Jules Ferrari

Who are you?

My name is Jules Ferrari, I work as an astrologer and live in the mountains with my family.

Why astrology? What drew you to astrology and what continues to keep you engaged with it?

Astrology was a part of my early life—we had the ‘Birthday Book’ at home growing up and I was one of those kids who had a big space phase. I’d spend hours listening to Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets’ while flipping through a big book of NASA images of the planets in our solar system. I had a natal chart reading during my Saturn Return and it completely nailed my personality and way of being. I was intrigued. I began to learn my chart through Google searches and eventually enrolled in an astrology school.

What keeps me engaged with astrology is its depth. Astrology is a labyrinth. I love patterns and system, and mythology, psychology and astronomy. Astrology is an intersection of all these elements. The history of astrology is gigantic. The meaning we have applied to the planets has been formed over thousands of years of debate by some of our finest minds. The list of people who used and utilised astrology is also a thing of beauty—Claudius Ptolemy wrote one of the first books on astrology and termed the phrase ‘horoscope’, which until the 1930s, was a term that described the whole natal/birth chart. Now when we hear horoscope, we think of our Sun sign.

What does wellness mean to you?

I see it as a very natural and holistic approach and emphasis on health and vitality with regards to our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual selves. I think that this natural intent and drive has also been co-opted into an industry worth billions of dollars.

How do you care for yourself?

Caring for myself has changed a lot since becoming a mother. I have less time, as well as much more desire to carve out my own time. Non-negotiables in my day include a sequence of meditations, kriyas, breathing exercises and journaling. When I have more time, I do subconscious reprogramming and weekly restorative and kundalini yoga classes. To be frank, this is all quite difficult to maintain since having a child. My mind seems even more filled with an ever-growing to-do list, so for me to have the time to clear that anxiety is very helpful. It can feel that I have no time and so I work to create a sense of spaciousness into my days. This is very much a work in progress. Beyond that, learning is what fills me up. I watch at least one lecture a week and I am constantly working to limit my social media use as I find it very dissociative.

Your work is linked to the greater patterns and rhythms of the universe. You also write that your work draws from mythology, archetypes and symbolism. How do you see these play out in your daily life?

Recently, I found a natural spring near my home that provides water to a lot of people who visit it regularly. I know from my studies in mythology that in almost all cultures natural springs are governed by fertility goddesses. For me, this brings more meaning, mystery and beauty into my journeys to the spring and in selecting the offerings I leave with. It becomes a symbolic and ritualistic act to bottle my water rather than a mundane one.

What role do you think astrology can play in our era?

I think one of its primary functions is being a tool for greater self-knowledge. The more we can come to understand, appreciate and accept ourselves as individuals, the more we can utilise our skills and talents and be of use in the world, offering up our own innate gold.

A natal chart reading confirms that yes, you are who you are. It’s not a mistake. Yes, you’ve been socialised and conditioned like all of us, and to some degree, you may or may not have veered from your own natural order. A chart reading re-affirms you back to you and speaks of your natural blueprints. Everything from how you receive your intuition, your natural abilities and drives in the world, as well as areas that may present friction and even how you were conditioned. Astrology can then speak to how you can practically move into the higher expressions of each sign and planet. It is a permission slip to be you, as well as a user’s manual for your own self-actualisation.

How important are daily rituals to you?

Very. They tether me to myself. I am a highly mutable and absorptive person and I need a lot of time alone—I need a lot of space. I also have a baby, a business and a partner, so my cup is quite full. Rituals allow me to be intentional in directing my consciousness for the day. And hey, some days that might just be lighting a stick of incense with intention in between changing a nappy and cleaning up toys. My Moon is in Virgo in the 12th House—one way of explaining that is that my emotional health comes from regularly grounding myself through structure, aka a daily practice. Otherwise, my feelings can become very foggy and it’s easy to blur what is mine and what is someone else’s energy/feelings.

How do you mark and celebrate change?

This year I have been holding workshops at the beginning of each of the twelve signs, teaching people about the higher and lower expressions of each of the archetypes and the purpose of each sign. Through that, I have really begun to embrace the signs and the seasons a lot more. It has become less cerebral and more of an embodied experience—the experience and energy of each sign has become more tangible—and working with each of the signs as the Sun illuminates them has brought much more ease into my life.

What types of rituals and ceremonies does astrology teach us to participate in and honour?

Our birthdays are a celebration of when the Sun was at the exact degree it was in when we were born. Astrology is a marker of our journey through time and space, filled with planetary transits that unfold during specific years of our lives. One of our largest rites of passage is the Saturn Return that occurs every 28–29 years. The first one being a very strong transition into a new level of maturity and selfresponsibility. This is a period where we are asked to face our deepest foundations and if there are any potholes there, we become very aware of them. Astrology also celebrates and notes the movement of our Moon, the equinoxes and solstices, as well as the eclipses. It’s tied to our seasonal shifts, the twelve signs are divided among our four seasons, marking the beginning (cardinal), middle (fixed) and end (mutable) of each season, each with their own energetic flavour.

Can you think of a ritual that would resonate with our world at this moment in time?

I would encourage everyone to follow one lunar cycle. From a New Moon through to a Full Moon and back to a New Moon. There’s so much information available on rituals that go with that but mine would be to watch the growth of the Moon each day as it waxes, is full and then wanes. Set eyes on the Moon each day and night for a month. It is a potent exercise to have a daily reminder that we are living on a planet with a Moon, in a solar system, within a seemingly infinite universe. It can bring a lot of perspective to our own worries.

julesferrari.com
@golden__nature