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The Library Of Spiritual Science

According to traditional teachings, there are two elements respectively that fit well together, while the other combinations are more difficult. Fire and air are considered to be masculine elements that are related to each other and harmonize well, as do the feminine elements of earth and water.

Popular astrological partnership predictions, usually follow this simple basic pattern. It’s obvious that we can get along well with the signs of the same element. After all, we are in our own element with them, which means we look at the world in the same way. Moreover, we have a good understanding of people with the related element so that in this very fundamental consideration of the twelve signs there are six masculine and six feminine signs, each of which harmonize well with the others of the same group.

Masculine and Feminine Elements
MASCULINE
FEMININE

FIRE AIR EARTH WATER
Aries Libra Capricorn Cancer
Leo Aquarius Taurus Scorpio
Sagittarius Gemini Virgo Pisces

Whether we should take a simplistic approach to an essential area of life such as partnership is an open question. Even everyday language has two extremely contradictory opinions about this situation. On the one hand it says that “birds of a feather flock together”, but then there is also the following expression: “opposites attract”. So which of these two elemental theories should we believe?

“Birds of a feather flock together” is certainly a good basis for the friendships we cultivate, and for the experiences we have within a group. This is also where we can apply the statements about elements that harmonize with each other. By way of comparison, “opposites attract” is the motto for a relationship — or is there a greater contrast than between a man and a woman? This is why it is very questionable when astrological statements about partnership are made only according to this basic pattern. In fact, it has been demonstrated often enough that although we get along well with our own and the related element, such connections may not create enough excitement to keep a relationship full of life. Understood in this manner, relationships between all the elements — and all the astrological signs — are obviously possible without the difficult ones necessarily being any worse than others or even hopeless.

Since we can ultimately become whole only by developing the four elements within us, we must first understand the nature of each individual element, how it gets along with the other element, and how these complement it. In the following descriptions, each element will be described as if a person were to consist of just this element alone. However, there is no such extreme form, since we are all mixed types. One element is so strongly developed in each of us that we appear to primarily represent this type of element.

The Fire Element:
The Strong-Willed Individual

The fire person lives in a world of optimism, enthusiasm, and has a great capacity for exuberance. His courage in taking risks and a strong belief in himself are the basis of his nearly inexhaustible drive. He trusts the power of his intuition, follows his will, his convictions, and at the same time, likes to place himself at the center of all events. Attention is simply important; this is why he also does a great deal in order to be seen.

With his fire power, he may also spark other’s interest and enthuse them for his goals. This is how he sets developments in motion, gives dynamic impulses, motivates and spurs others on, and is a master at playing to an audience. His passion is expressing his will. This is why he loves the still unstructured future, which he can form according to his own will. He likes to risk the big success or new beginning, which causes the blood to surge through his veins. He looks for challenges and, even if he happens to fail at some point, he quickly recovers, gets up, and tries it again. For him there is always a next time, a new try.

He is the master of the beginning, yet his fire sometimes flags when translating his projects into concrete terms. Impatience is his distinguishing feature, and the time between the sowing and the harvest often becomes a hard trial of patience for him. Fire ignites easily, but staying power and a careful treatment of energy reserves are not his strength. Routine work is not at all to his taste because it leaves no room for spontaneity, and also sets tiresome limits on his urge for freedom and desire for what is new.

The past is extremely uninteresting and boring for a fire person because it can no longer be changed, even with the best of will. This is why consideration means little since he prefers to charge forward and wants to be the first. Believing in the goal is the engine that drives him on.

Fiery people prefer to actively intervene in life instead of waiting and taking what’s in store for them. More than any other element, fire individuals have a more difficult time tolerating inner tensions, which is why they translate impulses and drives into action as quickly as possible and work them off. This direct power of expression, the sometimes childlike spontaneity, and the uninhibited way of always claiming the entire pie has something very winning about it. However, the high degree of willingness to take a risk, the lack of self- control, and the deep aversion to any type of criticism — not to even mention self-criticism — in connection with fiery impatience can let some of the noble plans turn into an unimagined adventure that may also end with everything razed to the ground.

Fire with the other signs

Fire has quite a difficult time with the earth signs, although their realism, deliberateness, and objectivity form a good counterbalance to it. But from the perspective of fire, earth is simply much too slow, too boring, always coming up with misgivings, constantly urging caution and, on top of everything else, even demanding facts that the fire individual should substantiate. All of this is much too arduous, too unimaginative and dry, especially since it threatens to stifle his enthusiasm.

