Raj Girn: This week’s mindset and clarity-themed show, where I’ll be deep-diving a question that I get asked a lot: Can astrology help you make better business decisions? To help me answer this please welcome to the show the founder of Synchronicity University, the fabulous Nadiya Shah, who is an international syndicated astrologer who Vanity Fair, the French edition, called among the top 12 astrologers in the world, and I can attest to that because she’s my astrologer. I love her to bits. I really am a fiend when it comes to this lady’s insights and her knowledge. Every single time she puts something up, I’m right there. She’s definitely got me pinning the notification button on her YouTube channel.
This is Part One of our conversation:
Raj Girn: Welcome to the show, Nadiya. You know, I am super in love with you, and I thank you so much for coming on today to share your fabulous wisdom and insights with my wonderful people around the world.
Nadiya Shah: Well, you know I’m super in love with you, too. I think you’re amazing. I think you’re an inspiration. So thank you for that. That means so much coming from you. Thank you.
Oh my gosh, my sweetheart. Well, let’s just, for anyone out there who’s not really into astrology and doesn’t know your story, I’d like to start there, if I may. Nadiya, as a long-time astrologer, you’ve paid your dues academically, exponentially and spiritually. For anyone watching, listening or reading this who may not be familiar with your journey, can you share what led to you becoming an astrologer? Let’s start right there.
Sure. I mean, I think astrology is something that we are all intimately connected with. If you look at children, they gaze upon the stars. They gaze upon the moon and you can see how children feel that energy deep within them. And I remember having those very experiences as well. So I feel like it is such a part of the soul experience of being a human being is to gaze upon the night sky and to make correlations to it, to our own experience here on Earth.
Credit: FB@nadiyashahdotcom
I started professionally as a palm reader at just 14 years old. But going to parties and people were putting their hand in my face didn’t really work for me very well. And so very soon I found my way to astrology. But it really was when I got older, and I remember going through a very hard period of time as we do in life. But it really was over the course of that period of time that astrology illuminated my path.
It helped me to understand that this was a cycle, that this would pass. It helped me to find the deeper wisdom to what was playing out. And it was on the other side of it that I dedicated my life and my career to astrology full time. Now I’ve been a full-time astrologer for over 15 years.
“[Astrology] helped me to understand that this was a cycle, that this would pass. It helped me to find the deeper wisdom to what was playing out.” ~Nadiya Shah
Yes, you definitely have. And can you share some of your milestones along the way, Nadiya? I mean, there’s been a lot of them, so I would love to fill people in on how you started to provide astrology to the masses and what some of those things look like.
So I think that I was just very determined to share something meaningful to me in the beginning. So the milestones were personal. They weren’t so much external right away, but the more personal milestones were demonstrating that dedication to the work showing up to the computer every day, even when it felt like my work wasn’t reaching people the way that I wanted it to and being willing to try different platforms out and to figure out how I was going to reach people, which is how ultimately I found YouTube, which ended up being the main platform with which I’ve been able to build and to reach people the way that I have.
But for me, certain milestones, of course, those daily quiet milestones that I think don’t get nearly enough love, nearly enough appreciation were absolutely there more externally. I mean, I had a dream to write horoscopes, daily horoscopes for newspapers. And I did that for three years for Canadian newspapers. I, as you mentioned, French Vanity Fair named me one of the top 12 astrologers in the world. That was huge. I mean, really, that was such a beautiful moment for me. And it is one of those things that just reminds us that whenever we’re sharing, because I was just quietly sharing and it was actually a friend who reached out and said: “Hey, Nadiya, congratulations.” And he sent me the link to an article that was about a year old, so I didn’t even know that the article was out there.
Wow.
To be there right alongside people who inspired me for so many years, people that I’ve read for so many years. That was certainly a milestone. Getting my master’s degree in cosmology and divination, that was a huge milestone because that to me represented that I have reverence for this practice, that I know what it is that I’m talking about, but more importantly, I know that I stand on very strong shoulders. So it gave me a sense of connection to the ancestors.
