Back Alley Astrology

The process of understanding astrology has been a long road for me... 

As a kid I rarely enjoyed reading. I experienced great difficulty slipping into a space where reading stops being a process of identifying words and becomes a flowing stream of coherent information. Too much of my time was spent returning to the beginning of paragraphs after realizing I had read each word, but retained absolutely none of their meaning. Due to this little problem my astrological education was primarily experiential instead of literary. I feel this lead to a complex and unconventional perspective of the subject.

I experience each facet of astrology the way a chef might experience seasoning and temperature. A good chef (I imagine) can visualize the flavor of their dish before its creation. When a pan is set to a specific level of heat or specific amounts of salt are added to a pot I imagine they are not just thinking, "This much salt is the amount tongues tend to find pleasing." I imagine they would also think, "This much salt feels right, in order to make the dish taste the way I envision it." When we first look at astrology we see each part as just generally salty, or just generally sweet, but it takes time and practice to comprehend the emotional chemistry potential in the skillful union of those parts. For me astrology is like cooking. A certain level of one facet, mixed with a certain level of another, results in certain flavors of reality or personality. Most of my grasp is therefore based on difficult to describe existential flavors. 

Throughout my travels I have found theories and philosophies with which I resonate deeply, but nothing I adhere to 100%. Because my experience of astrology is based on what feels right more than what is traditional, I jokingly refer to it as back alley astrology. I hope reading about it is as enjoyable for you as it was for me to piece together.