Recently, a cascade of signs (un-spiritual related) didn’t reveal the 4D for me, but that I’m most likely Autistic. This is a self-diagnosis based on careful consideration- and I’ll write more about some of my personal experience, why self-diagnosis is valid, and why I won’t be seeking a professional assessment in another blog. (But I want to be clear because I hate when people aren’t transparent.)
After experiencing Autistic burnout, I developed a deep love for astrology that kick-started my deconstruction of capitalism. I spent years diving into my astrology, unintentionally using my star chart to unmask, raising two Autistic children, and if I was reading an oracle deck, it’d be shouting… “Babe: it’s not just your star signs at play- it’s Autism.”
Astrology Helped Me Deconstruct Capitalism Which (Inadvertently) Helped My Autistic Burnout
When I started my spiritual journey, I started where most people start: the self-help section. ‘You Are A Badass’ by Jen Sincero, Breńe Brown, Glennon Doyle, and a lotttttt of stickers that said “GIRL BOSS” were my go-to’s. It’s not that I have a personal vendetta against these people, but I do find it a little worrisome that my former employer (Starbucks), who caused me immense trauma, hired Breńe Brown as a motivational speaker and assigned us “Dare To Lead” to read at the end of my tenure.
I didn’t get into astrology to read charts or even necessarily understand myself better like a lot of people. I was experiencing heavy Autistic burnout from the brutal masking I had been doing.
This article from the National Autistic Society describes my experience perfectly- and I’ll highlight a few that my job was raining down on me specifically:
Working very hard to act in a non-autistic way
Difficult or unreachable expectations from work
Poor boundaries with respect to saying no or taking a break (I often worked 60+ hours a week)
When I quit (an option that is not available to everyone- I know) and discovered astrology, I found that you could operate in a rhythm outside of a high level of the go-go-go hustle culture, talk with people about how destructive capitalism was to mental health and then really love the parts of myself that had always seemed so… weird. AKA unmasking.
Embracing My Astrology Chart & Unmasking Autism
I’ll save you the trouble of asking: my big three are Aries Sun, Virgo Rising, and Gemini Moon. If you have any prior knowledge of astrology or neurodivergence, you might see where this is going.
(If you want a good source that explains the concept of astrology charts really well, I recommend ‘You Were Born For This’ by Chani Nichols. But always, always, always take things with a grain of salt.)
Here are astrological traits that stepping back, I can see with a little more clarity:
Aries: intense, forceful, bold, passionate. I’ve since learned about pathological demand avoidance (PDA) and connected with other Autistic people who don’t identify as little stone bricks of “no feelings” stereotype, but instead as highly passionate, big feelings, deeply motivated individuals
Virgo: practical, routines, finding patterns, obsessed with the details. Questions about routines/patterns are one of the first couple of questions on every Autism assessment I have seen.
Gemini: curious, thirsty for knowledge, communicative. Some Geminis are flexible, but there also exists the need to acquire and share knowledge. So many neurodivergent people would share much more about their hyperfixations if they weren’t concerned about being labeled “weird”.
Ultimately- my point is not to identify that every star sign is actually an Autistic trait. That would be silly! I finally saw the things I was always told people did not like about me celebrated within astrology. (Highly passionate, deeply devoted to routines, lovingly obsessed with learning AND sharing that knowledge). This allowed me to let those things come from behind the mask they had been hiding behind for so long.
Your Own Unmasking Journey
I used to recommend that everyone pull their chart, but I don’t really think this is necessary anymore. It’s easily doable, but it’s also easy to fall down the spiritual rabbit hole and end up lost in the sauce. Maybe you’re already lost in the sauce and that’s how you ended up here. (If so- hi! I’m here to clear out all that “good vibes” spiritual clutter, stop getting the same boring journaling prompts, and use creative writing to further your unmasking journey.)
If you do have a special interest in astrology, then learn everything about it and find someone who is willing to listen because that info-dumping is so important. (You might even be able to find someone who will listen absent-mindedly without getting irritated so you can yap all you want. A win win!)
Ultimately, what I do think astrology can be brilliant at doing- especially if you pull the right pieces out- is allowing you to shine the light on things that maybe you’ve been told are weird or you shouldn’t like about yourself for most of your life and turning them into features instead of bugs.
“Something is really different.”
I have a vivid memory of being on a call with Madi Murphy of CosmicRx, who taught me almost everything I know about astrology, where she said: “It’s like you’ve just come to life. Something is really different.” It was unmasking, Madi. She didn’t know that- I didn’t even know it. But astrology had helped me begin to dismantle the capitalism that was fueling my masking and Autistic burnout, and given me insight into the parts I was desperately trying to suppress.
If you’re also on an unmasking journey, not every single tool will work perfectly for you- especially in a world mostly designed for neurotypical minds. But if you find something that truly makes you feel like you’re “weirdness” is good (while teaching you how to self-accommodate and all those nuanced things) then it just might be for you.
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