This is my first interview for the “Astrologers Across America” blog series. In this first interview I talked to Frederick Woodruff from Vashon Island, Washington.
Frederick Woodruff
Ron A.: Good afternoon, Frederick, and thanks for participating and being the first
interview in my new blog series, “Astrologers Across America.”
Frederick Woodruff: You’re welcome.
RA: Is astrology a full time business for your or is it a part time?
FW: It’s definitely part time. I don’t know if I could do it full time just
because of the level of intensity involved.
RA: You give very intense readings?
FW: Well, (laughs) my style of working with clients is informed by the
Diamond Approach, a spiritual school that was started in Berkeley,
California in the 70s by Hameed Ali. Folks might be familiar with his books
that he writes under the pen name of A.H. Almaas.
RA: How does the Diamond Appraoch fit into your work with clients?
FW: Well, the Diamond Approach is a contemporary spiritual path that fosters
self-realization. You could say that beneath all the defenses and filters of
the personality lies the True Self. I try to assist my clients in forging a
more conscious, vital connection with that sense of self, one’s unique,
personal expression of True Nature.
RA: And you use the natal chart to uncover those personality filters?
FW: Yes, but primarily I work with the chart to begin active conversations
about the self. Often people are clueless as to what is driving them in
life. Or conversely, they aren’t clear about what’s important to them; what
they really want from life. But yes, it’s definitely about understanding the
difference between personality — our acquired sense of self — and our
genuine and unique self, the self that is of our essence.
RA: Who are your typical clients?
FW: Generally people who are spiritual students, on some path or way. Also
artists, musicians, people dealing with blocks to their creativity. But
generally my clients are folks that are involved in some process of
self-awareness. I tend to pass on clients that come to me for predictive
work. There are astrologers who do that much better than myself.
RA: When you say you don’t prognosticate about certain things is that
because it’s not the kind of service you offer or you prefer not to
“dabble”…
FW: I like to give people their money’s worth. So I suppose I’m conducting
sessions the way I consider a session to be valuable. I have found that what
is most satisfying for someone is when they genuinely get in touch with
their core, with their true nature — in the end that means more than having
half-baked notions about the future. Ideas that may or may not come to pass
for the client. I don’t think astrology can tell the future. Astrology can
catalog trends, but, there are no specifics. I think it’s a waste of time
really to predict. I know that sounds scandalous coming from an astrologer,
but, well — there it is.
RA: You live on Vashon Island, Washington- what’s that like?
FW: Vashon. Wow. It’s a little of everything and everyone. People that move
to an island tend to have a certain interiority. They like the privacy and
being away from the urban grind.
RA: More eccentric than your typical town?
FW: Yes, there are a lot of artists here, we’ve a big artists community,
several retreat centers; lots of organic farmers, hippies roaming the hills.
It’s fairly madcap and eccentric. Island life fosters that kind of
atmosphere.
RA: How many poeple live there?
FW: There’s about 10,000 residents. And what’s great about Vashon is you can hop a
boat and be in downtown Seattle in 30 minutes. I do enjoy theater and good
food so I’ll go over to the city and get my taste of that and then come home
and and chill in the country.
RA: I really like your website — your writing is personal and conversational.
Most of my content revolves around the specifics of
astrology and how to use it practically – “here’s what’s happening in the sky,
how it may affect the circumstances around us, and here’s something
practical to do with it…” But it’s even taken me awhile to begin writing in
the first person! Have you been blogging for a while?
FW: I’ve always written and when I first moved to Seattle I started this
crazy job as a telephone psychic.
RA: Tell me about that.
FW: I moved here from Hawaii and and quickly burned through my savings and I
had a friend who was working for one of those networks. He hooked me up with
a manager. And I was hired on the spot. I answered lines for, god, I can’t
believe I did it for about a year and a half.
RA: Now doesn’t this sounds polar opposite to what you just said about your
current clients?
FW: You know, that actually informed the direction that I ended up taking
because I felt like I paid off all my karma for loving reality tv shows
(laughs). It was grinding work though, acting as a kind of kind of oracular
astrologer. You can image all of the questions, “Will I have a boyfriend?
Will I win the lottery next week? Am I going to be sick?” It was a challenge
to find a way to work with questions like that.
RA: Did you work at home?
FW: In the old days of the lines they would have boiler rooms — you know
what those are?
RA: No.
FW: It’s where everyone had to come in and sit in cubicles and then as
technology got better they could route calls right to your house. So I had a
headset and worked out of my bedroom. The phone rang constantly. I’ll send
you a copy of the book I wrote, Secrets of a Telephone Psychic.
RA: When I think of someone who calls a psychic hotline I picture someone
who is up late watching a talk show or sketch comedy show. Is that really
the audience or am I misperceiving them?
FW: Well Ron, at the end of my run I’m sure I’d talked to every trailer park
denizen in America. It was difficult because I felt like I was dealing with
a lot of uneducated people; superstitious people; desperate people. I mean,
I kept a list of 800 numbers right by the phone because I’d get calls like
“…my husband is an alcoholic, he is beating me, will we finally start to
love me?” And I’d interrupt her and pass along a domestic abuse number. God,
it was such a kaleidoscope of the collective unconscious.
RA: Sounds like very “twelfth house” type of stuff.
FW: Very much. Well my Sun is in the 12th, so it’s no surprise I did a stint
as phone psychic. But I’d say about one out of every twenty calls was from
someone genuinely interested in astrology or Tarot. They were educated about
what was possible. So, it was that kind of a mix.
