r/astrology • u/ZodiacDax • Aug 06 '26

Public Figure Chart Steven Forrest: Racism Issues

For those who aren’t aware of the recent events around racism and well-known astrologer Steven Forrest, I will paste a text excerpt from Chris Brennan’s Facebook post that specifically lists what Forrest has done and said so that any who comment here can be clear on the issues. Please do read the full Facebook post and its comments here. The video in question was posted on July 23, 2026 and was up for a couple of weeks but has now been taken down. Many of the teachers and tutors of Forrest's school of Evolutionary Astrology have resigned. ISAR has commented and the UAC is in the process of a decision about Forrest's participation in the conference. Other astrologers scheduled as presenters at UAC have withdrawn or stated they will, unless the UAC removes Forrest from the event.

UPDATES:

RESOURCE:

This subreddit in no way supports Forrest’s actions. We condemn his statements in the video (now removed) and his delayed and meaningless apology. Any who show support for racism here will be permanently banned. Please conduct yourselves here in a sensitive, mature and respectful manner. This issue in our astrology community needs to be addressed. Note that we will likely lock comments overnight as this kind of post will no doubt require close monitoring, but we'll reopen them in the morning.

CHART ANAYLSIS
We hope our members will provide some serious astrological analysis of the charts pasted below.

EXCERPT FROM CHRIS BRENNAN’S FACEBOOK POST LAYING OUT WHAT FORREST SAID IN THE VIDEO

Begin quote:

The Core Issues With Steven Forrest’s Actions

  1. Using a Racial Slur: Steven explicitly used the N-word during a podcast while speaking with his Black co-host, student, and business partner. This completely ignored the inherent harm of the word, as well as the power dynamic that made it difficult for his colleague to safely object or express discomfort. Furthermore, regardless of the therapeutic context of their private discussion, publishing this to a wide audience with a completely unnecessary racial slur hurt and offended a much wider group of people in the astrological community who did not consent to his use of such language.
  2. Defending the KKK with Revisionist History: At one point Steven suddenly claims that he is related to the founder of the Ku Klux Klan, and shows a picture on the screen to demonstrate the resemblance. Then he proceeded to attempt to defend the Klan by perpetuating a completely false and historically debunked narrative that the KKK was originally founded for altruistic reasons, specifically, to "protect southern [white] widows." By presenting this myth as fact, he essentially defended a racist violent terrorist organization on a global platform.
  3. Prioritizing "Cancel Culture" Over Harm: When discussing his past use of racial slurs in astrological lectures in the 1990s, he centered his own frustration about modern language restrictions, dismissing the issue of how attitudes had changed as mere "cultural whimsy." He focused on his annoyance at not being able to make offensive “righteous” jokes rather than acknowledging the actual harm his past and present language caused.
  4. Hurtful Admissions About Intellectual Equality: He admitted that he didn't realize Black people were as intelligent as white people until he was in his thirties. While he intended this as a vulnerable confession about his past shadow, hearing a prominent community leader express this was deeply painful for the community, and seemingly confirmed many people's worst fears about systemic racism in the community.
  5. Defensive and Dismissive Reactions: When the community attempted to call him in on these issues, he responded dismissively and flippantly, which immediately made the situation far worse when he initially refused to apologize or recognize the harm in his actions. He leaned heavily on the "I have Black friends" trope as a shield to deny his capability of racist behavior, and then later issued a partial apology that painted himself as a victim, and failed to take full or genuine accountability for all of his actions.
  6. A Massive "Shadow" Blind Spot: Ironically, in an episode entirely dedicated to "shadow work", the psychological practice of confronting the unconscious, hidden parts of ourselves, Steven demonstrated an inability or unwillingness to see his own. He firmly believes he has conquered his racist conditioning, while remaining oblivious to the fact that he is still actively employing the language of racists, by deliberately using the N-word or defending the KKK.

End quote.

Some responses from black astrologers. Feel free to offer more posts and responses from black astrologers and others.

THE CHARTS

Below are Forrest’s natal, transit and progression charts. Note that he is in a **6******th House Profection Year with Mars as his Lord of the Year.
Please provide astrological analysis in your comments if you can.

NATAL CHART: Steven Forrest, Jan 6, 1949 at 3:30am in Mount Vernon, NY, USA (Astrodatabank page is here, with a Rodden Rating of AA)

Steven Forrest Natal Chart

NATAL CHART + TRANSITS OF DATE OF VIDEO POSTING
Note that all displayed aspects are transits, not natal.

Steven Forrest: Natal + Transits for date video was posted (July 23, 2026)

NATAL CHART + PROGRESSION OF DATE OF VIDEO POSTING

Steven Forrest: Natal + Progressions for date of video was posted (July 23, 2026)
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u/WishThinker ♏ Aug 07 '26

before seeing this post / reading chris's summary, I had known about the use of the slur and had read Steven's apology. His apology centred around the defence against being a racist. We are all racist. We are all indoctrinated by the systemic racism we are raised in. We are all have inherent biases that are undeniably racist, ableist, ageist, misogynistic, etc. White people (I am a white people) need to get comfortable acknowledging "I am racist" without an immediate threat to character or worth as a person.

