Omega: Over the course of 19 years, you wrote The Endless Sky, a collection of 72 essays that spans the world of evolutionary astrology. But only three years after its publication, you’ve come out with a new collection of essays. Is this volume two of The Endless Sky? What’s in store for us to read that differs from the first book?

Steven: I write lots of short articles for my school, my website, and for various astrological publications around the world. Sometimes these essays are based on commissions I’ve received or specific questions that keep popping up from my students or readers, but often they’re just about whatever astrological subject I whimsically feel like exploring at a given moment. Both volumes of The Endless Sky are collections of those essays, so in that sense there’s not actually much difference between them. The essays are on different subjects, though—and if we’d published it all in one volume, you’d have to be the 1980s version of Arnold Schwarzenegger to lift it.

Omega: Your signature brand of choice-centered evolutionary astrology encourages the development of the spiritual will based on each individual’s birth chart. How can we start to recognize signs from the divine in our lives and how can we apply them for personal growth and well-being?

Steven: You’ve really hit upon the heart of the matter. So much of astrology is descriptive—here’s your personality profile and here’s what’s going to happen to you, as if you had no influence over either of them. But, of course, in reality you do. Everything in evolutionary astrology is based on those two kissing cousins: freedom and personal responsibility. It’s prescriptive rather than descriptive. You’re in a kind of creative dialog with your natal chart. Certain questions are pressed upon you by what we could call “fate.” But the answers you give? They are up to you. 

The astrological counselor’s job is not to predict how you will answer them, but rather to help you make choices that are most consistent with your soul’s purpose and intentions in this lifetime. It’s sacred work. You ask how we might recognize these signs and elements of guidance in our lives. I’d be the first to say that no one needs astrology in order to do that! But it helps. We’re all under enormous life-shaping pressure from our culture, our families, and our own unresolved karma. Evolutionary astrology really helps us sort out the soul’s signal from all of that background noise. 

Omega: What is the importance of a person’s natal chart? How can we use that cosmic blueprint for a deeper understanding of ourselves and our daily routines in life?

Steven: The natal chart is the single most important document in astrology. Here’s a way to think of it. Start with basic morality—don’t kill people, don’t steal from them, try to be kind, try to be honest. No one needs an astrological chart to know any of that—those principles are “one size fits all.” Astrology comes in one step further down the moral food chain. That’s where we are dealing with the sorts of questions that have different legitimate answers for different people. Should I marry in this life? Is traveling to another country good for me? What about “mountaintop” meditation versus a path of active service in the world? Austerity and restraint versus feasting on life? People will preach to you on every one of those subjects, but the reality is that each one of us in a different karmic predicament and different remedies will serve us best. The answers to those kinds of personal spiritual questions are built into every natal chart. 

Omega: We’re curious about the “Four Personal Tales” in your new book. What can you tell us about living under the lens of an “astrologically examined life” and how might we benefit from applying that approach to our own lives?

Steven: I’d start by echoing my answer to the previous question, but take it one step further. There are certain guidelines that work for you, cradle to grave—all that is in your birth chart. But then planets also move through your chart in transitory fashion, defining chapters of your life. Faced with various crossroads and choice points in my own journey, I’ve always turned to these “transits and progressions” for guidance. For example, along came Saturn and I had a choice between getting exhausted and getting depressed. Stated that starkly, the choice is not difficult: exhaustion beats depression. When I saw Saturn coming along for me, I wrote five books—and I was tired, but I still had a smile on my face. I think that if I hadn’t written them, there would be an emptiness in my heart. As we let the planets interrogate and inform us that way, we are living an astrologically examined life, and the bottom line is that everything goes better that way. It helps us stay in tune with our higher purpose and ultimately that’s the happiest course available to any of us.

Omega: You hint at taking a deep look in the new book at the epochal entry of world-changing Pluto into Aquarius this past November. Should we be worried? And how will that influence all the zodiac signs?

Steven: Pluto brings shadowy, unresolved material to the surface. A toxic boil bursts. It’s messy, but it’s ultimately about healing. Since 2008, Pluto has been in Capricorn. We’ve been seeing the dark side of traditional values—which is to say values with a long tradition, such as racism, sexism, and the notion of an infinitely exploitable planet. Pluto was in Capricorn at the recent American election, and just finally entered Aquarius on November 19, 2024. It’s still Pluto, so that means that it’s never a picnic, but definitely indicates a change in the collective weather. Once the dust settles, I believe we’ll see a more futuristic, progressive “Aquarian” mood. We just have to remember that not every new idea is automatically a good one. The French Revolution happened under Pluto in Aquarius. It was framed as a progressive revolution, but it was a bloodbath and a catastrophe. I have to say that this is a huge subject, really too big for a good answer here. There are a couple chapters about it in The Endless Sky, volume two. And anyone can go to my website, forrestastrology.com, and enter Pluto in the search engine—you’ll find quite a lot of material about it there, too. 

Omega: Can you talk about the business and craft of astrology? What advice can you offer to support active or aspiring professional astrologers?

Steven: I’ve actually got several chapters about that subject in the new book. It’s something about which I am both excited and concerned, especially since we founded our online Forrest Center for Evolutionary Astrology. I’m optimistic that our graduates can make a living as professional astrologers. It’s obviously an unconventional career choice, but it’s a solid, practical one, too. If you’re good at what you do, it’ll put you in the same income bracket as a successful psychotherapist. I just shake my head when astrologers are competitive with each other. The “pie” out there is so big.

I’m pulling numbers out of thin air here, but my impression is that there’s maybe 10 percent of the population that’s adamantly foam-at-the-mouth phobic about astrology, while there’s another 10 percent that’s actively, enthusiastically engaged with it. The remaining 80 percent lean “vaguely interested, but unmotivated.” Once they get a taste of what it can do for them, most of them are potential clients. We’ve got a huge public relations problem, but there’s gold in them thar hills for sure. 

When I was starting out in the field myself, a voice in my head told me to “say yes to everything.” Once I drove 150 miles to do a free talk for six or seven people in a bookstore—and I’m glad I did. The more people you reach, the more likely you are to reach the Holy Grail: word-of-mouth buzz about your work. Staying in one community helps, too—the “buzz” is thicker and more focused that way. Above all, be good at what you do. We’ve got a plague of people on the Internet claiming to be astrologers who’ve not done their homework. I think it’s fair to say that learning the craft of astrology is a commitment on par with going to college. It’s not like swimming across the Atlantic Ocean, but it requires a serious intention and some sustained self-discipline. And it’s worth it at more levels than I can count.