Because so many students of the craft get questioned by skeptics about how valid Western Astrology is, today we’ll take a new look at a few key factors which will help you understand how and why it works.

We last explored this over 6 years ago, so I’ve updated that material and added new insights. We’ll begin with the basics, explore the place of fate and free will in our astrological journeys, and how “character is destiny.”

As most of you know, I was introduced to Astrology in the Summer of 1971, and I have never stepped back since. Over the years I have marveled at the accuracy of this divine tool of interpreting symbols and cycles to show what’s happening, when it’s happening, and why it’s happening. It functions very precisely despite its contradictions and occasional blind spots of the astrologers using it to determine whatever they need to determined.

I’ve found tremendous and profound truths, as well as many superstitions which persist from antiquity. This is where Astrology suffers from people who don’t really know the craft. I’ve heard too many clients tell me that at an earlier point in time, they were told by “an astrologer” that “Sun trine Jupiter means you’re lucky” or “Your Moon square Saturn means you’ll get a divorce” or that Algol on the Midheaven means you could fall prey to a violent mob. That usually leads to them dismissing astrology rather than the “astrologer” they heard it from. And those are the ones who were actually open to it to begin with.

Then there are the countless skeptics who of course have never actually studied Astrology. Opinions based in speculation without study, knowledge, and understanding of any topic are as worthless as yesterday’s discarded rags. It’s always amazed me that someone could challenge a professional Astrologer with 20 years’ experience who would NEVER consider challenging a doctor, an attorney, or a car mechanic with that many years of experience.

If someone from the first group finds me, I explain how there are many different approaches and levels of understanding, and that they can only trust advice to the level of expertise of the one giving it. You would expect that a doctor with 20 years’ experience would know more than one with 5 years. Then I explain how it works, illustrating the general principles while assuring them they didn’t have to understand ALL of it to trust that it works. (I often start with significant Saturn transits since those always get our attention!)

When I have to deal with skeptics, I begin with what’s obvious. Astrology shows us our vintage and the various cycles of unfoldment in our lives. Just as cars have a vintage, wines have a vintage, types of plants have a vintage, we also have a vintage. Some wines are sweet, some are sour. So are we. Some wines mature early, others later. So do we. And all of us have cycles in play which unfold at various rates, marking times of crucial decisions. And if they still don’t accept it, then I stop since there’s no point in talking to someone who doesn’t have an open mind.

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With either group, if I need to cut to the chase, I tell them that after doing it for over half a century, I can make a statement which is absolute: Astrology works. It works for everyone and everything. It works in specific and extraordinarily accurate ways. This is where I can refer to their Saturn transits, since those are specific and notable.

I see Astrology as a dynamic living system of symbolic mathematics measuring the cycles of Nature, individuals, and history. It is 5D trigonometry because it measures various cycles across the three dimensions of human existence using the 4th dimension of time to evaluate points of 5th dimensional awareness. The ability to connect the dots between events and significant transits is always amazing, since the correlations are exact.

As we learn about the measurable cycles of life, we come to understand that if something begins at a certain point, it will have specific turning points at specific times in the future, where some energies will have to be engaged for the next chapter of that cycle to proceed as it should rather than die on the vine. So it gives us a road map and a weather report using a dynamic system of symbolic mathematics measuring the natural cycles and phase shifts of life and events.

Regardless of all of the jargon and technical terms of the trade, the art and science of Astrology has four essential factors as foundational material. These four factors are the basis of everything in the craft, and when we understand how these factors figure into the bigger picture, everything else is commentary based on speculation or observation.

Astrology at its core involves the interrelationships between the planets, signs, houses, and aspects. These four basic building blocks are the basis for everything that’s ever been written or said about the craft. They symbolize the “potential of that moment” shown by the chart, and the crucial points where it will unfold in time across the 12 fields of human experience, as well as how different parts of our world of inner space and our world of outer experience harmonize or are at cross-currents.

Planets, Signs, and Houses, and Aspects

The planets are the inner "Lights," symbolizing various parts of our inner nature relative to our personal, social, and transpersonal existence. Each of the planets has its unique “department of labor.” These are the components of personality, and each of the visible planets has a duality of healthy and unhealthy expressions created by our personality choices.

The 7 visible planets symbolize how we are illuminated, how we reflect or experience life “up close and personal,” how we coordinate our affairs, what we like, what aggravates us or spurs us to action, how we see opportunity, and how we are bound by circumstances within the Spiritual matrix which impacts everything. The three invisible planets, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, represent the spiritual Triad and work together to shape global evolution. They are “nothing personal” and represent spiritual forces beyond our control which we learn to navigate, and eventually become the best of all of them.

The signs are the flavor, or filter, through which the Lights (planets) express their specific traits. This creates a specific picture of our natural expression in various departments of life. When combined, we get a comprehensive look at our personality traits.

