THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 18, 1997 TAG: 9701170134
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DIANE TENNANT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 95 lines
Pluto is entering the constellation Sagittarius. It might already be there. It is an event of cosmic proportions, or it might be.
I'm just not sure.
Astrologer Robert Kent `Buz' Meyers tried to explain the significance of my birth date to me. ``You have to come to terms with how you're living your life and how you want to live it,'' he said.
``You do not control the planets; the planets do not control you. It's free choice. The blueprint shows you the crossroads you stand at.''
We all have our own personal crossroads, according to astrologers, but today everyone in Hampton Roads could stand at the same one. That would be the crossroads of Parks Avenue and Route 44, which happens to be the address of the Virginia Beach Center for the Arts, the location of today's astrology seminar called ``Pathways to the Future.''
Meyers and astrologer George Tripodi will be at the center this afternoon to offer a personal and global look at what is in the stars for 1997.
A lot of people debunk astrology. Lotta people. But when Ronald and Nancy Reagan's consultations with astrologers - which reportedly included planning everything from foreign policy announcements to travel arrangements - became known in the 1980s, a lot more people began checking out their sun signs, moon signs and rising signs for a hint of the future.
``It seems like people's minds are becoming a little more open in the `New Age,' '' said Mary Creasey, immediate past president of the Richmond chapter of the National Council for Geocosmic Research.
Added John Marchesella, who speaks for the national council, ``There are certainly more professional astrologers, people who can make a living at it, than there were 20 years ago.''
Meyers' part of the seminar will be to look at personal astrology for 1997. Tripodi will focus on the global perspective, and what the United States is facing in terms of economics, politics and technology. He'll look at 11 other nations as well, based on their birth charts, which are figured from historical records of when the countries were formed.
``We'll also look at where there is the highest likelihood for upheaval in terms of socioeconomic conditions,'' Tripodi said. ``As we speak, there's energy that hasn't been here since 1743. Mores, ethics, man's relationship to his creator and to each other were themes in essays of 1743.''
Most scientists say it's complete bunk, that planets millions of miles from Earth cannot affect individual people. Organized religion usually frowns on astrology as well.
It's all about energy, astrologers say.
``It's not things written in stone,'' said Creasey, who specializes in natal chart astrology. ``It shows energy that people are naturally in tune to and drawn to. It will also show energy that people are in conflict with.''
The astrologers' council, which claims nearly 5,000 members worldwide, says it is making the whole field more respectable by introducing certification tests for standards and ethics, and a four-year curriculum of study through its chapters and conventions.
``NCGR (the council) has set out a set of ethics as to how you should behave with consultations, and I can tell you we get our lather up when we find an astrologer out there who's doing the doom and gloom thing,'' Creasey said.
That means telling people that their chart shows something horrible in their future, she explained.
``That astrologer doesn't know,'' Creasey said. ``You have potentials in your chart and there's a nice way to explain them and there's a doom and gloom way to explain them.''
Astrology has been around since folks began planting crops by the moon and kings began timing attacks by the planets.
Creasey claims that the Three Kings referred to in the Bible were astrologers, pointing out that they followed a star to the Christ child.
Personally, she said, she finds astrology to be ``deeply spiritual.''
It's all right with her if people take a look at astrology and still don't believe in it. But it's not all right if people turn a blind eye without learning about it first.
``I think it's something people fear,'' she said. ``And fear keeps them from going any further. You really can't have an opinion about it until you've learned about it.''
Creasey said the uninformed look at the daily horoscope and say it's nothing like them, so astrology can't be right. But, she says, the sun sign, on which the horoscopes are based, is only a minor part of an individual's chart. Moon signs and rising signs (the planet on the eastern horizon at the time of one's birth) are just as important, she said.
But even those who have their charts read on a regular basis may be afraid to admit it for fear of ridicule, Creasey said.
``Even though they're very impressed by the experience, it's funny how they won't share that with their neighbors,'' she said.
Tripodi and Meyers are quite willing to share with their neighbors, and with anyone else who wants to come to the workshop. It's not about predicting the future, they said, it's more about potential and opportunity.
``Astrology is not a road map as much as it is possibilities,'' Tripodi said. ``A road map of possibilities.''
If that road map leads to Parks Avenue this afternoon, so be it. It may be in the stars. ILLUSTRATION: Color illustration by Sam Hundley/The Virginian-Pilot