Discovering Narrative Astrology, A Reiki Journey
I’ve been living in stories and looking to the sky for inspiration for as long as I can remember. I’ve been asking how to live well? and other questions that revolve around how to make life meaningful and how to transform the stories we live by.
I’m excited to reconnect with the GHR community. In the nearly 5 years since I received my Level 1 attunement from Cole I’ve traveled, moved from Brooklyn to New Mexico, and am in my second year of publishing Wandering Star Planner – a minimalist astrology planner. I’m also working on a book and website, Narrative Astrology, about how astrology works through narrative.
Reiki affected my entire life, a subtle but potent shift. When I began to practice Reiki daily I became more aware of energy – my own, others, and the energy of places and of stories. I can trace this feeling of a shift in life to two other moments – when I started daily journal writing and when I started to relate astrology to my life. Writing I’d found a decade before Reiki and astrology I would find shortly after, drawn by the energy of the moon.
Six months after receiving the Reiki attunement I got married and left the city I’d called home for 15 years, my only home. I’d spend the next year living in an RV and traveling with my husband. I thought I’d finish a writing project, freelance for money, and enjoy the trip. Instead, I felt awful. Each day was an emotional and logistical struggle as we tried to adapt to a life on the road. Heat and power were unpredictable. Nothing went as we’d imagined. I could barely write, but I kept doing Reiki and this steadied me through the changes. As my little home shifted, I started to look for the moon from whatever location we’d park at. This helped me gain perspective when everything else seemed to be going wrong. Our RV flooded, family fell ill, tiny spiders invaded, and on and on.
But I kept looking up.
The energy of the moon led me to the energy of the planets and I began to devour information about astrology. I knew this was my medicine without knowing how it worked. Astrology was another language, a landscape of stories both personal and universal. A year into our journey I wanted four walls that didn’t shake when the wind blew. We landed jobs in Albuquerque, New Mexico and decided to rent an apartment. We had no idea we’d be weathering a global pandemic in the desert, far from friends and family, but we couldn’t have asked for a better home during these times. Three years and one tiny bundle of a child later we are still here.
In our time here I’ve studied the fascinating history of astrology and read a translation of an ancient text by Vettius Valens in Chris Brennan's Hellenistic Astrology course. The ancient methods paired well with the sky-focused, devotional methods I was also drawn to. I’ve made the journey to Chaco Canyon to walk the ruins of sky-oriented sacred cities, and I’ve created a planner to help track personal transits. I’ve fallen in love with the sky and talking about how time feels, how our lives feel in various times. Looking up to catch a glimpse of the planets in the night sky and using their great cycles as a metaphor to transform our stories, our lives, and the energy of our time here on earth is my passion.
You can find me at:
@wandering.star.planner
NarrativeAstrology.com (coming soon!)
@narrative.astrology
Esme Hoffman-Joseph, Reiki Master
Esme is passionate about guiding people to deeper connection with the present moment by sky watching and tracking personal transits.