One of the most empowering events in my life was not at all glorious. It was when I quit smoking cigarettes. 

My addiction started at age 17. I would sneak in through a hidden opening to an area just outside our school with a handsome musician and smoke with him during school breaks while discussing our favorite David Bowie songs. 

Then I got hooked. I was smoking in my house without telling my parents. My friends were my alibi, and I was theirs. 

Once, around that time, my boyfriend, who did not know I was smoking, surprised me and called me at my window (yep, we didn’t have cellphones back then). Startled, I quickly threw my cigarette bud into the ashtray and the ashtray into the trash bin, which, a few minutes later, after I rushed to brush my teeth and get my boyfriend in, was set on fire. 

But in 2009, at age 36, smoking was no longer romantic, sweet, innocent, or funny. I wanted to be healthy, and I knew I had to stop. 

A few years back, I read Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking. I was successful for a while, if you don’t count the tobacco I used to mix with my weed, but then, when I traveled in India and my bag was stolen, I immediately relapsed. 

This time, I was determined to stop for good. I reread the whole book from cover to cover. Before the eve of Yom Kippur, a Jewish time of fasting and reflection, I smoked a cigarette and vowed that this was my last. 

In the following days, I was restless as I knew I would be, so I made sure to take long walks, meet with friends who didn’t smoke, avoid bars, practice yoga, ride my bike, or go shopping – any activity that didn’t involve smoking was an achievement. 

When the urge to smoke was overwhelming, which was all the time, I reminded myself that there was no such thing as just one cigarette. I had already endured hours and days of craving, and the book promised it wouldn’t take more than three weeks to overcome it. I took a deep breath and found something that would take my mind off the craving. 

After these weeks, I was free at last and forever. Not only did I never touch a cigarette since then, I am so disgusted by the idea of it and the smell of it, that there is no chance I would ever put a cigarette in my mouth. 

Quitting smoking was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, and it proved to me that I had the power to do just about anything I wanted. September 27, the day I overcame my addiction, marked my commitment to live healthily and has been celebrated annually ever since. 

This week, a client asked me if we have free will or if our destiny is already written in our chart. 

I think it was one of Alan Oken’s books where I read that any future prediction is based on who you are at the present moment. If you change your life, your habits, your addictions, then the prediction won’t apply to you anymore. 

If there is one thing I am sure of, it is this – you hold the key to your future and your destiny. You shape your life with every step you take. 

Our natal charts reflect our cosmic blueprint and our karma from previous reincarnations, holding the lessons we need to learn, our gifts, our challenges, and our purpose. 

My chart determined that I had to undergo a 40-year boot camp to acquire experience and wisdom, thanks to which I can now live the most fulfilling life and help others transform their lives in the same way. But it was not my chart, but my choice that made me turn my addiction into power and wisdom and rewire my fate. 

This week, we are entering Leo season. There is a New Moon in Leo on July 24, and Mercury retrograde from July 18 to August 11. 

Leo is the sign of free will, sovereignty, and self-mastery. It’s time to ask yourself – if you had the option to change anything in your life that is under your control, what would it be? Do you feel able and capable of doing it? What prevents you from making this change? It’s time to embrace the power of the unstoppable lion and become the author of your delightful fate. 

Please share with me what you have decided to change. It will help you feel accountable. 

If you need support with making this change, I invite you to join my upcoming course, Live the Life You Love. It’s four live classes that will change your life for less than half the price of an astrology reading! 

Wishing you a wonderful week,

With love,

Yael