Bridge between worlds

What's social behavioural astrology? It's a practical form of astrology focused on navigating Euro-American capitalist society. It uses intersectional qualitative and quantitative research methods, informed by Black Critical Theory (specifically sociology, philosophy and anthropology of religion). It does so to understand the impact of planetary movements over our everyday life within the specific context of othering, identity negotiation and liminality, intersections of socio-economic privilege and stereotypes, and more. Contrary to most approaches of Western Astrology interpretations, which tends to focus over the individual’s natal chart only, astrology for activists seeks to include the socio-cultural and historical context of where the individual’s natal chart is formed and lived. Social Astrology is thus revolutionary as it crosses boundaries with the study of social, cultural and anthropological subjects of behaviour, psychology, belief and belonging. Inspired by indigenous West African transformative practices of community care, as said in my ethnic group (Akan-Akwamu) “You don’t become a person in the Forest”, we are social beings: while our natal birth sky might give us a clue of the planetary energies that were at play at our birth time, our identity and how those energies form and come to express themselves are rather told in relationship to the environment, the intersection and negotiations of identity, and to people around the native.  

Social Astrology is also one of the best tools to actively decolonise and de-gentrify western astrology. The history of the practice of Astrology cannot be forgotten: standardised and commodified by white supremacy, not only making it a practice for the elites, but also a tool of social and cultural indoctrination of the psyche, where the social Black is reinforced as spiritual shadow, counterpart to the “civilised” white European.  To standardise such a diverse practice like astrology, also allows for spiritual bypassing (many spaces around evolutionary astrology and the “It’s written in the stars” discourse), appropriation of culture specific astrologies (Feng Shui, Karmic etc) and the perpetuation of toxic white supremacy centred archetypes like binaries or blood kinship. I also criticise the academic lobbying of astrology, where question of financial capital and access, as well as privilege of time and rest should be assessed.  

Social Astrology opens the door to the possibility to re-wire the archetypes of modern astrology around the experience of the individuals supported by the framework of traditional astrology. It understands and disrupts privilege, gender norms, class and status while focusing on relatability, accountability and validation for one’s experiences, inherited trauma and privilege, forced expectations and more. As my work is centred to Black individuals , each chart is a chance to co-create something that never existed before: in response to our historical struggle and our marginality, we actively spend time to imagine ourselves beyond the existence of the current reality. How can we translate this to the present and to the chart? weaving thread of histories old and new, some that belongs to us and some that we actively use. Additionally, this methodology criticises the universality of Astrology as imperialist imposition and globalisation: context is fundamental and tropical astrology within the experience of the West as an entity formed directly by the economic structure of Capitalism, cannot find it’s expression where humanity is denied i.e the Global South.