Why is astrology making a twenty-first-century comeback?

Today in 2022, Astrology is experiencing a surge in popularity, but why?
Is it that social media is making astrology more accessible, opening it up to younger audiences? Or is have the last few years when there’s been so much uncertainty, made people turn to mysticism for serious guidance, a bit of levity and everything in between?

Podcast host Naomi sits down with Astrology enthusiast Faustine and explores her journey to understanding more about herself and finding a community of likeminded people.  Join us as we gain a more complete understanding of birth charts, rising signs and the famous mercury in retrograde. It's an episode that we predict that you'll love!
 
About our guests:

Faustine Ladeiro-Levent
Lead Recruitment Marketing Specialist
Pronouns: She/They

A keen advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace (and out), Faustine joins the team with six years’ experience in digital marketing and communications, specialising in content and social media marketing, recruitment advertising, and employer branding. 

Drawing from a varied background in linguistics, languages and creative writing, she is passionate about helping organisations develop their unique employer brand and using creative communications to reach a diverse candidate pool.

If you're interested in learning more about astrology, Faustine recommends these accounts to follow on Instagram:
@KayxStars

@notallgeminis

@thestrology

@alizakelly

@queercosmos

This podcast is produced by Diversifying.io - Keep up to date on how we're changing hearts and minds on Instagram: @diversifyingio or via our website: www.diversifying.io 

Learn more about Diversifying Group

Transcript

Naomi: 0:31

Hi everyone, welcome to this month's podcast. This is the first podcast is a little bit of a different edition. So for those of you that are tuning in on Spotify, Apple podcasts and Buzzsprout, we've actually got a video version of the podcast as well. It will be uploaded to our YouTube channel links, so you get to see all of your faces.Great, I'm your podcast host Naomi, my pronouns are she/ they. But today we've got a really, really exciting podcast with my lovely colleague. If you'd like to introduce yourself, please.

Faustine: 1:00

Sure. Hi. So my name is Faustine. And my pronouns are she/they and I'm the Lead recruitment marketing and employee brand specialist here at diversifying group.

Naomi: 1:09

So this week, we'e got something really interesting. I think what, it's something that you and I were talking about briefly, with the strategy days, when we go into office, for those who don't know, our team kind of gets together monthly. And this is one of the things we started talking about, I think it was during one of the activities. And you know, I kind of got to know it as I got to know you better and got to know about what you're interested in.And, you know, obviously, those of you that clicked on this, you'll you'll know what it's all about things. But I guess for, you know, people like me who I was a total noob I didn't know anything about this. And I you know, as we started talking a bit more, you explained a little bit more of the principles and things. But I think for the listeners that don't know anything about this, you know, can you outline some of the basic principles of astrology? What's it about? All of those things?

Faustine: 1:55

Sure, yeah. So I think the first thing I kind of have to caveat this whole thing with is that I'm by no means an astrology professional. Like I'm not an astrologer, I don't claim to know everything about it. There's so much to it. And there's so much that I'm still learning. But I guess I'm an astrology enthusiast. Pretty much since since I was a kid, I think like maybe eight or nine, my mom actually had a book on astrology at home. And I think I basically just stole it and kept it in my room until I moved out. And I was always like, telling my friends about their signs and what it meant and et cetera. So yeah, not a professional, not an expert, but very, very enthusiastic about it. And another quick thing to mention as well is that there's obviously multiple systems of astrology. So the one that I'm personally familiar with, and that we'll be talking about today is the Western system, which I think is also the one that is the most popular at the moment in like pop astrology and all of that. And that is based on kind of like ancient Greek and Babylonian traditions. So like, really, really old, somewhere around 2000 years BCE, but that's obviously distinct from like, other systems in like cultures around the world, like, you know, Chinese astrology or Vedic Astrology, which is the Hindu system, or even the like Mayan where everyone thought that the world was going to end in 2012. But Western Astrology is what I'll be talking about. But there's obviously like tonnes of resources out there for anyone who wants to learn about systems from different cultures as well. I'm actually trying to learn more about the Chinese zodiac at the moment, because we talked about it a few months ago, because that's what you know a bit more about basic principles of astrology. And so I think what most people will already know about Western Astrology is the 12 zodiac signs. Like when you and I first talked about it, like you knew you were an Aries, but not much else beyond that. And I think that's probably where everyone starts, like, that's where I started when I was a kid, just like, Oh, I'm an Aries. Let me find out more about that. But basic, basically, astrology is obviously much more than just that one thing. So astrology, looks at the interaction between us and the rest of the universe, or at least what we can see when we like, look up into the sky, because we do have to remember that, that first came about, at a time when people didn't really know what was beyond, you know, the observable solar system. And so like I said, most people will know what they usually call their star sign, which is actually called the sun sign. But that's only like a part of a wider system. And the system kinda looks at four things, which is the planets, and that includes the sun and the moon, even though they're not technically planets, they're just called that for like, convenience. And Pluto is also technically a planet in astrology, which is quite lovely. It looks at the zodiac signs that these planets are in, it looks at something called the houses, which kind of represents different areas of life like self, family, health and routines, etc. And it also looks at aspects between the planets. So that's like angles or degrees of separation between them, and kind of like where they are in relation to each other. So basically, you'll kind of be taking snapshots of the universe at certain points. So like a certain time and a certain location to see where everything in the sky is in relation to that point on Earth. And there'll be divided into kind of like a map of the of the sky which is called a chart, or it used to be called a horoscope. But I think that now horoscope is kind of synonymous with like, you notice like, those sections of the back of like Tableau is like Gemini tomorrow, like if we ladders and stuff like that. So I think most people just call them birth charts now. But basically, the birth chart will be kind of, like I say, like a map of the sky separated into different sections. So 12 sections. So you have 12 signs, obviously 12 houses. And sorry, I lost my train of thought.