However, fire also has its difficulties time and again with the emotionality of the water signs because water’s lack of drive, connected with a frequently pessimistic keynote, could put out the fire. The sensitivity that sometimes lets the water individual be cautious and shy is often interpreted as cowardice by the fire person. Yet, it is precisely this opposite pole that could teach him to perceive what goes on around him instead of simply placing himself at the center of attention in a self-confident or high-handed manner.

On the other hand, air is the element that fans the flames of fire. Fire individuals love air types because the latter’s breezy ideas constantly give their fiery will fresh nourishment. He loves them at least as long as they spare him of their smart-alecky questions and don’t ask him to give reasons for his convictions. When ideas (air) and will (fire) connect in a positive way, this can naturally be the birth of some good projects; however, some things also just keep on being hot air or end up as a lot of noise (air) and smoke (fire).

The Earth Element:
The Realistic Person

The world of the earth individual is the world of facts, experiences, order, and structure. She values and relies on everything that she can grasp and examine with her senses. The earth individual does not warm up to fiery speculations, elevated theories are too unfounded for her, and watery fantasies don’t really appeal to her sense of reality. She will always prefer a bird in the hand to two in the bush! What counts for her is the bottom line, what she has in her pocket, and what she can take home with her. Earth-oriented people may be slow and deliberate in their actions, but they are persistent and have staying power as a result. Once they get involved in a plan, they will follow it directly and consistently until they reach their goal. Their strong trust in pragmatic values makes them the keepers of tradition and simultaneously suspicious of bold utopias. They value tried-and-true methods far more than modern solutions, in the same way that the past and present are more important than a fictitious future that is still unstructured and will ultimately always be unpredictable.

The rooted earth individual usually lacks the willingness — and sometimes just simply the necessary imagination — to warm up to the world of ideals, longings, or ideas. She lavishes care and attention on the familiar since this is what she knows and can depend on. This is why she loves routine and repetition, and has a difficult time with changes and innovations. Others are sure to have had a hard time with her stubbornness, lack of flexibility, and resistance to anything unaccustomed. However, when her need for security lets her hold on too tight to things proven and achieved, when she desperately clings to money, property, possessions, and reality, there is the danger of losing sight of life’s meaning and that all of life’s joys will be smothered because of her lack of inspiration and visionary strength.

Earth with the other signs

The lively, restless air signs sometimes make too much fuss for the earth individual. Without further ado, they too easily stir up her clear structures, constantly come up with some sort of lofty and much too modern ideas that don’t interest her at all. She cannot comprehend why she should get mixed up in such high-flown “mental acrobatics”, especially since theory and practice seem to constantly contradict each other here. She only values perceptions when she can truly do something with them. Having a perception for perception’s sake appears to be quite superfluous to her. At the same time, more receptiveness for the air world could actually be good for her, since the inventive spirit of air could actually bring easy solutions and make some things go more smoothly.

Earth has a very special problem with fire because fire has a carefree way of “burning up” all the reserves that earth has so carefully developed and leaves nothing behind it but scorched earth. The earth individual not only finds the impetuous forward-surging fire to be uneconomical, but also much too thoughtless in the face of uncalculated risks. However, the warming fire is good for the earth, since it can bring healthy excitement and intensity into her life through the momentum, joy, and constantly flaming optimism of the fire individual.

The Air Element:
The Intellectual

The air individual moves easily in the world of theories, thoughts, and abstractions. He possesses a quick grasp and nimble verbal ability to express himself. His need for contact and exchange drives him from one place to the next, but the desire for freedom and independence prevents him from spending much time anywhere. So the air individual approaches other people in an open and friendly way but usually makes an impression that is somewhat distanced and cool in the process. His train of thought frequently moves in leaps and bounds, primarily on the surface of things. These people are brilliant, informative, create ideas, impart knowledge, make connections, think in relative terms and question things, but usually manage to avoid commitment and depth, as well as emotional involvement. This light, lively, curious mood frequently leads to impatience, nervousness, and fragmentation.

Their inexhaustible interest (Latin = being in between) in everyone and everything prevents them from taking a clear position and makes them lightweights without a homeland. The future is the favorite playing field for their thoughts since this is where they can be devised and invented. Things that are new keep all the possibilities open and leave leeway for experiments and utopias.

Although the air individual constantly strives for clarity and objectivity, he may sometimes get lost in the elevated labyrinths of his own mental world. There he is like the comical professor who experiments in his ivory-tower laboratory with high-flown theories that no one would know how to use, even if they ever did prove to be more than a flop.

