Fate

The responsibility of karma and free will

art by Raxstar

This article was originally posted in 2019 and very appropriate this week in light of the Mars-ruled Aries Full Moon opposite the Sun/Mars conjunction, squared by Pluto.  Mars represents our idea that we have Free Will and Pluto represents Fate so this question is very relevant right now. 

Sometimes people write me asking for a reading, saying they want to know what their karmic lessons are in this lifetime. One gentleman wrote me saying he wanted a “straight” reading, with no attempt to frame the difficult […]

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By |2021-10-08T14:32:12-04:00October 21st, 2021|Fate|1 Comment

Sunday musings: Pondering the Free Will question

Astrologer Ray Grasse posed this question on his Facebook page:

How much free will do we have in dealing with our horoscopes? It’s a complex question, but here’s one way to answer that question.

I had two individuals come to me separately who were born within days of each other, who had extremely similar charts. As it so happened, they both experienced the effects of transiting Saturn over their natal Neptunes around the same time, just one week apart, right before meeting me.

I asked each of them […]

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By |2019-08-27T10:49:02-04:00June 9th, 2019|Fate, Inspiration|4 Comments

What I believe: Making sense of tragedy

If there is a meaning in life at all, then there must be a meaning in suffering. Suffering is an ineradicable part of life, even as fate and death. Without suffering and death human life cannot be complete.  –Viktor Frankl

finding meaning in life

This week a friend of mine went to work and never came home.  His car was hit by a joyrider driving over 100 mph and he died of his injuries in the hospital, leaving behind a beautiful family with two young boys and a loving wife.   He was active in […]

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By |2019-11-10T19:04:58-05:00January 20th, 2019|Fate, Favorite posts, Inspiration, Life|17 Comments

“Does my chart say I will be…” 2018 edition

I have written on this before, but I think it bears repeating.  I often get this question from readers and clients.  “Does my chart say I will ever be able to have a successful relationship?”  “Does my chart say I can overcome my fear of success?”  “Will I ever be financially secure?”  Or occasionally I will hear from someone who wants to know when their business will be successful, or whether someone they are involved with is for certain their soulmate.

The truth is, while the birthchart will identify challenges and blocks […]

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By |2019-11-10T19:39:06-05:00June 2nd, 2018|Astrology, Fate|0 Comments

Fate vs Free Will in Astrology: Part II, the modern debate

Three Fates by Emily Balivet

Catch up with Part I, a History, here. 

The question of whether humans are controlled by their fate or have a part to play in their own destiny is as old as time.  Much of our western philosophy comes from the ancient Greeks for whom the gods controlled human destinies despite great efforts of men and women to escape the fates accorded to them.  The Greek concept of hubris is applied to ordinary mortals who attempt to challenge the gods, and therefore their fate.

It’s no […]

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By |2019-06-09T14:19:36-04:00January 16th, 2018|Astrology, Fate, Featured posts, Predictions|0 Comments

Fate vs free will in astrology: Part I, a history involving Pluto

modern astrologyEven though Pluto was not discovered until 1930, its influence is evident in the evolution of modern astrology. The renaissance of astrology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries began with Alan Leo and the birth of the publication “Modern Astrology” in 1895 when Pluto was in the information gathering sign of Gemini.  Gemini is more concerned with the sharing of information than finding any kind of ultimate truth, and Alan Leo, who was a Theosophist, was primarily concerned with spreading the language of astrology to the masses via what […]

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By |2019-11-10T19:20:13-05:00January 11th, 2018|Astrology, Fate|2 Comments

Fate and the progressed chart

fate or free willThe question of fate vs. free will is a thorny debate among astrologers.  Traditional astrologers, such as those who practice Hellenistic, Vedic or Medieval astrologers, tend to believe more firmly in the concept that the unfolding of our lives occurs in a predestined pattern and that we as humans have very little choice in the process.

It’s clear when you learn to read the astrological symbols that fate and destiny are tightly interwoven.  We are born with certain planets in certain placements which enables someone like me to be […]

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By |2013-12-14T17:52:16-05:00December 14th, 2013|Fate, Favorite posts|4 Comments

If you could predict death: 2013 edition

predict death

I do a fair amount of what I call “repair readings” – readings for people who have been told things by other astrologers that are upsetting and sometimes ridiculous.  Like the time a client was told that at a certain time she would meet someone and it would be the only opportunity she would ever have to find her soulmate. Or when an astrology told a client that her daughter would die on a certain date.

In 2008 I wrote a post “If you could predict death, would […]

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By |2019-11-10T19:39:07-05:00July 19th, 2013|Death, Fate|7 Comments

Catastrophe and transformation

catastrophe Tower TarotI was browsing around for something when I came across a definition of the word “catastrophe”:

catastrophe (plural catastrophes)
1. Any large and disastrous event of great significance.
2. (insurance) A disaster beyond expectations
3. (narratology) The dramatic event that initiates the resolution of the plot in a tragedy.
4. (mathematics) A type of bifurcation, where a system shifts between two stable states.

As an astrologer, I am always curious about catastrophes in a person’s life, because there is nearly always something of great significance astrologically that provides clues to the nature […]

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By |2019-11-10T19:04:59-05:00April 26th, 2013|Fate, Favorite posts, Inspiration|8 Comments

Occultists and astrology

occult astrologerA new client came to me because of something involving Saturn in her chart that had come up in another reading.  The information she was given was not only wrong, the Saturn placement was incorrect.  The “astrologer” who gave her this information is online, and on his website he calls himself a “master astrologist” which is interesting in itself.  We astrologers don’t call ourselves “astrologists” – that is an appellation typically found only in critical newspaper articles.  His website also states that he is an occultist. The definition of “occult” […]

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By |2019-06-09T14:24:28-04:00January 8th, 2013|Astrology, Fate|12 Comments
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