Naomi: 5:56

You were just saying about 12 houses.

Faustine: 6:01

So your birth chart will be a snapshot of the sky divided into 12 sections. So you've got 12, zodiac signs, 12 houses, and then where the planets are. And that will be showing kind of like, where everything was arranged at the exact time of your birth, and the kind of effect that will have on your personality and on your life, if that's what you believe in.

Naomi: 6:24

So that's really interesting. So you kind of broke it down from the kind of olden days, as we kind of know at Mystic Meg, with the horoscopes, at least, that's what my kind of introduction to it was. And then now, it sounds like there's a lot more complex layers, and we'll get all into it later on, I'm sure.

Faustine: 6:41

I think in terms of kind of like the layers, I think that's kind of always been there. So in the past, when astrology was used, it wasn't really used as kind of the way we do it now is very personal. And it's like, you know, birth charts, looking at where the sky was when you were born. But I think before people used to do it for kind of major events, like they would look at wars that look at coronations, that look like important pagan festivals, and all of that, kings would go down for their date of birth, but not like regular people. But now, you know, you can go on the internet and just get your birth chart ready. And I think, you know, the quick thing to mention, in terms of kind of, like, the layers of it is a lot of, I guess, people who don't believe in astrology, you know, their main main question is usually, well, how can like everyone be divided into just 12 categories, like, like, I'm not gonna be the same person as someone just because they're born on the same day. And that's kind of like why I always tell people to look deeper into their chart than just their sun sign. So every planet will be in a different sign, or sometimes they'll be in the same sign, but you'll have your moon, you'll have, you know, Mars, Venus, all of the planets, you'll have kind of loads of different aspects that kind of come together to create a really complex individual, I guess, and we are all very complex and very different.

Naomi: 8:00

Yes, I think that kind of applies to me. And you, especially because we had that conversation. And we because for the listeners listening out here, our birthday is actually one day apart. So I was I was asking how this worked with our because I know that we're both Aries. Sorry, got a bit of cough at the moment,

Faustine: 8:15

You ok?

Naomi: 8:16

Yeh I'm fine, can just sip down some coffee. Anyways, sorry, as I was saying, I know this kind of came about because you and I, we discovered that our birthdays are one day apart, which is quite interesting. And then I was asking how that work, because we're both Aries. But then I know that you went into a bit more about how that works with all the different aspects. I think we'll go into a bit later about rising signs and everything. So that's very interesting. So I guess it's sort of to do with each individual person's birth, there would be a different alignment in the sky. Yeah, that would create is that as I was saying that it would create individual one.

Faustine: 8:51

Exactly, please. So obviously, if you are born at the exact same time on the exact same date as someone else, then you will probably have identical charts. But I'm not sure that would happen that often, you know, like most people are born at least you know, even in the same hospital, most babies will be born at least, you know, two minutes or three minutes apart. And that can sometimes make the whole like a world of difference. So for example, you just mentioned the rising sign, which is basically where the horizon was at the time of your birth. So we're kind of like the sun would have been rising. And that changes, I think, every two to five minutes, something like that, maybe 10 minutes. So someone could be born really, really close to each other, but have different rising signs, twins could have different rising signs, for example. And then things like the moon changes every couple of days, because the moon obviously has a 28 day cycle around the Earth. So it goes kind of quite fast throughout the science. And then some planets take much longer. So Uranus, Neptune and Pluto have really really really long rotations of around the sun. So these aren't really used to look at kind of like individual personalities, but they're used to kind of look at generations. So for example, our generation has Pluto in Scorpio. I think. So yeah, the Pluto in Scorpio generation is kind of what you would also call Millennials I guess so it kind of like aligns with that that generation. So...

Naomi: 10:25

I see!

Faustine: 10:26

93 to 95,

Naomi: 10:28

So it ends with 95?

