extent to which astrologers are content to remain caught in older views of astronomy - ignoring the Kuiper Belt objects, for one glaring example. We have dozens of new planets out there! That should be exciting to us, but often lectures about Eris, for example, are poorly attended. Eris is even bigger than Pluto, and perhaps equally important. Most astrologers donΆt even know its degree position in their own charts. I am not trying to beat anyone up here, only to point out that the estrangement of astrologers and astronomers is a two way street.
******
myHoroscope: If you had to pick the most difficult or tricky aspect and /or position in your natal chart which one would it be and why?
STEVEN FORREST: Whichever configuration is "up" via transits or progressions at a given time usually feels like the most difficult one! But in general, I think I would pick my Jupiter-Neptune square. Jupiter is conjunct the Sun in Capricorn and the second house, while Neptune is in Libra and the eleventh house. The Sun-Neptune square is more precise, but I feel I have made peace with it, balancing Goaty reason with my fundamentally mystical disposition. But the Neptune-Jupiter square still gets me into trouble. I tend to say "yes" too often and too easily. Even when I am feeling sad and defeated, there is still this sometimes totally idiotic optimism that runs through my thinking. I suppose, deep down, I feel that I am right about everything - which of course is not true! I'm smart enough to know that, but Neptune just floats me off into the aethers on the merry wings of Jupiter, blithely believing everything will work out to support me. So far, so good! But I do laugh at myself about it -- and maybe that's the secret.
******
myHoroscope: You were a member of the astrology ethics committee, a very important chapter of your career in my view. Nowadays many people choose an astrology career path, sometimes perhaps with a great deal of vanity or superficiality. What principles should govern the path of the professional astrology counseling in your opinion?
STEVEN FORREST: I agree totally. Astrology can be incredibly powerful in its impact on people, and without a solid foundation in ethics, an astrologer can do a lot of damage. I was kind of dragged into the Ethic Committee of the International Society of Astrological Research (ISAR) because of a political fuss I wonΆt go into here. My attitude when I started was that most ethical questions are pretty obvious, and people either do right or do wrong because of their own natures. After a little while on the Committee, I realized how slippery a lot these questions actually are. For one hot example, everyone pretty much agrees that it would be wrong to do a great, emotional consultation with a client, accept their check - and then immediately try to jump their bones sexually.
But try this: how long should you wait? Say you are attracted to a client - if you call them the next day in a courtship kind of way, are you taking undue advantage of their vulnerability to you? Should you wait six weeks? A year? With a lot of these questions, there just arenΆt clear answers. But it is very helpful to have guidelines and agreed-upon standards that have been discussed by the community. Anyone really interested should have a peek at ISAR - International Society for Astrological Research and click Code of Ethics at the top of the page. The document is only a few pages long, but every word is soaked in blood! What a process that was!
******
myHoroscope: How can Astrology be useful to the modern people? What can it contribute to the world today?
STEVEN FORREST: Astrology, done right, helps people find meaning in their lives. That is huge. It helps us see beyond mere practical survival and into a realm of spiritual purpose. It helps us choose skillful, effective means to achieve full self-actualization. It links our souls to nature in a very specific and personal way, and thus has a “Green” feeling. It reflects a kind of spirituality that transcends religion and culture, and so it helps us reach a sustainable human future on this small, crowded planet. It can also be really supportive at the very concrete level in terms of timing our moves and choices in life.
******
Question: What does the term Evolutionary Astrology mean and which are the points of difference with Traditional Astrology?
STEVEN FORREST: Evolutionary Astrology is a big tent, and there are different schools of thought within it. To me, it is the marriage of modern, choice-centered psychological astrology and ancient metaphysics. We look at a chart the way someone like Liz Greene might, but then we ask questions such as WHY does this person have this chart? What are the ORIGINS of these issues? The answer is generally framed in terms of unresolved issues from prior lifetimes, which we have learned to detect quite specifically. The techniques are complex. I detail them in my last book, “YesterdayΆs Sky: Astrology and Reincarnation.”
******
myHoroscope: How does an Evolutionary Astrologer approach the natal chart or the synastry chart?
STEVEN FORREST: Again, we look for a “chart behind the chart.” What is the underlying karma of the individual person or of the relationship between the two people. The techniques can be learned by anyone who is skillful enough to have had success with more conventional forms of astrology, but there is a lot of detail to them. “YesterdayΆs Sky” is really the Bible of those techniques, but for synastry in particular I would also recommend a person have a look at the two “Skymates” volumes that my wife Jodie and I wrote.
myHoroscope: Many astrologers face hard -natal or synastry- aspects in a kind of… fatalistic way. The followers of karmic astrology define them as an unavoidable burden we must patiently endure and some traditional astrologers rush into making unpromising predictions. Between fatal errors and karma a beginner can get very scared or confused. What?s your viewpoint?
STEVEN FORREST: I think all those viewpoints are unnecessarily discouraging and disempowering, and I feel I can prove that. Hard aspects require complex integration and the balancing of paradoxes, but we can succeed in accomplishing that work. Look at www.astrodatabank,com or any other compendium of the charts of the people who have shaped our world. You will see an awful lot of “bad” charts! That is what I mean when I say I can prove my point about “bad” aspects not being so bad! It is absolutely possible to get them right, and thus minimize the predicted suffering. And in relationships – well, who would want a sleepy, passionless one? Often the “good” aspects turn out that way. I always like to see a few hard interaspects in a synastry. They put a little grit in the system. We have all had the experience of going through a really painful disagreement with a partner and seeing the relationship grow stronger for it. That comes from hard aspects, not easy ones. This, to me, is the grown up view of synastry.
