By Jeycea Thompson

Growing up, I loved school and books but I also wanted to learn about what’s outside the five senses, what you cannot touch or see. My grandmother knew a lot about that side of life. Born in 1896, she was strong, independent, and creative, involved in both Bible studies and learning about the unseen world. She and Charles Fillmore, the founder of Unity, corresponded regularly. During family visits she and my mother discussed everything under the sun, sometimes disagreeing strongly, while I often chose to read or play outside. Even so, I must have registered some of what they talked about because my interests are strikingly similar to my grandmother’s.

When each of her seven grandchildren was born, my grandmother created our natal (birth) astrological charts, using an old typewriter, colored pencils and her artistic skills. I still have the one she made for me – it’s at the top of this post. As you can see, it’s yellowed by age with the blues and greens fading first.

I don’t remember when I received mine, but after 60-plus years it’s still useful. The first time I read the report in my teens I thought, “This doesn’t fit me at all!” And anyway, how could somebody come up with information based on a bunch of far away planets and their orbits? Then later, as I was growing into my ‘self,’ I read it again and was bothered because some of the declarations were applicable – how could that be? And so began an ongoing cycle when, every few years, I would find the chart again and read it. I began using it to become more aware of the person I was becoming and to help set intentions for who I wanted to be or did not want to be – saying yes or no to its list of likely attributes.

Then I decided to challenge my doubts about its findings by learning to develop charts myself. Your birth location, date, and time drive the entire process to whatever level of accuracy you choose – the more detail, the more accuracy. Each astrological sign is associated with one of twelve segments of the sky and has its own characteristics. Your birth information is used to place the planets in the appropriate sign. Then attributes of the planets are used to further the characteristics of the sign in which they reside. The chart is also divided into twelve houses, each associated with a different area of human life. Both the positive and negative attributes of the planets are applied to create a chart. There are further steps and many more details than can be covered here. It’s important to say that knowing your sun sign alone doesn’t mean much about who you are, but by the time someone does your chart down to the planets-elements-houses-conjunctions-oppositions and so on, it’s pretty accurate.

Many years later, my mother sent me the newspaper article about astrologer Evangeline Adams found in WINNpost last week (“What’s Your Sign?”). On it, she had written a note saying, “This is the woman who did your grandmother’s ‘all come true’ horoscope back in the 30’s.” I’d love to see that chart now!

I’ve always wanted to know many, many things. Lessons learned in diverse studies led to my career working with computers and added to the opening of my intuitive side. I graduated from Old Dominion College (now University) where the staff had voted to define math as an art. The mother of all sciences was an art! The curriculum was perfect for me because it got into physics and chemistry and biology, sciences that I love. And it included the other side: I also studied history of art, history of philosophy, and the theory of numbers which introduced me to computers. It turned out that I became one of the few people with a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics.

In the early 70’s, exploring other tools for learning and for acquiring personal insights, I joined the Association for Research and Enlightenment (A.R.E.) in Virginia Beach, Virginia. What a great balance to the computer field that has been my lifelong career! I became interested in intuition, as had my grandmother, although in her day, it was labelled mystical or occult or not spoken of at all. A.R.E.’s programs, staff, and library held a wealth of knowledge and it was a place where I could blend and apply information from astrology, intuition and other sources to be the best me that I could be. In the late 90’s, I responded to an increasing urgency within and began attending conferences on intuition at the A.R.E. These provided incredible views of the unseen, the true self, and the power and potential of all of us.

When I’m asked what intuition is, I could start with what I learned at a conference: “Prayer is when we are talking to God and intuition is when God is talking to us.” Then exploring it further, I’ve learned that intuition is knowledge from the heart instead of from the brain or the five senses. The heart can be a channel for knowledge from the Higher Self, from God, and from the angels. I apply that ‘heart’ knowledge along with ‘brain’ knowledge to accomplish objectives, reach goals and solve problems.

However you or I might define intuition, the heart knowledge gives useful insights into who we are, or who we could be, in our lives and our relationships with others. Astrology has also provided useful insights into those same areas. Like the judge in the article about Evangeline Adams, I believe that astrology can be accurate. But however accurate you believe astrology is or has been for you, it is how you use the information with discernment that makes the difference, a difference it has made and will continue to make in mine. Blended heart and brain knowledge helps us create good lives. And I am thankful and deeply grateful for that.

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You can learn more about the Association for Research and Enlightenment which is centered around the work of Twentieth Century psychic and medical clairvoyant Edgar Cayce, at www.edgarcayce.org.

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