Tom Jacobs wrote my most trusted books on Evolutionary Astrology, Chiron, and Lilith.
It started, as usual, with a chart. Specifically, an email in my inbox telling me someone had just paid for a reading; a service that was a bit of a remnant of a past self from a year ago. A service—the “WTF” reading—I wasn’t sure I still had time in my current life to offer, even though I was still reading astrology books and following different teachers and analyses.
A glitch in my purchasing process (still not solved for some reason) meant that I had to email the purchaser to get their birth details and Zoom availability, and their date and expressive style hooked me. Firing up the astro software with their details sealed the deal—there were too many touched points and too commonalities between us to ignore. The reading was as memorable as anticipated, and it lead to a discussion of our respective teachers. I dropped Tom Jacobs’ name as a big personal influence. And because I was furnishing a follow-up email with book titles and links, I loaded his site to check.
Dismay hit me at the website.
The announcement on tdjacobs.com
I thought I still had time. Time to take one of his online courses and maybe book a live reading with him. In early 2024, I’d had the time but not the money. In late 2024, I would have the money but not the time, and I hadn’t known this chance would be lost for good.
In the Evolutionary Astrology world, I had Steven Forrest and Jeffrey Wolf Green’s books, sure, but it was Tom Jacob’s videos, website and books that had given me some of the most crucial pieces of understanding for myself, my chart, and my spiritual approach.
In Evolutionary Astrology, the moon’s nodes and one’s Pluto placement are central for exploring someone’s deepest purpose. Tom Jacobs’ material on Pluto and North Node conjunct (something I have in my chart) gave me the long-needed confirmation that my path had never been meant to be anything like what my family or culture of origin, with their trauma-limited imaginations, could support or accept. (And because indicators like this don’t show up alone, I also have chart ruler Uranus on my MC, opposite Chiron-Sedna on my IC).
Excerpt of some of Tom’s writing on Pluto, from The Soul’s Journey I.
For me, it meant the permission to drop all the self-hatred I’d always harboured of why I just couldn’t be what other people wanted or imagined what I was “supposed” to be. Why I couldn’t just be content, compliant, and non-questioning and just fit into one people-pleasing pigeon-hole or pursuit. Why I had always to have all my arguments lined up, whether or not people were ready to hear them (Mars and Jupiter conjunct help with this). In Asian culture, I felt as if my entire way of being, questioning, and speaking were always wrong. (Until the last year, for day-job reasons.)
Tom Jacobs was pivotal in my long journey to radical self-acceptance, and that was a priceless gift I didn’t get to tell him that he gave me. The other strong pull and influence was that we both had been touched in some way with the energies of Thoth/Tehuti and Merlin, adventures decidedly on the “woo” side of life. But this undoubtedly always gave Tom Jacobs’ material extra weight in my book(s).
If you are a stranger to Tom Jacobs’ work but follow and value Evolutionary Astrology, then do check out his work (articles and books) and his videos.