Faustine: 10:31

Yes.

Naomi: 10:31

Does that make me Gen Z for this specific one, then? 96?

Faustine: 10:36

Yes. Yeah. So your Pluto would be in Sagittarius, I think we can, we should do your whole chart live actually, this whole thing, we should have done your whole chart live, and just like going through it. But yeah, so like I was saying, the outer planets, because it takes so long to go around the sun, they apply to whole generations. So the generation that I belong to So millennials, basically 1983 to 1995 have Pluto in Scorpio. And kind of like, I guess aspects of this placement is kind of like breaking taboos and learning about the occult, and being very interested in things that are like a little bit cold and mystical and magical, embracing their identities, exploring kind of like, their identity, gender, sexuality, and things like that. And I think that has proven to be fairly true. With degeneration, you know, that that is compared to like, the previous one or our parents, etc.

Naomi: 11:40

A number of reasons. Well, it could be used kind of with the production with events. So I guess that is there a kind of link with the as we mentioned about sorry, was a Pluto in Scorpio?

Faustine: 11:51

Scorpio in Pluto in

Naomi: 11:53

Pluto in Scorpio? Coffee here, there'll be - Sounds like a new rock band. But um, so with the Pluto in Scorpio that has had an effect on the generation Millennials with with potential characteristic traits. And then does that also apply with the events that have happened? Because I know that, for example, in the West, for millennials, a lot of sort of key events that people cite is the 2007/8 crash and obviously 911 and things and those kind of aligned with that as well. Is that is that a part of it as well? Yeah.

Faustine: 12:29

So so that is part of it. So I personally don't like us or try to do that much to look at kind of like world events for me to always be more of a, I guess self identification and understand, like tools to understand more about myself and others. You can absolutely look I kind of like what's happening in the skies, and see how that matches what's going on on Earth. So for example, you know, there's always specific kind of interesting, astral, astronomical astrological events happening, for example, like the fall of an empire or kind of wars and things like that kind of like tends to happen happen on the cycle. But I think one thing that kind of, I don't really know how to put that into words. But I don't necessarily believe that the planets are having an effect on us, I think it's more in the sense that patterns can be observed. And patterns repeat themselves, kind of on Earth and above. So it's not that the planet, you know, is making us have a war or that the planet is making us do that. It's just that we are following a cycle that the planet is also following, if that makes sense.

Naomi: 13:47

So I guess in the sense, it's actually more kind of mathematical and scientific. In that sense. It's like, looking at sort of sequences, looking at histories predicting the sort of outcomes from those, is that what you're saying?

Faustine: 14:05

Exactly? Yeah. So obviously, astrology isn't a science, because it's not something that can be tested using the scientific method. And so not entirely sure, kind of like how I feel about the idea of like, predicting the future with it. Because obviously, you know, always will be science science is kind of like, right most of the time, or at least trying to be right. And, you know, a strategy cannot be proven or disproven using experiments. Because to do an experiment, you need to be able to, you know, change the variables, and we can't do that. We can't say that, Oh, let's move Jupiter a little bit and see what happens. We so we can't figure out if it's real or not. But yeah, so like I was saying astrology does look at patterns. And there are patterns and cycles that repeat themselves throughout the entire universe. So like, you know, the moon orbiting the Earth over 20 days, the Earth orbiting the Sun overthrown in 65 days, etc. And like you said, science and mathematics. I mean, that's kind of what maths is, right? Like, you're observing patterns, and then you're putting numbers to those patterns. And you're using those numbers to solve problems and make things work in your environment. So like building a house or pyramids or like developing like binary code for computers and things like that. Yeah, is there already, like actual scientists or mathematicians listening to this, I'm so sorry. Please don't at me.

Naomi: 15:34

I'm sure there's plenty of them that are interested as well, you know, probably, you know, why not both? Why not both.

Faustine: 15:41

Like even talking about like patterns that repeat like, you know, Fibonacci sequence like the golden ratio, that is found in many, many different places in nature and biology, like it's in our DNA, isn't it? And I'm not saying that it's some kind of like, mystical, like DaVinci Code, conspiracy theory thing. Like, it's just a pattern that happens to repeat throughout nature in the universe. And that's kind of what's happening, I think, with the way the planets move. And the way that history and human society moves as well, like, correlation doesn't equal causation. But the patterns mirror each other. Like, there's this saying that I guess it's quite a mystical saying that she was, I guess, in the old were like the, as above so below, saying, So what's happening above is also happening below, but it's not above is causing below is just, they happen to mirror each other. And we can observe those. And so like, like everyone's heard about Mercury being in retrograde, for example.

Naomi: 16:43

Yes. What is that? Because I remember reading this and thinking, wow, I really, I really know nothing about this. I have no idea what that means. And I remember there were a lot of memes about it and had no idea what they were talking about.