Those with a Sun in Leo express light, power, and integrity (the Sun) in Leo ways and qualities. They are illuminated by Leo people and things, and illuminate others through Leo methods. A Sun in Capricorn is illuminated by, and illuminates others, via Capricorn qualities. A Sun in Gemini integrates, and expresses, the illuminated qualities of Gemini and are illuminated by Gemini associations such as reading, writing, speaking, connecting with people, and other Gemini traits.

In another example, our Venus sign indicates what we like, what inspires our affections and attachments, and our vanities. Venus in Gemini likes and values Gemini people, places, and things. Venus in Capricorn likes and appreciates Capricorn people, places, and things. Venus in Taurus likes the good things in life, while Venus in Scorpio likes to eliminate the old to attract the new.

The sign Jupiter occupies is the direction where we find a larger truth and future, or open to opportunities that could take us “distant places.” Jupiter in Aquarius finds expansion, truth, and higher understanding through Aquarius people, places, and things, while Jupiter in Cancer finds these Jupiter qualities in Cancer people, places, and things. Jupiter in Aries makes small chances into large opportunities, while Jupiter in Pisces is a living “witness-conscience” in their world.

Saturn, being where “the rubber meets the road” in our existence, shows us our bottom line and the boundaries and limits we encounter which ensures our development is complete in one are before we move into the next chapter of life. It helps us master what we need to understand point by point. Our Saturn symbolizes our natural path to maturity and those lessons we must learn and responsibilities we must accept for the choices that will shape our lives and destiny.

Utilizing our Saturn is the means to fulfill our purpose for being alive, and guides us into our power to choose wisely in each moment. Saturn in Virgo shows we will naturally mature through Virgo experiences, and take responsibility in Virgo ways. Saturn in Scorpio shows we will naturally mature through Scorpio experiences, and take responsibility in Scorpio ways.

You can discover how to access your inner power to take command of your destiny by referring to the material in my book Saturn: Spiritual Master, Spiritual Friend. In it you’ll see the importance of each planet’s part in our personality and how the different types of karma lead to choices which help us fulfill our purpose. We can come out of fear and frustration and take command of our power to break free of the chains of mental slavery and claim our divine estate.

An important consideration is that as we grow through a variety of experiences mirroring the sign expression of our planets, some of those planets “progress” through subsequent signs and houses, making different angles to other planets than they did at birth. This is part of our dance with harmony and friction, flow and stillness, as we evolve our planetary expressions.

The third building block are the houses. These are the 12 segments the circle is divided into. They are computed by the time of birth for where we are born, or where the chart is done for. Any planet in its sign could fall in any of the 12 houses based in the time of the chart.

The houses each have a specific life area associated with it; the first house begins at the Ascendant, and shows our self-image. The next house, the second, show our values and resources we draw to support our self-image. The third house is our immediate environment, the fourth house our home and early home life, and so on around the circle. So the houses in the birth chart show us the outer world of our affairs. They represent areas of external expression, whether subjective or objective, private or public, in the realm of self or the real of the not-self. They show us our “window on the world” and all it holds for us in the way of interactions within ourselves as well as others.

All the planets occupy a sign as well as a house. So the Sun, Moon, and planets could be in any of the signs, though some planets are never more than one to three signs away from each other. And they all occupy some house in the chart, determined by their sign position as it is computed from the Ascendant, also called our rising sign.

There are many different house division systems, some based in space, some based in time, and some based in space-time. I personally use a combination of systems, as I have found there are zones where the affairs of one life area overlap with affairs of another life area. For example, the zone linking the 2nd and 3rd houses is where our values influence our ideas, and where our ideas influence how we use what we have.

The fourth building block of astrology, the aspects, are the angular phase relationships between the planets, show the relative positioning of the various parts of our Self and how those relate to outer affairs, whether easy or frictional, productive or crisis producing, specializing or a “fork in the road of destiny.” To paraphrase my old friend Robert Bly, "astrology shows us how we are fractured and how we are whole." This is an interesting and accurate way to describe Astrology, given the aspects show what parts of ourselves are in harmony as well as conflict, both internally and in the world.

Why Can 2 People With Planets in the Same Signs Be So Different?

Just as each planet has a healthy and dysfunctional expression, each sign has positive, negative, and neutral qualities. It’s why two people with the same planet in the same sign can express their planetary qualities in entirely different ways.

There are a lot of factors which affect how any planet expresses its sign qualities. Among these are: which half, third, or sixth of a sign it’s in; its proximity to another planet in its sign or perhaps in an adjacent one; and what sign its “dispositor” is in. A dispositor is the planet ruling the sign a planet is in.

Someone with Venus in Leo has the Sun as Venus’ dispositor, because the Sun rules Leo. Someone with Mars in Sagittarius has Jupiter as the dispositor of Mars, because Jupiter rules Sagittarius. Those with Jupiter in Scorpio have their Jupiter disposited by Mars, ruler of Scorpio. In each of these examples the planet expresses itself colored by the sign its dispositor is in.