RA: How did you bud as a young astrologer? If you read on my website I was
always fascinated with astrology, but we were raised very Catholic and I was
forbidden from reading astrology in the paper, but it sounds like for you,
it was something you were exposed to early and often. Who were the two women
you studied with?
FW: Well my main teacher was Ivy Goldstein Jacobson. Gosh, when I look back
on it now it would be the equivalent of having Liz Greene taking you under
her wing. I mean Ivy was that established and respected within the
community.
RA: And you found her just by writing to her?
FW: I wrote to the AFA and I got a list of astrologers in California. I
think I was about 13 when I did this. They sent me a list and then my
hellbent Moon in Scoprio took over from there. I sat there at my old
Underwood and typed out letters to every astrologer on that list, asking if
they’d teach a young kid the craft! Ivy responded and said “…it’s great
you’re only thirteen, it’s the perfect time to learn astrology. I’ll offer
you my courses. And oversee your instruction.” I worked with her through her
correspondence course for about two years.
I also attended classed taught by Margaret Latvala, one of Ivy’s students,
who taught astrology above her garage in LA. Have you ever ready Jacobson’s
book?
RA: I have not.
FW: I would check them out. Ivy was very old school, nuts and bolts
astrology. She’ll put hair on your chest! She was an Aires and wrote and
taught with fierce conviction. And experience. I think you’d enjoy her
writing. Her book on horary is the best that’s out there. In total, her
books were very odd because, in true Arian spirit, she wouldn’t let anyone
else publish her work; she would type everything out herself, have it
photo-set, and then have THAT printed and hardbound into books. So you’re
actually reading HER typewritten words. When you encounter her books you’ll
see what I mean — they’re one of a kind!
RA: In your teens did you have other aspirations or did you know you wanted
to do astrology?
FW: I’m a genuine twelfth house Sun person. I never ever had any inkling
about life direction. And Neptune squares my Sun too. So I’d no notion of
what I was going to do with life. And yet I’ve done quite a lot. (I always
realize that after the fact) I’ve worked as an art director; I’ve written
for newspapers; I’ve painted modern art; I’ve taught astrology; I’ve driven
fork lifts. That’s the thing about Sun-Neptune contacts — there isn’t a
strong sense of self there. In fact that’s what their sense of self is all
about — that they don’t have a strong sense of self (laughs). So it’s all a
journey in learning to trust what unfolds, using reality as a guide to
finding out who one is.
Jung had that Sun Neptune square, and I think that’s why individuation was
such a key component to his form of psychology; because he was discovering
his sense of self with each inquiry into who he was.
RA: Do you use the nodes in your work?
FW: Absolutely!
RA: Where is your north node?
FW: In Sag.
RA: When you look at a chart, and I know you’re coming from a different
perspective with the Diamond Approach, you talked about those filter, are
there one or two you scan for first?
FW: The Sun to me is such a key because it represents how essence finds a
particular expression in life. I think the Sun is taken for granted in
astrology — maybe it’s fallout from Sun sign astrology? The Sun is that
heart or nucleus of the self. And it fuels everything. That life giving
principle, and how it’s configured in an individual, is such a major factor
to try and understand.
If I had to ‘read’ a chart in three minutes, I’d look at the natal Sun and
Saturn, and then what Uranus is doing by transit. That would allow me to
give someone a crazy-fast overview of what they’re about and what’s opening
up in their life in the moment. And the nodes, if I have time to spend time
in the chart. The nodes are probably the most mysterious points in a chart
and yet the most telling.
RA: Are you active in a local astrology club? Are there regional
organizations…?
FW: I’m pretty bad with that stuff. I’ve gone to conferences and it feels
like a lot of blowharding and posturing to me. I don’t know. I took an aim
this year to try to and push myself out there more and to do the Norwac
conference. Someone like Rob Hand I’d love to hear speak.
RA: I’d encourage you to. Our local club is very active and we bring in
speakers each month.
FW: I’m really into the British astrologers right now.
RA: Me too! If only I had the money to spend a summer in London and study!
FW: Really! A book you shouldn’t miss is a book by Dennis Ellwell called,
“Cosmic Loom,” He’s a UK astrologer, he must be about 85 now. That’s one of
the most brilliant, well executed astrology books I’ve read in thirty years!
It will turn your head inside out about astrology. You kind of have to
devote yourself to it because it’s so tightly written. It’s brilliant. It’s
actually back in print now.
All those UK astrologers amaze. The legendary folks like C.E.O Carter; he
represents such a sound bedrock of good astrological principals. And of
course you know Liz Greene, I know she’s a cliche for a lot of people
nowadays, but I think she’s awesome.
RA: That’s who I started reading as a new astrologer. She kind of brought
astrology back to life in a way.
FW: I know traditional astrologers take issue with her because her approach
becomes so psychology-oriented. But I think she really knows her shit. And
writes from that place. You know how so many astrology books feel like
you’re participating in a game of telephone. People passing along and
diluting information without offering anything original or groundbreaking to
the reader. I think Liz is someone who really writes from her being and from
her experiences in the therapeutic trenches.
At this point in my life, and with my ongoing love affair with astrology, I
try to do the same thing. Use the tradition and my experience to assist a
client in a way that helps him connect with who he truly is. I think we each
want that feeling of giving expression to our true self — who we are as
unique beings. Not what our parents wanted from us, or our teachers or
church — but what we essentially are as living beings. That’s astrology’s
greatest gift — helping us to become truly, uniquely ourselves. ¤
Frederick Woodruff can be reached at his website astroinquiry.com