Faustine: 16:54

Well, we actually just started, it started. Not today, two days ago, Mercury Retrograde again. So it happens a few times a year. But basically, it means that there is a moment in Mercury's, like course a cross around the sun, where to us, it looks as if it's going backwards. It's not actually it's like an optical illusion. I'm not quite sure how it happens. Because it looks as if it's going backwards, we say it's in retrograde. And that usually translated to kind of breakdowns in communication and things like that, because Mercury is the planet of communication. So that's why you often see that people complain about, you know, trains they've missed or emails wouldn't send and or like texting the wrong person, or like, exes getting back in touch. That kind of thing around communication can sometimes happen when Mercury's in retrograde.

Naomi: 18:09

I see. So everybody was really complaining about the texting their exes and all the miscommunications.

Faustine: 18:16

Exactly.

Naomi: 18:17

It's really what it comes down based upon mercury and Mercury in Retrograde. Who knew?

Faustine: 18:23

Who knows? Who knows how things how things work? Yeah,

Naomi: 18:27

that's fascinating. Yeah, so why don't we more on a little bit to talking about, you mentioned a little bit before about your kind of self reflection, of want to just talk a little bit about how Astrology can use within daily life. And and you've mentioned a little bit as well, how you sort of impacts kind of like, friends, family work, all of these things. But if we could just go a little bit into that, I'd love to hear about that.

Faustine: 18:48

Yeah, yeah. So it's something that I'm actually quite like, maybe passion is not the right word. But you know, often. I mean, I talk about astrology constantly, like anyone I might use, oh, when's your birthday? You know, what's your sign. And you know, a lot of people kind of like, don't take this very seriously, like, you're into astrology, like, come on, like me, like what's gonna happen to me tomorrow. But I think, obviously, astrology is not the science, and I'm aware of that, like, it could be true could not be true. But I think that it doesn't mean that it doesn't have any value. So the way that I like to look at astrology is rather than kind of like, predicting the future, or like believing in something, it's kind of like almost a psychological tool, to understand yourself, to understand others to like, identify with others, and to kind of like, acknowledge and address different aspects of your personality and your life. Life for example, I have a Pisces Moon, which means that I'm a crybaby. And I've kind of just learned to deal with certain aspects of my personality in terms of kind of how sensitive I am to things and kind of how easily upset I am by kind of learning about that part of my birth chart. I think, if that makes sense. And I think it can be quite good as well for Yeah, for understanding yourself and kind of not necessarily excusing behaviours by saying like, Oh, you know, like, she's a Gemini, that's what she's doing that but just looking at it and kind of looking at again, those patterns and those systems that can kind of like yeah, help you just understand the psychology of human beings and just get to know people a little bit more.

Naomi: 20:34

So I guess, from what I hear, you're saying is that it is a tool to think about oneself more deeply and think about the kind of to put into words some of the experiences that we feel and some of the kind of characteristics that we can't quite pin down you know, when someone says, Oh, you're so blah, you know, you're so stubborn or whatever you think, Oh, that is me. But maybe this from what you're saying, Is it as a tool to kind of help people discover that and kind of work through that and process that?

Faustine: 21:03

Yeah, absolutely. I think you're just like, bang on with that. That's exactly what I was trying to say. Thank you. Like, just kind of, yeah, like, understanding aspects of your personality, and of other people's as well, and just kind of, yeah, just being a bit more emotionally intelligent in a way and I really like what you just said about kind of like putting words to things. So for example, I have a friend who's also a very into astrology. And because we've kind of like learned about it and because astrology now, it's kind of like everywhere on social media, and you've got memes and funny things. We can kind of like almost say stuff like, you know that oh, yeah, like Venus in Taurus. Haha. And we understand what that means. We don't have to explain what that means. So I think it's also a bit of a, I guess, an especially now with the kind of like, astrology meme culture, if you can call it that. It's kind of like a way to communicate with others on like, a different level and a kind of, like, different level of understanding and almost a different language. If Yeah, if that makes sense.

Naomi: 22:06

Yeah, that makes sense. I guess kind of like an in group thing. And something that you're interested in, that means something to you. I'd also what what is Venus and Taurus mean?

Faustine: 22:16

So my Venus is in Taurus, so that Venus is the planet of kind of like love sensuality, and comfort. And Taurus is an earth sign, which means that it's a very kind of like, down to earth sign, very like sensual as well. So Venus, Venus being in the sign of Taurus is actually a really good match. It's 10 that where it belongs, but it kind of means that you are someone who is quite I can't think sensual. But like, for example, you love language, people tend to be physical touch, and things like that, because he's got like a grounded way to look at that kind of technical aspect.

Naomi: 22:49

So it goes into sort of, you just mentioned love language, does it tie into that as well?

Faustine: 22:54

Sorry, can you repeat that?