More recently, my last three books, and now it looks like my fourth book, which is being released very soon in the next few days, my last three books debuted as number one new releases in that category. So that was massive. That was huge. And thank you for being a part of that because I know that ANOKHI media. I’ll tell you, ANOKHI, you are certainly an empress of all kinds of businesses and all the incredible things that you do. You’ve been such an inspiration, but it really was ANOKHI that’s been there for me for years that allowed me a platform. I was able to talk about my university when it was brand new, and that to me was a huge milestone to get that type of acknowledgment and recognition. So thank you for the platform that you’ve created as well, and I take that as an inspiration to now have a platform for others.
Oh my gosh, there’s just so much that you unpack there, sweetheart, that I want to kind of maybe break down some of the things that you’ve mentioned there. One of them is the fact that you, for those people that don’t know, Nadiya is one of the first people to use a video as a platform to get astrology out to the masses. I want to ask you this, Nadiya, because I know that this was very important to you. Why has being accessible been important to you?
I think that there’s a lot of power in sharing, really. I think that’s what it comes down to and there is a business course that I teach once a year to professional astrologers. And as part of that course, I always tell students that really your only job is to share authentically and then share as widely as you can and then trust really, because that’s what I think people resonate with. They resonate with what feels authentic. And I think that people want to see themselves and seeing yourself doesn’t have to do with necessarily the show, right?
“I always tell students that really your only job is to share authentically and then share as widely as you can and then trust really, because that’s what I think people resonate with. They resonate with what feels authentic.” ~Nadiya Shah
It isn’t about your gender or your gender identity or their race or any of those things or ethnicity. It is about something honest coming from within you and people want to see themselves. And when they see themselves, they can only do that when someone is sharing authentically. And that doesn’t mean spilling your guts. I’m certainly not somebody who’s inclined in that direction, but it means that I share something that matters to me. And I think when you do that, it’s almost like you build it and they will come.
YouTube at the time was such a new platform. This is back in 2008 when I launched my YouTube channel, and it really was out of that desire to do something to share, to reach people with a message that I thought was deeply meaningful. And really, I think of astrology as the vehicle. But the actual philosophical affirmation is that the universe is wise and loving, and I feel like that’s what I’m here to do is to affirm that. And YouTube ended up being this incredible platform that has allowed me to share that more broadly.
And also, you know, I noticed a lot on your channel that people really do resonate very seriously with the things that you share. They really wait for you to come on and to give your version of what’s happening in the sky and the comments. It’s just incredible. I love to just go and read what people are saying because they understand how impactful understanding how to navigate that really is, which is something that we’re not taught to do. It’s not one of the things that they teach us to do or even tell us why it’s important.
And that’s why I feel that this particular show that I’m having with you today is really important because you don’t oftentimes have people talking about astrology when it comes to business enterprises and things like that. When I feel it is probably one of the most valuable tools I’ve had the fortitude to use to help me make decisions and navigate through the maze of life and the maze of very important decisions that we have to make in business as an entrepreneur. The more tools that we have at our disposal, the better it is for us to make the decision that is going to be the one that’s right for us in that given moment. What are your thoughts on that before I move on?
I think as an entrepreneur, as someone sharing, it does take guts. And the reason it takes guts and maybe guts is sort of a crude way of saying self trust. Yes, it does take a certain determination. But you know, I remember reading a book many years ago, it was a huge bestseller. It’s called The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. And in this book, of course, so many people have read this book, and one of the many takeaways of this book is that it isn’t about the destination. It’s about who you become in the process. And so I always understood that even though I had my sights on certain milestones or goals, very often it wasn’t really about the attainment of those things.
Some of the best stuff just kind of showed up because I was busy on the pathway. And it is about becoming who it is that you’re meant to be as part of owning that space, whatever your chosen space is. So that’s one thing that stands out now as far as the sky and our connection to it, especially as entrepreneurs or people who care about making an impact through our work. I think that the sky is a mirror. That’s it. And it’s said the unexamined life is not worth living.
