And thanks to this in a short time you will
have great opportunities to realize your po-
tential.
Plenty of room for personal initiative.
The profession of astrologer provides a full
opportunity of free self-expression. This is
one of the few professions that allow you to
be yourself and, in fact, do what you like.
A sense of satisfaction from work. Pro-
fessional astrology is a helping profession.
You’ll feel great when the client is satisfied
with their consultation. It is nice to know
that you have helped someone, and can say
with confidence: “Today another man got a
chance to become happier, and I have a
share of the merit.”
When in people’s lives, at last, occur the
long-awaited events, which you suggested,
you feel the rise and the satisfaction of
knowing that you helped these people
achieve their goals. The success of the
people who you advise is put into some
direct ------relationship to your
professional qualities and skills. The more
you grow professionally, the greater the
happiness you bring to others.
Unlimited opportunities of personal
growth. No one can limit capabilities your
growth, but you. If you want to achieve
great results, learn more. For a while, you
will work very intensely, work overtime, but
soon these efforts will be rewarded.
Most people in this world have a profes-
sion or a job which are for them a just
means of livelihood, and do not allow them
to completely realize their potential. Pro-
fessional astrologers know no obstacles to
their growth except those that they place
upon themselves. We know that we always
have the opportunity to achieve something
greater. We know that professional growth
depends on our level of competence. And
we do not fear the un-
known, since in the
formation of a better
future, it is our work.
Dmitriy Paramonov
is a member of OPA’s
chapter in Russia.
O P A
❥
Written as Part of Arlan Wise’s Writing Track at the 2013 OPA Retreat
B Y C HERYL H OPKINS
M
y natal Venus is retro-
grade. I used to be
ashamed to admit I
didn’t get her. I’d think “How can I
be an astrologer and not understand
how natal retrogrades work?” During
the first 10 years I studied, I read
Martin Shulman’s book, Karmic As-
trology: Retrogrades and Relation-
ships, Vol. III repeatedly and anything
else I could get my hands on.
I knew Venus was the go to planet to
begin to comprehend one’s relationship pro-
file. In those days I would pass her by and
ask a series of questions. I’d start at the 7th
house to see what was happening there and
what sign was on the house cusp. Where is
its ruler? What sign is it in? Is it interacting
with other planets, angles? Are those rela-
tionships easy and flowing or challenging
and stressful? Is the 7th house occupied? If
The Organization for Professional Astrology
13
so what planets, angles are those plan-
ets interacting with? I wanted to know
why my relationships were uncom-
municative, unsatisfying, and a
struggle. When I looked at my
Venus I focused on her conjunc-
tion with Pluto overlooking her
more immediate conjunction to
my Sun.
According to what I knew,
her not being in direct motion
wasn’t good. Adding her place-
ment in Virgo, her Fall, further debilitates
her; but conjunct to Pluto? That had to
trump any other consideration. I felt like
Persephone before I was knew who she was
and what her myth meant. It became the
story for why my relationships seemed to
morph into some version of a familiar hell.
Still early in my education I understood
that what Pluto
[C ONTINUED ON P AGE 14]
THE CAREER ASTROLOGER
WINTER 2014