Still, I was a bit struck by the seeming coincidence of finding that picture in my photo files at the start of a year in which I’d remake myself (and am still continuing to do so,) in a way I could have never predicted.

Bear with me, I never gave astrology the time of day. I grew up hearing my mother make fun of it. And it certainly wasn’t acceptable in the traditions of my Southern Baptist upbringing. But, I found that when divorced, it broke me open in multiple and minute ways. I turned to music and found greater meaning in lyrics. I found metaphysics. And a friend from my Divorce Recovery class introduced me to some of the basics of astrology that it really did have make some sense. I figure if the moon can drive the ocean tides and given there are as many people as there are on this planet, maybe it’s not too bizzarro if those born when the earth in a certain position might have common characteristics.

Surprisingly, what I’ve found is that my sun sign, Gemini, aligns with the characteristics of my Myers-Briggs and my Enneagram. And throw into the batch any other popular personality test. They align, too! And yes, I know there’s naysayers for those, too. Whatev.

I finally had my birth chart read this summer. It’s supposed to be more accurate than your sun sign. Knowing the time of your birth helps explain the influence of the setting sun and rising moon, which actually have more bearing on one’s personality traits. Ahhh, no wonder I’m a playful, extraverted, artsy Gemini but also possess a serious task-oriented Capricorn. People who see the Capricorn in me are confused if they see the Gemini who dances with wild abandonment. I’m both.

And this year has been a year of the Capricorn—a sign of patriarchy. It’s been a year especially for this sign to work out all the shadows. Hell-o! So, I was shocked, but not, to hear that one of the things Capricorns did this year was remake themselves physically. The model with her short silver hair inspired me in January, but I did not know I’d become more like her as soon as July….

The makeover is just the outer, but it also reflected the inner.

So within so without.

2020 packed a punch. But, I’m grateful for the many changes it brought.

PS: The picture of me in the black turtleneck was taken a month before I rediscovered the picture of the model. Again— synchronicity?