Episode #58

Laura Dawn: Oh, my God, this is so fun and special that I get to interview one of my favorite humans on this planet, Tara Davina. , 

Tara Divina: it’s so special that I get to be interviewed by one of my favorite humans on the planet. Ms. Laura Dawn. 

Laura Dawn: Oh my goodness. Okay. So where shall we start at the intersection between psychedelics and miracles and astrology.

Okay. So just for those of you listening, I’ve known Tara gosh decade, like a, it’s been a long time. , it’s been a long time and we’re both Canadian. That was our first, you know, moment of like, oh, you’re from Ottawa. My mom lives in Ottawa. I grew up in Montreal and. One of the first things that I learned about you was that you are an incredible tic astrologer.

You are the first person to read my chart. And the thing that I find so fascinating about you is that you can remember people’s charts like forever. Like you looked at my chart once and then 10 years later, you’re like, oh yes. Well, this is what’s going on in your reality right now. 

Tara Divina: Well, it’s amazing. Because when I see someone’s chart, I feel like I’m like, I get excited.

Like I’m opening a present or something. It’s so much fun to see like what perceptions that I have had are validated and which ones are completely off base. Once I get to see someone’s chart, it really shows me. The objective situation and I am so excited by it that it just stays with me in, in my memory.

Laura Dawn: Hmm. That’s so sweet. I’m curious to, we should just dive right in, because there’s, there’s this question around astrology and destiny versus, you know, sitting with medicines and praying into what we want to call into our lives. And I’ve seen this a lot, you know, where it’s like people who are super into astrology are like, oh my God, Mercury’s going retrograde on Monday.

Like the, my whole world’s gonna fall apart. And I’m like, is that helpful? You know, is that, is that destined to be? And so I’m curious to, yeah. Launchpad off of this question around destiny versus free will and manifestation. And then I’d love to kind of get a sense of what’s going on astrologically during this time that we’re in, right.

Tara Divina: I love these questions so much. This is definitely one of my favorite topics because you know, the study of astrology really is the study of fate. You know, like where do we have any free will versus where do we have fate? And then a lot of spiritual practice especially when it comes to the medicine world is about healing and changing our trajectory.

And so for me, I’ve had to spend a lot of time reconciling those two things in my consciousness. You know, while I don’t believe in things like mercury is retrograde and everyone is gonna have a problem with their computer. I actually have a whole article on why the myth of mercury retrograde got so out of control.

I do believe in fate. I do believe that there are energies that there are events, people, places, and things that we are destined to experience. I’ve seen it. You know, one of the, the main ways that I know it exists is through retrodiction, which is when you look at a chart and you’re able to see what happened in the past.

Right. Obviously, if you can see what happened in the past there, that means that there has to be some form of in unalterable destiny. 

Laura Dawn: Did you say retro addiction? 

Tara Divina: Retrodiction. So there’s pre prediction. Oh, right. That’s like, okay. Here’s what’s coming. And then there’s retro addiction, which is here’s what’s happened.

And so oftentimes when a diviner in any system gets someone in front of them, they’ll know things about the past. And how could we know about the past, aside from being psychic? How could we know about the past, if, unless it was destined. To have happened, right? Mm-hmm so if I can look at the chart of someone who’s 90 years old and look at all the things that happened in their life lifetime, then some of those things must have been going to happen anyway.

And so then that brought me to this, this confronting question, which is that I obviously also believe that we create our own reality and I didn’t know what to do with this system that really resonated for me in terms of being able to predict things and this other very powerful system that empowered me to believe that I can change my reality and pray and have miracles manifest.

And after contemplating for a really long time, you know, what I’ve come to is that yes. You know, there are certain things that are bound to happen and there’s areas of our lives where it’s easier to apply free will, you know, like some of us, some people, you know, how they might just snap their fingers and pray for some financial benefit or some money and money will come.

They’re just the kind of person who has an ease full time manifesting money mm-hmm . And then you might look at someone else who’s trying to manifest money. And it’s like the hardest thing in the world for that person. Right. And I think that’s because some of us have different areas of our lives, where the energies are more open and available and easy.

And so if we pray in those areas, if we look to manifest in those areas, it just comes forward so much more quickly and with so much more ease. And then there’s those other areas which are really difficult. And, you know, those are the prayers that we make that maybe take longer, you know, that maybe show up in a different way than we expected.

That aren’t necessarily as at our fingertips, as the other things. And I think that everything is still possible and that all miracles are still available. No matter what our destiny is. It’s just a question of. 

Laura Dawn: And ease. It sounds like, cause I remember one of the first things that we were talking about was like, in my chart, you were like big stages destined for success.

And I was like, but what if I don’t try? Like what if I don’t, you know, put an effort towards trying to be successful, quote, unquote, successful, whatever I define as success, which is also another interesting inquiry around like, how are we defining each of these things? But I remember you saying something like, there’s not much that you could do that is going to prevent you from being successful in your life.