Naomi: 22:55

You mentioned that it sort of Love Languages, does that kind of tie into that as well? If we, if we were able to read somebody's chart? Could we kind of look at potential communication styles and love languages as well?

Faustine: 23:09

Absolutely, yeah. So I think if you're looking at kind of someone's chart, you can kind of not like, read them to filth, but you can kind of just learn a lot about them. And actually, when I was talking about kind of getting to know people and, you know, creating connections with people, that's kind of something that astrology has personally helped me do a lot. Like, I'm not the most, I'm not the most outgoing person, like, you know, if I'm at a party, I'm not going to be like, in the middle of the of the room, having a great time. But I'll usually end up with like someone talking to me and mentioning astrology and pulling their entire chart, and telling them what it means about themselves. And kind of like creating connections like that. And people are always just absolutely mind blown, that I can say, like, oh, I can see from this, that, you know, you're this kind of person, this kind of person. And they're always like, that's all accurate. So..

Naomi: 24:04

I love it. So really, it's been a kind of, from what I heart you saying it's been a vehicle for you, not wanting to assign yourself, but also to kind of have that kind of social contact with people and a specific kind of method as but you know, because I know that we will have these feelings as well about parties or the big groups and everything I myself also, you know, huge fan of either but Godspeed, those that are! You do you! You that's fantastic things but I love how you're saying that this is something that you can kind of pull out. And it helps you to talk to people helps you to kind of get a conversation going it's almost like a sort of instant cue card, I guess, you know, for

Unknown: 24:44

ya know, it's an icebreaker and it's also kind of something where, like, you know, I think one thing that I hate as well like on the topic of parties, like I don't really like small talk and things like that. So I think I'd rather just like go straight into the birth chart and say like, Oh, you've got a Scorpio moon, I can tell you about that trauma. But this this isn't that long conversations from

Naomi: 25:04

I love it. I love it. Just let's just jump straight in there. Pick up the ice drink whatever it is, alcoholic/non alcoholic Let's go straight to birth charts. Boom. Yeah, so I guess we kind of covered a bit but a bit more about that. I guess one of the things I want to talk about next was about how sort of where can people find more about it? What's been kind of your journey to find it? And obviously, you mentioned a lot that it's kind of really always been an interest of yours. And it sounds like it's grown over time. And you know, we'll go into that a bit more later as well. But how you mentioned obviously about as talk about meme culture and it's become so popular lately. Later, but yeah, so I guess where can people find out more about it? You know, and what's been your kind of journey to finding more about it. And I know you've mentioned that you have a lot of friends as well that are interested in it.

Faustine: 25:56

Yeah, so So yeah, obviously, like I said, I was into it from a very young age, but I think I kind of stopped being so into it after a while, I think maybe like, in my late teens, early 20s. I wasn't as into it as I used to be. But I think recently, I mean, you know, that's the whole reason we're talking about it today. Like it's become so popular again. And I think what's really, really cool about kind of modern astrology, and I guess you could call it pop astrology, is kind of like how accessible and widely spread it is. And it's not really reserved for certain type of person, like, you know, before, in the late 80s 90s, early noughties, you would have said, like that mystic meg kind of person, you know, you would have pictured a certain type of person when you talked about astrology. But I think that now that astrology has kind of really moved online as its primary kind of area, there's kind of like being, it's kind of opened up to a lot of people. And there's such a wide diversity in the astrology community online. I think there's a lot of kind of queer and POC representation, for example. And I think that's definitely a really, really good place to start. If people are interested in kind of learning more about astrology, like, you know, go on Twitter, go on Instagram, there's loads of kind of amazing astrologers, and you know, just astrology enthusiasts, kind of like whether you want to really learn in depth, or just laugh at some memes. I think the internet has a lot of really great resources. I follow tonnes of Instagram accounts. So I can maybe like, drop some links below or something after after this. But yeah, I think definitely the internet. And like, yeah, just don't be afraid to go to Google things. I kind of like, what's a moon sign? If you really want to learn about it, I think just finding those resources will be very helpful. And I think I think that's kind of how I got back into it as well, I guess in terms of my journey, it was kind of, yeah, always an interest. But then as it started to grow again, on the internet, you know, I would see funny memes. And I'd be like, Oh, wait, like, I used to be really into astrology, let me kind of look it up again. And kind of just like snowballed from there. And now I'm talking about astrology on the podcast for work.

Naomi: 28:15

Maybe this wasn't you never know, this could have been in your, before Mercury was in retrograde, this could have been part of the communication aspect. Could have been, I don't know what the so the opposite. When Mercury is not retrograde that does that mean good communication?

