I have always loved astrology.

Ever since my mom introduced me to the horoscopes at the back of the Los Angeles Daily News. But in 1999, on a whim, I took a job at a metaphysical bookshop. On my first day there, the store manager Angelique, a sweet witchy diva, told me that I wouldn’t be behind the counter forever. “You’ll be working here as an astrologer someday.” Yeah, okay lady, I thought to myself. Cut to months later, it’s my 23^rd birthday and I’m reluctantly getting a past life reading with a beautiful Brit named Michelle. She was the type of reader who would book up months in advance but she’d had a rare, last minute cancellation and the time had gone to me. Barely minutes into the reading, she had hooked me with extremely personal insights that no one could have just guessed on. Toward the end of the reading, she asked me about my relationship with astrology. I thought back on Angelique’s words. “I like to read my horoscope.” She laughed and said that I should study it. “You’ve been an astrologer many times over. It will come back to you in no time.” I shrugged at the information but figured why not. I quickly dug into my study of the planets and their ancient divination system. Six months later, I was out from behind the counter and working as a full time astrologer. It has been with me since.

Owning my place as an astrologer took a lot of time and courage. It was challenging enough coming out to people as gay, but coming out as an astrologer presented a whole new level of awkward. Sometimes it was easy. People would find it unique or interesting. Of course, they usually wanted to know what I could tell them about them. But there were also times of being joked about or dismissed. So much so, that I abandoned the work for a short time. With time and friendly encouragement, I have come to realize that it has always been a part of me, and that won’t ever change. I certainly don’t claim to know how astrology entirely works, but I do know that it works for me and offers me extremely meaningful connections with the people I have the pleasure of working with on their charts. I also know that if I chose not to own this piece of myself, I would be denying a huge part of me that wants to blossom, whether just based from this lifetime or countless other life times before.

I am an astrologer, and I love it.

The Full Moon in Aries wants us to fully embrace the pieces of ourselves that we may not entirely understand but that make us wholly unique

Aries is all about new beginnings. It’s the first sign of the zodiac. Therefore, it can be a little naïve and blind to reality. But that also means that it isn’t tainted by others’ perceptions of reality. Aries feels free to boldly create the reality it envisions. It can charge forth sometimes without care for others around, but it also hopes to inspire others to follow in its path. Aries has a strong leadership quality, as people are attracted to its tenacity and confidence, but it wants to lead people to their own personal rebellion. With Uranus, the planet of inspiration and uniqueness, joining the moon at this full moon time, it amplifies that Aries boldness. It isn’t the time for your outer personality and inner emotional self to war against each other. The two must embrace and integrate. Your sun (soul) and moon (heart) must dance together during this time, meaning you can’t be one person out in the world and another when alone at home. This separation of you will no longer fly.

This is emotional rebellion time. It’s time to feel your passions, goals, and desires as if for the first time. Fall in love all over again. Push yourself to take risks with how you feel. Commit to each moment in your life with your whole heart. Stop filtering yourself for fear of judgment. Fuck the haters. The haters are just a reflection of your own insecurities. And hell, sometimes the greatest hater to your life is you. So you gotta stop that shit. Use this full moon time to get real deep with yourself and communicate about what is really meaningful to you. Ask yourself, “What do I want to define me and my life moving forward?” Wonder what life could be like if no one was watching. No one was judging or scolding or side-eyeing. Just you, no holds barred. No self-imposed limitations on who you could be, who you could love, what you could accomplish. Now how can you bring that forth into your real world life?

Here are some brief offerings of help, per sign:

ARIES

Time to completely rid yourself of whatever emotional blockages are holding you back from being your unabashed, emotional, brilliant self. You are feeling the heat now to evolve into the most bold, audacious you. Let your closest friendships help guide you in this process. Some are showing you exactly how you want to be, while others are showing you exactly the opposite. So take it all in and use it to craft the perfect you for this moment of expansion and accomplishment.