And you know, money has always actually come really easy to me and I launch programs and they do really well. And you know, I am starting to speak on bigger stages, but I did remember at that time where I was just like building the retreat center and things were so much more difficult and it was a really difficult phase and I’m like, I just wanna give up.

So if I give up completely, will I still be successful? 

Tara Divina: yes. Because success will come find you. If it needs to, if that energy is meant to be expressed in your life, it just will. It’s like you’ll accidentally do something. You know, you know, those stories where you hear about someone falling into a successful business, like they just had some random hobby they were doing that meant, you know, that was never meant to make the money.

And then somebody saw something they were selling and it turned into a multimillion dollar business. Those stories are out there. It’s like, well, why did that happen? That person wasn’t even trying. They literally stumbled into it. Fate. Mm-hmm they didn’t even have a prayer for it that they were aware of.

Laura Dawn: Right. Right. It also makes me think of nature versus nurture. Like we are predisposed towards certain ways of being, and then there’s the environment that we grow up in. So there’s the circumstance of the moment. But then of course, the, the sort of innate astrology that is surrounding us. And I also kind of think of it in terms of patterns where it’s like, okay, during these years, you know, it’s going to be like off and on relationships.

And then, you know, moving into this time where there’s more of a chance of like finding your person and rooting in. And, and so do you more work with people in terms of patterns like that? Just to be aware of? 

Tara Divina: Absolutely. Like if somebody comes in saying, I really want a relationship, it’s not really productive to say or true to say you can’t have one.

Right. It’s not true. It’s just easier to say, oh, I’m noticing you have a pattern right now where you’re likely to be really focused on work. Where I see a pattern right now, where you’re likely to be really picky about who you choose, and it’s gonna be hard for you to settle on one person. And that’s really what it is.

It’s, it’s a tendency. It’s a way of being that kind of captures us for a period of time. And in fact, in Sanskrit, the planets are actually called Guha, which means to seize, to grab to grip. And I find that so interesting because we all think of them as these forces that are influencing us in some way, but in the Vidic philosophy, it’s like they’re literally snatching us and moving us into a state of being a state of consciousness that then influences everything that we do.

So we can be in a cycle of a particular planet. And it’s like, we’re wearing goggles that are colored by that planet’s lens and everything. We look everything we see is looks like that planet’s energy or is seen through the energy of that planet. So an example. Would be, if we’re gripped by the planet, Jupiter, you know, we might be seeing everything in an idealistic way.

We might be just gleaning the wisdom from everything and feeling really positive, feeling really expansive, very optimistic, very generous, AKA the positive qualities of Jupiter. Assuming we have a good Jupiter, you know, and in relationships that’s helpful energy. Now we could also be in a period of Saturn, which tends to be more isolated, a little more solitude, Inness, a little more disciplined, a little more picky about anything to do with intimacy.

And so that’s gonna be a period that we’ll have a different impact on our ability to relate. And so we’ll be grabbed by the energy of that. Hmm. 

Laura Dawn: Interesting. And so for each of the planets, is there ways that they influence all the areas of our lives or are there planets that are more like relationship planets and then other ones that are more like abundance or did they all have an effect on the way that we relate to abundance or relationships or our career path or whatever it is?

Tara Divina: Yeah, it’s such a good question. So the planets do have certain inherent meanings and associations, so there’s no denying that Venus has more to do with love and relationships than say Saturn. You know, though, I mean, Saturn certainly has its impact. Venus tends to represent love in, in its way. On the other hand, it depends what house of the chart that planet is associated with.

And that house, the houses are just basically a way of dividing up different topics of life. And so you have a topic. Maybe like love is one house, right? And so if Saturn owns your house of love, then Saturn is gonna have a very big influence in terms of your love 

Laura Dawn: life. Okay. Is this how Western astrology is set up?

Well, like how different is Vata astrology versus Western 

Tara Divina: astrology? That’s actually a, a piece that’s different. So on the surface, there’s a lot of similarities. You have the same 12 houses, the same nine planets. Well, Western astrology uses some additional planets as well. You know, similar signs Vadix astrology has a whole set of signs that Western doesn’t use as well.

So there’s some structural similarities in terms of the meanings of different things. But after that, it’s very divergent the way. We read the chart and interpret it. The things we look at, the way that we analyze different areas of life is quite different. 

Laura Dawn: Hmm. And what drew you to VAD astrology specifically?

Tara Divina: I was like anti astrology and pro science. I worshiped at the alter of science. It was my religion. I did not believe in anything to do with anything mystical or esoteric. And I had a spiritual awakening many years ago. And through that spiritual awakening, I, I wound up trying things that I had previously been closed to including receiving an astrology reading.

