Rob Shaw (the astrologer not the football star) was born and raised in Essex County, Ontario Canada. Fifty years ago on a boring summer’s day when still a child he was flipping channels looking for cartoons when he came across The Phil Donahue Show. Phil had a guest appearing who was an astrologer, someone claiming to be able to tell people what was going on in their lives based on their birth date and place.
My precocious mind at that young age thought it sounded like a lot of bull, but I watched the show and it caught my interest. I was amazed that audience members confirmed the astrologer’s statements or questions as correct and I thought, “How can this even be possible?”
In 1970, at the dawn of that crazy decade I discovered astrology and began a lifelong study of an art that today I am still studying. I never set out to make a full time living as an astrologer although I have performed readings for several thousand clients over the years. I focus on sincerely trying to help my clients and as my intentions are good then I believe it’s good karma for me too.
I have taught astrology for a few decades, and meditation for over 25 years. I was a guest lecturer in natural health circles and I facilitated classes in interpreting dreams and other such things once called New Age. I co-hosted an alternative health radio show in Toronto for a year when in the late 1990’s I also published a magazine called Healing Arts.
So this is the background I have, and in my career goals I’ve always preferred to work in “helping” professions, primarily by being a conduit of information for learning, healing and spiritual development. Practising astrology allows me to do all of these things, and I still work part-time as a writer and editor for others and have a long background working in media.
Today, the world, our families, neighbourhoods and friends are dealing with a shocking pandemic. Because previous clients told me so, I know that a horoscope reading may help someone find some firmer ground in their life. I know my work as an astrologer is far from an essential service but I also feel it really could help some individuals not knowing what to do next.
Astrology may not be a choice for everyone and it does not need to be like anything else. A lot of what the average person believes about astrology is misinformation or downright silly and the articles here are intended to correct some of these common erroneous beliefs.
Astrology is not and does not have to be a part of any religion today and it sure isn’t mine but it is an art form that I have worked with for a few decades and I am okay with it operating within a realm of what we call mysticism or parapsychology perhaps.
Astrology also suits Jungian theories of archetypes. Its history is rooted in ancient religions and worship of multiple mythological gods or ancient archetypes that still have a resonance with today’s modern-day archetypes or symbols. Perhaps that’s why astrology persists in spite of aims by others to demonise it.
I see that astrology has similar roots to language in some respects. It is as much a form of language as English or French with a defined structure of words, symbols, phrases and parts of speech that when all strung together tell a story or gets a meaning across.
Archetypes such as those used in astrology have been with us for as long as humans have been around. Astrology is a theoretical tool applying interpretation of planetary cycles in their orbits through the zodiac signs and using this information in daily life. Some say it is a form of spiritual divination; others believe it is a celestial map of Jungian archetypes and no more mystical than psychology although it’s based on celestial geometry.
Astrology persists in spite of the aims of science and religion to demonise it as a pseudoscience or form of devil worship. Ancient peoples called their archetypes gods and today these archetypes represent our values, morals and ideals in much the same way the gods did to the ancients. There is no pseudo- or fake anything beyond astrology being a very old art form that has been much maligned but little understood.
The aim of this bio was for you to learn a bit about me and my astrology background. At an age normally reserved for semi-retirement I’m thrilled to be able to do a job I love full-time.
Rob Shaw, Astrologer