Astrology is basically the belief that the planets and their movements have the power to influence our lives and our psychological makeup. While the Sumerians are credited as being the first astrologers, it was the Babylonians who took their studies further to create the zodiac wheel. They divided the sky into twelve equal signs, which are the constellations corresponding to twelve months of the year.
Astrologers in the past would have to painstakingly plot the position of the planets and draw up charts by hand. This is now done easily through various softwares online, however interpreting the chart takes practice and research. While initially these charts were used to predict weather patterns and natural disasters, it slowly became a symbolic method of gaining self awareness.
In the past and now, astrologers have used the movements of the bodies to predict future events, including global ones. However, we must remember that we have free will. While some events or people in our lives are destined or fated, we have the power to write our own futures. There are two sayings relevant to this thought. “As above, so below” – this reminds us that the world is a mirror. The second, is “the planets impel, they do not compel.” Meaning we have the free will to tap into the energies of these planets and use them the way we wish to.
We are essentially made of stardust. “Every carbon atom in every living thing was produced in the heart of a dying star.” This was said by Brian Cox, an English physicist. Humans have been watching the movements of the planets for centuries. They prescribed archetypes to these planets, and realized that there is a mysterious force that ties our lives to the planets and their movements. This could be considered the collective consciousness. “We are the cosmos made conscious and life is the means by which the universe understands itself,” said Cox. Everything is energy, and the universe is like a conscious web that permutates when one of the strings is pulled.
The birth of a human can be considered one of those pulls, it sets a whole life in motion. Through analyzing our own birth chart, we can receive great insight into our own characters and overarching themes in our lives as well as our greatest strengths and obstacles. We can read the chart of two different people together to see how they interact with each other and gauge relationship potential as well as compatibility. Adding transits, or planetary movements to our natal charts can show us the current energies at play and how to better utilize them.
Through learning more about astrology, we can come to understand and accept life as a combination of both fate and free will. There are times in our life where we must accept the circumstances and go with the flow, rather than fighting against the tides. The same incidents can make or break us, depending on how we choose to react – this is free will.
Humans have always wanted to make sense of things – we strive to find meaning. Astrology is a way of using symbolism to find meaning of the past, present and the future when you cannot find it anywhere else.