While it is the sky that helps us to examine our lives symbolically helps us to take a bit of a step back. And in that we’re able to understand archetypal like where it is that certain universal journeys as part of the human journey may be playing out in our life right now. And I think that’s a very powerful thing to tap into. And I think it’s also very powerful to look at yourself and the the depth and breadth of who you are and to figure out how to tap into the best of you. Astrology can help with this and so much more.
“Look at yourself and the the depth and breadth of who you are and to figure out how to tap into the best of you. Astrology can help with this and so much more.” ~Nadiya Shah
Absolutely. And a lot of what you’re talking about here, can you really be deep dived in the three books that you’ve already put out there. Three number one bestsellers in your genre of books. Can we share a little bit about each of these three books, Nadiya? I really feel that people out there who want to have a very simple read into something that is ordinarily considered very complex that these three books is what I would recommend. Let’s touch base a little bit on them.
Sure. So in total, now I have five books.
Oh my god.
I know it’s very easy. There’s always a book in the works. I have to tell you. There is always a book in the work. I love writing. I mean, it just is so much fun. It’s so much fun figuring out words and looking up stuff. And that’s the source and saying, “Okay, there’s got to be a better way to say that.” It’s sort of like an athletic event as well because once you put it out there, that’s it. It doesn’t belong to me anymore. It belongs to the world. And also, I think books are really powerful for a few reasons. One is books make you an expert. And so that’s another thing that I always advise people. I really think just having a book.
My first book was published in 2013. That alone helped me professionally so much because it was sort of this physical proof. And I’ll show you this is the first book. It becomes this tangible thing that says that I know what I’m talking about. I am an expert at this. And so I always recommend that regardless of what your business is, if you are so inclined, of course. But of course, the journey itself is so rewarding as well. And so, yes, I’m very happy to talk about my books because they are my children to me. Books are immortal. I remember when I was in university, I had to read Plato every single year, and I realized I remember having this moment when I realized that this dude has been dead for 20 years, but he’s not really dead. He’s still here. He’s alive.
He’s not forgotten.
Exactly. I love the immortality that books represent, so I love being a part of that. But yes, the first book ‘Astrology Realized,’ the first part of it goes through the historical and philosophical development of Western astrology in particular and looking at the different cultural climates, historical periods it was then and how it became what it is today. So astrology has gone from being something predictive. Being very fatalistic, being something only for royalty to being something that is much more psychological.
I would even say spiritual and is much more for everyone to understand themselves personally. So how did that happen? What have different people said about astrology? That’s what we look at here and then some basics to help you to understand your own chart differently. So to get you started on reading charts. So that’s the first book. And then the three books that you’re talking about. I love you so much for supporting this work. Thank you.
Of course sweetheart. I believe in you and you know that.
Thank you. I feel that from you so much. And like I said, you truly have been such an inspiration with your own media conglomerate and all the wonderful things that you share from an authentic space. So this was the first to number one new release and its category. That was so exciting. It’s called ‘The Body And The Cosmos,’ and this is me really being a big nerd. This is me taking the ideas of Plato and applying them to an astrological sky, applying them to an astrological zodiac. It includes meditations as well. So it’s about connecting the experience of life in your body to the cosmos, and I hope that it is considered. On the one hand, it does have that philosophical side, but it’s also deeply personal and experimental, and I hope that people love it. Experiential.
Now the other book is ‘Prayers to the Sky.’ This is the second number one new release, and this is sort of astrological magic light. It is looking at the origin myths, the Greek origin myths of the different planets, and how that can help us to forge a personal connection to them. I truly believe that the planets represent parts of our soul. And by knowing the planets more deeply, we know ourselves more deeply. We understand our own journeys, these universal, archetypal journeys that all of us go through. I’ll give you an example. Love, right?
