The off-grid homestead where I live in the Hawaiian rainforest is many miles from the nearest town. In the evenings, there are no downtown streets to stroll in, performances and lectures to attend, or restaurants to sample. Without the unlimited electricity and internet access that city dwellers take for granted, people here go to bed by eight or nine PM, shortly after the mynah birds who make their home in the bamboo grove have finished their nightly racket, and the frogs have begun a chorus which will continue until dawn. 

After a long day of editing books and working on the land, I’m often tired by eight PM myself—but I’m rarely able to fall asleep until after ten. Having had my fill of reading during the daytime, and being naturally averse to screens, I often find myself sitting on the tiny front porch of my hut, gazing at the stars. With no artificial lights or cities nearby, the sky is a wonderland of constellations. Shooting stars abound. I find myself filled with wonder as I contemplate the many generations of human beings who lived in this place and gazed at this night sky long before I arrived.  

Hawaii is a special place for stars. The ancient Polynesians used their extensive knowledge of celestial navigation to make their way across vast ocean to this remote island chain, using no charts or instruments whatsoever. They also used their observations of the stars to determine the best times to plant crops and harvest fish, practices which continue to this day. And although their knowledge of the stars emphasized scientific astronomy, they sometimes ventured into astrology, using the position of the stars to predict important events or to ascertain the significance of the birth and death days of chiefs. 

The Polynesians aren’t alone in looking to the skies for both practical and spiritual information. For thousands of years, humans have looked to the stars for evidence that there is order and predictability in the universe. In some cases, this order and predictability was a matter of life or death: plant the crops too early and they’d freeze, overharvest the fish and you’d risk going hungry the following season. Yet human beings have also long looked to the stars for the answers to more personal questions: Who am I, really? Why are some people watery, while others are fiery? Why does a child born in winter act differently than one born in summer? 

To many ancient peoples, it only seemed logical that if the position of the stars could predict the behavior of plants and animals, it would also exert a meaningful effect on human lives and personalities. In Mesopotamia (the part of the Fertile Crescent now known as Iraq) there are records showing that astrology was practiced as far back as 1950 BC; the Chinese zodiac system consisting of a twelve-year cycle represented by different animals dates to the 5th century BC. 

In ancient times, astrologers may have had important positions at court, tasked with advising emperors on affairs of state and identifying auspicious dates on which to hold important events such as weddings or coronations. Everyday people also consulted astrologers for advice on family, marriage, and important milestones and decisions. For many people, both then and now, the stars are just too important not to take into account, and the effect they exert on us is too powerful to deny. 

Hierophant author and intuitive astrologer Molly McCord is one of those people. She was only ten years old when she stumbled across her first astrology book at the public library, having exhausted all the Nancy Drew books on the shelves. Before she knew it, she had become fascinated by the zodiac. As a child growing up in a modern, technological society, astrology felt like a portal into a richer and more meaningful world. At age sixteen, she had her first professional astrology reading, and by the time she went to college, she was helping friends understand their charts and planets, while lecturing them on the importance of getting birth details when you first meet a guy at a party. 

Although she explored other careers, astrology kept tugging her back. She began to study with notable astrologists every chance she could get, gradually increasing her understanding of the language of the stars. Over time, Molly realized that, far from determining our fates, our astrological signs offer a jumping-off point for healing and personal growth. In her new book, Soul Growth Astrology: A Workbook for Realizing Your Heart’s True Desires, coming out from Hierophant Publishing in December, she writes, “We choose an astrology chart based on the things our souls most crave to learn, heal, and experience in this particular lifetime.” 

The idea that our souls choose a particular incarnation has a long history. Spiritual seekers and thinkers from Eckhart Tolle to Louise Hay have promoted the idea that the Earth is a kind of classroom where souls may sojourn as part of a bigger journey, and that we may in fact choose details such as our place of birth and our parents to maximize our learning. In Soul Growth Astrology, McCord takes this one step further, suggesting that we also choose the unique constellation of traits associated with our astrological sign, knowing that we will be tasked with evolving them to their highest form during this lifetime. 

When I tell people I’m the senior editor at a self-help and spirituality publisher, people often imagine that my desk is bedecked with crystals and shamanic drums. They are often surprised when I reveal that I’m a scientific materialist who is far more conversant with tide charts and span tables than astrology readings. Yet as I read Molly’s book, I realized that you don’t need to be a die-hard astrology fan to benefit from the ideas she proposes. We all come to this life with certain strongly-ingrained personality traits, and we all find ourselves in the same types of situations again and again—that is, until we have the insights and make the behavioral changes that allow us to “graduate” from those particular modules in our education.  

We also have the opportunity to transform the trickier aspects of our personalities into gifts that will benefit others. Although we can’t reach up and change the position of the stars, we can nourish our souls on their journey of learning, knowing that there is always the best possible version of ourselves to reach towards. 

Is life a giant classroom for our souls? After editing Soul Growth Astrology, I’m more inclined than ever to think so. Whether or not it’s scientifically true that we choose the lives into which we are born, and the astrological signs under which we fall, treating these things as true can pave the way to compassion, hope, and other positive states of mind that can light our way in difficult moments. Telling myself that my soul chose my unique mind, body, and personality because it was an interesting and productive vehicle from which to explore life on Earth elevates the challenges and gives them meaning.  

Looking at life through this framework, the insomnia that keeps me sitting up late gazing at the stars isn’t a random curse, but a consciously chosen opportunity. Perhaps my soul wanted to learn about the humility of not always getting what you want (sleep!) when you want it (now!), or it craved the deep solitude and stillness that can only be found when the rest of the world is fast asleep. Or, as Molly puts it in Soul Growth Astrology, “Capricorn souls arrive on Earth with a long to-do list, and their strong need to ‘get things done’ keeps them going long after the other star signs have knocked off for the day.” Maybe my soul’s task on Earth is more being and less doing—a shift it will easily take me a lifetime to master. 

It makes me smile to think that, on its transit through space and time, a soul thought that my rickety body, curmudgeonly mind, and Capricorn sun sign were just the thing for getting to the next phase of its evolution. Seen from this point of view, maybe editing Molly’s book was a key part of that evolution—another idea that makes me smile, and I have a hunch that, from wherever she is sitting this evening, watching her own starry sky, it would make her smile too. 

This October, I hope you all find whatever it is that helps you bring your own unique collection of personality traits to their highest possible expression. Whether you find meaning in astrological charts or scientific papers, may your search guide you to a life filled with wonder, reverence, and opportunities for growth. 

Sincerely, 

Hilary T. Smith 

Senior Editor, Hierophant Publishing