Since I was a child, I have been no stranger to darkness. When I closed my eyes at night, my bed would spin and shoot me soaring through the cosmos, surrounded by stars, transporting me to a timeless space that I knew as my ancient home. Even as a child, in turbulent intensity and sometimes unbearable pain, faith grew stronger in me. Divinely guided, in the depths of anguish, I found an impenetrable light, and with it, an aptitude I fostered in illuminating the darkness. A light I would come to know as creation.

Creation is what I consider the energy of aliveness. Call it Shakti, Qi, or God herself, creation is the force that animates all things. Even “inanimate” objects originate from living beings and give them long enough and they will decompose, changing forms, reinvigorating aliveness. In the meantime, they absorb our energy – the thoughts and meaning we project on them. They carry the energy of the places they’ve been, the people who designed them, made them, transported them, so they could arrive with us. This philosophy is called animism and it is the oldest spiritual tradition, practiced from the earliest evidence of humans walking the earth.

I believe the cosmos are themselves alive – how couldn’t they be? The supernova that exploded created the Sun and the  Earth alongside eight additional planets – Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto – and thousands of asteroids that are still constantly being discovered. While we know life as we experience it here on Earth, the clock of creation tells different stories, stories told through ancient myths, that must be felt as much as they’re heard. Stories that speak of the planets as relatives and the stars too a part of this great web of connection. These stories have been preserved through the ancient language of astrology, a living language originally passed in an oral tradition, and that continues to evolve each time its symbols are transmitted. 

The planets are living us as much as we are living them. By tapping into their cosmic essence, we gain access to a wider scope of meaning, one that orients us to our ancient roots so we might access our eternal wisdom. Like the Tree of Life with branches on earth and roots in heaven, we are tapped into a vast web of intelligence. Now more than ever before in human history, the celestials are aligning to illuminate the path to this higher intelligence and its mycelial power. A power that seeks not control but co-creation. 

Applying my professional work as a social justice leader and activist alongside my educational background in humanities and philosophy, I take an ecopsychologist approach, applying astrology as a path to come into right relationship with the larger ecosystems of aliveness. I believe that only from this place of reciprocity can generate lasting abundance, manifesting easefully from a place of soul-centered authenticity aligned with our soul’s true radiance. 

I’ve been studying astrology independently since 2010. In 2020 I received my first professional astrology certificate from Isaac Rodriguez of Sidereal Astrologist and in 2023 completed Sky Scholar I and II with Virginia Rosenberg. Since then, I’ve studied independently with brilliant and extraordinary Marcia Wade of Star Sister Astrology. My practice is grounded in ongoing study and self-inquiry, including a daily hatha yoga practice. In addition to these I have or am working towards the following certifications:

• Reiki Level I (2018) 

• Reiki  Level II (2019)

• Tarot with Laurie Cabot (2019)

• Facilitative Leadership for Social Change (2019)

• Herbalist Foundations, Farmacy Herbs (2020)

• Intersectional Allyship for Racial Justice, Service Never Sleeps (2021)

• Level 1 Somatics for White Racial Justice Organizers - Generative Somatics & Strozzi Institute (2022)

• Introduction to Restorative Justice - Amplify Restorative Justice (2022)

• 200-hr Yoga Teacher Training (in progress)

• Practical Animism, Ancestral Medicine (in progress)

If you have any questions about me or my work, please feel free to contact me at nicolelenadipaolo@gmail.com or direct messaging me on Instagram @nicolenalove or Facebook @Astrology By Nicolena Love.