A Humanistic View of Astrology

Astrology is more than just your “sun sign” (i.e. “What sign are you?”). It is really the study of the synthesis of archetypes and the relationships between those archetypes.  And so your birth chart (“natal chart”) is in many ways a holographic portal into understanding your life.  It is as much a technical guide as it is a kind of poetic expression. It tells a story.

Therefore, as a dynamic art and science, astrology provides another set of tools for understanding human psychology and events. Your birth chart is unique, just as you are unique.  There is no other chart exactly like yours. Even identical twins born minutes apart have entirely separate and distinctive charts.

It is not the planets that are making your life a certain way. Early astrologers, in fact, charted a correlation between human behavior and events on the one hand, and the movement of the planets on the other hand. The stars are not an agent of change; they are an ever-changing messenger.  What is “written in the stars” is a message that is for you to interpret on your own terms, in your own way. 

Then there is the matter of your own free will.

Astrology is best used in a humanistic — cyclic — way.  Rather than seeing your forecast as either euphoric or dreaded, think of it as a “weather map” and a compass.  Ask yourself how you can optimize what you are doing by either being forewarned and/or by using the upcoming trends and possibilities to open new doorways and new places to go. Just as every indicator and nuance in your chart can have negative and positive possibilities, it is up to you to make the best of it.  Knowing ahead of time that a certain “energy” is emphasized, you can plan your affairs to take advantage of what is happening in any fleeting moment.  

And so rather than seeing something in a chart as stagnant and carved in stone, think of it as an indicator of what you are here to go beyond at any given moment, etc.  If you look deeper, you can begin to see cycles and patterns that repeat themselves in your life, like the seasons. 

It is exactly that you have your own individual inner rhythm.  And within that rhythm there are backbeats and other rhythms that repeat themselves.  Your life is like a symphony, and you are the conductor.