Faustine: 28:29

It means regular, normal words, normal communication, in terms of mercury is the obviously the point of communication. But it's also the planet that I should have done a better explanation of all of this, all of the systems of astrology. Basically, your rising sign, which is the one where the horizon was at the time of your birth, kind of represents, some people sometimes call it like the mask or like the outside appearance, but I don't think it's exactly that it's more kind of like how you do things rather than how you feel or how you act, how you are. And the planets that governs, the sign that you're raising is in is called your chart ruler. And that kind of like has its energy kind of imbues everything that you do in your life. My rising is in Virgo, which means that mercury is my chart ruler, and Mercury is available communication, which means that I am supposed to be quite good at languages writing, etc. And I think that's kind of true. So

Naomi: 29:39

yeah, as we know, obviously, Faustine, you're very keen linguist, you speak many languages. So that's very cool.

Faustine: 29:45

Not as many as you know!

Naomi: 29:47

No you, you do actually do. What was I gonna say? Yeah, so there was sorry, there was a rising sign. And I remember I remember hearing another one as much as the sun sign is the one that everybody knows the main, the big 12 rising sign is more than just that. Is there another one as well?

Faustine: 30:06

Yes, I think. So in terms of the kind of very, very basics of what your chart looks like and what your chart looks at the most important signs that I think now, a lot of people who have like just even a casual interest in astrology will know about is your sun sign, your moon sign and your rising sign. What's the moon sign? So the moon sign represents kind of like your inner life and your inner thoughts and feelings, and kind of like how you see yourself from the inside and how you feel about yourself. For example, I like to think about it like I like to think about it sometimes as kind of like action words or action sentences and like your moon sign would be kind of "I feel". So whereas your sun sign would be "I am" because your sun sign represents your energy. And kind of like the drive that you take through life. And your rising sign would be "I do", because it's more about kind of like the way in which you act with other people and things like that.

Naomi: 31:11

Is there a big disparity there between people sort of innerr world and the doing sign? So Could somebody have a very extroverted kind of doing sign? And then a very kind of introverted? Maybe quite like pensive, kind of in a world as well? Is that is that quite common to have a big disparity?

Faustine: 31:31

Absolutely. So if anything, it's probably more common to have very different sun, moon and rising signs than it is to have similar ones? Well, I don't know, maybe the statistics could prove me wrong, from most people that I know, they all tend to have quite like, different signs in those three key areas. And that does create, you know, completely different personalities like having you and I both having an Aries sun means that we do share some similar traits in terms of kind of the energy that we take through life, I think and that kind of like, way of being and who we are. But then, because I assume we have different moon and rising signs, then the ways that those express themselves both both internally and externally will be very different. And I think a lot of people Yeah, well maybe sometimes have a bit of a bit of a struggle between kind of they're doing being and they're feeling

Naomi: 32:28

I see is actually wondering, oh, question I didn't actually ask as well as but we mentioned about the rise I completely forgot to ask about I guess, in this depends on the location as well, because everybody's location will be different. So if you're born in Portugal, for example, your you know, even at the same time, the location of the sun, and so the horizon will be different, I'm guessing is that is taken into account as well. So it's not just the time it's also I'm guessing location of birth as well.

Faustine: 32:55

Exactly. So when you're doing a birth chart, you will look at the exact location, I usually use kind of like latitudes and longitudes, and the exact time as well. So yeah, like you said, if you're born in Portugal, at the same time, as you know, someone else was born in Sri Lanka, you'd have a different rising sign, and you'd probably even have, you might even have different Moon signs depending on where the moon is around around the earth at that time.

Naomi: 33:20

So it is actually very specific, because obviously, it's very unlikely that people are going to be born the exact same moment in the same latitude, I guess, because even within say, a large hospital for example, you could have different attitudes in different parts of different wings. Yeah, well, that's pretty fascinating.

Faustine: 33:37

Exactly. Yeah. Like, my my boyfriend's a twin, but I'm convinced that they have different rising signs him and his brother, because they've got like, I think they're maybe 10/15 minutes apart. I can't remember. And I always say like, there's no way you have the same reasoning like there must be a difference in Yeah, in where that was at that time, but I don't know because they don't know their birth time. So oh, that's the one thing I have so many friends who don't know their birth times and I'm always like, what's in the chart.

Naomi: 34:06

When's it coming out? And especially with the whole a&b twin thing, because I that's something that I am personally, very interested in is but all about like twins, and just personal interest in, A&B twins and how that all works, because I've heard all about how a twins tend to have a specific personality be twins. And even within how family structures work, apparently, because the one that's born first, i.e the A twin, there's a lot of time they're treated differently. They're treated almost like an older sibling, even though they're twins. Yeah. Which I think is so fascinating. And I'm sure that plays into it as well. Yeah, that's a good question. Actually, I wanted to ask about is kind of the, we've talked a lot about the kind of internal world is there also kind of, I'm guessing there's also kind of a, an idea about the reactions to certain to the external world. So if somebody was quite emotional and things that say, they might externalise certain life tragedies more, is that part of it as well?

