Why a chart tells us what it does

Last week a client, who received an annual forecast recently, called with a question. It reminded me that no matter how long someone has sought the services of an astrologer, it helps to go back to the basics and explain some things from time to time. When people come to an astrologer, it is usually because they have a drama in their lives and are looking for immediate answers. They are not interested in what led up to it or how they may have been the cause of it themselves. They are in the moment and looking for results.
The lady calling wanted to know why a chart would show circumstances coming up that are a repeat of a chronic situation that had permeated her life for as long as she could remember, and what she could do about it. Since I had been doing her chart for several years, I thought she would know the basic premise behind the “why” of events in our lives, but she didn’t remember. Or, perhaps I did not make it clear at the beginning. In a highly charged emotional engagement like a chart interpretation, people will not hear all the details. One client wrote me that she didn’t fully “hear” it all until she listened to the tape again ten years later!! Then she said it changed her life. Knowing why things are happening is the heart and soul of spiritual growth—besides, of course, faith and prayer.
My teacher used to say, “Character is destiny; change your character and you change your destiny.” The birth chart shows why you are here, what character traits need attention and what your habitual patterns are potentially going to be. I say “potentially” because you have free will to change whatever is not working for you. When the transiting, progressed or directed planets contact the pattern in the chart that shows where improvement is needed, you can count on situations or events to come together to remind you to improve them.
For instance, if your chart shows an addictive personality, and you have given in to it for years by smoking, eating or drinking excessively, then when the transits, et al, align with the pattern that shows that, you might have a health issue emerge if you have not curtailed habits that are unhealthy. We learn by seeing and experiencing cause and effect.
Further, nothing comes from nothing, and underlying that will be psychological issues that may be the trigger for such a personality. That leads to the question, “Where did that come from when it’s shown at BIRTH—BEFORE you have had a chance to be affected psychologically?” If some of you doubt reincarnation, please read carefully John 9:1-3. The disciples asked why the man was BORN blind…HIS sin or his parents’? Jesus did not say, “Are you crazy? How can someone sin BEFORE he’s born?” Instead, he replied as though it was a perfectly reasonable question. And I might add, the fact that he was born blind for some other reason does not negate the disciples’ question as valid. Origen, an early Christian leader, wrote about this, but his works were largely discredited by Justinian and Theodora during one of the Ecumenical Councils of Constantinople.
Steven Forrest’s work about reincarnation as shown in the birth chart is worth pursuing. He states that we come into life with engrained, often negative, habits that had a “pay off” before, but which now may not be appropriate. Most people will persist in trying to make them work for four or even five decades before finally striving to find out why it isn’t “paying off” anymore.
Some people will be in denial about their traits and exhibit the famous psychological phenomenon of projection—usually those with fixed sign squares, and the astrologer has a choice. You can enable them by going along with the denial and even excusing it, or tell them as much as possible what the traits are that are causing pain or discomfort. This does NOT mean it has to be done cruelly or extremely directly, but that you point out the events leading up to the current drama and how the person was a contributor. If he or she reacts very strongly—especially to something that is not that huge, then you can be sure, (as all my teachers have said) you have touched the truth. The subconscious (or as the Course in Miracles calls it, “the ego”) does not like to be found out or to have to take responsibility, so it will react strongly to hold onto its illusion. You cannot do anything about the way a person will use what you tell them or how they will respond, once it’s out of your mouth, but it might be the best thing you ever did for that person even though you take a lot of heat for it and they blame you for their problems—which I call, “letting the chips fall where they may.” You can control nothing but yourself.
My most gratifying times have been when these people call to thank me for being forthright with them. No one had explained cause and effect to them on that level, and if someone had not, they could have wasted many more years beating the same drum and getting the same results.
Please note that there are many very disturbed people out there. Discernment is needed to determine when to refer someone to a professional psychologist.
I have worked with many social workers and psychologists, who would never tell anyone they use an astrologer, who found the insight invaluable, as did Jung. Someday, probably not in my lifetime, we will see giant strides taken to help people with their spiritual journey when we get over our knee jerk negative reactions to this magnificent gift God has given us to do just that.
Next time: The Saturn/Jupiter cycle.