Getting the right astrological resources is incredibly important. However, getting those right resources will not be the focus today. You can have all the astrological resources you want, but if you're not motivated, it's going to be difficult learning astrology. I think astrology twitter argues a lot about the best sources and the best path to learning astrology. While these conversations are valid and needed, one thing I don't think is talked about enough is the motivation and dedication it takes to study astrology.
Whether you're an astrology enthusiast, student astrologer, or professional astrologer, the one thing we all need to study astrology is motivation. Passion. A reason to study. A hunger to study.
This thread is a confessions thread, right? Okay, let me confess something. I love astrology. So much. So much that I'm a student astrologer wanting to become a professional astrologer. As I'm writing this tweet, I'm putting off a certain astrology course I love very much.
The thing is, I wanted to take this course for years. But once I started to take it, my motivation started to go away. Don't get me wrong though, I love astrology and the course I'm taking. But I had to ask myself: why did the motivation go away?
I thought about astrology twitter and how, if you started your astrological journey online, one thing astrologers who started outside of twitter will not truly understand firsthand is the pressure to be competent - which meant knowing everything about astrology. I thought about how much I felt pressured to KNOW everything about astrology online, because if I didn’t, my content wasn’t going to be taken seriously. It’s silly to think like this now because with astrology, you’ll never know about everything.
There’s a pressure to be performative on social media, and when that pressure is applied to the astrology community, you see people, astrologer or not, trying to reveal all of what they know, and/or trick people into thinking that they know enough to be taken seriously.
This thread is to the young student astrologers who started learning on social media. This thread is to the people who started learning online. People can make fun of us or invalidate us starting online, but they don’t know that we started learning on a battlefield.
Confession: To this day, I still get uncomfortable telling professional or serious astrologers that I started learning astrology on Tumblr. I still fear, to this day, that if I tell people where I learned astrology or expose some of my early work, I'm going to be judged harshly.
I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and assume that most people who judge harshly just want to preserve their craft, which is fine. However, for anyone who's ever made mistakes publicly on an astrology thread, I'm going to say that I'm here for you. Being rude and judgmental to those who are just starting out in astrology is probably the biggest way to kill motivation to study astrology any further. For those who didn't start off astrology on Twitter, getting something wrong feels like a slap to the face, not a gentle nudge.
People who started off learning astrology online do not get the luxury of getting a gentle correction from their instructor. Your mistakes are hidden and forgotten. Ours? Our mistakes aren't forgotten - they're carried as baggage. My point is that those who started off learning astrology online face unique challenges in learning and if the offline astrology community doesn't make an effort to face and help such challenges, the astrology community is going to stay limited and exclusionary.
Learning astrology online is become more prevalent and is becoming a bigger phenomenon. More people are learning about astrology online, thanks to the popularity of astrology apps and astrology in mainstream media. Learning online isn't going away any time soon. Since learning astrology online is becoming such a huge event, the astrology community outside social media can't ignore this nor can they treat online astrological learning as something trivial, low-quality, and useless. It's unhelpful and it doesn't build a welcoming community.
Also, lots of YOUNG people in particular are starting to learn astrology online. When I say young, the oldest I'm talking about is the very end of Pluto of Scorpio. When I say young, I'm saying Pluto in Sagittarius. I'm not saying ALL old astrologers do this, but do you know how annoying it is for older astrologers to INDIRECTLY be like, "You learned astrology on TWITTER? YIKES, CAN'T relate since I had a HIGH quality education OFFLINE in a BOOK!" You don't sound smart. You sound insecure.
I'm personally at a point now on my astrological journey where I'm in both camps. I definitely see the side of those who studied astrologically offline. But I still remember the side where I started - studying online.
I think what gives me hope is that both camps love astrology so much to the point where they don't want to disrespect it. The older camp shows this love by preserving what could be lost in the astrological tradition. The newer camp shows this love by diving in eagerly. In other words, if both camps started to function together as a COMMUNITY and saw the different merits (and kindly pointed out) the flaws of approaching astrology in different ways, not only would we have a solid community, we'd also all be motivated TOGETHER.
The best way to learn astrology is to learn together in a community that lovingly calls for accountability, represents ALL diverse astrologers, and fosters a simulating, yet forgiving learning environment.
Having the motivation to learn on astrology online would be so much easier without: 1. hostile and unhelpful cancel culture 2. indirect clout competitions 3. feeling insecure about your astrological knowledge
So, the next time you want to angrily point out that cusp signs and ophiuchus don’t exist, and that the houses =/= signs to someone who just got their table on Co-Star, just sit down, relax, and remember where you started. Don’t worry, I have to do this too.
Of course, the true mark of a person who started studying astrology online is having an insane sense of discernment on online astrological sources. Do what works for you, and while other people's perspectives are valuable, do what is best for you. It's YOUR astrology.
In a true Libra fashion, I'll end the thread with this: Learn the sweet balance between creating your own personal astrological perspective and honoring the collaborative craft you are participating in with the amazing astrological colleagues around you, astrologer or not.