Unless you're curious like I am about how people get to where they are. And storytellers say we all love stories and this is a story, so I hope it's worth your time. And they say sharing your screw-ups makes you relatable and I have plenty, but none involve astrology (or I wouldn't have any), so no point mentioning them. And if you're still reading, here's the story...

There are no certificates of astrological achievement on my wall. just enough suffering to seek answers and enough fateful meandering to help me find a few and get a clue. And it all goes to show that anyone can be starstruck anytime, anywhere, and you don't even have to look up.


It happened to me in my 14th summer, on a hot, fateful day in Woolworths. My big sister Anne & I were wandering the aisles when a tall, shiny weight scale called to us and we approached, lean and unafraid.

It offered up a zodiac scroll, my first, and that silly moment shaped my soul: "Your perfect mate is Gemini..." it began..."Johnny is a Gemini!" Annie exclaimed and we both knew we'd found the Holy Grail.


Six months later, Johnny was long forgotten and Anne brought home Linda Goodman's Sun Signs, the sizzling bestseller that ignited the New Age. Not only is it beautifully written, it's so brutally true it's laugh-out-loud funny.

Total gamechanger. I finally knew it's only natural to be only me and not "more like your sweet little..." diabolical sister, who scripted our family drama. Only natural to be her, too, I guess. And I played the scapegoat,
the role nobody wants, and astrology guided me back to my true self.

So I clung to that book like a lifeline through the early years of high school. "What's your sign?" I'd ask anyone who indulged my need to read to them, hundreds between school and the city buses alone. Good times.

The 1970s were a heady time and Anne and I hit all the hottest astrology lekshiz in Hahvid Squaya. Imagine, if you will, the late, great Isabel Hickey singling you out for a public dissection at barely seventeen. A mortifying introduction to the planetary frequencies. EUREKA!

Then in 1974 NYC radio astrologer Paul Guercio came to town and settled in, just down the road from Friendly's, and we were two Friendly girls looking for a little enlightenment.

So we pumped Paul with coffee and he confided his scheme to make the Cosmic Muffin toast no buttah and show old Boston how a real astrologer operates. Then he said these fateful words: "Come to my classes, girls.
I'm just down the road and I bet you two love floor pillows. "Well duh.

So we sauntered down to 83 Sycamore to expand our minds in cozy comfort. Life was good. (apart from the usual slow-healing wounds of childhood)


One seven year Saturn cycle later, Paul and I were roomies. I booked his consultations and he (ahem) mentored me for four instructive years. Annie went off to make babies and awhile later I did too. It's what Somerville townies do. Paul said so. I don't think it was a compliment.

And in our roomie days I'd witnessed Paul's burnout after most consultations, when desperate seekers sucked him dry and I knew it just wasn't for me. And why pay a stranger when you know your story, they don't, and if they can read a birth chart, so can you.

It's like walking your 1000 acres 1000 times and finally having a detailed map. "There's a hidden cave? With a singing waterfall embedded with emeralds?? AND a chest of gold?!? I had no idea!!"



So I thought a how-to book might be in the stars for me. I'd simplify the vital parts so everyone can know their territory and not get lost along the way.

But there was more messy, meaningful experience ahead before my dream began to congeal...

And as my heart would have it, I fell hard for a triple Aries Mac Wizard, a Goodman who charged into town to open the first Copy Plus - copies, printing, an irresistable Mac rental space (in the 90s) and a whole lot more.
Time flew and the Wizard taught me what I needed to know. So I built a website and did a (very) little writing as we raised our blended family. And inspired by the tiny being in my belly, my first two astro tools were also conceived. Our fifth blessing emerged on the solstice and life was good.
(apart from attracting the usual unresolved childhood dynamics)


MEANWHILE...
Paul carried on his political forecasting when a gummint physicist appeared and made an offer he couldn't refuse: "Guide my programmers to develop a forecasting graph." A few months later they had 'TimeTraks' and Paul and the physicist took it on the road for 20+ years as The Merlin Project.

In 2016 Paul hired me to help with a tsunami of inquiries after the TimeTraks predicted what no one else had, a Trump-Sanders face-off. But free will had the final say and some say Bernie backed away (twice). And no will can rise above a low energy TimeTrak.

In 2019 Paul died suddenly (before it was all the rage) , after a devastating betrayal. But he left this world a little wiser and no one can take that from anyone.
The physicist departed with the TimeTraks and that was that.

Paul was my friend, mentor and tormentor, who taught his faithful students to 'keep it simple'. Because simple makes astrology more accessible and not less profound. Paul and his coattails are sorely missed.

Thanks for visiting. I hope you find something useful.




linda@astrologicaltools.com