Learning from Mum

Astrology was part of my life for as far back as I can remember because of my mum.  Mum always listened to her daily astrology guide on the radio – it used to annoy me that I had to wait so long for Aquarius to be read out, esp if it was one of those vague ‘apply it to anything’ guide.  Mum also purchased any magazine that promised to include the “12 months ahead” astrological guide.  There were often books and a couple of subscriptions around the house. 

Mum had a one-worder that she used to describe each astrological sign. For better or worse, I was raised with this lodged firmly in my brain.

• Aries (March 21 – April 19): fighter, fire
• Taurus (April 20 – May 20): like a bull at a gate
• Gemini (May 21 – June 20): split personality
• Cancer (June 21 – July 22): –
• Leo (July 23 – August 22): look at me, look at me
• Virgo (August 23 – September 22): everything has its place, put it there
• Libra (September 23 – October 22): –
• Scorpio (October 23 – November 21): watch out for the sting
• Sagittarius (November 22 – December 21): –
• Capricorn (December 22 – January 19): –
• Aquarius (January 20 – February 18): different way of looking at things
• Pisces (February 19 – March 20): dickhead

I’ve met a few Pisces over the years – it’s one sign I can often (but not always) pick when I am talking with someone new.  But when inevitably the conversation comes up I always here my mum’s voice in my head “Pisces, they are bloody dickheads”.  Over the years I have found that ‘dickheads’ are spread throughout all of the signs and not limited to just Pisces :-O.

Mum wasn’t just about astrology, I always thought she was amazing with palm reading, she was always looking into her dreams and giving me guidance on how to look for symbols… “a boat is not just a boat stryx”.  She was curious about astral projection, and she also started to dabble in tarot. All this from someone who was incredibly dedicated to her Catholicism.

When mum was 18, she was traveling on a bus that had an accident.  Mumwas pronounced dead at the scene, she was covered over with the sheet and left to ‘move on’ as others were assisted at the accident scene. I don’t know what happened next, that was the most mum would ever talk of the event. We usually only heard about it when she was pissed at us “If I had of died in that bus accident you wouldn’t be here today”

I remember another event when we were young. I feel like it was during school holidays.  Given our location I was less than 11 years old. Mum was a single mum so anywhere she went; we all went. I have two younger brothers, MechanicBrother who is 18 months younger than me, and SportsBrother who is 4 years my junior.

This one-day mum piled us in the car and off we went to the big Catholic church in our region. We didn’t just go to our local church, we went to the big cathedral looking church, the one that had a convent attached, it also had a high school and a primary school. That day it was eerily quiet which is why I think it was during school holidays, there were no kids running around, no people around, us 3 kids needed to hangout in and empty school until Mum came back out.

It felt like we were there for hours, this place was huge we couldn’t even find where Mum entered the place, she said she had to speak with a priest and that we had to wait.  Later  in the car mum said she had a vision but not a vision, it was an experience, an interaction. Mum was usually specific about her words, and she made sure that I understood it was not ‘just a vision’. And because it wasn’t just a vision she needed to speak to a priest. I am pretty sure she ended up speaking with one of the senior Nuns.  I can’t recall all of the details of this Interaction (I was less than 11 years old) but I am sure she said that Mary appeared at the foot of her bed and spoke to her. I remember when we left the Church Mum said we might have to come back again soon. Mum may have come back to speak with the priest but if she did, we were back at school.

Mum was raised Catholic, pretty strict catholic from my understanding. There is a TV show called Love Child. Let’s just say some of our family secrets have not made it to the grave, where they were intended to go. If you know the show, you have seen how some have been raised by strict catholic parents, that was Mum. Mum never told me anything herself about this part of her life, but I know there was a significant falling out with her parents and coupled with bits and pieces I do know, I was able to do the math.

Mum passed away, ovarian cancer a little whilst ago now. If she was still around today, with the power of the Internet and the smarts of AI – I do wonder at what point her interests in the occult would intersect with her strong catholic beliefs, which path would she choose if a choice needed to be made. Yes I believe the two can exist side-by-side… today.

I remember very clearly the day I came out to her. I drove hours to talk to her, but I waited until I was leaving, I had my car door open and was about to hop in when I said “oh by the way, I am seeing someone, but it’s not bloke”. She asked a couple of questions, then in less than a minute I was in the car driving away. Mum rang me about 10 minutes later, as my mobile picked up phone service, she said “home will always be your home, no matter what anyone says. This is your home!”.  My brother who still lived at home said she went into her room after the call and didn’t come out until the next day – she was praying.

Was she praying or inadvertently saying a protection spell?

This post started off as a way for me to try and look back at how my Mum was able to be so catholic but yet be so open to the occult. Was the bus accident a trigger, was she (like me) just drawn to it but her upbringing and access to information was limited?  I wont ever know, I just have to keep piecing together the tiny reminders that pop into my head at the most random times.