Here for it All: A Thank You

Reflections on the last five years of Cielo Suelo Astrology

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuh

I remember staring up at the Oculus at the center of the Guggenheim day after day for a few years, gazing up at the tiny piece of sky afforded to me through it on those long, draining days that seemed like an endless loop, and wondering when things would shift for me. It all feels so far away. Half a decade ain’t nothing, I’ll tell you that. Little did I know that one of those colorless days in mid-December would be the last time I set foot in there as an employee. I was to take a flight to spend my birthday, Christmas, and the New Year with my immediate family, who lived out of state. I didn’t know the world was about to change due to the pandemic.

I had been giving astrology sessions on my days off and after work to friends and friends of friends since 2018, where, instead of money, I would ask people to take me to fancy restaurants all over NYC and pay for me. I’d print out their birth chart and over fun conversation and bites, I would share what I had to offer at the time. I had been studying Hellenistic astrology and moving away from Modern Euro-American style astrology. I was impressed by how much the pre-modern material resonated with people, whereas the modern stuff was always hit or miss.

I was rebuilding my foundations and delving deeply into the study of books by Demetra George and Chris Brennan, the latter of whom would become my first real teacher, formalizing my studies and graduating from his course. I was immersed in the source texts themselves, such as those by Valens and Dorotheus, and went so far as to buy rare Project Hindsight pamphlet translations, really trying to push my pen as much as I could. Being an astrologer in this contemporary era that is interested in the pre-modern, it’s pretty standard that you are constantly learning, but also unlearning things and adjusting your practice. At least, that’s how I noticed the older astrologers I look up to, such as Rob Bailey and Catherine Urban, to name just two from many, moved with a scholar’s spirit and humbleness.

I am now half a decade into a professional full-time consulting practice. I have kept a meticulous track, and I am grateful to say that since announcing Cielo Suelo Astrology through my website launch on September 2nd, 2020, I have never had a single month where I was not fully booked. I’ve taken month-long to three-month vacations here and there (a blessing that I do not take for granted), but I typically work five days a week. In those early years, I saw two clients a day, and around 2023, I shifted to normally seeing just one a day, while maintaining the same weekly schedule. I have often had to keep up with high demand, and have actually been overbooked for a considerable period of those five years. I constantly have to turn people away and send them to my colleagues. I predict the year, and Aleena Shah handles the elections, or I perform the solar return and send them to Liam Sofias for a horary or to Ana Armendariz for the geomancy. If they want to learn about world astrology, I recommend Dr. Olomi, my teacher, or Blaze Maximus, who is effectively applying those techniques from that branch on his Patreon. I can’t name absolutely everyone here, but the point is I love introducing my clients (including my regulars) to others in the small, intentional community I’ve cultivated over the last five years. Check out folks like Michelle Craft, Ana DunLany, Adam Thomas, and look out for Cali Demetra, Akil Carta, and Asa. There’s also Alejandro Ruiz, Agatha Salvatierra, Ángeles López Michelena in Latin America. There’s Santi Baca and Mr. Eccent, whom I haven’t had the pleasure of sitting with just yet, but I’ve enjoyed watching them grow as students over the recent years.

My practice wouldn’t be where it is without these fine folks and many more who have had endless conversations with me about astrology over the years. These are just some of the folks who have learned geomancy alongside me, pondered elections, and performed Al-Buni-style talismanic operations and more, essentially, as part of a community. My biggest advice to anyone wanting to learn astrology is to find others and learn together. Read for each other, give each other advice, make study groups, hop on Discord phone calls, share PDFs and books, and watch lectures together like make it happen! You’ll see that in community, you will level up way more quickly than on your own.

