What Should I Do with My Life?

 

November 12, 2004

 

http://cainer.com/ericfrancis/nov12.html

 

Hi Eric:

After reading your October horoscopes, I felt somewhat compelled to write to you. I'm an Aquarian, born 24th January, 1971 at 10:12 a.m. in Aberdeen, Scotland. I have been something of a nomad these last few years, having done some extensive traveling abroad mainly in Asia and New Zealand. During these times and since my return to Scotland in April last year, I have been looking to change careers, as I have come to realize that I am very ill-suited to the career path I have been on since leaving university. However, after many months and what has now become years of contemplation and soul searching, I still find myself unsure as to which direction to go next. I believe I have a better sense of self now than I have had at any point in the past but am still finding it hard to translate that self-knowledge into a sustainable and rewarding career within today's modern workplace. Despite this, I feel that I am now on the brink of making a breakthrough on a question that has vexed me now for far too long!

 

Taking into account the now current 9th house activity in Aquarius (as well as the other current astrological happenings -- eclipses, etc.) and my own birth date, I'd be very grateful for any insight / advice you might be able to offer me.

 

Warmest Regards

Restless Wanderer

 

 

Dear R.W.,

You present one of the most common questions I hear: What should I do with my life?

 

This is one of the reasons why free will is so annoying. If I were a Vedic astrologer, I could take a look at your chart and say, "It is your destiny to take care of small animals" and I would have earned my salt. But that's not what most western astrologers do, and I have actually found that very little I say to friends who say they have no direction that actually makes a difference to them. Or so it seems.

 

As for clients, I just ask them to explain themselves until their sense of direction becomes obvious.

 

Yet in the end, even if someone were to feel a calling, they would need to surrender to it, and embark on it not knowing where it was apt to lead them. That's the part that makes most people uneasy. And while it may seem simple: one makes a choice and does what one wants, I don't think it's so simple, really. That's because any choice one makes seems to foreclose so many other possibilities, and that can be daunting. So one must be at peace with that. I am often told, "Oh, it's so great, you do what you love." And I say, well it feels a lot more like, "I love what I do."

 

For people who are either successful, or who love to take the ride and play the game of life, the mystery and adventure are the part that's the most fun. Working the process of change, in real life and not in theory, can be a great adventure. But no matter what one does, there are times when the best work is not the least bit rewarding, or does not feel that way. There are days when it's incredibly rewarding and absolutely right. But we still need to work each day regardless of which kind of day it is.

 

Now, as for your chart, which I have not seen yet. I'm going to give you a reading of career indicators. This will be a somewhat traditional look at your chart, but remember that astrology in this context is a work of utter fiction. So even if I jump up on the table and start ranting, "YOU ABSOLUTELY FREAKING MUST BEGIN WRITING CHILDRENS' BOOKS RIGHT NOW," trust me, I'm making it all up, because you are not your chart, and I don't know you.

 

Having said that, I'll cast your chart, here's a little reading.

 

[Thirty second pause.]

 

Okay, here's what happened.

 

I entered your data and calculated the chart. Then I asked the display function to draw me a basic wheel. And what I got was a chart with NO planets -- not one -- and just the south node in Leo in the 6th house.

 

Hmmmmmm. This qualifies as extremely interesting.

 

Just two (2) prior times in my career of casting 6.4 godzillion charts did this software ever come up with something utterly original like this. (But when it's happened, it's been good -- for example, one time, on the way to Crete with Barbara Hand Clow, I cast a horary chart asking about the trip, and got a display wherein every planet and point came out in the first degree of Aries -- the Aries point -- an exact, to the degree conjunction of about 20 things, which of course was a figment of the computer's imagination -- so I printed the chart and wrote an article called "In the Beginning.") I am one of these people who believes in the "When The Wrong Chart Works" school of astrology.

 

So let's consider the metaphor presented in this funny chart.

 

I would not be so inclined to read this strange horoscope were not the image of the south node in the 6th house in Leo so absolutely glaringly brilliantly a response to your inquiry. It would be nice if astrology programs always said, "Um, here's a good place for you to start this investigation." But they don't; usually the astrologer has to take an intuitive sniff.

 

The 6th house is about the work we do. The south node is where and how we get stuck; the past; the old pattern; what we lean on; what we're already good at.

 

Leo is the sense of self, sense of adventure, and sense -- more than anything -- of your personal value and glory in the world. Leo is about gold, sunshine, daring, creativity, rewards, and individuality. Put the south node in Leo and you can be stuck on a notion of individual past glory that basically holds you down and keeps you in a state of drudgery; and in the 6th house, this occurs where your work is involved. And you can be stuck in the idea of: "What should I, that is, ME, you know, MYSELF, the Restless Wanderer, be doing with my time, for the sake of me, you know, ME?" (You did not say, "Dear Eric, how may I best serve the planetary family at this difficult time in history?")

 

One paradox is that the 6th is the house of service to others, and Leo is the sign of the Self. So we get a good image of either: 1) your identity is trapped in your work, or tends to become so, or 2) or of self-service, and no, not a coffee bar. Self-service as in, well, the 6th says you should be devoted to the needs of other people, animals (I was totally guessing above), and the work that must get done. But Leo is often Meo. So I see a picture of self-involved work rather than actual service. And I do suggest you forget that, because that's the old story.

 

The new story is being part of the cosmic family, and serving many people as part of a kind of team or orchestrated process. From the position of the south node, we can always infer that the north node: which is in Aquarius, in the 12th (they are always in opposite signs and houses).

 

This is astrological shorthand for: think beyond your individual needs. What, R.W., does the collective, the community, the world, need right now? How can you simply be of service to the whole?

 

I assure you: there are lots of ways.

 

But, I suggest you stop thinking about yourself and remember the world in which you live, and what this world needs, and how you can make yourself the very most useful. Because I believe that is what you really need the most.

 

Oh and by the way, writing children's books would be a great job for you.