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Warning. The following episode

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includes talk of magical texts,

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boxing the mafia, and how

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a child preacher who railed against

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astrology found his path in

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the stars. Sensitive listeners

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take care. At

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the very beginning of the show, we set out to find

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people with unusual stories biographies

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that up ended our understanding of astrology.

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And so my colleagues Mary and

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Mitra, they went looking for all sorts

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of folks, right like finance

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bros who believed in astrology, cheesemongers

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used the stars to guide their process, towns

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that have built their entire identity

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around astrology. And then

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one day Mary said to me, I

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think that is a community of ex evangelicals

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who fled the church and now they put

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their entire faith in the stars.

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And you know, I was immediately

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fascinated, right like, how do you walk

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away from one set of really strong

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beliefs and then dive headfirst

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into another. What type of person

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decides to do that? And what are the circumstances

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that help you find your faith again? And

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that's how we found Sam Reynolds. I

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went to an astrologer, a gemini.

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Sam is an extraordinary person, and

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the truth is, he's got a story I can't

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stop thinking about at

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birth, his parents were told he wouldn't walk

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as a child. He wasn't supposed to become a preacher

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in college. He wasn't supposed to question his faith

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or take comfort in astrology. But Sam

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is kind of defied expectations at

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every point of his life. And what

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makes him so fascinating to me at

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least is that in this search for

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faith and love and a truer

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understanding of humanity, he

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moves with such grace and assured

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nous and the past. For him

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it never seems to be a mistake, like

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just a stepping stone to where

2:10

you were always meant to be. From

2:13

Kaleidoscope and I Heart Podcast, I'm

2:16

Mongish Fatiguler. Welcome

2:18

to Skyline Drive Miniso

2:52

Too. Sam.

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My name is Sam Reynolds. I'm from Buffalo,

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New York. I currently live in Santa

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Fe, New Mexico. I

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have been a practicing astrologer

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for twenty years, and

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I got into astrology trying to disprove

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it. I was born with multiple

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birth defects and

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being able to function, to walk, to do

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the things that the doctors predicted I wouldn't

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be able to do. They said that I would be

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developmentally delayed. I wasn't,

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and so I became assigned

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as a miracle baby by my family.

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Sam was raised as a Southern Baptist, so

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he grew up knowing that on Judgment Day

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he would have to stand before God and account

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for his life. I did feel

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a calling, literally, hearing

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a voice in my head, you know, a calling

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into the ministry saying I went you to preach. So

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I went to my mother's friends

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church, and the pastor took me under his wing.

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My father didn't

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fully believe me because

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I actually was a boxer at the time, and

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so I was boxing and he

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kept arranging fights for me, and

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I was like, no, I don't think it's right to

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kind of beat people up on Saturday and then go preach

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about love on Sunday. And

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he um didn't believe me. So my mother

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suggested would write him a letter of resignation. And I

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wrote him a letter telling him that I was going

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against the ministry, and he was like, oh, I guess this

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is real. I

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preached my first sermon on my

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mother's birthday, septem maybe.

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There were about seventy people there. My

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parents were there, and I

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saw something I had never seen. After

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I preached, my father stood

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up and testified and he started to cry.

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My father didn't cry. I

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knew my father had a

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complicated life. When I say

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a complicated life, my father

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was into the numbers

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racket. Before we had state lotteries,

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there was an underground mostly

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seen as criminal ne work of people

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who would give people to play the numbers

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for money. I mean it's tied

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to the mob, to the mafia, and so my

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father, my father killed

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people. So for

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him too to cry, I

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mean that was you know when you talk about Tony Soprano,

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you see it on TV. He literally

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lived that life. And I

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think that was probably

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just the first time out of maybe

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two times I ever saw my father cry

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in his life. Sam was only twelve

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when he became a preacher, and he fully absorbed

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this evangelical lesson that astrology

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is a sin. He even preached a sermon

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warning against its evils. Besides,

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the one time he did look up his horoscope, he

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couldn't tell which sign he really was because

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his birthday fell on the cusp of Scorpio and

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Sagittarius, And as far as

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he was concerned, it was a sin that

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didn't even make sense. By the

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time I went into the ministry, I was already convinced

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that astrology was hogwashed.

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You know, people asked me what signer? You know, I'm

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the sign of the Cross. My

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first year of college, I

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thought it would be cool to take religion classes. Technically

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that was a mistake because it made

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me start questioning my religion. I

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started to have a crisis of faith. I

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started talking to different ministers because I

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was like, well, how can I really preach sincerely

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when I'm confused. Some of

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the ministers I talked to, they were like, and

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it comes with the job kit. My

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idea was to take a step away from the ministry

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until I would recoup my faith. But my

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faith never came back. By the time

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I was twenty two, I had become an atheist.

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Newly liberated from his old beliefs. Sam

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headed to Temple University, where he enrolled

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in the Africa An American Studies graduate program.

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While he was there, he felt for one of his classmates.

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There was just one problem, and

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she was really into astrology, and I was like, uh, you

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know, well, if I had to choose between being an

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arachnid, a scorpio, and a centaur,

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clearly on a centaur. How could

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Sam possibly impress this woman at

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Gemini who teased him about not knowing

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his own sign. She's like, no, I think

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you're the bug. Finally he remembered something.

