Astrology does portray your destiny.
I'm over 70 years old. I've lived my life. A look at my chart, a look at my character, a look at the path my life has followed....it's all there in the stars.
Look at everything else in the universe...galaxies, stars, oceans, winds, fleas, bananas, ...everything, and you see nothing that has free will. But humans do, or so they believe.
Did you call yourself into existence? Is it your free will that will bring you to death?
I came to the realization that I really have no free will some 25 years ago. It did not destroy me...on the contrary, that realization empowered me and liberated me. And I continue to live every moment in sovereign exercise of my free will.
We can't know. We are immersed in paradox. The only thing we can do is figure out how to live, and that comes from within us.
We are mortals. We die. That simple fact answers the question.
OK. Everyone who wants to die, raise your hand.... Hmm, not very many hands.
And the rest of you? Fate has declared you will die. That's that. Show me the power of your will in the face of death.
Astrology shows us our fate. It isn't really astrology; it's the universe. Astrology is only our looking glass, not the reality itself. But anyone who has reached a certain level of skill in astrology knows that "it works." Fate is implicit in that.
And always there is the nagging question: Are my choices and decisions (the expression of free will) determined by a prior cause (i.e., the very nature of my being)?
I have a partile quincunx of moon to uranus in my chart. I will translate that aspect as "freedom at any price" here. This aspect therefore influences my political views, my home and family life, my financial and social status, my coterie of friends, my sexual adventures, my employment and the kinds of pastimes I pursue....in short, it reaches out into every aspect of my life. It inclines me to make certain choices to the exclusion of others. Every aspect in the horoscope (that is, every aspect of my personality) has a similar effect. Therefore, I am pre-determined by "my stars" toward a certain range of choices, choices which you would not make because the structure of your star-pattern (your personality) is different. This gives the impression of free will, when in fact it may not be so.
The ambitious and adventurous man might risk all he has on the turn of a card, while the timid and cautious man will avoid the chance of loss. These two tendencies will be consistent throughout life and color every choice made by the men. At the very least, there is the possibility that these traits of character run so deep that they impose on our free will what amounts to pre-destination...i.e., there is no free will. It is also possible that true free will does exist. We can't know.
In either case, we must act as if we do in fact possess free will. We cannot do otherwise. Life compels us to make choices constantly.
Here is what the Bhagavad Gita has to say: "Because thou art in the bondage of Karma, of the forces of thine own past life; and that which thou, in thy delusion, with a good will dost not want to do, unwillingly thou shalt have to do." B.G. 18:60
That's all you ever have.