Think of the potential differences between these two positions: Jupiter is in Capricorn in both charts, but in one chart Saturn is in Aquarius while in the other chart Saturn is in Cancer. Both charts will have the pragmatic quality of Capricorn, but the first chart will have Aquarian idealism as its backdrop, while the second chart will have the Cancerian need for security as its backdrop. The first is Earth backed by Air. The second is Earth backed by Water.

A birth chart shows us the combination of factors created by the signs and houses various planets occupy at birth, with the complex indicating our personality traits. By the signs and houses planets occupy, we can see what we are predisposed to like or not like, want or not want. These combinations of evolving attractions and aversions show how our personality evolves across the personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal dimension of existence.

This is where we find one of astrology’s contradictions, since there are many different ways that the Sun, Moon, or a planet in a sign can express itself, and some are quite opposite in nature. In one obvious example, both Hitler and the Buddha had a Sun in Taurus, so clearly their illumination process took radically different roads! George Patton was a Scorpio, and so was the great humanitarian Doctor Jonas Salk, Bobby Kennedy, and Jersey Boy Bob Gaudio. Astrology is a perfect system where we can see how the “nature vs nurture” argument expresses in different people with similar planetary positions.

Of course we are more than just our Sun sign, and even people with a similar Sun may have it in different parts of the sign, disposited by the same planet but with the dispositor in different signs. Astrology is certainly an art and science of some amazing contrasts!

The Intersection of Fate Street and Freewill Street on Eternity Boulevard

Given the accuracy of our ability to use astrology to see in depth factors in someone’s personality and when profound changes will occur, that leads us to the question of how much power do we really have to change things? If our predispositions for liking this and not liking that, of being illuminated by this and not that, and the timing of our life cycles is supposedly set at birth, can we really change our nature and the course of events to any substantial degree?

Here it’s important to remember our divine power as conscious Eternals to set the course of our life through our choices. Whatever the chart may say about timing and predispositions doesn’t negate our free will, since our "fate" or "destiny" is determined by how our choices shape our character at crucial moments of change in our lives.

While we all are living out our Dharma/Tao, or “Higher Destiny,” there are many pathways to fulfilling what we’re here to learn and accomplish. While we may have to go through certain difficulties to learn certain lessons, whether we have to repeat them or learn in a different way is entirely up to us. Astrology helps us figure out the times we will be challenged in specific life areas, and whether to act or not act.

By knowing the factors in play when we’re going through heavy challenges, we can understand what’s happening and how to respond as productively as possible, or withdraw if we need to rather than struggle with something we don’t need to struggle with. Astrology is a tool which helps us be forewarned and forearmed at those times when it’s crucial that we make the right choices to steer our lives through that storm while learning what we need to learn, since that determines our future possibilities.

We shape and demonstrate our character through our choices. Some of these are more important than others, even though all our experiences ultimately serve the evolution of our personality. Throughout all the cycles of life, whether the beginnings, middles, or endings, everything serves to broaden our understanding of our larger purpose and fulfillment.

One of the most important things to remember about the craft is that Astrology does not "make anything happen," since planetary shifts are correlative, not causative. We are the ones who must ground Spirit in reality. As I offer in A New Look at Mercury Retrograde,

...it is still our life to live, making the choices we must make along the way. In life, we are either acting, not acting, or being acted upon. Planetary configurations are mostly relevant to us in our chosen fields of activity, in our life energies, and the varying circumstances that influence us.

An astrological configuration cannot make us act appropriately, or solve a problem in and of itself. Many configurations completely pass us by, with the "good ones" not magically bringing expected benefits nor the "bad ones" visiting disaster upon us. Any configuration only manifests to the degree we are living life, and perception plays a huge part in our awareness of what is or isn’t happening. (pgs. 28-29)

As I offered earlier, Astrology is a road map and a weather report. It is not a substitute for living, making choices, and accepting consequences. We cannot avoid certain life experiences designed to teach us what we need to learn. We may believe this or that, but ultimately no belief system helps us avoid what we need to confront. I have found that to the degree we are fully engaged in living our lives rather than being a spectator or would-be "victim of circumstance," our charts show us points of challenge and decision which shape our destiny.

By knowing our personal cycles of change and transition, we can greet the times of challenge rather than be blindsided. And during the transit to transit “storm zones” which affect everyone, if we stay conscious of what’s happening and utilize our planetary powers productively and wisely, we keep our cool when others are losing it. Then we become part of “the corrective force of Nature Herself” and can be a productive factor in that turmoil.

This doesn’t mean we’ll ever hit a point where we’re not learning something, or being challenged to demonstrate something. Sometimes just showing up and not making things worse is the best thing one can do. Other times we can take a quantum leap into new perspectives, new activities, and new relationships that work out more perfectly than we could have imagined.

Do you really think that any of this could be random? Knowing astrology may not make some choices any easier, but it can help us understand what’s ending, as well as what’s beginning. And since there are so many branches of the craft to explore, it’ll never be boring! After all, it’s your life.

Reprinted on crystalwind.ca with written permission from Robert Wilkinson. Copying this article to other blogs is strictly prohibited. It is copyright protected. 

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