Robyn asked me for the exact time of my birth – not just the date. Then I got her to the precise hospital. So she dialed up the lat and long. Then she produced a pretty elaborate report which was informative on any number of levels. Despite her years of training complete with trips to Egypt, Robyn does not charge me for this even though I offer to pay her. I find the information useful. I don’t look at my chart every year but I have gone back to her a couple of times.
Whether it’s the Enneagram or the Myers-Briggs test, the DISC assessment or the Gallup StrengthFinders, astrologer or intuitive, I ask but one question of myself: is this information useful? If it’s not, I mark it up as a lesson learned. An investment in what does not work. If it IS useful, I make notes of what made it useful. Then I compare various tests. You’d be amazed how many times the “science” of personality which corporate America relies upon to make hires, promotions, and all manner of assessments lines up precisely with the wisdom of the ancients.
Robyn is not here to sell anyone anything. Her own family won’t give her the exact time of their charts. But in her parents declining years as she cared for them, she found them more receptive to the practices of ancient civilizations. For most of human history, astronomy and astrology were one in the same. How do you think the three Wise Men found the manger in Bethlehem? They studied the sky. We may one day soon evolve to the state where science and spirit again converge. But Robyn isn’t holding her breath.
We sit down, masked, at a picnic table in a public park in Santa Monica just a block from the Pacific ocean. We talk for two hours on tape (which we’ll cut down to about a third of that). Robyn and I could easily go on for another two hours but the sun is dropping in the west coast sky and I wanna walk her back to her house. We chat the whole way. Robyn and I are both big talkers.
We’re also both English majors – both at Vanderbilt – and we both roomed with my wife – at the same time. So we were kinda roommates as well. But this was no “Three’s Company.” Far from it. The fact that we have remained close friends all these years later is testimony to Rob’s benevolence and boundless patience. And her love for Lorraine – and me – and both of us together. I’m forever grateful.
I hope you enjoy this conversation. The discussion of the history of our human infatuation with the night sky alone is worth a listen. Thanks Rob! I love you.
ROBYN’S THOUGHTS ON OUR FATE, OUR STARS AND THE GREAT MYSTERIES AIRS THURSDAY, MARCH 18, 2021 @MANLISTENING PODCAST.