Astrology is a powerful tool for self-discovery.
Astrology is a powerful tool for self-discovery. It can operate as self-paced therapy (and is a useful supplement to formal therapy, too.) Your chart is a blueprint of energies that you brought in at birth. They do not dictate what happens to you, but they do make certain tendencies, reactions or situations more likely than others, depending on your choices. When you learn your chart, you unlock information about your past, your programming and your automatic, instinctive behaviors. It sheds light on your relationship dynamics, your experience of your parents and early childhood, and your heart and inner critic. It shows your relationship to authority, what you value about yourself and where you hold yourself back. As you become familiar with and understand the nature of the energies that run through you, you can become more secure in and forgiving of yourself — and learn other ways of expressing those core energies, if you like.
There’s also a practical benefit to learning what your chart says about your strengths and weaknesses (or, putting it another way, the talents that come easily to you and the abilities that require work and effort). You can look at your chart for vocational guidance. It can help you identify lines of work that suit you, as well as talents and abilities that you need to express for your own well-being and satisfaction.
One specialized form of astrology can even help you choose where to spend your time. Locational astrology identifies specific cities and places for work, finding love and having a relaxing vacation. (Sorry to report, they’re never the same spot.)
Other advanced techniques explore where you are in life. The transits, or current planetary positions, activate areas of your chart and your life. When transits hit your natal planets, doors open or close. A solar return or birthday chart, cast for when the sun is in the same position now as when you were born, gives the flavor of what you will experience in the coming year. Progressions move your chart forward in time and indicate how your personality has evolved. They can also indicate when certain types of events are likely to happen, based on how the progressions interact with your natal chart. More discussion of these three tools appears under the heading Planning and Decision-Making.
Why Do Some Horoscopes Say I’m One Sign and Other Ones Say I’m a Different One?
If you were born between the 17th and the 23rd of the month, your sun sign depends on the year in which you were born. That’s because each year the sun changes signs on a slightly different date. To learn exactly where it was when you were born, you can order a free chart from my chart services page. And don’t worry about being on the cusp between signs. Your sun sign is either one sign or the other, not a blending of them. There may be other factors in your chart that bring in the influence of the other sign, but that does not come from being on the cusp.
I read somewhere that there’s a new sign in the zodiac. Has my sign changed?
NO! Here’s why not.
Part 3: Understanding Other People
© Kathy Biehl 2009, 2011. All Rights Reserved. Do not use, reproduce or electronically forward this article without the prior written permission of the author. Karma, ya know.