Faustine: 35:06

Can you ask the question again? Sorry,

Naomi: 35:08

Just asked you about how, I guess we've talked a lot about how it works with the internal world, but does it also kind of go into about the reactions to the external because obviously, we know nature and nurture all of the debate and things. So I'm guessing that what is being described in these birth charts is a kind of the qualities but then also how one would react to, hhaha " one" , how somebody would react to an external experience, let's say, you know, a trauma or a good ex, but you know, a core member a core memory, should we say?

Faustine: 35:44

Yeah, no, I think definitely, I think that's where the houses that I mentioned earlier will come into play the most Um, so houses kind of represents areas of your life, like I said, so you've got a house for sale for house for family, a house for kind of health routines, partnerships, and kind of like loads of different areas to impact your life. And when you look at kind of what's in those houses, you can kind of make, I guess, guesses as to how someone might react to things happening in those in those houses. So for example, in the family, one, you might have certain aspects that kind of point to, you know, bad relationship with your parents, or kind of like, if you're in the partnerships along, you could have someone who's not very good at dealing with conflict and things like that. But then, I guess, in terms of the nature versus nurture, I think, even someone who has both traits, but is raised, you know, in a supportive environment where they learn to deal with conflict in a healthy way, then down what manifests as marriage, because obviously, I think no nurturing education, trumps, you know, a strategical decisions,

Naomi: 36:56

very fascinating. So it would be, it'd be really, too bad that we can't do a study, I'd love to see the results about how that happens. Um, yeah, just before we come to the end, actually, we've, we've gone a lot into all the different aspects. And I've asked as many questions as I wanted to freely with my own personal interest and things. But I think one of the things we've kind of touched on a lot is about the kind of resurgence of the popularity of astrology, and you mentioned yourself that in your own life, your personal life, it has, it has sort of made a comeback for you as well. And I guess what I wanted to ask is what your personal thoughts about why it's making a comeback? What is the resurgence in the memes? Is there sort of a more of a cultural shift towards that? And is it kind of? Is it one of the things that's going to be staying more prominently within the kind of cultural compass? I guess, the cultural lexicon?

Faustine: 37:54

Yeah, well, I think first of all, like I mentioned earlier, I think the internet has had a massive impact. Like in the last, especially the last five years or so, like social platforms, like, you know, Instagram or even apps like costar or the pattern and all of those kind of like more mystical apps, have really kind of pushed astrology into the public eye. And you know, you've got memes or like, really, like easily digestible, bite sized content that, you know, either makes people laugh or kind of, like, gets them interested in aspects of astrology and aspects of their own birth chart. Beyond this and sign. I think it always kind of starts with that, you know, like people, we all love, a personality, a personality quiz. We all love and MBTI we all love, like, those kinds of things. So I think people kind of will be scrolling through Instagram and see something and be like, oh, like, I wonder what that says about me. You know, and there's this really kind of shareable like, memey, like, really fun aspect to it, which I think is really great. But I think there's kind of, there's maybe also something deeper going on. So I think when we're talking about it, I mentioned already, before we started recording, but since kind of at least, you know, 2015-2016, like Brexit, the Trump presidency and the rise of the far right everywhere, and then the pandemic, and kind of just like the kind of upheaval of a lot of our kind of political and social systems and you know, like, looking at police brutality, institutional racism and the economy, the cost of living crisis in the UK, like, I, yeah, I could go on and on and on and on. But what I'm trying to get at is, you know, we've been living in really uncertain and frightening times, I think, for a lot of people. And I think people are kind of looking for answers to that uncertainty, answers to their questions. And they're looking to find meaning in something. And I think especially with, you know, pandemic and multiple lockdowns over the last couple of years, and not being able to see each other or to travel or to kind of feel a connection with the rest of the world. And I think, you know, having astrology on our phones has kind of given us that connection to something bigger than ourselves. And that connection to like other people as well through a common belief system and a bit of a identification system. Actually, when I was preparing for this podcast, I read an article, they were speaking about the rise of astrology and they had a quote by someone called Dr. Jennifer freed, who is a physical astrologer, and I wrote it down because I wanted to mention it today. So Dr. Freed says, astrology has really risen in popularity, because people want a symbol system that's not sexist, racist or homophobic to help them connect to each other across all demographics. And I really agree with that I think there's something really kind of pure and almost wholesome about identifying with others by saying that we both Aries will like that kind of thing rather than kind of like looking at dividing each other by class, race, you know, sexuality and things like that, I think that's been a really fun and empathetic way for people to identify with each other and feel connected with each other in a world as you know, increasingly divided.

Naomi: 41:23

Fascinating, so you're saying that astrology has been kind of a community in a time when, you know, really driving force and breeding community, when, as we know that the world is increasingly polarised? Sometimes it feels like things are going almost backwards, in some ways, places.