Air and the other signs

Air often has a difficult time with earth in the truest sense of the word. Earth’s unwavering sense of reality lets some of those lovely castles in the air smash to pieces on hard ground. On the other hand, however, this combination is valuable because airy ideas only become useful in the practical sense when they interact with earth.

The water signs are usually a closed book for the air individual as well. The world of feelings is too vague for him, he cannot comprehend it; it’s not logical, at best psychological — and he can only smile about that. Yet, the water signs in particular are capable of breathing life into his abstract ideas and making them more human.

The Water Element:
The Emotional Person

The water individual intuitively attunes herself to her surrounding world. Her antennae are permanently set on reception, which gives her an excellent sense of empathy, on the one hand, but also makes it considerably more difficult for her to draw the line against outside influences. Water people take in a great deal and in this process let themselves be influenced by energies and forces that aren't even meant for them. Their sensitivity lets them always know what the other person expects from them. As a result of their great willingness to react to other people’s wishes, these are the people with a thousand faces who are capable of appearing in whatever way the person with whom they are dealing at the moment wishes them to be.

In accordance with this, water people have difficulties in developing a feeling for their own identity and their own boundaries. Despite all this, it would still be wrong to underestimate their instinctive urge toward goals because nothing can ultimately stop water from following its true destiny, even if it has to make detours that appear very curious in the eyes of the other elements. A willingness to help, sympathy, sureness of instinct, empathy, and often a good deal of intuitive ability are the strengths of water, which is why these people frequently dedicate themselves to therapeutic tasks.

Although the water individual can tell beautiful stories, she has difficulties in expressing herself in formal terms and explaining something factually, since the world of sober rationality is not hers. She is much more at home in the rich world of images, of the imagination, and the soul. She is the born soul-doctor who can listen to others, be truly sympathetic, and show deep understanding. And she is naturally also the teller of fairy tales, the poet, the artist, or the magician.

Her sensitivity lets her be less daring than the other elements and sometimes even less able to cope with life. When the demands of the outer world become too hard, so that she no longer feels capable of coping, she often retreats into her own inner life or into a fantasy world, and hopes to somehow wrangle through on the outside. In extreme cases, this leads to escapism, stubborn denial of reality, a leap into the irrational, or flight into intoxication. Then the past, with its images, has a firm hold on her and her glance tends to wander more backward than forward.

Her soul gets caught up in memories time and again, revealing old, familiar things in intensive dreams even years after everything has long been over. Like no other element, water draws into the depths and only becomes calm when it has landed at the bottom. Water does not move on its own power. To do this, water needs impulses from the outside or, even better, a slant that gives it a direction, as well as a setting that provides it with support.

Water and the other signs

The water person values the proximity of earth individuals, who give her structure and security. However, this applies only as long as they don’t start to dry out her water by, for example, trying to suppress the inner correlation that she senses with their unimaginative factual thinking.

From the deep water perspective, air tends to be a superficial element. When air approaches are too cold and hostile, water shuts itself off by forming a sheet of ice and thereby preventing the coldly analytical intellect from looking into the depths of her soul. But where these two elements connect well, we can find artists who know how to express the images of the soul in words or through music, as well as the true spiritual helpers and guides. Water flees from the hot fire signs. The combination steams. Water quickly feels herself to be overpowered or easily has her feelings hurt by the heated directness. On the other hand, the momentum of a fire person — his optimism and joy in life — can sometimes rouse the water type out of her apathy.

It is not necessary to have a belief in astrology in order for it to be of value to you. Astrology, if explored from a psychological or scientific level, has nothing to do with belief. It's practical. It has to do with gaining knowledge and doing experiments. Are the psychological profiles offered by astrology useful tools of self-knowledge for you? Are the timing predictions astrology can make (when based on your full birth chart) helpful in using your time more effectively?

In evaluating the truth of the material presented, it is important to listen to your own inner knowing and past experiences. Regardless of what others may think, only you know the nature of your own internal battles.

Compassion Through Knowledge

When astrology is approached from a level of true open-minded understanding, it leads directly to unconditional love. When you fully understand a person's inner mechanics and where their "glitches" are, how can you be angry with them? We are all doing the best we can with the light we have and seeking to overcome our imperfections. Why? Because it's practical. The glitches get in the way of getting what we want. We are all in this together.