Big up to Dr. Ali A. Olomi for his countless acts of generosity and kindness towards me over the last few years. Between writing multiple books, flying to conferences, translating, teaching, running the best educational astrology patreon that exists, and I’m sure MUCH more, etc, he has always taken the time to pour wisdom into my cup. Not to get too cheesy, but being a person of color in any field, especially this one, is not for the faint of heart. Most of my experiences have been gnarly, from having to cut off parts of my identity in workshops or lectures or having to stomach through a racist slideshow to learn a technique, to situations I won’t get into, I could go on and on, but let’s not get into the rigamarole. I just mean to say that the community and rigorous educational space he’s fostered over the last few years has been the first time I genuinely have felt that all of me is safe in the classroom. That I could show up fully and proudly without shrinking or hiding any sides of myself, whether it be the queer side, the latinx side, the muslim side, the leftist side, etc. If you are a woman, queer, a person of color, trans or are at the intersection of many of these identities etc, do not ever let anyone make you feel like an outsider to astrology or like a guest. This is for you, and we’ve BEEN here. We’ve just been written out, ignored, and silenced by those in power in the West, but all of that is changing. Check out Dr. Olomi’s decolonial astrology lectures for the tea on THAT. May Allah (SWT) continue to bless and protect Ali, and I am grateful to be on this journey with you. If you are reading this, please go to the spa!

I stand here, five years into a wildly successful full-time consulting practice, listening to Mariah Carey’s "Make It Happen," a song that has saved my life countless times since I was a child. It’s a special song that has followed me my whole life. I know it’s not just all the hard work I’ve put in that has led me to this half-decade mark. It’s community, it’s teachers, it’s scholars, it’s also just very wild, specific circumstances that the triplicity shift brought that, and some luck. Allah (SWT) has written it all, and I’m so grateful for the life I’ve been given, the story I get to step into. I don’t think I could replicate it if I had to start from scratch today, it’s just very different, the landscape of things, but I’m so grateful to be around. Ultimately, Allah (SWT) knows best, but I know that astrology is what I hope to continue doing till it’s time for me to return to my creator at this current moment of reflection.

Lastly, I want to say thank you to my family and friends who have encouraged me through the years, even if they don’t fully understand what I do and all my clients. The clients darling! I feel like client isn’t the right word at all. I’ve had the privilege to walk alongside some of you for five whole consistent years. Big up to my very first official client, Kelly M. (who found me through the Poetry Project newsletter of all things). At the Guggenheim, I felt like a zombie, where interactions were cold, impersonal, transactional. I’ve never for a day felt that in the last five years. This practice has returned me to the world. I’ve sat with horse trainers, scientists, royals, celebrities, poets, artists, farmers, aviation specialists, doctors, and many other professionals from diverse fields, including nearly every job and trade imaginable. I’ve developed a truly global clientele that I never could’ve dreamed of, and that I’ve come to learn is not common. I’m constantly zooming into the UK, Spain, Egypt, Pakistan, South Korea, Australia, Argentina, Finland, Jamaica, China, and it goes on and on. Most of my clients are NOT in the United States.

The Corán states in Chapter 49, Verse 13, “O humanity! Indeed, We created you from a male and a female, and made you into peoples and tribes so that you may ˹get to˺ know one another.”

I’ve grown so much over the years, and you all are the mirrors, so I don’t take that for granted. You reflect, and you help me polish mine. You all uplift me each time I sit with you. You all are such an essential element of my education; you are the deepenings. What money can’t buy in a course or book. You are how I develop Hikma. Over time, a carpenter knows his tools more and more to the point where, over decades, they know instinctually how much pressure to apply; it’s the mastery, and it’s through being able to deeply study and read your charts over an extended time that I am the incredible astrologer I am today. I am constantly learning about different ways of life, different paths of faith, and different realities. Each of you return me to the world time and time again. Each of you restores me time and time again. I’m rarely tired after a consultation; you all breathe life back into me, and I hope I have done even a fraction of goodness towards you all back. I am so deeply emotional in ways that will never come across adequately via this written letter. I promise to continue deepening my understanding and skills to humbly serve you as a servant of Allah (SWT) through this Sacred Science, known as the Judgment of the Stars, and the many more I am learning, so stay tuned. I still have a bit until I am considered a Master in my tradition, but wow, it’s exciting. There are so many horizons ahead, and I stand tall, ready and firm in my natal promise, here for it all.

Warmly,

Óscar Moisés Díaz

Cielo Suelo Astrology

September 2nd, 2025