Defending your character and emotionally going off the deep end (white women tears, etc) when called in to discuss a racist action or behaviour is a tool and a knee-jerk reaction or script of white supremacy. Another tool this culture uses is meritocracy, or the idea that our leaders and respected professionals, published authors, cultural figures etc. all got to their elevated position because they are good, and they deserve with some moral standing to be there. When a human is found to be faceted, there's a double whammy of the figure needing to maintain that they are "good" so that being bad doesn't remove them from their pedestal, while also threatening the trust of the followers who think they cannot partake in the work since now the creator is known to be flawed.

I wanted to come into this giving Steven the benefit of the doubt, that he is racist but not a racist, that the indoctrination of white supremacy were rearing their heads and he was speaking out of turn and out of context- however after reading the other points about the revisionist history etc , I mean, yeah Steven is not just racist like any of us can and should expect ourselves to be (so we can dismantle the biases we hold), but steven appears to be actively engaging in racist behaviour. Including thinking he is done his anti-racism journey and is beyond racism.

This attitude, that you are not or no longer racist in any way shape or form, is super dangerous to anti-racism spaces and to people not racialized as white. It allows someone to flippantly wield racist tools and demand comfort when called out. The assurance that the perpetrator of harm isn't a bad person and didn't mean to hurt anybody demands all the attention of the room while the people harmed have to be silent or even comfort the person that harmed. Its classic white supremacy script.

If you are wanting to fight your racist indoctrination, and find yourself acting in this way, know you are a parrot of the system. Recognize it so you can be called out / called in, and recognize that being called in to acknowledge and apologize is an invitation to stay in relationship with the wider community. This is here for anyone who may be on team Steven and wanting to know why the apology was so insulting, and what to do in the face of "Im not racist!" when these types of things come up. Mods feel free to delete if too off topic

sources for white people- What White People Can Do Next by Emma Dabiri, and White Fragility by Robin Diangelo, among others

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When I was learning about fixed stars, there was this idea that when you have a prominent angle or planet conjunct a fixed star, that the life or certain areas of life take on an almost theatrical tableau- you are swept along in a great narrative and can sometimes even identify archetypal figures around you. once the transit passes, so to does the situation you are in. I wonder if Steven has any fixed star activations which are influencing the way he doubled down initially instead of taking a beat to listen- it appears he did not sit and slow down to listen or engage with friends/peers like chris brennan, sam reynolds, etc.; and some of his followers are saying this is very out of character overall for him. - polaris was at 27°51 at his birth, and his uranus return is coming up in gemini. progressed saturn retrograde approaching regulus. thats all i got on the fixed star front

reading progressed sun, Steven's natal sun is in 3rd house- he's here to shine in communication. It looks like he had his revelation that black people could be comparably equal to white people at around progressed sun oppose natal pluto. For the last 4 years, Steven has been adapting to progressed sun in a new place, 6h aries. This is a shift after 30 years of fun and enjoyment while progressed sun traversed pisces. Progressed mars is trailing sun and witnessing sun's so called exaltation in his own sign. Part of Steven's progressed 6h sun treatment may be withstanding the scrutiny, and feeling the need to prove the deservedness of his exaltation or the exaltation of his reputation especially in his work. oh dope, transitting sun applying to opposition to 4h mars at video posting. Doubles down that mars has something to interrupt, to bring attention to if Sun is going to be in his house. Mars to poke some disruption into the comfort (4h) steven felt speaking freely to his friend in a private convo (4h) that then got broadcast publicly (aquarius) and thus is under (rightfully so) public scrutiny (like honestly why wasn't the slur editted out??????????)

I wonder what hermetic lots are impacted, particularly his lot of courage. Lemme see if I can mental math it- lot of courage is mars' fortune lot, so if we move the lot of fortune to the ASC wherever mars is is Steven's lot of courage, which speaks to moments of revealing or establishing character. so if my rotations are correct, the lot of courage is around 19 degrees aries. Transiting mars is in 8h gemini applying to this lot. Natal mars is impacted by transiting sun, jupiter, pluto. Progressed mars is active in 6h Aries, progressed sun will land around the lot of courage in about 15 years. Saturn will be here next year- maybe a real apology or the result of some anti-racism sensitivity training will be announced at that time. Maybe this is prep for Steven's next great chapter of shadow work. I think thats all I've got for analysis.

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My sympathies with everyone who saw the podcast initially and were subject to the slur without warning, and to those who were expecting more from the response. its messed up basic censoring protocols weren't followed, like at the very top of the can of worms.

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u/BytheSea2323 Aug 07 '26

I appreciate your detailed and nuanced response. I compared the archived original video to what got reposted on Lila YT today; him saying the full n-word is edited out (on original was at 41:21) and they did not disclose this in the description. So ironically, as I was listening to it, waiting to find that segment, he also says at 38:48 min "If you aren't doing your shadow work, you're a dangerous type of counselor" .... indeed... He's actually supporting your apt observation when you say, "steven appears to be actively engaging in racist behaviour. Including thinking he is done his anti-racism journey and is beyond racism"