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Mu’Min: A Life

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Mu’Min: A Life

Thursday, October 10, 2002

 

All,

So many people have asked about who I am, how I got

into Astrology and so on, and while I have posted my

story one time before, I can’t seem to find it to

re-post again; so I’ll just start over.

 

I was born Mark Anthony Robinson, to Jacqueline

Robinson and Andre’ Jackson, on Dec 2, 1968 at 9:43am

EST, in Philadelphia, PA, USA at St. Luke’s Hospital

in the heart of North Philly. I chose to come back

this time around as a Sagittarius, with, if you use

the Vedic system, a Scorpio Sun and an Aries Moon.

 

Shortly after I was born, on April 1, 1969, my Mom

married my Step Dad, and in the early 1970s, we all

moved to Decatur, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. We stayed

there for a few years, and during that time, my

youngest sister Jeanette was born (I have 3 sisters in

all).

 

I attended Philly public schools, which I thought was

a monumental waste of both my time and energy, as

well as a supreme insult to my intelligence. As it

often happens when you’re poor and Black, in the

public schools, where the majority of teachers are

White and have no vested interest in you, you’re

likely to learn precious little to make you into a

productive citizen in society. Add that to the fact

that my parents could not afford to send me to

college, and that all adds up to me having to find

work shortly after graduation of High School.

 

I worked in various blue-collar jobs, including a big

roofing outfit, landscaping, etc. It was during the

Summer of 1992, when I was still in the Landscaping

business, that I first ran into Astrology.

 

One night, after a long day at work, and out of

boredom, I decided to flip up and down the AM side of

the dial, instead of listening to the usual FM music

stations; I ran across this guy talking about

Astrology. The show was hosted by a man named Richard

Whiten, and he spent the following 3 hours explaining

the nature of Astrology, how it worked and also gave

mini-analyses of the caller’s charts. He was spot-on

with nearly everything he said, some of the callers

sounded like they were going to pass out from him

being so accurate. I knew my own Sign, but I didn’t

know anything about Astrology, so I was instantly

hooked.

 

So, for the next month or so, I listened to him and

finally got up the nerve to visit him for an analysis

of my horoscope. We met at his home office and talked

for over an hour, and at the end of the meeting, he

said, “Mu’Min there is one last thing. You could be a

really good Astrologer if you worked at it; there is

every indication that you will write books and do

things that have never been done before” (1992 was the

same year that I converted to Islam and changed my

name; Mu’Min comes from the Holy Qur’an and means

“Faithful”). I laughed in his face, and told him that

he was saying that only to flatter me so I would buy

some more of his herbs and vitamins. I left his home

and went about my business.

 

But later that year, in the Fall, I was laid off, due

to slowness of work. At the same time, my girlfriend

left me. Depressed, and lonely, I spent the

Thanksgiving holiday alone, and it wasn’t until right

after that that I, out of sheer frustration and

impulse, went downtown and barged into one of those

Botanica/Curio stores, like the one in the first

“Blade” movie. I asked for their Astrology section,

and they pointed me in the direction of some

bookshelves in the back. After looking around for

awhile, one of the books kind of called out to me. It

was called, “The Compleat Astrologer” by Derek and

Julia Parker and it came in a slipcase and was pretty

expensive, about $40. I slapped my money down on the

counter and made off with my new book.

 

Since it was one of those “all in one” books, you know

it had the ephemeris, table of houses, astronomy

section and astrology sections, I could get all of the

info that I needed in one stop. I must’ve devoured the

book in about 2 weeks, meaning that I had all of the

meanings of the planets, their movements, and how to

cast a chart by hand down pat. All of this was Western

Astrology by the way – I didn’t even know that Vedic

Astrology had existed at the time. That wouldn’t

follow for another 6 years.

 

I didn’t stop there – I got other books, including the

standards by Liz Greene, Jeff Green, Dane Rudhyar,

Noel Tyl, Donna Cunningham, Steve Forrest and so on. I

stayed up many nights studying the Marc Edmund Jones

chart patterns and Sabian symbols, etc. In fact, for

the first 6 months of my Astrological life, I studied

Astrology for no less than 12 hours a day, 7 days a

week; and when I finally did work again (this time as

an Operational Mgr. of a car wash), I would get up

extra early so I could pray and study for a few hours,

and study all lunch time, and go to the bookstore and

study some more until they closed and kicked me out. I

did that a lot, since I could not afford a lot of the

books I wanted to read, so I would go the bookstore

and read for free, and make notes and take them home

and study them further. Since I was making a good bit

of money, finally, I was able to save up and build up

a decent library. One night, after payday, I headed

straight for the bookstore, I had my eyes on some of

the books for the longest time; I must’ve bought up

about $400 worth of books in one night. The white lady

that was in line with me, he eyes were ready to pop

out of her head when she saw that.

 

Like most Black folks in the USA, I grew up in a

fiercely Baptist family, and both my conversion to

Islam and my involvement with Astrology were sure

signs that I was going to hell in a handbasket. Today,

it’s cool they have no problem with either, but back

then, oh boy, it was trouble. But I was able to win

them over by doing their charts and accurately

predicting events before they actually happened. So

today, they’re cool, and from time to time, they come

to me for advice.

