Practical Magic, Party Planning & Astrology

I can't recall how old I was when I first saw the 1998 film Practical Magic. I was only 7 when it came out, but I can't say for sure that I saw it when it was released or if it was a few years later, which seems more likely to me. At 7 my life was about building treehouses with my friends, catching snakes, and riding my two-wheeler down the steepest hill in the neighborhood to prove I was the fastest and bravest in our group. But just a few years later, when I was "too cool" to be running around outside covered in sweat and dirt, I found my love for cinema. You have to find something to do with your time when the pre-teen angst and hormones kick in.

In movies I found understanding, longing, drama, and all the other things that would speak to a young woman with melodramatic tendencies. I loved the surreal, emotional world of Garden State, and I desperately wanted to be as interesting as Sam. Belted out the words to every song in Moulin Rouge (didn't matter at all that I had no idea what "Voulez-vous coucher avec moi, ce soir?".... not that I was even remotely pronouncing that right when I was singing). Now & Then became the cinematic blueprint to how I measured all friendships– if you weren't willing to help pull me out of a storm drain in the rain, were we even friends? But Practical Magic was one of the movies that just clicked. It more than inspired or spoke to me. It moved me. From the incredible score ("Amas Veritas" is still one of my most played songs according to Spotify), to the architecture and interior design of the Owens home (my dream house), to the characters– it was all so steeped in intention, mystery, love, and magic.

Practical Magic & Astrology

So, what does Practical Magic have to do with astrology? Absolutely nothing. Not one time is so much as a star sign mentioned in the film. The connection for me was when I was asked to host a 30th birthday party. The theme? Practical Magic. I cannot emphasize how much how much I enjoy planning a good party, so I was already likely to agree. One themed after my favorite magical movie? Oh, I was all in.

The guest count was small, the setting intimate, the date secured– and I was off! I, being artistically inclined, made custom wine and champagne labels with names like "Broom Circle: My blood. Your blood. Our blood" (obviously a red blend), "Dracula Cowboy: You were always on my mind", and "Maria's House: the gift of magic". I planned a fun witchy photo shoot for all of us gals, serving as both one of the subjects and the photographer. Amateur hour? Yep. Fun? Definitely. I got all the stuff for us to read tea leaves and games for us to practice "mind reading". Obviously, I planned chocolate cake for breakfast and a few rounds of the beloved midnight margaritas (minus one haunted bottle of tequila).

All of this required not only several watches of the movie (I still have a list somewhere of all the quotes from the movie I could convert to cool wine bottle labels), and also research on magical things for the purposes of games and general atmospheric touches that would really nail the theme to the wall. From reading tea leaves, to having everyone sit down in front of their own tapered candle and try to "move" the flame (theres an actual name for this that I can't recall now). I dove into magic and practices that I'd never really took the time to learn about before. One idea in particular ended up not only being a really cool, and very labor intensive, party favor– but also something that would impact me on a personal level.

Custom birth chart books. (Say it with me: "Phone tree dayyyyyyy")

Learning everyone's sun sign and making them a cool something seemed like an easy and relatively on theme thing to do (the contending idea was everyone decorating their own witch's broom but that proved to be an expensive option). At this point, what I knew about astrology came mostly from the horoscope section of magazines or the paper placemats at Chinese food restaurants (Pisces Goat here!). So when I found myself researching astrology, just like I had for every other element of the party, I hadn't expected to find there was more to astrology than entertainment value. I had no idea that time and place, not just the day, mattered. No clue that other planets were mapped and considered, or that there were houses and signs that each planet could fall into, had never even heard of a Rising Sign before, and what the hell was a stellium? The more I read about these guest's placements, all of whom I knew very well, the more captivated I found myself. All the information was more than spot on– it was specific and deeply personal.

Look, we've all heard the story about the professor at some college who passed out pieces of paper with descriptions of each student's sun sign and when the students informed the professor that it was accurate information, he revealed that he had no idea what their sun signs were and that he'd just printed out random descriptions of random signs and handed them out. Proving that astrology was little more than a placebo effect or party trick. We see what we want to see, we hear what we want to hear. I took that to be true at the time, though I still have no idea if that story is based on actual events. But there was no way that what I was reading about these placements of my friends and family (and myself) was a placebo effect. My mind was blown open, my world view had shifted, and I was completely entranced by astrology.

Real astrology.

Obviously, I spent the next three months leading up to the party doing a very detailed custom birth chart for each guest while simultaneously learning everything I could about astrology. I became obsessed. "It became your whole personality," my sister would later tell me. She was correct, and justifiably annoyed about me bringing up astrology constantly regardless of the topic. I've since tapered down my obsession. Not by much, but it has quelled a bit as in I don't talk about it incessantly anymore. But I absolutely still ask peoples birthday to determine their sun sign, and if that goes well– I'll ask about the time and location. Because I'm still not sure how to not be curious about the blueprint of every person existing in the stars.

The party came and went, everyone loved it, and it was still one of the coolest 30th birthday themes I've ever heard of. We all stayed up and read our birth charts and giggled and laughed. We opted not to dance naked under the moon because it was cold outside, but the chocolate cake was a hit. The birthday girl rang in her 30's with magic and sisterhood, the guests walked away with fun photos, a birth chart book, and memories. Me? I left that party with a car full of decorations, a slice of birthday cake, and a head full of stars.

The impact? As an artist, astrology became like a muse. As a person? It became another layer to how I perceive myself, others, and the world around me. A tool I can add to my toolbox to help me understand all the things. It's insight, and on a deeper level it's connection. I, we, you reading this– we are all so intentional, so purposefully created, that even the stars took notes of you. Every planet, every placement, every angle has meaning. I see the night sky as a love letter to us all from the universe. A bit mushy? Eh, yes. But I don't mean it to be poetic or deep, I happen to believe that deeply and honestly. Anything that makes you feel connected to the world and yourself should be pursued without hesitation.

So, that's the story of how a 90's movie about magical sisters and party planning led me to astrology where I found new and intricate ways to learn more about myself, the people around me, and the world as a whole. Which resulted in the birth of Starwild, several art series that I eventually put on Etsy, and three years later I now have this blog and website. Eat your heart out, professor.