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There was a book when I was younger that

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my great grandmother had. It's

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called the six eight Books of Moses.

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It's a supposedly a magical text. He

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figured his crush would be blown away by a copy

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of this strange book, so he starts

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making calls and finally tracks it down

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at a North Philly bookstore. But

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when he goes to pick it up, this guy

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starts talking to me about astrology and he's an

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astrologer. At first I was like, and let me just get

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the book, man, but then he's like, oh, you ever

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had your chart done? It was like okay,

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I agreed to get the reading. For

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the first fifty minutes, I was convinced

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this is BS and he's like, oh, it looks like

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your mom had some problems while carrying

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you. In my head, I said, no, ship

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Sherlock, I mean, I'm four, nine chances

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are I didn't have the normal birth. And

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then he said, oh, well, it looks like you're a pretty

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smart fellow. But again I was thinking,

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I told you I was in the PhD program,

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and then it happened. He said, it looks

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like the complications they talked about what your mom

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may have been from

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some involvement with your mother, your brother,

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and your father. What do you mean,

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And he's like, yeah, some issues

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with your father and your brother happened

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and then adversely

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affected your mother. What

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I had learned two months before is that my

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brother, when he was eight years

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old, my mother was making kissing

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faces at him and playing with him. And

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he said, oh, you're doing me

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like Daddy was with that white women last night.

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And she's like, what are you talking

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about, And she's like, Daddy

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was in the front seat with this white woman making U kissing

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noises and doing all this stuff and huffing and puffed.

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He thought I would asleep, but I was just in the back of the seat

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listening and looking at them.

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And she was

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devastated. She caught

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the flu early in her pregnancy

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with me. I guess compromised

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immune system from emotional distress.

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So what that astrologer was describing

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was pretty much exactly as it happened.

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And I don't know how he

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did that, you know, I was blown

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away, and so for

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me astrology became

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this other way of understanding oneself

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that was independent of

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the political sphere. Even I was like, well,

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maybe it's an interesting way of asking questions.

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These days, Sam still uses astrology

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to ask questions, but he's found

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a lot of answers too. He's

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a mentor to young astrologers just starting

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out and a co founder of the International

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Society of Black Astrologers. He's

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developed a perspective that's totally him,

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thoughtful, intellectual, and most

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of all, driven by a desire to connect.

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Astrology is the

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net cultural experience of thousands

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of years of looking at the heavens

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and their correlations in terms

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of finding significance in our life. Now

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you could say, well, you're just manufacturing

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it sure like

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everything else in your life. I'm

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curious about people. I always have

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been. I wanted to understand how people

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think, why they make the choices that they do.

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So astrology gives me a way to have

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discussions with people about

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themselves. It becomes a conversation

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about how the astrology

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illuminates their lives rather

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than I would say dictates

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their lives. The word consider

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it comes from Latin for con

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which means with and sidire stars,

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but means to think with your stars. So

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I see astrology as a way to have a conversation,

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which is more way of reflecting on yourself and your

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desires and your character. The

11:31

young Sam would be horrified by me

11:33

being an astrologer, But

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what I think would soften

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him is recognizing

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some measure of his dream

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for his life, which was

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to be communicating and

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messaging people around

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the world, being able to do what I do and

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support myself. I think that

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was making proud, But he probably like, well, why

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can't you do that for Jesus? So

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um,

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I'd probably like, you know, that's a longer conversation.

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Often there's a finality to the way people read

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astrology, that what's destined

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to happen will happen. But

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Sam, as

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he puts it, he doesn't use an astrological

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chart to read your life as a finished biography,

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but instead as a work

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in process. I

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love how there's an openness to Sam, the way

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he believes so deeply, but how

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he'll always listen with an open mind, how

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he doesn't hesitate to take in your questions

12:53

and your qualms and to

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truly consider them

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because he isn't afraid to change in his mind as

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long as he's thinking with the stars. Ye.

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That's it for this week's episode of Skyline Drive. Special

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thanks to my team here, Mary Mutro, Mark,

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Anna and Threw for working so

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hard over the holidays to pull the show together,

13:26

and Botany as always for the

13:29

incredible soundtrack. Also thank

13:31

you to the wonderful Sam Reynolds for making time

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for us to visit Sam on the

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web or book reading with him. Be sure

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to go to Unlock Astrology dot

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com. That's Unlock astrology dot

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com. Also a quick shout out to

13:43

my pal Laura Mayor, who did this episodes.

13:45

Warning, Laura not only helped us set up

13:48

things when we started Kaleidoscope, but also

13:50

dropped one of the biggest shows of the year,

13:53

Shameless Acquisition Target. It is so

13:55

funny and if you want to know everything about

13:57

the podcast industry from one of its consummate

13:59

ins hiders, it is essential

14:02

listening. We'll

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be back with full length episodes next week, starting

14:06

with a writer who just wants to know.

14:09

I had a question about like who's going to die first,

14:13

my mom and my dad, because there's

14:15

an answer that I want it's

14:19

so dark. I mean, it

14:21

is dark, but it's also way

14:24

more fun that it sounds. That's it for

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this week's miniso. Thank you so

14:28

much for listening.