What brought you to astrology?
Former WSAA President Gary Lorentzen, who was my high school German teacher in Vancouver, WA! Gary taught me astrology after school in the late ‘90s. He was inn the thick of designing the curriculum for Kepler College—Maggie Nalbandian’s brainchild—and explained to me the historical significance of that project. I immediately knew my life path, and I also knew that there was no set of instructions or steps to get me there. I simply followed the truth I felt when I first started learning this amazing art, and somehow I landed exactly where my young heart knew I was meant to be.
Why do you practice astrology? What makes it juicy for you?
Astrology chose me. I’ve tried my hand at giving it up, especially when I was embedded deep in the bowels of my PhD program at UC Berkeley, and it was frowned upon to “be an astrologer.” Nothing I did helped. I kept returning to astrology, or, rather, it kept returning to me.
Astrology is sassy. Learning how to play with its rules and how it continually reveals more and more of itself (and thereby ourselves), is so refreshing. Treat it like a great friend, and it will be a steady companion for life.
What is your specialty, or focus?
As a consultant, beyond offering natal consults from a traditional lens, I specialize in locational astrology. It’s possibly ironic that the Earth takes up so much of my consult space because I do not have any planets in earth signs in my chart. The late astrologer Shirley Lyons Meier wrote a cool book in 1983 called Elemental Voids that suggests that having a lack of planets in an element is not a deficit, but a sign of mastery… I rather enjoy her take on this, and I’ve written about it for The Mountain Astrologer (Feb./Mar. 2021). You can read the article for free here: https://www.astro.com/astrology/tma_article210310_e.htm
As a researcher, I am interested in the history of astrology in early twentieth century Germany, as well as the cosmology of the Hamburg School astrologer Alfred Witte (1878–1941). I am currently working on creating a source book of translations of primary sources from that period for Sophia Centre Press as a part of my postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David.
Is there a planet, sign, or aspect you’ve been exploring lately that represents an archetype or energy that feels important to you right now?
Vesta! In 2020, I noticed that Vesta would be in Virgo for months and months, which prompted me to do some investigation into her meanings. During that time I created a set of magical, talismanic oils that explore Vesta and the traditional planets (Moon through Saturn). My key takeaway so far: the role of chastity and Vesta is not about morality around sex, it is about focus. Here’s how: After I became a new mom in 2019, writer Penelope Trunk told me over the phone that being a mother is “permanent interruption.” And I don’t think that’s limited to motherhood alone, but for the female mammal responsible for feeding the young from the products of her own body, mothering is a genuine diversion of attention from the types of focus (a key Vesta term) you can hold before parenthood. There’s a bunch to unpack here, so I’m grateful that I get to share a lot more about Vesta at NORWAC in 2022.
What is your picture of astrology in the future?
Astrology will become like breathing. As the profession continues to open itself and expand its reach, we will start to see younger and younger people learning about their celestial cultural heritage. That’s also one of the reasons I founded the Celestial Arts Education Library in Olympia, WA: to provide a space for people, especially the youth, to learn about the various kinds of astrology practiced throughout history. The younger we start to learn, the deeper we can go with our appreciation and awareness.
Are there any additional comments you would like to make about your lecture and workshop?
Degree symbols are some of the most fun ways to engage with starstuff! You will fall in love with them. And the workshop on holographic transits will completely change how you see your chart against the backdrop of the moving sky. I remember when I first learned about this technique, and I felt like my eyes had turned in to kaleidoscopes. When you marry the two, your mind does cartwheels. I can’t wait to see the mental gymnastics unfold!
If you discovered a new planet, or asteroid, what would you name it and why?
This is a terrible question to ask someone with a Libra stellium! I’ll change my mind before this post goes live and then probably again three hundred times after this Q&A is published… I would likely create a palindrome, and the key ingredients to that palindrome would incorporate some terms or letters that emerge as a part of the discovery. It might be cheeky to call it “Radar.” I won’t commit to any names before finding it, though.
Jenn Zahrt PhD is an author, publisher, and teacher of cultural astronomy and astrology. In 2017 she was appointed as an Honorary Research Fellow at the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. She researches the many forms of astrology emergent across human cultures past and present, with a special focus on early twentieth century German culture. She has taught and lectured domestically and internationally in places such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Germany. She is the founder of Revelore Press, creative director of the Sophia Centre Press and the deputy editor of the peer-reviewed journal Culture and Cosmos. In 2020 she became the Senior Editor of The Mountain Astrologer, and in 2021 she founded the Celestial Arts Education Library Institute in Olympia, WA, where she currently lives. Discover more of her work: www.jennzahrt.com