Astrologer, Robert Wilkinson from Aquarius Papers, reveals his views and insights and takes us on a mini guided tour of his galaxy.
Do you believe that one is born to be an astrologer?
I have found we all have a gift and mine happens to be astrology. I’ve known literally hundreds, if not thousands of astrologers, over the 50 years I’ve been studying and practicing the craft. Some had a gift, others didn’t. Some made their money at other professions while studying astrology for their own reasons.
Remember that someone studying astrology is not necessarily an astrologer. They may speak the language and read the books, but if you were to put a natal chart in front of them, they would be incapable of reading it.
Reading a natal chart is only one of the nine branches of astrology. There are thousands who study astrology and know a lot about it, but do not practice it, either as an amateur or professional. All that said, every single person who studies astrology is benefited by what they learn. Every single person benefits somehow.
As a practicing professional for about a half century, I have seen one great big truth about those who go into it as a profession: an astrologer cannot be in it for the money, the fame, or the glamor of knowing things others don’t know. An astrologer is here to serve others, helping them become their highest and best self. This really is what being an astrologer is all about.
What has been your biggest revelation throughout your journey with Astrology?
I have had tens of thousands of them! Astrology allows us to know the larger patterns affecting people and nations, which in turn helps us know how to navigate any situation. And as we grow in our awareness, our knowledge of how to apply astrology also grows, until we understand patterns in ways which are remarkable.
For example, I have been asked to strategize for billion dollar corporations, and a simple chart can show all the players, where they are at, and what to do and not do. A good astrologer can actually see the whole picture.
However, at this level of understanding, the astrologer must decide what should or shouldn’t be said. I don’t serve people who I believe to be ethically questionable. I believe I am here to bring out the best, highest good in a particular person or situation. I’m not here to make money and impress you. I am here to help you become the best, highest Self you can be.
How much of what you do is about helping/healing others?
All of it. There is no part of what I do that isn’t designed to be of the highest, best service as I see it is. Having said this, some people don’t wish to be healed.
There are four general groups of healers, and each is necessary for their skills in healing some part of us; body, adjustments, spiritual, preventative – there are many kinds of healing.
Astrology is about healing the ego mind and the personality by showing us why we have the patterns we have, and provides antidotes for the causes of suffering and dysfunction in all of us. When we turn our planetary and sign dysfunctions into healthy expressions, we not only are healed, we also become the healing agents for others we meet, even if we don’t talk astrology at all.
We all grow in awareness and in our ability to be the fullness of who we are in the world. Because our planets show all parts of us, and have a positive and negative expression, our job this life is to turn our planetary dualities from dysfunctional to more healthy functions.
Astrology also helps us understand what we don’t have to learn and do, and where we don’t need to waste our time, money and energy on something that may not yield the extraordinary results that may occur if the same energy, time and money were invested in our ‘gifts’.
Can you describe to our readers what a ‘RETROGRADE’ is?
Firstly, it is important to know that all the planets except the sun and the moon go retrograde once a year. A retrograde is an apparent backward motion of a planet due to its relative speed as seen from the Earth.
All the planets speed up and slow down at points in their orbits. A retrograde is merely a planet which has slowed from the perspective of Earth. It’s like an express train passing a slow train; it looks like the slow train is moving backwards, but it only appears that way from the perspective of the fast train. It has everything to do with perspective, as once a certain point is reached, it no longer appears to be moving backwards.
From an astrological point of view, a planet moving forward covers new ground, and a planet in retrograde gives us a second look at those planetary experiences. We see the ground that has already been covered but from a new point of view. A planet in retrograde is therefore a great time for going back over some material and seeing it from a different angle. Then when the planet moves forward again, you are wiser and better equipped to handle that same situation or emotion.
What is the path to ‘True Connectedness’?
Remember we are an Eternal Soul/Spirit having a human experience, and we are always one with “All That Is.” We have bodies, feelings, and minds, but we are a Loving Wise Eternal Intelligence whose growth is forever. Consciousness is like a one way street, we can only become more aware, grow and move forward.
Once we understand we are here to become more aware of how to express our love, wisdom, and intelligence as best we can, then we’re at one with ourselves and any external thing we encounter. This is true connectedness – where you can really be at one 24/7 with whoever you are with, wherever you are and whatever you are thinking or doing.
The more aware you become of your connectedness with all other life, I find that it opens all kinds of doors to knowing things that you never knew before. You have tapped into universal consciousness. This is why meditation is so important as it clears our minds and allows us to tune into these frequencies and truly understand and feel our connectedness.
In your experience, do the stars and the planets affect us in the same way, wherever we are geographically, emotionally and spiritually?
I look at it as we are the living expression of our planets. Where we are at determines how our planets express their tendencies. Obviously the expression of a spiritual woman or man will be different than the expression of someone lost in lower desires and thoughts. Still, there are universals common to us all, since we all have life cycles which unfold at their own pre-determined pace.
For example, we all go through major choices and changes between 27 and 30, when two major astrological events happen to us all. Everybody has a Saturn return at this age, and this is what makes us different at 30 years old than who we were when we were in our twenties.
What choices we make, and in what circumstances we make them are unique to each of us. We are all challenged to learn and grow at critical times, and these points are common to us all with similar lessons learned in different circumstances.
Do you believe that we are consciously aware of the choices we make?
Those who are not self-aware are not conscious of their choices – Those who are self-aware are. We have a superconscious mind, a self-conscious mind and a subconscious mind. There are always subconscious elements in play in every choice, and until we have examined those deep factors, then there will be some degree of unconsciousness in our choices.
An unconscious Mars expression could show as anger, or misdirected force, or impatience; a conscious Mars expression will “attack the problems of life” with precision and accuracy. This has to do with the planetary dualities of healthy function and dysfunction which I have written about in my book “Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend.”
In that work I also go into how we’ve all been programmed by the family and cultural matrix, much of which we take for granted until it’s time to step outside of this matrix and stretch the boundaries, to be who we really are supposed to be. Astrology helps us with the timing on when to let go of the old to become our highest, best Self in the world, fulfilling our destiny.
What are your views on C-section birth vs. natural birth in terms of timing and orchestration?
A friend and medical doctor once said ‘original equipment is always best’. If a mother doesn’t need a C-section, then it’s probably better to give birth naturally. If a C-section is necessary for the health of the baby and mother, then they are a good thing. I wish that doctors knew more astrology so they wouldn’t be so quick to jump the gun simply for their convenience. To me, birth is a natural thing, or the world wouldn’t be overpopulated. But for some women, a C-section will save her life and/or the life of the baby.
What advice do you have for our readers as we approach 2022?
We are in a long wave period of transition between the old Age of Pisces and the coming Age of Aquarius. We have cycles of old energy still in play, even as cycles of new energy are emerging. We definitely are learning our connectedness and finding our roles to play in the larger group work which calls our hearts and minds.
Though things have been very tense due to the long wave cycles going on, all of it is challenging us to be creative in our thinking, caring in our relationships, and let go of old negative thoughts which accomplish nothing but make us feel badly. If things don’t make sense, they don’t have to. All we need to do is remember that we are a loving, wise intelligence at the core of our being, and our job is to get our bodies, feelings, and minds all on the same page so we can easily express our Higher Self.
I speak of all these things and more on my website The Aquarius Papers, the first astrological blog in the world with over 14M pageviews and visitors from over 130 countries. It’s all free, so please drop by since I have posted over 8K articles on all kinds of things.
