Astrology: What is it and What can it do for you?

ASTROLOGY - WHAT IT IS AND WHAT IT CAN DO FOR YOU by Marcia Sacks
Astrology is the art and science of relating the position and movement of the stars and planets to our life on earth.
ASTROLOGY IS:
"The art-science of clarifying the fundamental themes of a person's life through reference to a map of the sky drawn for the moment of his or her birth." Stephen Forrest, The Inner Sky
"...a science dealing with inner, and ultimate, causes behind human conduct. Astrology is one of the most important techniques by which man can pursue the elusive spirit that is himself to its hiding place and discover, in the secret corners of this own heart, the means by which he may be happy and successful." Grant Lewi, Astrology for the Millions
"Astrology is scientific in its mathematical calculations; in its consistency of interpretation; in its direct correlation with the heavenly bodies. It is spiritual in that it reveals to man the plan of life; in that it explains the paradoxes of existence; in that it gives inspiration; and in that it reveals to man, not only the nature of life but the nature of man himself." Goswami Kriyananda, The Wisdom and Way of Astrology.
"Individual astrology is not merely a study of what will happen to people in the course of their lives. It is a study of the whole human life and everything about it: birth, childhood, relationships throughout life, self-image, the images projected onto others, the calling (in both the highest and most mundane sense of the word), the feelings and the patterns of energy that one generates around oneself." Robert Hand Horoscope Symbols
PREDICTION
Learning from the past and making predictions about the future has been one of our greatest survival skills as human beings. Our culture has many traditions of prediction. Meteorologists forecast the weather each day as a major part of television news shows. Economists chart financial cycles. Political pollsters tell us who has won an election before we've even voted. Astrological prediction is based on centuries of observation and correlation between the cycles of planets and human events.
What astrology gives us is not a pattern of fate but more information. This information gives us the ability to make wiser choices and clearer decisions. Our free will is how we adapt to ongoing life changes and the attitudes which make up our inner emotional landscape.
"All we can do is handle things," a wise old astrologer told me. "We can't stop the rain, but we can carry an umbrella - or stay indoors" -- A Time for Astrology by Jess Stearn
There are many different types of astrology readings. Each one is based on a horoscope, the map of the planets in the signs of the zodiac drawn for a specific time and location.
NATAL
The natal horoscope is a map of the zodiac at your time of birth and for the longitude and latitude of your birth location.
Planets
The planets represent different manifestations of your personality. The Sun is your outer personality and life vitality. The Moon is the inner you - emotions, feelings and desires. Mercury is the way you communicate. Venus is the way you relate to friends and lovers.
Signs
The planets are astrologically located in the signs of the zodiac. There are twelve zodiacal signs named after the constellations that fall along the ecliptic (the sun's apparent path through the heavens). The signs are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces.
The signs are locations of energy patterns that overlay the planetary forces. For instance, Mercury, which is the way a person communicates can be located in Aries in one person's horoscope, making them straightforward and direct. Another person's Mercury might be located in Libra which would make that person diplomatic and tactful.
Houses
Taking the point on the eastern horizon at the exact moment of birth, the horoscope is divided into twelve houses. These houses describe the external events of your life: Your physical body, your money, transportation and communication, home and family, lovers, marriage education, travel, work and career, friends, goals and dreams and much more.
Aspects
The angular relationships of the planets in a horoscope are called aspects. They tell you if you tend to use your planetary energies harmoniously or inharmoniously.
The astrologer, in looking at the natal chart, synthesizes these factors into a unique portrait of your personality and your life. Insights are given into your talents and capabilities, strengths and weaknesses, your relationships with the people around you, your ability to generate income and your career potential. For the astrologer, it's just like reading a book - the story of your life.
Child's Natal Horoscope
A natal chart can also be drawn for a new-born baby or a child. Tremendous insight can be gained regarding a child's personality. A child's natal reading might include what type of games or toys the child would most enjoy, how he would tend to fare in elementary and higher education, and how the parents might facilitate a positive learning experience. This reading also talks about a child's relationship to her parents, as well as how she'll get along with friends. Hidden potential talents can be uncovered with recommendations for their development.
