I’ve had some response to the interview I posted several weeks ago with the astrologer Jonathan Cainer; most recently, a conversation on Friday night with my friend Misha Glouberman. As a result of that conversation, I have come to see that I gave the impression that I suddenly believe in astrology.
I wanted to assert that I do not think the position of the stars or planets in the sky can tell us our future, or about our personalities, or about what is going on in our lives. Nor do I believe that Jonathan Cainer (who I consider a very good writer) can see my future, any more than my friend Margaux can. Yet I am interested in how different writers create stories by looking at the world. My hope was to speak from the point of view of a human who had, to her surprise, fallen under the spell of this astrologer, and so wanted to understand something about the mechanics of this spell-making.
Still, the line between me saying that I believe in astrology, on the one hand, and that I’m deeply compelled by how this writer uses astrology (and how it affected me as a reader) is thin, and I did not do a careful enough job of clarifying which side I (in all my fascination) was standing on.
– Sheila Heti
