My grandmother had an interest in the subject, and I've always been fascinated by the descriptions of the signs. My father is one of the very first Therapeutic Counselors who introduced group therapy programs to inmates in California prisons in the 1960's. Our family has always been interested in psychological profiling, the different ways that people perceive the world.

I've been studying Astrology seriously since the early 1970's. I lived near a house full of hippies in the Silverlake District of Hollywood, and they talked about the Age of Aquarius constantly..I felt there was something to astrology, but didn't like their fatalistic approach. I wanted to know for myself.

So, I learned the math (a horrible chore for me) and started doing charts on all my friends and family. I put all the charts on index cards. (I still have hundreds of those cards.) I put all the Sun in Aries together, and the I'd think about what all those people had in common.

Then I'd sort the cards by the Moon sign, then the Ascendant, etc. I'd study the people I knew, and I'd try to recognize the signs in the people I met. I'd always be listening to the way they talked to me, what they looked like, what they enjoyed doing. Then I'd do their charts to see how accurate I'd been. (I found it's easier to guess the person's Ascendant than the Sun sign!)

Many years later, in 1989, I was working as a paralegal in Atascadero, California. My Significant Other (now my husband) and I had been looking for land out in the country. In May of 1989 we scraped together every cent we could find and bought a 40-acre parcel in the coastal range above San Simeon, near Hearst Castle, on the beautiful California coast. It was an hour and a half from my job, however.

I was working as a paralegal, taking depositions for an attorney. So, it was possible for me to arrange appointments with clients after regular office hours. I'd put in three ten-hour days a week (13 hours away from home for me). It was tiring, but doable. Then, the attorney's wife decided they wanted someone who could come in every morning. I just couldn't do that.

Any job I found was going to be at least that far from my home. It's an hour's drive to the nearest town, and the cities that hire paralegals are all at least an hour and a half away. I broke down. I could not figure out how we were going to keep this beautiful land we love so much. I prayed out loud to God one day, in desparation. I told him I'd given up. I couldn't figure out what to do. And, I asked him to give me the perfect job. Then, I got busy reading the want ads, and driving to interveiw for paralegal jobs.

A couple of weeks later I was contacted by a woman who asked if I'd like to write horoscopes for an MCI project. I asked her how she knew I was an astrologer.

She said she'd seen my ad in Dell Horoscope. I'd run one ad for consultations in Dell Horoscope about 6 months before, I'd never received any calls on it, so I never ran it again.

This woman had found an old issue of Dell and had been calling me for a week. I hadn't thought to answer my messages, I'd been too busy driving up and down the coast of California, trying to convince attorneys to let me work flexible hours.

I wrote her a sample column, faxed it to her the next day, and got the job. It paid exactly what I'd been making as a paralegal, and meant I wouldn't have to leave home! I could power my computer with a generator, send the material to her electronically.

After a couple of years, the MCI project (including sports writers, a stock market report, etc.) was purchased by Tribune Media Service, which distributes columns and other material to newspapers all over the world.

At the same time, Joyce Jillson, the TMS astrologer, quit in the middle of her contract. So, they asked me if I wanted the job. If Jillson hadn't quit, I would have been fired. God bless her.

About ten years later, in 1999, TMS made a big bid for business on the Internet. They offered lots of different columnists, including me, to this new market. My column has been immensely successful in cyberspace, for which I am very grateful. Millions of people read my column, all over the world. It's even translated into Spanish and Japanese. I get letters from readers in India, China, Vietnam, Bosnia, Europe, Africa and Australia.

And, you can see why I'm a very devout Catholic, after having been raised an agnostic. I'm convinced! God's out there, listens, and makes miracles happen.

We have to do our part, though. When I got that first call from the woman at MCI, I'd just completed a BA in English Literature at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (I graduated at age 45) and had just published my Intro to Astrology, Parts I and II, in FATE magazine. At that time, I'd also been studying astrology for about 20 years. So, I was ready!

And, you astrologers out there have guessed it, there was a huge conjunction in Capricorn, right at the top of my chart. The time had finally come.

I am very thankful to God, my Mom and Dad, Cynthia Peterson (who fired me), MCI, TMS, Joyce Jillson (who quit), and Howard Hotchkiss, without whom I would never be doing this job. I'd be driving three hours a day to sit another 8-10 hours in an office far from home, and far away from the work that I love. I also thank all the folks at Landmark Education, where I learned to manage my time, and world renowned astrologer Susan Miller, who taught me how to do business.

I am fascinated by the challenge of reading what (I'm convinced) God has written for us in the placement of the planets, and interpreting it in a way that people can understand. We can use this information to make wise choices, develop our talents, be warned and be comforted. I have been so very blessed.

Linda Chamlee Black Hotchkiss
Rocky Butte, California
July 18, 2001

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