Q. Is astrology fate or free will?
A. The answer to this question comes from a modern day astrologer living in the western world, i.e. myself. This is important to acknowledge because in today’s modern world we have far greater opportunities than years ago and most of us have a choice on how we lead our lives.
Life happens but you can choose how you respond to life’s events which offers you more chance of leading a happy and fulfilled life.
What I do as an astrologer is interpret the natal potential in your birth chart to offer you greater understanding, but more importantly I want to help you to decide the best course of action in order for you to move forward. I also work closely with timing and in this respect astrology is similar to a navigational tool that guides you through life. This is different from the role of a traditional astrologer and astrology today combines fate and free will.
It would be a different answer if you live in a culture where people lead more fated lives. In India I had the honour of sitting in on a vedic astrologer as he consulted with his clients and his approach was very different to my own, e.g. Jupiter on the Midheaven – “you have no problems in life, you have good fortune always”; born on a Full Moon – “you will always have difficult relationships”; a lady in her 70’s – “what is there to say, you are coming towards the end of your life”.
You would never hear such proclamations from a western astrologer, at least I would hope not. Destiny is not negotiable when you hear such fated statements so the fate versus free will debate depends on culture and the specific time period.
[photo from flickr.com]