A Brooklyn woman is putting the fate of her dating life in the stars in a new reality dating show on Amazon Prime Video.
“Cosmic Love” is a new social experiment that pairs up couples based on their astrological sign. Four people, each of who have an astrology sign in one of the four elements (Fire, Water, Air and Earth), are met by a mystical guide, the Astro Chamber (voiced by Cree Summer), who guides them on their match-making journey through the show’s astrologers, best-selling authors Ophira and Tali Edut (The AstroTwins). At the end of their journey, the singles must decide whether or not to marry their match based solely on astrology.
One of the people who are looking for their perfect match is 28-year-old Brooklyn resident Maria Rodriguez, a Capricorn with Dominican roots who has been a makeup artist for over a decade. Rodriguez says she’s always been a behind-the-scenes type of person, but the go-getter in her took advantage of the pandemic and put herself in front of the camera for once.
“I had a lot of downtime and decided to get in front of the camera with a lot of my friends and just create different photoshoots. That kind of led to a casting for another show — that didn’t happen, but this has never really been my focus to be on reality TV,” said Rodriguez. “I was like, ‘Okay cool, but it’s cool to be getting calls from these casting people.’ Then [“Cosmic Love”] happened and it really felt like it connected with who I am. I’m always working and I really don’t give love a chance.”
For Rodriguez, astrology wasn’t a huge focus in her life, though it did have some effect on her day-to-day living. As a child, she would tune into her favorite Mexican astrology show with her family and whatever their horoscope said carried a lot of weight. As she got older though, Rodriguez began to incorporate other facets of the universe into her daily life.
“When I got older, I started believing in my own things like angel numbers, the universe, manifesting, because I’m a very big believer in manifesting in my life,” said Rodriguez. “I kind of just use all of these things and connected them together. Even though I’m not an expert in it, I always knew I believed in it, and I always knew that we are our signs and we act in certain ways, I just didn’t know the details of it.”
Manifesting is such a huge part of Rodriguez’s life that she even manifested about being on the show before she even knew that she would be a part of “Cosmic Love.”
“I have a prayer notebook and there I would write things that I want to come out of this show. I would write like I was already on the show. I would write the things I wanted to wear, what I wanted to receive out of this, the things that I wanted to see and people I wanted to meet because I wanted to be in it already, before I even got the call that I was on it,” said Rodriguez. “I believed in it so much that I had it before I even had it. I manifested a lot during this show and that’s why I connected to it.”
For Rodriguez, she often gravitated toward men who were tall, dark and handsome, and also made her feel protected. During her time on the show, Rodriguez was able to further explore two aspects that she finds very important in choosing a partner: matching her energy and being able to learn from each other.
“I’ve always been an open-minded person. I’ve dated different men, and if you look at the different men I date, they all have something in common,” said Rodriguez. “I like smart men, I like people who can match my energy, I like people who dress well, I like people that take care of themselves, I like people with a plan, even if I’m dating a Puerto Rican man or a Black man or a Chinese man, they have these type of qualities. But I want people to be able to match my energy, show me something, let me learn from you and you learn from me.”
Rodriguez says that those who tune in to “Cosmic Love” can expect a lot of emotions along the way, but viewers should be ready to expect the unexpected.
“They can expect a lot of crying, they can expect a lot of unexpected matches, they can expect a lot of unexpected vibes,” said Rodriguez. “They can expect a lot of things that if you’re someone like me, sometimes I watch TV and I’m like, ‘Oh I think this is happening,’ but it’s not even what you’re thinking. You have to watch, you have to stay tuned to every episode. If you gotta watch it twice, watch it twice so you don’t miss a thing. There’s so many little details that if you don’t pay attention, you can miss out on.”
And for those who are looking to incorporate astrology into their dating life, Rodriguez says to consider that as only part of the equation when finding the perfect match.
“I would say also look at all the different angles. I know that people that are very into astrology sometimes don’t want to date someone or do want to date someone because they are a certain sign. We are matched with a lot of different signs, we could even be matched with all signs, but it depends on what you match on,” said Rodriguez. “So when you do your pros and cons, just see what works for you in the astrological world but also what works for you outside of that so that way it can just all blend together. When it comes to dating and astrology in your life, make sure it makes sense for you, and you’re not just kind of judging a book by its cover.”
“Cosmic Love” is currently airing on Amazon Prime Video. You can follow Rodriguez on Instagram @xmariarbeauty.
