Many people are afraid of Astrology. They fear the Astrologer will tell them something bad about themselves, or that some calamity is going to happen to them. Unfortunately, there are some irresponsible people who do say negative things and act in a negative way. We are familiar with the gypsy image, the weirdo stargazer predicting doom and gloodm or making godlike statements about the future.
 Predictions are boring. They assume that the future is set. And this is just not true. Before us are infinite possibilities. What each of us chooses at any particular moment is just one choice in an endless sea. The future is not set. Modern Astrology assumes that the individual plays an active role in the creation of the future. Therefore, the role of the Astrologer is not so much to predict the future but to examine potential and make judgment as to the probability of future events.
Traditional Astrology was oriented to events and viewed the individual and the environment as subject to overwhelming forces that, while not compelling, at least were impelling him/her to a specific course of action. This view was related to Newton's concept of the universe as a great, precise and essentially mechanical clock set in motion at the beginning of time and running today under the steam of its own inexorable laws. Under this view, we were all caught in the midst of events and the only purpose of Astrology was to predict when and where the wheels came together in the future. Traditional Astrology divided symbols into good or bad. Planets were seen as "doing something to you." The birth chart was seen as something to be overcome. Events in the life pattern were isolated entities. For example, when Saturn (the planet of limitations) crossed the Ascendant, you were in for "bad times." No attempt was made to trace the beginning of a particular state of development which served as the prologue for "bad times."
Modern Astrology is different. It recognizes the person as an independent, organic whole who exists and functions within a vastly more complex whole -- the universe. The person and the universe have A RELATIONSHIP that is similar to an individual cell which exists and functions within a larger organism. Hence, the birth chart is not something to be "overcome." Rather, it is a map which describes what can be and what experiences are needed to bring about the actualization of what at birth is only a set of potential. Planets don't do anything to you.
Signs of the Zodiac are not individual characters. Planets symbolize basic urges that are common among all living organisms and are related to the four basic functions: To be; To Maintain; To Reproduce; and To Transform. Signs are stages of developmental growth through which all must pass, from beginning to climax to ending. The life pattern unfolds in designated areas called the houses of the horoscope, in accordance to the individuals's thoughts and actions. The individual is the instrument that "does" things -- not the planets and the signs. The planets and the signs are guide posts along the pathway of life.
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