How I Use Astrology As a Practical Productivity Tool

As I consider what is calling to be untethered in this season of letting go, I take a fresh look at my patterns and practices with an eye towards eliminating what drains my system of energy.

There are so many places in our lives that we can look to improve. Nature, in all its forms, offers us the clues for where to look and what to shift.

But what are the clues and how do you follow them?

One of the tools I use to guide me is astrology. It’s an area that often invites skepticism, so I thought I’d share a peek into my process to illustrate how I use astrology to guide practical inquiry.

Revealing What’s Hidden

The full moon arrived early yesterday morning, along with a lunar eclipse.

Eclipses help us uncover some aspect of what was formerly unconscious; they bring forward what has been in shadow.

Astrologer Chani Nicholas explains that

Eclipses bring an adjustment to how we experience the world around us. They expose what is usually hidden, hide what is usually dominant, and trick us into using different senses to understand our surroundings. In short, they expand our awareness of ourselves from all sides.

Yesterday’s eclipse was in the sign of Gemini. Each sign is ruled by a planet, and Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the planet of mind and intellect, information and technology. Mercury is the planet of communication; in Roman mythology, Mercury was the winged messenger of the Gods.

As Nicholas explains, this means that this eclipse specifically focuses on the exchange of information and brings forward the power of storytelling; it illuminates how we interpret, communicate, and share knowledge, and the ways in which data can get distorted.

The Distorted Data of the Mind

There are plenty of examples of this in the world right now: we are living through a time where seemingly reasonable people cannot even agree on the facts underlying their differences of opinion. The warp speed of the internet quickly distorts the most innocuous facts. So on a global level, the eclipse might call attention to this, perhaps remind us to think twice about where we source our information.

I chose instead to look at a different set of data that gets distorted equally as quickly: the data of the mind.

I specifically looked at my mind, curiously investigating how it distorts apparent “evidence” to fool me into thinking I’m behind or that I’m lacking in skills, abilities, or resources to build what I’m trying to create. I’m examining the stories I believe from others or tell myself when I experience (perceived) setbacks, and how those stories serve me — or don’t.

Unpacking the truth of those stories is less relevant; the tricky thing about stories, even false ones, is that they aren’t sustainable unless they have a thread of truth to them. As Nicholas writes,

Where the imagination wanders isn’t void of truth; it just might not be loaded with details that add up.

Something to keep in mind as we consider the stories in the public sphere as well.

The Words We Speak Leave Their Mark

Working with the energy of this eclipse, I am paying closer attention to my communication, specifically the words I write and speak to myself in my daily journals.

Journaling can be a productive practice; when done in the correct framework and mindset it can open portals for greater insight and awareness. There’s a thrill of sitting down to write through an idea and seeing revelations appear on the page that came from within you but that you never knew were there.

I am a prolific journaler. Journaling has unleashed some of my best ideas. And… journaling has also unleashed some of my most vitriolic diatribes. My pen is often mightier than a sword, especially when directed at myself.

This is not necessarily a bad thing in and of itself. In limited quantities, it is useful to take the running mind loops and put them on paper, to see exactly what I am saying to myself. But it’s also an energy leak, which, left unchecked, can be destructive to my system.

Writing is a physical process, and journaling is a powerful method of integrating and embodying ideas and beliefs. The process of writing hateful words to myself only serves to reinforce the stories I am seeking to uproot.

Nicholas reminds me that “what we say, write, and think makes a mark on our lives.”

What kind of mark am I leaving through the words I write and speak to myself? Would I dare speak this way to another person? A client? A friend? Even an enemy?

Unlikely.

A Portal to New Patterns

Nicholas explains that eclipses help us to set patterns. Setting patterns — aka creating habits — is something we always want to do with great intention and awareness. Because habits, once made, are hard to break.

So this is a place to untether. Nature is telling me to let go, and the movement of the planets are directing me to examine the self-talk habits that may seem, on the surface, to serve me, but in reality only amplify distortions.

The eclipse is an opening to replace my destructive self-talk and journaling habits with new rituals that will train me to think in generative, abundant, and generous ways.