Star Sisters by Linda “MoonRabbit” Zlotnick
Linda Zlotnick has been practicing astrology since the 70s, after studying with noted astrologer Zipporah Dobbins. I heard her on a podcast talking about her memoir, and picked it up hoping to read about her practice of astrology. I found this book is really something else, a memoir of her life as an identical twin and then losing this identical twin to ovarian cancer when they were both 57 years old. She does incorporate some discussion of astrology in the book, but has limited it so that a general reader can relate to this very profound experience.
Being an identical twin as Linda describes it is like having a mirror in front of you all the time, of someone who blurts out remarks when you do, picks out the same outfits on separate shopping trips, and follows a very similar life path. Both Linda and her sister Lou Ann were in helping professions, Linda as an astrologer and Lou Ann as a therapist. Both as young women came out as lesbians and were blessed with strong and supportive partnerships. But being an identical twin always gives you a yardstick to measure yourself against, a competitor who might get more of mother’s attention, or enjoy worldly success, or seem to have her life together when you do not. It’s a very complicated relationship, but a deeply felt bond.
For Linda, losing Lou Ann nearly destroyed her. She was able to turn to astrology to understand the signs which pointed her towards a very altered life on her own, bereft from the loss of her twin and yet free of the bond that limited her. Linda eventually learned that setting up a chart for the time of someone’s death could tell her certain things about that person‘s passing. In Lou Ann’s death chart, Linda understood that Lou Ann had accomplished her mission on this earth and had longings which could only be met by moving into another realm.
After healing from understanding the message in Lou Ann’s death chart, Linda was able to use the practice of setting up a death chart to help other bereaved individuals. This book is an important reminder to all of us who love astrology that we have been given a gift which helps us to make sense of our lives, and that, as Linda said, the chart shows the potential not the outcome of the events in our life, and it points us toward the path of healing.