And it just so happened that the person who gave me that reading was a VAD astrologer. I didn’t know that I liked one or the other. I didn’t know anything about it. Other than pop culture, you know, reading my horoscope and a newspaper type of stuff. . But when this man opened his mouth to give me this reading, it blew my mind.

He was telling me things about myself that I had never told anybody things that I had never even said out loud. And it really, really captured my attention, but what’s even more interesting than that is it captured my passion in a way that nothing else in my life ever had. I was possessed. I had to study it and it’s not actually that easy to learn.

It’s hard to find someone to teach it. It’s hard to learn because it’s rather obtuse and mathematical with tons of details and memorization. And yet I couldn’t stop myself. And it was that feeling that was so deeply satisfying to me to have finally for the first time in my life, discovered something to be captured by.

Hmm. Who did you study with? I studied with Steven Berger. Hmm. Do you feel 

Laura Dawn: like there are a lot of other people who are very rooted on the medicine path and really looking at the intersection between astrology and medicine work? I think 

Tara Divina: there are a lot of medicine focused people who are also interested in esoterica like astrology and there are definitely some people who I’ve seen asking similar questions to the ones that I ask, but it’s true that I haven’t seen that much of the conversation that we’re having 

Laura Dawn: right now.

Interesting. Yeah. And then I’m curious about, like, do you think that it’s helpful actually to look at beta astrology and then go and sit in ceremony and pray into what you want in your life and to also have this like level of meta awareness around certain patterns? Yeah. I’m kind of curious your thoughts about that.

Oh, 

Tara Divina: I think it is so helpful. And in fact, so many of the people that I read for are. Sitting with medicine. Naturally, I attract people into my field who are fascinated with that as I am. And what’s so helpful about this system is it can presence for us blind spots, areas that we really care about that maybe we haven’t acknowledged how much we care about them, and it can really vocalize our prayer on those things.

So that we’re deeply praying for what we truly truly want versus the thing that maybe we think we want, that isn’t the thing. And so oftentimes in these sessions, people will get so much clarity or they’ll realize that the thing that they thought they needed to pray so hard for is inevitable and not something that they need to really worry about.

You know, for example, you being successful, not something you need to worry about so much, it’s great for you to pray about it. And also, like I said, will continue to be inevitable in your life. Hmm. 

Laura Dawn: Yeah, it’s interesting. So I, I just sat this past weekend and I felt like I was receiving such a, a deeper level of teachings around the medicine, really teaching me what it means to.

I’m so curious to hear 

Tara Divina: more, 

Laura Dawn: really landing in a different way and new songs coming through that were really actually bringing the teachings through which as we know, it’s been a journey around my music and my voice. And actually I was listening to let the light in one of your songs and singing alongside you.

And you know, when I, when I do solos, I like to listen to music and also sing and play music and be in, in and out of flows like that. But you were actually present for me this, this Saturday, as I was really feeling this prayer in my body around manifesting land. And home. And when we were preparing for our, our conversation, I was like, oh, I wanna ask Tara what’s what’s up in my chart around home right now.

like, are things, you know, supposed to align for me because yeah, just since 2018 with the volcanic eruption, it’s been five years, four years of just like so much upheaval. And it actually feels so tender to pray for something that I really just deeply desire in my life. You know, there’s a, a real vulnerability in that.

And so I wanna ask you about my chart in a minute, but I actually want to ask you about what you’ve learned about prayer through the medicine and through ceremony. 

Tara Divina: Okay. Because I’m very excited to share with you about your chart, but I’ll, I’ll hold off for just a little bit. . What I have learned about the medicine and prayer through ceremony, I have learned that we are co-creators.

And that I’ve literally had the experience of seeing my mind and my heart co-creating with spirit, the great unknown, my reality. And it was such an important revelation for me to have, because I didn’t get it. I thought maybe I’m praying to another power to create for me. Right. Or am I responsible for creating everything myself?

Which one is it? And the answer was neither, you know, like it’s, it’s a dance. That prayer is a dance. And in fact, another thing I I’ve noticed is that my prayers pray me. I don’t have a lot of control over what prayers are in my heart. For example, I did not have a prayer to be a VAD astrologer. I did not.

I had a prayer to find a purpose, though. It was really important to me to find my purpose. And at that time that was the first layer of my purpose. That revealed itself to me. And that was such a co-creation you know, the co-creation is that. I knew I wanted to have a purpose. And again, that prayer kind of prayed me too.

Where did that even come from? Why did I care? I had a very successful career before I needed a purpose, but that prayer came to me and then I prayed for it. And here it came in a way that I couldn’t have predicted it was a co-creation with spirit or my higher self or the medicine or whomever. We did it together and I really feel like that’s how it goes is that if we’re meant to have a prayer, it will come to us.

And if a prayer has come to us, it’s meant for us, it&#