By Vanessa Packer

“OUR TRUE NATURE is shown in the horoscope and seeded in the chart, and it comes to pass as the passage of the moon and the sun go around the world,” explains astrologer Jenny Lynch. We are sitting in the living room of Lynch’s East Village apartment, a place she has lived since the ’70s and watched as the neighborhood around her changed from a once hippie refuge, often dangerous and seedy, to a neighborhood full of juice bars and happy families. She continues, “The whole idea is that there is a perfection and a design that deals with the humans on earth.” Though many people get their horoscope from the back pages of a magazine, or the occasional monthly astrology website, the concept of astrology has been around since the Babylonian Age and there’s a lot more to it then just reading your sun sign. Lynch sat down with us to explain the methods of astrology and give us a peek into what’s in store for 2014. Also, don’t miss her 2014 forecast for each sign here.

How would you explain astrology to someone who is new to astrology?
Reading from The Little Book of Coincidence, John Martineau explains that the moon is exactly the right size at the exact distance from the earth to the sun that it forms a complete eclipse. We get this idea that there is this divine order in the universe and we’re part of it. We have to look up there and try to see if there is anyway that we can find a correlation or synchronistic movement that we can get in touch with that will help fulfill our destiny. If you look at time lapse pictures of flowers, they open up in the morning, they close at night and they grow a little bigger, that’s how I look at a horoscope. When we are looking at a horoscope we see a plan or identity. Nature is the force that creates these flowers, this beautiful harmony and harmonious design in the universe. Our true nature is shown in the horoscope and seeded in the chart, and it comes to pass as the passage of the moon and the sun go around the world. There are times when you’ll discover this or that, but we always have free choice. The planets come around the horoscopes to teach us lessons and offer us opportunities. The whole idea is that there is a perfection and a design that deals with the humans on earth.

How did people discover that the planets and stars affect us?
The Babylonian astrologers saw the planets up there and noticed what took place down in the valley. They realized when certain planets came into the sky there would be a flood. Astrology operating on the law of correspondence. Later on, they discovered that the moon affects the tides on earth so of course the moon effects your moods, the moon has a direct effect on our aura and it opens certain chakras at certain times. We have these periods in our horoscope that say this will be a time of difficulty, or great challenge, but then other times we come back around and find something. It’s just the way it seems. Synchronicity, the idea that whatever you are thinking in your head is reflected in the world around you. If you think you’re not worthy of a great job opportunity you’ll never find it.

What are some planets that have a big affect on us?
There’s the Saturn period, where life seems very bleak, and we have to spend time by ourselves and figure it out, work on the self. Other times are tremendous, you get invited to all these parties, and everyone wants to be around you and do things with you, that is a Jupitarian time. We will go through major transformations when Pluto is around. If Pluto is active in your horoscope this is when you’ll say, “I have this job, I have this relationship, but it’s not challenging me enough, I need to transform and take on a bigger challenge.” You’ll grow through that Pluto transit. Everyone has self doubt, I don’t know anyone that thinks they always know everything, but astrology is a little bit of a guide to navigate and pick the days for when the stars are right.

We mostly read the sun horoscope, how much does the sun, the rising and our moon play into your chart?
The sun, sun sign astrology, a lot of astrologers don’t like because they think it dumbs down what we do. However, I think it gets people interested and then maybe they’ll want to do their whole chart and learn more. The sun sign is based on the rotation of the sun around your ruling planet on the day you were born. It explains personality traits and basic nature. But we always say don’t just read your sun sign, read your rising sign.The rising sign changes every few hours, it goes one degree per minute. If you are born a libra and you were born at dawn, you would be a double libra, libra rising. If you were born at sunset you would be a libra with the opposite sign, an aires rising. The sun rules the things we want in life, our willpower and the things we go after, our desires and things. Our rising will tell us how we go about getting what we want. The rising sign is how you appear. They call it the mask you wear. The moon position I think is an important part of the horoscope because it rules your soul and happiness. If we want to get on a metaphysical level about it, we are here to experience our soul. We are not really here to build a storefront or a restaurant, those things are meaningless. The sun is more ego related it’s the lesser mind, your soul is so smart that it took you from one cell and totally evolved you to where you are now. That is the power of the soul. The soul is the most important thing.

How do you pick an astrologer to go to?
The best way is through referral, but you want to go to someone that has perspective, who’s lived. If you have a problem with your children are you going to talk to someone who’s never had kids. When you go to an astrologer, maybe they are a yogi, maybe you’re a yogi. Someone that has a good practice, or that you can connect with. Someone that has a connection to spirit and is sympathetic. All astrologers have different styles.

How did you start practicing astrology?
When I was young I used to read the horoscope, and when I turned twenty I decided I wanted to learn astrology. They didn’t have any books in Buffalo so I had to come to New York to the Astrology Center, get a pile of books, take them home, and teach myself. I taught myself the algebra algorithms and did the charts by hand. Later on, I moved to New York to be closer to natural foods, we didn’t have that in Buffalo at the time. Back then, I used to have a kitchen table and all my rock and roll friends would come up and I would do their horoscope chart, and it would take me an hour just to cast the chart. At the time, I had a shop on sixth street, I was building musical instruments, and one day this guy walked in an said, “You need to meet Gary Christian.” He came and met me and said, “I’m going to teach you astrology every Wednesday.” He took me on as his protege, he’s a master astrologer and we still talk every day. One day my friend said, “I want to pay you to do my chart.” That is when I got the nerve to take on clients, and then I had my TV show, I started writing for Glamour. I’ve been writing for Conde Nast for over 10 years, maybe more.

