Header photo by Astrolada
One of my favorite astrologers Nikola Stojanovic died in April, 2021. I use his degree theory and some observations from his book in all my readings. He may have appeared arrogant to some, but he was a gentle soul who went the extra mile to help people.
He was one of those astrologers that seemingly believed astrology is a science as long as you learn to use it properly, but in the meantime had tremendous intuition and imagination (proving that imagination is very real) , so his readings went far beyond his logical framework.
I had readings with him to get a sense of how he works and it was an adventure unlike any other readings I had. He would give precise advice from fairly obvious “focus on readings for women, weddings, relationships, babies” (Moon Venus conjunction in Virgo in 7th, Moon ruling 6th) to “keep a bowl of dry fruits on your desk” (Moon and Venus trine Saturn, Moon food, Venus sweet, Saturn dry/preserved, Saturn ruling my Ascendent), and I had to laugh out loud because at that time at my office I had several bags of dry fruits on my desk, feeding all my coworker friends. He gave similarly precise advice to me for my writing explorations, house, spiritual growth , etc.
I disagreed with him passionately because I resented some of his seemingly deterministic views but I admired and respected him from the bottom of my heart because he was as genuine as he was brilliant.
As one example he briefly commented on my Mars in Capricorn in a challenging position that I should not live in cold climates with long cold winters. To play my favorite role of devil’s advocate I asked “wouldn’t I want to activate Mars more, to increase energy, virility, confidence etc so in Capricorn season wouldn’t my Mars wake up? I can focus and exercise to my heart’s content during these long winters”.
We were on the phone but I could somehow see his blue/grey Uranian/Neptunian eyes smiling as he responded in a kind calm voice “but you may have to exercise much more there!” I laughed again because I sensed he had a point, his trusting composure, compassionate humor and courage to be precise was something I did not have, and above all because I knew I was in the presence of a master. RIP.