******
myHoroscope: In your book “YesterdayΆs Sky”, you analyze your opinion about reincarnation and astrology. You mention “You donΆt even really need to be convinced of reincarnation as a literal fact,” leaving enough room for one to interpret and perceive reincarnation in a more personal way. How do you feel about reincarnation and more specifically what role does reincarnation play in your work with Evolutionary Astrology?
STEVEN FORREST: One can certainly use astrology - even evolutionary astrology - without believing in reincarnation. We need only look into a newborn babyΆs eyes to know that something is born already fully human in us. We might explain that with DNA or how God made us. Most evolutionary astrologers explain it with past lives. Personally, I am 100% convinced of reincarnation. The data supporting it is excellent, once you start looking at the research. But more importantly, I simply feel that I know it in my heart. That proves nothing, of course. But the kinds of people who are drawn to me for astrological consultations seem to generally believe in past lives too. If someone prefers to look at life in a different way, I feel no need to convert them to my way of thinking.
******
myHoroscope: Many Traditional astrologers do not include the meaning of the MoonΆs Nodes in a natal chart interpretation on the basis that there exists no clearly stated and commonly accepted influence. You use the Nodes of the Moon in your work, from an Evolutionary point of view. What would you suggest their meaning is and their actual influence on a personΆs present life, based on your experience?
STEVEN FORREST: ThatΆs a big question too, but basically the south node of the Moon represents all your underlying attitudes, beliefs, and attachments that were left unresolved in prior lifetimes, while the north node is the best medicine or remedy for those issues. I would immediately emphasize that we canΆt deeply understand the nodes without also understanding their planetary rulers and all the aspects involved with them as well. ThatΆs where evolutionary astrology becomes complicated, but you really need to look at more than just the lunar nodes to get the message.
******
myHoroscope: You have trained a lot of new professional astrologers until now. Do you find that an astrologer has to have some special qualities?
STEVEN FORREST: Yes indeed! About a dozen years ago, when I began to look at turning fifty, I realized that it was time to get serious about passing on the torch. I decided to make that the focus of the rest of my life. So I started my Astrological Apprenticeship Program. I currently have two programs in California and one in Australia. I would like to start one more in the East, probably in North Carolina which was my home for forty years. I had a program in Kansas too, but that ran its course – originally, I had intend six four meetings, and in Kansas that happened. In California the students wouldnΆt let me stop! All in all, around six hundred people have passed through the programs over the years. Half a dozen have written books.
Many have spoken at the big astrological conferences. A large number have established successful private astrological practices. I am hugely proud of them all. The program is intellectually rigorous, but very warm and heart-centered. It feels pretty tribal. I am rarely so happy as when I am with my students. You can go to Forrest Astrology - Home of Evolutionary Astrologers Steven Forrest and Jodie Forrest and click on Training on the top of the page to see a full description.
As to the qualities one needs to become an astrologer, I would identify three. First, you have to love people and have faith in their ability to grow and change. Without that, it would be hopeless. Second, you need good verbal skills. We talk for a living, and just like with music or athletics, language is a skill with which some of us are naturally born and for others it is an uphill battle. Third, sad to say, you need a thick skin. Astrologers are mocked and criticized a lot, and you have got to be able live with that ignorant, judgmental idiocy somehow. If that garbage canΆt roll off your back, you probably wonΆt last in our field.
******
myHoroscope: Our world is rapidly changing. Many professional astrologers mention the dynamic aspect of Uranus, Saturn and Pluto in the first degrees of the cardinal signs in a couple of monthsΆ time marking the beginning of a kind of “dark” era for humanity. Many things are said, about wars and poverty, inflated egos, power struggles, economical instability etc. What is, in your opinion, the message the Universe is sending us via these aspects on a collective level, as well as on a more personal level?
STEVEN FORREST: As astrologer Jeff Jawer pointed out, what the gloomy astrologers are missing is that these are, as you indicate, Cardinal signs. And as any young astrologer a month into the field can attest, Cardinal signs are about new beginnings. Humanity needs a new start. Nobody – first world or third world, right or left, white or whatever - is happy with the present state of the world. We all need a new beginning. What is stopping us? Well, as a psychologist might say, we donΆt hurt enough yet to change. I believe that the big Cardinal Cross that is looming will correspond with us “hurting enough.” It is scary, but deep down, it is also welcome.
******
myHoroscope: What are your future plans concerning your work? Do you have any new books or seminars coming up?
STEVEN FORREST: This Spring, our Seven Paws Press will publish my twelfth book. ItΆs “The Book of the Moon: Discovering AstrologyΆs Lost Dimension.” I am quite excited about it. What I have attempted to do here is to explore some of the lesser-known parts of lunar theory – not so much about the usual signs, houses, and aspects. The heart of the book is about the lunar phases, which are hugely interesting and powerful area of astrology which has been mostly neglected.
I mean, you ask someone about their Moon and theyΆll say what sign itΆs in and maybe the house, but do you ever hear anyone say, “I was born under a waning Gibbous Moon?” And why not? Phase is really obvious in the sky, visually. ShouldnΆt it be equally central to our interpretations? I think so, but I believe that the reason astrologers donΆt use it so much is that we have been blinded to its meaning by a lot of two thousand year old cultural prejudices. Anyway, I won;Άt summarize the book here! Suffice to say that I use the Pagan calendar as a way of cracking the lunar code and that I am very excited about it.
Astrology is so rich. Here I am, sixty one years old. I have been exploring the symbolism since I was thirteen and I can still find veins of gold whose existence I had never suspected. The astrologers who become tedious are the ones who have stopped growing and settled for the cheap trick of becoming “experts.” None of us will ever master astrology. Like life, it is forever one step ahead of us all.