What changes have you seen in astrology over the years?
It was my generation that brought it back. It was nowhere until the hippies came. The counter culture loved astrology. A lot of people call themselves astrologers after reading one or two books, but they are not certified. I got certified, and took a series of exams to show my proficiency. The ’90s psychic thing was big, and then the Oprah effect came, and was all about empowerment and transformation. You don’t need to go to an astrologer for advice, you can get it right here. So what happened is the book stores in the city, Weiser for example, which was totally dedicated to occult books including astrology, closed and moved up to Maine. The New York Astrology Center closed, and all the book shelves in Barnes and Noble that were astrology books, dwindled into self help books. You can barely find an astrology book there now. The culture evolved, the yoga movement all of this. Here we are that if I go on Facebook there are so many astrologers up there, and everyone has their own take.

What are some common misconceptions about astrology?
A lot of people think gypsies on the street who offer astrology and palm reading are astrologers. This day in age anyone who could put a website up can call themselves an astrologer, but you don’t know the caliber you are getting involved in. People think we can tell lotto numbers, how could I do that? I would be rich. Some people think you can tell them where their lost dog is. I couldn’t tell a name from looking at someone’s chart. People think astrologers can tell them things that a psychic can, and that’s not true. We can tell you lucky days, but it’s more of a guide for business and socializing. Diagnosing illnesses, or a health crisis, I’m not a health astrologer though some people specialize in that. I may see a health challenge crop up but it’s not as clear as they may expect. It is impossible to predict when someone is going to die from a horoscope, but you can see when someone is going to suffer or have a challenge.

Is the link with astrology and the health movement that is happening?
When Pluto was in Leo, the sign of rock and roll, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and the sex and drugs, that is what life was like, the more the merrier. Then Pluto goes into Virgo and people start to talk about mother earth and health foods, the idea to fix the world, and we’re not just here to party. Pluto in Virgo came and we began to understand computers well. Then comes Libra, back before AIDS, and it was full on clubs, having sex with multiple partners. There was Studio 54, The Saint, and then the party stopped. When Pluto went into Scorpio, the sign of death and rebirth, that’s when AIDS hit, everyone went to AA and stopped doing drugs, we had the crash. It stopped the party. When Pluto went into Sagittarius, it brought a lot of astrologers, psychics, metaphysics, the ’90s movement of that, and yoga emerged. We always had Dharma Yoga on 23rd street, but now we had Jivamukti and Krishna Das. In 2000, David Wolfe came to town and David Jubb, and all the raw foodies. I started an online business for raw foods. That was the birth of the whole new wellness thing. But then Pluto went into Capricorn around 2008 and it’s a game changer, because it’s structure, government, corporation, and now the health food industry is becoming very marketable. Uranus the Planet of change has been in Aires, the sign of revolution, and that is why we are having a little instability. It’s not just one transition. Uranus is making it a bumpy ride. Pluto is in different signs for different times, but it’s in Capricorn until 2024. There will be a defining moment coming up, the next movement of Pluto to Aquarius, which is the group sign and community sign. It will be a beehive time. Your power will be in the groups you form and the communities you build.

What about in the shift from 2013 to 2014?
In the middle of 2013 Jupiter the planet of luck went into Cancer which rules home products, think Etsy. It rules food, so many start-ups are food related, think Blue Apron. Every year Jupiter changes signs so that’s what astrologers use for trend setting. In November, Venus entered Capricorn and instead of moving forward its been going backwards and it’ll be there until March, What’s going to happen is that relationships are a little screwed up, you may be rethinking your relationship. On top of it, Mars is going backwards, another love sign. So it’s not a good dating time until February. With Jupiter switching signs this year in July, it will be going into Leo. We are going to have a little respite from the pressure. Leo rules entertainment and amusement, for the arts it’s going to be great, lots of parties and happy times. You’ll probably see some child related businesses come up as well. 2013 was about stripping down your life, taking the things out you didn’t need. In 2014, it is a time to reclaim your power. To take back your personal power within a group for example. Anything that you feel you’ve been missing or that has been taken away from you, or feeling lost on a personal level, or a relationship that you felt you were not sure about, now you might feel a lot more sure about things, but this is after February. This is a time to reclaim your power in whatever area of your life you’ve felt it’s eroded from.

For someone into astrology, what do you do when the chart tells you something you are not resonating with?
Not everything that they say for your sun sign is going to resonate with you, which is why it’s important to get the whole picture and do your chart. We talk about yoga, and transformation because the more calm you are, the more proficient you are, the more you can handle.

Is there a reason why certain people are more effected by the full moon then others?
I would have to look at the individuals moon, but I would have to say when the moon is in a stable sign in the horoscope, you wouldn’t necessarily feel anything, but if the moon is in a sensitive sign, you are going to feel everything a lot more.

You also work as a chef, what are some of your favorite things to cook?
I’m writing a cookbook of my recipes over the years right now. I love to make green juice for the staff when I’m working for one of my bigger clients. I make a lot of vegan food, and at first they didn’t want it, now they ask for it. I’ve been juicing since 1978, and I had a health food restaurant, and back then we used to make our own tofu and steamed adzuki steam buns. We had the best chefs, and it was a magical time. I’m thinking about opening a restaurant again.

For Jenny’s 2014 Forecast Click HERE

For Jenny’s Green Apple Click HERE

1
0