Today is the first day of 2012. May I wish health, joy, prosperity, peace and wisdom for us all in the new year!
Since I have begun studying astrology seriously, I have received a number of queries about the nature of astrology, mostly about the relations between astrology and fate and even questions about astrology vs religion. I intend to address some of these issues in this article.
To me, the planets on a birth chart indicate our psychological urges and capabilities. They are like "road signs". They do not cause events or make people encounter what they have encountered. It is therefore no use blaming the planets for negative events that have happened to us or the unpleasant situations that we have run into.
However, if we read these "road signs" right, they are a very useful indicator of what is embedded in our psyche and personality. Each aspect in the birth chart indicates a "complex", as psychologists would call it. Since none of us was born with a "manual" attached, throughout our lives we are basically trying to understand, discover and re-discover how our psyche functions. The more awareness we gain, the better we will be able to live our lives to the fullest potential. One can say our life’s purpose is to master ourselves.
When I tell my friends that I am studying astrology seriously, there are usually two types of responses. While most of my friends will look very interested and start to probe deeper into the subject, there are also several who will dismiss the usefulness of astrology off-hand because they believe people have free will and can choose their actions, rather than having their destiny “determined” by the planets up in the sky. I think this latter attitude stems from a common misunderstanding that astrological readings are fatalistic in nature.
In our culture, various Chinese occult arts are very popular, like feng shui, palmistry, face reading, ziwei dousu and bazi. Most of the readings rendered by practitioners in these fields are highly fatalistic. For example, they would tell clients not to marry before a certain age, otherwise their marriage would end in divorce.
I would say that astrology is simply counselling. It is not meant for predictions (at least not for predicting events without a given, concrete context) because the planets are just indicators of some very general psychological urges which could manifest in countless ways - although many people still unrealistically expect their astrologer to tell them what has happened and will happen to them from age 3 to 80.
However, if a person has run into a problem and feels at a loss about what to do, astrology could be at its most useful and practical. It could really indicate the best way forward. From an astrological reading, a person could learn what "lesson" his/her current problem is delivering or what changes in perspective or mentality he or she needs to make. Once the change is made or the lesson learnt, the problem could be significantly alleviated.
Astrology functions best as a counselling tool because it enables people to look at their past in perspective. By tracing the transits of a heavy planet, say, Saturn, to natal planets and points in the past, people will begin to see they are running into essentially the same challenge again and again, separated by regular time periods. They will also be able to see if their usual coping strategy has or has not properly incorporated what Saturn stands for (i.e. concentration, hard work, self-discipline), what sort of outcomes it will lead to. This is where astrology is definitely far more superior to the occult arts which only give fatalistic readings, since astrology allows the possibility of change and sheds light on the direction for change.
I have friends who are worried that astrology somehow contravenes their religion or think it is pure superstition, but in my view, astrology does not pose any contradiction to any religion. It is just a tool and planets are like "road signs". As to what really "causes" the events or psychological states that a person experiences, that is not what astrology has a view on. People can explain it according to whatever religious or scientific views they hold. And in fact, in my experience, astrology complements my religious/spiritual beliefs rather than contradicts them.
As to why astrology works, Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene have said it very well:
"Life possesses an underlying and secret connectedness or relatedness, and all levels of life, animate and inanimate, conscious and unconscious, inner and outer, are really part of a living whole.[…] Thus, the ancient methods of divination, such as astrology, the Tarot and the I Ching, do not seek to ‘predict’ an already written future, but concern themselves instead with how the true inner quality and meaning of the moment might be reflected and deciphered, through symbolic forms such as planets, coins or cards."
To put it simply and in my own words, astrology works because our mind creates our outer reality which in turn, reflects our mind. Our mind or psyche, as indicated through the birth chart, leads us to experience something as such or leads us to run into such situations. If our mind changes, if our perceptions change, we will experience the same thing completely differently or encounter a very different outcome.
One of my Counselling teachers, a clinical psychologist herself, told us that an ultimate goal of any counselling is to equip the client with skills or understanding that will enable him or her to handle similar problems in the future, i.e. there should be an "inner therapist" inside the client. I completely agree with this and astrology could serve as an excellent "inner therapist".
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