PROGRESSED
The progressed horoscope gives a reading of the future. Progressing a horoscope is a process of adjusting the chart for the passage of time since birth. By observing the current placement of planets in relation to those of your natal chart, the astrologer is able to determine the major trends coming into your life.
There are two major types of progressions:
Secondary progressions
Secondary progressions explain slowly evolving personality changes that underlie major decisions in one's life.
Transits
Transits are the location of the planets in the sky on any particular date. Transits predict the timing of events in all areas described by the natal horoscope.
Other predictive techniques that might be used in a progressed horoscope are lunations (new and full moons) and solar and lunar returns (charts drawn for the sun or moons return to their natal position).
Usually a progressed horoscope is drawn for the year ahead. This gives you the ability to plan to begin projects on fruitful days, to go on vacation at times that are positive for travel, to meet challenging times with appropriate actions, and to understand the nature of the relationships coming into your life.
Many people come back to the astrologer each year to plan their year ahead.
RELATIONSHIP COMPATIBILITY (Synastry)
The compatibility horoscope (also called synastry) is an alignment and comparison of one person's chart with another's. It is often used in romantic and/or marriage relationships, but can be very valuable in comparing the charts of parent/child, boss/employee or business partners.
For example, a couple planning to get married can gain understanding and perspective on each other others expectations regarding romance, finances, children and the home environment, and partnership in love and work, . The reading would also cover how the personalities blend or clash within the framework of the relationship. It can also show the talents and strengths each is bringing to the relationship, and how one might balance what the other is lacking.
For business partners, it would be helpful to describe attitudes toward money, differences in work methods and energy, and, of course, whether the personalities involved would be able to get along for an extended commitment.
In the charts of a parent compared with a child, many observations can be made regarding attitudes toward life. The parent may be very detail oriented and the child geared more toward the large picture, for example, and this could be the source of many conflicts. Or the parent may be quick to anger and quick to forgive, but the child may be more sensitive to criticism than average and take even the most casual "yelling" to heart.
Ultimately, the compatibility horoscope can give us information to learn how to live harmoniously with the special people in our lives.
PAST-LIFE/KARMIC
Although most people tend to inquire about their best choice of career, the most positive avenues of financial investment or how to achieve harmonious romantic relationships, the natal chart can also be used to read the past-life incarnations as well as the tendencies for future incarnations.
What we are today is a result of our past thoughts, actions, and desires, either during this lifetime or in previous incarnations. We base our decisions and responses to life on these past influences. (This is Karma, a fundamental law of the universe.) Understanding the past gives us the ability to use wisdom in our life choices and facilitates our positive transformation.
Research into reincarnational patternings suggest that we choose our lessons to learn each lifetime, just as a student might plan a semester at the university. The Past-Life Karmic horoscope helps us to understand our "class schedule" (and the progressed horoscope shows when the "exams" are coming up).
The Karmic horoscope sometimes includes spiritual direction with recommendations for meditative techniques, lifestyle disciplines, or metaphysical processes (such as wearing certain colors or burning a particular fragrance of incense).
"Astrology is the spiritual missing link between human existence and divine consciousness." Goswami Kriyananda The Wisdom and Way of Astrology
ELECTIONAL
Electional astrology can help plan the best time for a specific event: a wedding, the grand opening of a place of business, the purchase of a car, a vacation or a party.
A wedding is like the birth of a marriage, so a chart can be drawn for the event just as a chart is drawn for the birth of a person (from the date, time and location).
The astrologer takes many factors into consideration as she looks at the time frame given for the best date and time to get the planets, aspects and houses to form a pattern to suit the purposes of the event. Using the wedding example, one might choose to get married when the moon is in Libra, a symbol of harmonious partnership. For buying a car, a date would be chosen when Mercury, the planet that symbolizes transportation, is in a positive position to the other planets.
In the process of creating the electional horoscope, an astrologer might also look at the natal, progressed and synastry of the people involved, especially for events requiring large financial and time investments.
"There's a time for every purpose under heaven." (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
HORARY
In horary astrology the time of a vital question determines the time of the horoscope. In other words, the "birth" of the question occurs when the client asks an important question, the astrologer understands the question and a chart is constructed. Usually the question is specific relating to the outcome of a business venture, the location of a missing object, or the possibility of the return of a lost love.
