SEEING STARS

"The cosmos is a vast living body of which we are still parts.  The sun is a great heart whose tremors run through our smallest veins.  The moon is a great nerve center from which we quiver forever.  Who knows the power that Saturn has over us, or Venus?  But it is a vital power, rippling exquisitely through us all the time." - D.H. Lawrence.

From the moment humans first gazed into the heavens, they have been fascinated and intrigued.  Travelers have used the stars for guidance.  Fishermen have looked to the cosmos to determine the best times for casting their nets.  And, for centuries, farmers have sworn by the influence of the moon over their crops.  Those theories don't sound so far-fetched.  But when the topic of the planets' influence on people's lives comes up, some may grab their coat and head for the nearest exit.

Overall, 20th-century society seems to have given little, if any, credit to astrological predictions.  Nancy Reagan received hearty guffaws for following the advice of an astrologer.  But to Gary Brand, a Tallahassee astrologer, Nancy was far from foolish.

Brand's house/office on Silver Lake Road [where he lived from 1983-1998] is well over a century old.  There, he advises those seeking insight into their souls - those who want to know what the planets' positions at their birth reveal about them.  Over the past nine years, he says he's seen more than 400 soul-searchers, with a return rate of 65 percent.

Far from the generic "you will meet a tall, dark stranger" newspaper horoscope, Brand's predictions take many factors into account.  "I use all the planets, the sun and moon, and their orientation to [the horizon at] your time and place of birth."  His guide is an ephemeris, a figure and glyph-filled book listing each planet's position for the beginning of every day of this century.

The process is extremely complex, requiring technical knowledge and a love for research.  The product - the chart or forecast - resembles a pie.  Each piece ["slice"] represents a House, defined by Brand as "how we interact with the world - our attitude toward money, our relationships, creativity, sexuality, interests, work setting."

Scattered or grouped (depending on the individual) in the houses, are the planets, which, he says, further illuminate one's personality.  Brand provides a number of charts based on individual needs.  The birthchart is an overall personality profile; a solar-return forecast gives a glimpse of the year to come.  Then there's the six-month forecast that deals with specific dates.  An astro-locational reading reveals what parts of the country [or specific cities] offer the best opportunities for a career or relationship.  A comparison chart tells how a relationship "will flow or aspects where it will be more challenging."

Brand emphasizes that what he does "is not fortune telling.  The forecast doesn't abrogate our free will.  It gives us a picture of potentials and we have to either act or not act on those."

An active member of Unity Church, Brand says to him astrology "is not a contradiction to religion.  I emphasize the spiritual in my readings - people's life purpose, life goals from a soul level."

In "an effort to support one another as men," Brand has organized a men's group that meets twice a month.

On Jan. 27, [1991] Brand will present an Astrodrama in which each performer portrays a planet of a famous personality.  He says the audience will be called upon to unveil the subject's identity.

Brand says his goals "for this life are to grow as much as possible both personally and spiritually and to help others get more in touch with themselves."  And of course, he will continue his mission to dispell the myths [misperceptions] associated with astrology.  "It's unfortunate that people think the [newspaper/magazine] horoscope is what astrology is.  [Most] people don't realize that there's a lot more to this."