Do the Stars Really Control your Destiny?
by David Peden
Perhaps someone has asked you, "What sign are you?" Have you ever wondered how on earth that might be significant? As an astrologer I have been asked many times whether the stars really determine who we are, or whether the stars really influence our future.
First, we should take a look at what the Zodiac is? The Zodiac, which is said to have originated in Babylon 2,500 years ago, is a circle of different collections of stars, called constellations. These form a backdrop that our planets appear to move across. The constellations are actually much further from earth, and our planets travel in an area of space between us and the constellations. There are as many as 88 constellations visible in our sky, but only twelve of them form a track that the sun and our planets appear to travel through each year. These 12 constellations are the signs of the zodiac. For instance, when someone says that their sun or moon is in Pisces, what they are saying is that when they were born, this planet appeared to be traveling across the collection of stars that we call Pisces.
Now, how does this have anything to do with you? Astrology teaches us that there are certain universal forces in the universe, that have an effect on everything in the world. For example; in the Springtime the flowers bloom, the climate warms, the snow melts, animals mate, birds migrate north, and so on. It’s not that the Sun or any planet makes these things happen, but rather that the same forces that are exerting an influence on the Sun and planets, are influencing every other atom in our universe at the same time. The events mentioned above are all interconnected and interrelated, in a global phenomenon that occurs each year when the sun reaches the Vernal Equinox. So when the sun is overhead at the Equator, which is in March in our northern hemisphere, you can predict that certain events will occur. Another example is; consider the fact that the grunion fish spawn on the beach in the spring, when the full moon coincides with the highest tide of the month. Obviously, the fish don’t know intellectually when this is. They are responding to an interrelated cycle, inherent in themselves, and in the ecological and astronomical systems of the universe. In this case, it can be predicted by knowing that it coincides at a time when the moon is in a certain relationship to the earth. Many women for instance, can predict when their menstrual cycle will begin, according to the phase of the moon. For example, when it is a full moon, new moon, half moon, and so on. Aren’t these women actually practicing astrology? Is it that the moon itself is causing their cycle, or that the same cosmic forces are influencing both?
In fact, astrology reveals that a synchronization exists between all things. A universal interrelationship. This is the true significance behind astrology. In our universe systems form, as subsystems of other systems. Each particular atom, molecule, organism, star, and so on, behaves in a certain way, relative to its systems relationship to each other system. And, because there is a direct correlation between one system and another, one set of events can alert us to the fact that something else is going to be happening as well at a particular time.
In ancient times astrology actually received widespread acceptance and was practiced by the Chaldeans, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Asians, Arabs, and many others.