Venus is a goddess of love, very famously. And all of us as human beings, if you are here, you have known love no matter how you might judge it, no matter how you may view your life at this moment, to be here now means that you have known love to exist means you’ve known love. And so what can we understand by looking at the origin myth of the goddess of love? And how can that help you to understand the energy of love within you? That’s part of what this book represents.
And then the third number one new release is ‘The Universe Is Wise And Loving.’ The first part of this book is sort of like a manifesto why astrology is an act of resistance. It was really important to me to share that astrology matters in the world. Astrology awakens us to our own power. So that was deeply meaningful to me. And then this gets a little specific with a specific chart point called the nodes in astrology. And it looks at the spiritual significance of that. And then finally, the upcoming book that’s going to be released in November.
“The first part of this book is sort of like a manifesto why astrology is an act of resistance. It was really important to me to share that astrology matters in the world. Astrology awakens us to our own power. ” ~Nadiya Shah
Have you have you told anyone about this yet?
You’re the first person.
Oh my God.
Professionally talking to you about this. So I’m so honoured because you have been one of the first to really support my work in so many key moments of my life. So you have facilitated many firsts. So here’s another one. So we’re continuing our tradition. this book was actually co-written by me and Yuridia Robles. Now Yuridia is one of the world leading experts in Mayan astrology. She is the only astrologer who works for the Mexican government, and Mayan astrology is a type of indigenous astrological perspective rooted in that region of Guatemala of Mexico. And so I loved working on this with her, and this is the book that’s coming out on November 11th, 2021. And it is already number two and it hasn’t even been released yet. It’s got about two weeks to go, so the universe will be number one as well.
Guys you have got to go pick up this book and every other book that Nadiya has released. Not only is she an insightful astrologer and one that’s been doing this for a long time, but she is very academically educated in the field. So this lends a lot of uniqueness in terms of the depth that you’re going to get out of every one of her books. Please go and support her because this is the kind of thing that can change your life.
If you can just open your mind and your heart to there being a possibility that there are other ways to find your purpose and peace and make decisions in your life. I want to leave you guys with just that thought for a moment while me and Nadiya carry on because there’s just so much more we need to talk about. Nadiya, I have to ask you this, for anyone out there that’s interested in knowing more about your world and your ecosystem, can you share some of the other things you do? I know that you have Synchronicity University. What is that all about? How can people tap into that?
Well, SynchronicityUniversity.com is an online school. It was founded in 2015, and this school is really about making supreme quality education in astrology and the new age. And it is about getting the the leaders in the world, in these fields and new fields and astrological fields, and making them really accessible to the masses. And so as part of this, we have choose your tuition rate, which is really unheard of to have access to this quality of speakers that we do here. And so with this, people are able to access these incredible classes, really world class teachers, best published authors, best worldwide renowned authors. It really is such a such a wonderful thing to facilitate these types of connections for people and to facilitate education for people. Now, whether it is a deepening of the philosophical understanding of astrology or the practical techniques, which is a lot of what we do as well, it is so rewarding to facilitate opportunity for a lot of people to teach, but also to facilitate learning in the students as well. So Synchronicity University is a very deeply held passion of mine.
The other passion of mine is Synchronously Publications. So as you’ve seen, there’s lots of books. There are many more books coming that are not just my books, but also authors that I’m really excited to share with you guys. So there are so many astrologers out there, who I think are absolutely brilliant and I want the world to know them, I want their wisdom to be part of the canon to be immortal. And so I’ve been working with different authors, including your area and sharing them more and more is part of the vision. And that is something that has already started to unfold.
So that’s really exciting as well to be at the forefront of quality astrological books and making something that I feel is immortal. That’s really exciting to me. There’s nadiyashahsuperstars.com, which is a membership where, again, you choose your membership rate as low as $3 a month. You get premium content, exclusive expanded horoscopes every week, and because I think horoscopes are a very powerful way to reach people. It is an omen. It is wisdom and it is a way to impart wisdom. And so to have that trust with people is so powerful to me. And so, yes, there is this incredible membership service, nadiashahsuperstars.com. And then of course, my main website is nadiashah.com. And that is where people can access all kinds of links and like everything from academic papers to articles that I’ve written and so much more. All of that is nadiashah.com.