 

One day, back in Jan of 1993, Richard Whiten, the man

that introduced me to Astrology, asked me to sit in on

one of his shows, where he planned to have on some of

his colleagues. I was so excited to be there, and all

of his friends were very good, but one stood out –

Basil Fearrington. I immediately took a liking to him,

and he to me, and it was he that I learned virtually

everything I knew and know about Western Astrology

from. Although today we have had our differences, I

will always acknowledge the role he played in my

development, and I will always be thankful for his

teaching me the ropes.

 

It was at this time, shortly after my return from

prison (I served about 2 years for beating up a couple

of guys for trying to attack me after I confronted the

man who beat up my sister – it was spousal abuse;

1995) that I wanted to get a computer. I knew that I

couldn’t go on doing charts by hand, and so I really

wanted one badly – but I didn’t have the money that

most computers cost. Richard Whiten, my old friend

from way back, had a computer he got from Basil, and

he told me that he would sell it to me for $250. It

had all kinds of Astro-software on it, so it was worth

the price, plus I couldn’t afford to get anything

else, so I bought it.

 

The only problem was, I didn’t know how to type,

didn’t know anything about computers and I definitely

didn’t know anything about Astro-software. So, I

bought it and took it home, and everyday after work I

would turn it on and push buttons until I finally

figured everything out. That took about a month. That

was when I could type my first letter, cast charts and

database them. Since then, I have owned at least 5

computers, 3 of them laptops. Oh yeah, I forgot – I

now own a Palm too.

 

In 1998, Basil turned me on to Vedic Astrology, which

to me, was really weird. He told me about a man named

Vishnu Sharma, Ph.D, of New York City. He said that he

was a very good Jyotishi, and so I decided to see for

myself. I went to NYC one weekend to meet him. He

lives in Elmhurst, Queens, NYC, and that is a place,

for those that know, where a lot of Indians reside.

When we first met, in May of 1998, he took about an

hour and lectured me on Astrology and how it ties in

to the other Sciences, and the role and responsibility

of the Astrologer, and so on. Finally, he asked to see

my horoscope. I told him my data, and after studying

it for about 60 seconds on the computer screen, he

exclaimed, “You will be a great Astrologer!” I thought

he was going to have another heart attack. I asked him

why he said that: “Because Mars and Jupiter with Ketu

in the 10 house in Virgo not only gives Astrological

skill, but also gives Raj-Yoga!” I wasn’t convinced,

and he went further: “Mercury Vargottoma in Scorpio in

the 12 house associated with 9 lord Sun gives both

foreign influence and Astrological skill. You will

travel overseas and teach Astrology at major

universities, you will write books, and you will get

name and fame overseas, much more than you will ever

get in the land of your birth”. I told him that I

never even went to college, so how could I teach at

one? He exclaimed, “You never went to universities,

but you will TEACH at universities!” I didn’t tell

Sharmaji that I was being considered for teaching

Western Astrology at a community education, volunteer

program at Temple U. back home; I had run into a lot

of resistence, primarily because I had no teaching

background at all, I was very young and thus hard to

take seriously, the executive director was a staunch

Christian and the last Astrology instructor had a lot

of bad blood with this lady who ran the program. In

fact, at that point in time, in the Spring of 98, it

didn’t look good.

 

In late Aug of that same year, I got the green light

to teach Astrology at Temple University’s PASCEP

program. I have been there ever since, and in fact I

have a class tonight. Score 1 for Sharma.

 

Sharma told me that he couldn’t teach me in the way

that I wanted him to, due to both his age and his

ill-health (he had many heart problems), but he said

that my chart indicated that I had the ability to

teach myself many subjects, including Vedic Astrology.

Since then, I have met with him in person a total of 3

times, one of those times, by best friend Zamani was

with me. Everything else I learned, pretty much on my

own.

 

Sharmaji’s 2 for 2.

 

After doing an analysis of his daugther’s horoscope,

Das Goravani gave me a copy of his program; before

that, I had one those old, old DOS-based Jyotish

programs. In fact, I have had the very good fortune to

be able to get hold of softwares from people that

believed in me, and for this, I am most grateful.

 

It’s been a very interesting experience this whole

Astrology thing; through it I have seen all sorts of

things, both in my life and in the lives of others,

both good and bad. The other thing I have noticed that

is kind of weird to me: I have more and more people

from places like India that are coming for either

advice and/or instruction in Vedic Astrology, which to

me is like a bunch of Chinese folk in Hong Kong

wanting a Brotha from the hood to teach them Kung-Fu.

Wow.

 

One day, about 2 years ago, out of boredom, I tallied

up all of the hours I spent studying Astrology; I

averaged it out to 3 hours a day over the course of

about 8 years. I think I arrived at something like

5000 hours – I’m told that would be equal to about 3

Ph.D’s in any subject. Wow.

 

So, I guess that’s my story. One of these days, maybe

I’ll write a book.

 

Salaam,

Mu

 

 

 

 

=====

Mu'Min M. Bey

Western and Vedic Astrologer

mumin_bey

AOL IM Screen Name: JediMu

2Way Pager: 1-877-345-6499/8773456499; Cell phone:

267-978-2812

Join the Pan Astrological Forum, Where Freedom in Astrological Thought Lives!

Just send a blank email to panastroforum-

 

 

 

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