Faustine: 41:44

I think, like I mentioned earlier, that, you know, I think a lot of the astrology community online, tends to be quite looking at queer females, POC and things like that. And I think it has given a lot of us safe space, almost where we can discuss things like that, like aspects or personality aspects of ourselves without being put down. And it's a bit of a more open area where we can all kind of yet come together.

Naomi: 42:10

I think, I love as well, that you said it kind of bridges, the race class, you know, kind of boundaries. I like the idea that you can just get along because you're both aries, or whichever ones get along. I'm not sure exactly.

Faustine: 42:23

Just because you have an interest in something I think, you know, like when we were talking about using astrology in daily life, I think one thing that I should have mentioned as well is like, it's not necessarily like to be used in terms of like, oh, like, she's a Gemini, I'm not going to be friends with her like, no, it's more of a kind of, I don't know, find a way to be more connected to each other. But it's not any kind of like hard and fast rules of this is who I am. And I can only be friends with you. If anything, it's opened it up so much more, I think.

Naomi: 42:55

Personally, I mean, I've said we've had many conversations about work, and a lot of other people chip in as well. And I think that is something that, you know, obviously, as we've mentioned, comes into public consciousness more, but it's really been a big icebreaker, you know, in all spheres of life, you know, dating, I mean, the classic, the classic old fashioned meme, like 48 year old man, taurus seeking, you know, whatever, on in the newspaper ads and things. But I think that it's something that has entered different spheres of life in the workplace, you know, people, there's a lot of kind of icebreakers or things to do with that. And also, as you've mentioned, party social, social aspects as well. I'm sure it will be entering lots of other spheres as well, which is -

Faustine: 43:36

true. I mean, maybe next time next time I do a job interview again. But once you're signed, by the way before,

Naomi: 43:43

maybe yeah, maybe it will be a little bit of a maybe there could be one of those icebreakers. You know, there's interview icebreaker questions when they say you're telling me about a book can be telling me about your star sign or something? Yeah,

Faustine: 43:52

I would love to do that. I would, absolutely.

Naomi: 43:54

I'll show you'll excel at that..

Faustine: 43:57

reiterate that, you know, obviously, I am aware that astrology is not, you know, a science that can't be proven that it's not necessarily something that people would consider valid. But I would just like to kind of, you know, say again, that if it's something that can give us that connection, give us the emotional intelligence, give us those tools to understand ourselves and each other better, and give us that kind of reassurance in, you know, scary times, then I think it makes it valid and valuable. And I think that's why I will always keep talking about astrology.

Naomi: 44:33

I like that. I mean, I think that's the thing with everything is that there's no value, inherent value in Harry Potter fandom is there, you know, but look, you know, but look at the millions of pounds that is brought to the British economy, there is value in it. Because if we started scribing value to it, and we gain positive things out of it, as you've mentioned, with your experiences, then that is valuable. I think that, you know, obviously we can go into long, long, short, but how value is a social construct? And it's all relative things. But I think that

Faustine: 45:00

I think if people beleive in something personally, then that's all that's all.

Naomi: 45:04

It is. That's what I'm hearing from you is about the experiences of that. And I think that's something that is so interesting, you said because I think that a lot of the times when people think about oh, if it's not true, what's the point? You know, all that's a bit, I guess, like you mentioned before about the divisions about people sort of, you know, not leaving their house because I might walk near a cat today or something like that. feeling quite left field like that. But I guess really what we're talking about as it is about building communities and kind of understanding ourselves, that seems to be more of what you spoke about, but the core of it rather than the kind of this is how I must live my life down to a tee.

Faustine: 45:45

Exactly. Yeah, I think one of the books that I have kind of referred to Quite a lot, almost calls itself a self help book. It just says like, you know, just use this to just think more about that who you are and what you do and how you act and how you react to things and just use that as guidelines and tools to just become more emotionally intelligent person in general.

Naomi: 46:09

Sort of a jumping off point to get you started. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Fantastic. Well, anyway, thank you so much for coming to talk to us today about that. It was really interesting. I'm glad that we finally did this. Things. Just before we go actually is anywhere that people could find you. I know, obviously, we're gonna drop it a few of the links in the description, some of the people that you recommended that we follow and have a look at if anybody listening is interested in more, but then in ways that people could find you online at all.

Faustine: 46:36

You can find me on LinkedIn. Other than that, I have a private Instagram account. Now I think I'll just chopped some links to actual astrologers and actual interesting people who like you can learn more from but I was only the messenger here today.

Naomi: 46:54

I see. Well, thank you for sharing your interest in passion. It's been great.

Faustine: 46:57

Yeah, I'm so glad I've been allowed to just talk about it for an hour. Incredible. It's great. It's

Naomi: 47:01

great. Anyways, but yeah, thank you for joining us listeners, and those watching the video partnership. So it's very, very new for both of us and things. But yeah, thank you for listening and watching and we'll be seeing you in the next episode.