So what if somebody wants a reading with you Nadiya? Are you still doing that? Are you still open to doing that, considering everything else that you’ve got going on right now?
I know there is a lot, right? Yeah, we’ll look for you. You’re such a goddess, of course for you. You know that you’ve got the direct line. But yes, some of you so much. People can just reach out through my website, nadiyashah.com, and we can go forward with that.
Brilliant. So guys, you heard it here. This is everything that you need to know. If you are looking to seriously look at how astrology can benefit your life and you’ve heard it right here, we’ve just done a little bit of a deep dive into the world of Nadiya Shah, and you can see that at the core of her essence and her being, she’s in service to humanity and a big part of that she’s delivering very accessibly.
You don’t need to have all kinds of knowledge or experience or expertise or even know much about astrology to tap into her world and be welcomed into it. And then the other part of that, which is what I want to move into, you know, the business direction is she’s an entrepreneur from the books to the university to the membership portal. She is at heart an entrepreneur.
So Nadiya, I want to kind of tap into some of that right now. But before I do that, I want to preface because I realize that I haven’t actually given people an idea of understanding what astrology even is. So can we just start there before we kind of tap into the next part of our discussion for those who are not familiar with the philosophy and science of astrology? Can you explain what astrology is?
Sure. So astrology is looking at celestial phenomenon for its symbolic significance and correlating its events here on Earth. We understand astrology not to be causal. It is not that the stars have any power over us. The sky is a mirror that invites us to contemplate our own lives differently, to look at ourselves more deeply and to consider what tendencies could be at play at the moment. And ultimately, that’s part of aligning us. Something very powerful happens when we stop fighting life and telling life what it is that we want it to be and instead open ourselves to what a higher plan could be for our life, a more loving plan could be for our life. And while absolutely to be an entrepreneur means that you believe that you have power to move your life in a positive direction. That’s amazing, right? I love that about being an entrepreneur. But at the same time, sometimes the universe has a much cooler plan for you than anything you could plan for yourself.
And I think you understand when I say part of being an entrepreneur is also listening, having flexibility, listening to what other people are responding to, listening to yourself because other people could respond to something really favourably. People could say, we want more of this, but if it doesn’t feel right to you, if it doesn’t resonate with you, you’ve got to honour that as well. And so there’s this relationship that’s constantly playing out between us and our environment. And I think astrology helps us to understand that in a more meta sense because the sky is a part of our environment as well. Just like you’re listening to your life, if you listen to the sky, you’re able to more easily enter a flow and that flow allows greater things to become possible to you.
“Astrology helps us to understand that in a more meta sense because the sky is a part of our environment as well. Just like you’re listening to your life, if you listen to the sky, you’re able to more easily enter a flow and that flow allows greater things to become possible to you.” ~Nadiya Shah
Oh my God, you said something there that was so powerful. Listening to your life. So I have to ask you this question based on that for those new to astrology. Can you provide some insights on what some of the advantages are of incorporating astrological insights into making decisions in life? Anything that you haven’t yet mentioned?
So one advantage is to consider perhaps the larger trends. We can look at larger trends and look at what are people likely to respond to more? What is the larger urge going to be of people in a given time, but also within our own charts and for ourselves as well? How are we going to be inclined to grow or share? How is it that the sky is providing us with a type of a calendar, right? It’s a type of clock. For example, we know that there are tools out there that can show us at what time of day more people are likely to engage with our social media content, right?
Lots of platforms help us to figure that out so that we can schedule when it is that we are going to share certain posts or promote certain things. And similarly, the sky can do the same thing for us. The sky can help us to understand when is the best time to move forward on certain activities or attributes or sharing as part of aligning with energies just to get that little bit of an extra boost. I always like to say trust yourself above and beyond anything else, but listening to the sky is a part of listening to yourself. That is a part of listening to life. It’s just one more tool that you can incorporate to move your life in a direction that feels positive to you.
