Interview with Sabrina Monarch
EA Interview series, part 3
Biography
Sabrina Monarch is an evolutionary astrologer, author and counselor/coach. She gained an unconventional education in creative writing by discovering an online writing community at age 12 and gaining dozens of mentors across the globe who would help her learn how to write for the next several years. She developed an interest in astrology at a young age as well, and took her craft deeper in her early twenties at the same time that her psychic abilities were noticeably coming online. She writes weekly forecasts at www.monarchastrology.com, is the host of a podcast about spiritual lifestyle and personal evolution called Magic of the Spheres, and she teaches astrology online, including an all-levels Evolutionary Astrology Intensive and advanced alumni courses. Sabrina is widely appreciated for her poetic voice and capacity to name subtle, abstract undercurrents of any particular astrological moment. She has an M.A. in Philosophy, Cosmology and Consciousness from the California Institute of Integral Studies, currently resides in Portland, Oregon, and has a love affair with the lands and seas of Greece.
Interview questions and answers
Reading on your website, I see that you practiced astrology in childhood but that you did not get into EA until you got a bit older. How many years have you been into EA now? Who were your most important influences in beginning to study and practice EA?
I have been into Evolutionary Astrology for ten years now. Ari Moshe Wolfe was my introduction to Evolutionary Astrology. I’d been self-studying from books or internet articles since I was a teenager. Ari and I lived in Olympia at the same time and eventually I got a short natal chart reading with him when he was offering sessions at a shop in town. I was blown away and went on to study directly with him not long after that. Within a few years, I met the EA Zoom community and Linda Johnson, and also was influenced by the work of Mark Jones.
My impression of the EA community writ large is that it is a pretty strong-willed crowd with many people who have strong opinions about the right way of doing things. Where do you see yourself in this regard? Are you part of the “official” Jeffrey Wolf Green camp or more of an independent astrologer? Are you strict or loose in your view of what EA is or should be?
I love Jeffrey Wolf Green and his transmissions. I am not dogmatic about doing Evolutionary Astrology a certain way. I have also incorporated other forms of astrology in my work. I think what distinguishes EA is its focus on reading the natal chart from the perspective of the soul, with Pluto and the lunar nodes as a starting point technique of getting there. I think the idea that we chose to exist/be here or that our natal chart reflects our evolutionary intention is also what makes EA what it is. It’s not a random set of cards we’re dealt. This factors into how we counsel people. Not everyone is on board with the idea that they chose to exist or that their life experiences reflect the journey they are on. Sometimes people think their life experiences are random, or it feels too shameful/offensive to correlate negative life events with a meaningful soul journey (and there is an artful, sober way to be with that). I think EA is really about reckoning with the waking dream of our soul life. It’s not just a way of reading charts, but a cosmology and a spiritual path.
Reading some of your testimonials, I was struck by your clients emphasizing how intuitive you are. In the words of one person: “The thing about my reading that really stood out was that she meditated on my chart before the reading, and then gave me information and translations about the transmissions she received.” It sounds a bit like you are combining the best of both worlds, psychic openness and technical interpretation skills, so that the two can support each other. Is this an accurate portrayal?
Evolutionary Astrology came into my life when I was having a spiritual awakening, which involved beginning to see little blue lights that look like stars that pop into my field of vision to validate resonance. When I first began approaching natal charts, translating the chart to the person was a dialogue that was mediated by both the person’s participation (‘yes that resonates’ ‘no, that’s not quite it’) and the lights themselves. My desire to understand natal charts opened my psychic perception, and the deeper I got into technical capability as an astrologer, the more my psychic sight shows up. It’s like my mind rapidly processes a bunch of chart factors and quickly synthesizes it into visions and impressions. It happens faster than my logical mind would put it together.
Tell us a little bit about your work with asteroids. Which ones do you find to be most significant in your client work? How do you decide which asteroids to work with, without bringing in to many objects into the chart so that it becomes hard to see the big picture?
I was working with the four asteroids highlighted by Demetra George (Vesta, Pallas Athena, Juno, and Ceres) until I saw Michael J. Morris’s presentations on asteroids at NORWAC 2022 (I believe this talk should offer similar info). Michael shared technical criteria by which asteroids are most relevant in natal charts (orbs, conjunction to ascendant, things like this). At this point I went on to add more than sixty asteroids to my process of drawing up charts — but usually only three to four asteroids make it past the criteria. These most prominent asteroids then become part of the overarching story the natal chart tells me. The more Greek myths I learn also, the more asteroids I can incorporate.
Semele is conjunct my Moon and I find her prominent in a lot in my clients. Semele is the mother of Dionysus, and her archetype relates to being incinerated, blasted out of range in the desire to know truth or to know something beyond one’s capacity to hold. In the myth, she asks to see her lover Zeus’s true form, even when he tells her it will incinerate her (she is a mortal, and mortals cannot stand the full presence of gods). Sure enough, she is incinerated, though Zeus manages to rescue their fetus, Dionysus, and Dionysus later goes onto rescue Semele from the underworld. The intricasies of this myth fascinate me. I deeply relate to this experience, of wanting more than I can understand the consequence of, and having awakening experiences that feel annihilating (temporarily). Without a doubt, people who have prominent Semele relate to this story and are moved by it when it comes up in client sessions. The way Semele is showing up specifically (by aspect, etc) gives me a lot to work with.
A few words about your EA course, Dragon of the Moon. What makes this course stand out compared to other EA courses and schools out there? What makes it special?
My Evolutionary Astrology Intensive has been running for five years now! I’m now turning the four month class into a yearlong experience called DIVINER. This course is special because I really offer the literacy or the building blocks as a ticket into a realm. The class experience is being in that realm, of being in direct relationship with the cosmos. Interesting, magical things start happening when you form relationships to the planets. It’s not just that we notice what’s been here all along - the universe seems to participate back with us and show off a little bit. I prepare my students for that type of journey. I organize my class material to support my students in becoming literate, but the feel of the class is a lot more conversational and experiential and magical. If people are interested in studying with me they can email me sabrina@monarchastrology.com.
Where would you like to see EA 10 years from now?
I feel like Evolutionary Astrologers are a very fringe bunch - while we have our specific teachings/style, the spirit of EA isn’t that ‘by the book’. It feels like it’s about living out the invitation of our incarnation and transcending our limitations or deepest knots. When people really follow EA in the practice of their own lives, I see powerful, off-the-beaten-path types of people. I would love to see Evolutionary Astrologers share about their own journeys as part of their teaching. I would love for our conferences/retreats/gatherings to include embodiment practices, ceremonies, breath work, or things of this nature too.
