Fate vs. Free Will: Which Matters More?
Taking a look at Horary Astrology
Every once in a while I receive an inquiry from a potential client requesting that I look ahead at his or her cycles for a significant length of time. Five, 10, 20 years -- in some cases a lifetime! From their perspective, they want to know their fate and make peace with it.
This is a subject that rattles the bones of many astrologers because it touches upon a most delicate area. How much of our lives are fated, and how much is a reflection of our free will? In the end, none of us really knows the answer and all we can do is offer our conjecture.
The ancient branch of predictive Astrology
Horary Astrology is an ancient branch of Astrology that specifically focuses on answering questions. A remarkably accurate answer to just about any question can be determined by the chart a well-trained horary astrologer casts for the moment he or she understands your inquiry.
Back in the doe-eyed stages of my professional career I couldn't accept what my colleagues would tell me about this branch. Free will had nothing to do with it. Nothing. The answer was the answer, and you could not do a darn thing to change it.
I fought this truth with everything I had, and I tried to prove numerous horary charts wrong. I never succeeded. Ever. This angered me, terrified me, and humbled me. It turns out that inasmuch as my ego self would like to believe we are complete masters of our Astrology and universe, age and experience have taught me otherwise.
Your future is fated, but you do still have free will
It's not that we have no free will whatsoever ... we do! WE DO! But the fact is many wise astrologers have their pulse on a certain truth that may be hard to swallow but needs to be faced. We don't call ALL the shots. Some things in life are fated. And while we can speculate on this for eons, in reality, we don't know why.
And yet, Astrology is useful. It is incredibly revealing and confirming and healing. It tells us about what we are and what we might be -- if only we would access that balance between fate and free will. Looking at cycles can offer remarkably accurate predictive insights into archetypal THEMES that lay ahead in our lives. That is the fated part, no doubt. What we do with those themes however, remains up to us.
So why don't I look ahead five, 10, 20 years or even a lifetime for my clients? There are many reasons, but the main one is that I just don't see the value in it. I don't feel I am being of service to a client if I focus too far into the future -- even if something about our future is already somehow written in the stars. If you concentrate solely on the Pluto-ascendant transit you'll have eight years from now, then you're going to lose an opportunity to fully engage in the Saturn-Sun cycle you're having now, or the Neptune transit to your relationship sector that's coming up in about a year.
I look ahead typically one year to 15 months during any client session. Occasionally, if the situation calls for it, I'll peek ahead up to two years. Rarely. Why? Because if you look too far ahead in life you stop LIVING it.
Live in the present, not the future
Life is happening now. You have transits and other cycles happening today -- in this moment. Guess what? They matter! Experience them. By tasting the balance of your current free will and destiny, you are one step closer to becoming a masterful co-creator of your future. If, however, you solely focus on cycles that are too far in the distance you somehow disempower yourself.
The moral? There are moments of truth in this week's cycles just as much as those 10 years from today. However, the only moments that matter are the ones you experience consciously. Access your free will and make the choice to experience the immediate present and the near future deliberately. Savor this day. Live THESE transits. Otherwise you're just fated to let life pass you by.