There are many intentions for the use of astrology, Nadia, as you know, natal chart readings, astral cartography, and just so many more. I would love for you to share what type of astrology is best suited to support business planning.
What type of astrology? What do you mean by that?
So, you know, as I mentioned some people will do natal chart readings because they want to understand their journey a little bit better. Other people will do astral cartography because they want to know where would be geographically the best place for them to be,
Yes. You’re amazing. You know so much. Yes, absolutely.
I have so much passion for this and it all started from you, girlfriend. You’re the one that put it out there for me. It’s the truth. So that’s why I’m trying to help people navigate this whole world of astrology. So if they’re a business person, what should they tap into? What kind of reading do you think is best suited to help them better plan what they want to do from a professional standpoint? Is it all of the above?
I love it. Yeah, absolutely. It can be all of the above, right? It’s about incorporating whatever techniques are going to empower you, help you to feel more connected, help you to enter that flow. And so for me personally, my business has a chart. So it was September 1st, 2006 at midnight in Toronto that my website launched, and that was the launch of my full-time career in astrology. That is the birth of my business.
I’m always looking at what is taking place with that chart itself. How are the planets now speaking or communicating with that birth chart of my business? And that can help me a lot. And then the other part of it is more personal. What are you experiencing? What are you going through? What urges do you have? What are you feeling inspired to share? What could be a good time to launch? You want to look at your own chart as well. And then with astral cartography, what that means, it’s sort of like the astrology of places. It’s how you respond in different places. So if you are inspired to, you can also look at perhaps what locations would be really good for you to explore as part of expanding your business endeavours.
There are so many ways and techniques that you can incorporate astrology. A lot of it depends on how you orient yourself to your business. Is it that you yourself are the entrepreneur and this is near and dear to you? Is it that your business is its own entity? Are you looking to launch a new website or a new branch of what you’re doing? And how can you do that on a day that may be especially fortunate? Think about this, certain people seem to be born under a lucky star, right? These people seem to get away with more. They seem to have more advantages, or they seem to be able to take advantage of opportunities in a way that someone else with those same opportunities isn’t necessarily doing.
They seem that they’ve got that little bit of extra that allows them to move through life with a little bit more flow and a little bit what can feel like celestial help or celestial lift? Well, in the same way we can launch particular endeavours, like when you launch a new product that has a birthday when you launch a new website that has a birthday, when you start a business that has a birthday. So how can we make sure that we’re doing that with as much cosmic support as possible? It’s never going to be perfect. As Voltaire said, “The perfect is the enemy of the good.” It’s never going to be perfect, but there are ways to use what isn’t perfect to your advantage as well. And someone who’s good at what they do in terms of astrology will be able to guide you in that.
“How can we make sure that we’re doing that with as much cosmic support as possible? It’s never going to be perfect. As Voltaire said, ‘The perfect is the enemy of the good.’ It’s never going to be perfect, but there are ways to use what isn’t perfect to your advantage as well.” ~Nadiya Shah
And that’s the point right there.
Yes. And can I just add like for those who might be students of astrology or might be curious, one really great thing you can start to utilize right away is to observe the moon. To just know what phases of the moon, and that’ll tell you so much. Just start there. The phase of the moon. New moon, new projects. Visible Moon, your business is more visible. You want the moon to be growing if you want your reach to grow with anything new that you launch. If you want something to feel like it is coming to fruition like a big sail is coming to a close, for example, you might bring that to fruition on a full moon. So you want it to reach its fullness. You want it to reach its culmination where you want maximum visibility for what you’re doing.
These are all ways in which you can start to attune yourself just to experiment. Start trying it out, observing the phases of the moon and how it is that you might want to launch or present things under different phases of the moon and see what happens. Chances are you will like some of the results. They’ll be with greater intention. If you have results you like, then you can learn even more. You can delve in more deeply.