TAURUS

The subconscious demons that are keeping you from feeling all of your greatness must die. They’ve soothed you but only because you’ve let them stick around long enough to take on your own voice. But they are not you. Those demons are just an accumulation of your self doubt acting as assistance. They are keeping you from your ideal state of well-being. It’s time to identify them and send them packing once and for all.

GEMINI

You have some strong creative ideas that you want to unleash onto the world. Unfortunately, you’ve allowed them to fester in your mental limbo land of “Maybe that’s a good idea” for too long, to the point that they’ve lost all weight and you’ve lost all courage. How can you transform yourself into the type of courageous warrior who is willing to stop being on the sidelines with what matters to you?

CANCER

You must find a way to feel completely at home in your career world. There’s no more “turning on the charm” or “putting on your game face” when diving into your passions. You must become seamlessly synonymous with your passions so that you can enter any room, whether it’s a boardroom or your bedroom, and still have the same essence of you. A fake work face just ain’t gonna cut it. And if you still need one, then where’s the work place that will allow you the freedom to be you all the time?

LEO

You could be feeling a strong inquisitive drive right now, one that is pushing you to take on new aspects of yourself. Some are feeling a creative urge while others are feeling the need to travel. You may just want to immerse yourself in a classroom setting even and take on that subject of study you’ve always toyed with. Now is the time to commit.

VIRGO

You want to bolster your own inner sense of self-worth right now, but in order to fully achieve that, you have to be willing to let go of some old pieces that no longer matter. We may be talking relationships, material items, physical weight, or just some blah way of thinking you’ve held onto. Whatever the case, identify it and kiss it away from your life. You’re a Virgo, so you may need a plan on how to fully cleanse yourself of the dead weight. But whatever the plan is, enact it now.

LIBRA

You need to revolutionize some of your relationships. You are personally feeling a bountiful reserve of energy and self-love, and it’s connected to some new ways of seeing yourself and your life. So how can you better reflect all of this in your closest, most personal relationships? Start off by wondering if you need to come clean to anyone about where your feelings lie. And speak to others without fear of the judgment you’re expecting to come your way.

SCORPIO

You need to let go of the parts of your daily routine that just aren’t working. But make sure it’s because they aren’t inherently working for you and not because of how you think they’re affecting others. You know what you need in your life to be happy. So what if you just exerted your power to speak up about it, or just implemented the changes you need in order to make your life run better?

SAGITTARIUS

With Saturn in your sign these days, there’s an air of seriousness that you just can’t seem to shake. However, this full moon wants you to re-engage with your sense of joy and play. In fact, what kind of fun can you create for yourself on a more substantial basis? It would be good to find something that could immerse you into a group setting (workshop, class) so that you could see there are others who are just as nervous and willing to explore their truest selves in a fun, unique way.

CAPRICORN

Your career is causing a little bit of conflict with your personality, meaning that it may be pushing you to shift some elements of your inner self in a way that doesn’t feel entirely genuine. So it’s going to be key for you in this full moon time to not compromise on your deepest self when faced with challenges from others, specifically at work. Let home be a place of real cleansing and well being. In fact, you need some sort of spiritual hub in your home space so that you can have a place to ground and enter/exit each day with a renewed sense of your purest self.

AQUARIUS

What bold, innovative thoughts want to burst out of your brain? Do you have writings to get out? Ideas to explore? I believe you do and they are certainly connected to that latest, unique piece of you that’s emerged and gotten you excited to explore. So allow yourself to be a student to it all but also find ways to communicate your experience in a way that allows others to connect to your process. You are not alone on this journey. Others are having a similar journey and by sharing, you are connecting and inspiring.

PISCES

You have the opportunity to radically love yourself to no end right now. And this will help to create a transformation for you and your life in a way that will create a portal between your passion and the world around you. But you have to be willing to get serious about loving yourself. Release the self-doubt and self-criticism. Stop with the self-deprecation. Its charm is outdated. Whatever you’re tackling these days, you must tackle it from a place of pure confidence and determination. With that mentality, the world will be watching.