MUNDANE
A natal chart can be drawn for anything that is "born" or has a time and date of its beginning. Horoscopes can be drawn up for countries, cities and events just as it is for people. For example, many astrologers feel that the United States was "born" on July 4, 1776 (although the exact time is subject for debate).
Mundane astrology also includes the astrology of weather patterns (astro-meteorology), earthquake prediction, and farming/planting cycles.
FINANCIAL
In financial astrology horoscopes are drawn for businesses either from their opening date (a store or restaurant, for example) or from the date of incorporation. Corporate ups and downs can be predicted by doing progression on these charts.
Also, a financial astrologer might use the horoscope of the Federal Reserve or the New York Stock Exchange to predict financial trends. Other financial astrologers use cycles of planetary phenomena to chart market trading trends.
RELOCATION
A relocation horoscope can be drawn if you have moved or are planning to move to a location different from your birthplace. It is calculated from your moment of birth, but using the new location instead of the birthplace. The planets and signs of the horoscope are the same as your natal horoscope, but they may fall into different houses. Thus, certain talents or abilities might be strengthened by a relocation. In some cases, people feel less productive in certain parts of the country but don't know why. A relocation chart may help delineate the problem. This chart does not override the natal horoscope, but is used in addition to it.
Another way to get more information on a move is to compare your natal horoscope to that of the city you live in (drawn from the date of the town's incorporation). This is basically a compatibility chart between you and the place you live.
Astro*carto*graphy (tm) is a way of mapping your horoscope around the world to show beneficial or difficult locations.
HOW TO CHOOSE AN ASTROLOGER
How do you find a good astrologer? Just as you might with any other professional person. If you have friends who have gone for readings, ask them for referrals. Otherwise you might call some of the astrological organizations listed at the end of the book and see if they have a professional directory. Metaphysical bookstores sometimes have referral networks or astrologers as part of their teaching faculty.
Feel free to ask for the astrologer's credentials: How long and where have they studied? Do they have certification with or are they members of any astrological association? What are their areas of specialization?
Astrologers sometimes have other credentials such as psychologist, social worker or certified addictions counselors. Others have spiritual or religious training, or certification in financial areas.
Ask for a description of the reading. Will it be more predictive or more psychological? How long will it last. Will what you need be covered in one session or will you need other types of readings or follow-ups? Can you call with questions after the reading?
Ask about fees both for your initial reading and also for follow ups. Many astrologers have brochures which describe their fees and services.
Ask if you can tape record the reading. All astrology readings should be tape recorded. In this way you can retain all the information and dates. Some astrologers will provide the tape.
WHAT INFORMATION DO YOU NEED?
Along with your birth day and year, knowing the exact time of birth will contribute to the accuracy of the calculation of the horoscope. Check first on your birth certificate. Hospitals sometimes also have records available. Baby books and family Bibles may have this information. A parent's memory is good but some people get mixed up with brothers and sisters. The town in which you were born provides the longitude and latitude for the chart calculation.
It's really worth it to spend time researching your birthtime. Some astrologers specialize in rectification, extensive (and sometimes costly) calculations to approximate a birthtime. Other astrologers might use a solar chart or a flat chart which would still give you a great deal of information but would be lacking the rising sign (ascendant) and house cusps. These missing pieces could diminish the accuracy of analysis and prediction. If you don't have a birth time ask your astrologer how she will proceed from there.
(Some people are unsure of the day they were born. Often these were people who were born at home and the birth certificate information was recorded a week later. Others may have been born in foreign countries from which records can no longer be accessed. If you don't know your correct birthday, a horoscope cannot be drawn, and another type of reading such as tarot or palmistry might be helpful.)
PREPARING FOR YOUR READING
Prepare for your reading by writing a list of your most important questions. Think about what your most important issues were last year and what you expect them to be in the year ahead. Business people sometimes bring their calendar/planning book for the coming year.
Bring a tape recorder and cassette tape if the astrologer does not provide those, as well as paper and pen for taking notes.
(c) 1993 Jupiter Trine Publications