Sun sign astrology, such as the horoscopes covered in daily newspapers and magazines, are predictions that take into account only the sign position of the Sun. Full natal astrology takes into account the sign positions of ten planets (the Sun and Moon are considered planets in this context, as the galaxy is seen from the point of view of its effect on the Earth), the axis that was active when the individual was born, and several other points: the Nodes, Eclipses, and so on. In fact, each of us is entirely unique; a birth chart isn't duplicated for 25,000 years because all the planets are traveling at different speeds around the Sun.

In the moment you took your first breath, all of humankind -- all the people alive at that time -- passed through that moment with you. Everyone did the best they could to make the moment joyful for themselves, but then the next moment came along and humankind had to handle it -- and the next moment and the next, on into the current moment. But the moment when you were born was stamped on the cellular level of your very being, and it remains a part of you.

With that connection, you took charge of purifying that moment for everyone else on the planet, and you alone have the power to perfect the moment of your own birth. It's as though you took that sliver of time, slowed it down, and stretched it out to last an entire incarnation. And as you begin to work with that moment, taking parts of your "wiring" that aren't working too well and adjusting them -- thus creating happiness, laughter, and joy in your own life -- the positive energy of these changes affects everyone else. Through your own personal life you are essentially altering a moment that occurred in the past, and when you change the past, it changes the present for everyone. I've heard many spiritual teachers say that the best we can do for others is to work on ourselves. We are all interconnected on the deepest level -- we're One.

Internal Wiring

The astrology chart itself is actually a schematic: a graph that shows people's "inner wiring". The wiring in each of us is different. It's not "good" or "bad", it's just wired the way it's wired. Your birth chart provides a picture of the inner wiring you were born with, but what you do with that wiring is up to you.

When you can objectively see the patterns of your own behavior, you can make adjustments for more efficient results and better performance. When any miswiring is corrected, the result is a more smoothly operating life (first internally, and then externally). By having a clear picture of your inner wiring, you can become aware of the built-in "glitches", and you can choose not to continue behaviors that aren't working for you.

For example, if a person knew objectively (from seeing the graph of their birth chart) that they had a tendency to assume they already know the answers to everything, and thus become impatient and display a self-righteous attitude that isolates them from others (as would be the case if they had the North Node in Gemini or in the 3rd House), knowing about this tendency would allow him or her to consciously take more time to respectfully receive the factual input of others before venturing his or her own opinion. That single adjustment would make a major difference in the person's social interactions.

We all have tendencies that lead to inappropriate behavior and feelings of isolation and unhappiness. The trick is to discover our own glitches and empower ourselves to avoid them. With this objective knowledge, we are no longer operating in the dark, not understanding why life keeps giving us feedback that makes us unhappy. Life is too short to walk around blindfolded.

You are not just the sum total of your chart. The chart is a picture of your personality structure, but you are the factor that lies behind the chart and have the power to use the personality (the energies depicted in your birth chart) in any manner you choose. Whether you allow the personality to operate unconsciously, or you take charge and purify the energy so that life flows to your advantage, is up to you.

Astrology has two helpful functions. One is to identify the strengths and abilities we have which we can capitalize on. For instance, it was only by studying astrology and getting repeated encouragement from astrologers that I came to have faith in myself as a potential writer. Before that, I considered myself a lousy poet and left it at that. I'm still a lousy poet, but astrology gave me the courage to try other kinds of writing that have been more successful and fulfilling. My knowledge of astrology, then, resulted in a change in the direction of my career and life.


The second function is to help us identify the ways we create our own problems and cause unhappiness for ourselves and those around us. My belief is that planets are not responsible for our happiness or unhappiness, they only point out the ways we have been causing our self-fulfillment or self-defeat. And, if self-defeating behaviors are causing problems for us, we can use the chart as a guide to facing them honestly and directly. If we do so, we can tackle those problem areas and ultimately realize the most positive potential of every placement and every aspect in our charts. Self-defeat is far more of a problem for most of us than anything an outsider can inflict. Do you know the ways you are your own worst enemy? Traditionally, astrologers have looked at the twelfth house for the answer to this question, but I feel the whole chart should be surveyed. All those difficult sign and house placements and all those troublesome aspects will show you how you're contributing to your own problems.

The self-defeating patterns in our lives are like patterns you use in making dresses. The same one can be used over and over again. The dresses may look a little different because of variations in material, color, or length, but it's basically the same pattern. Likewise, the people you get involved with romantically (or, likewise, as friends, or in work situations) might look a bit different in the beginning but wind up being alike in the end. For instance, one woman who wrote to my advice column had been married three times and all three of her husbands beat her. I told her that three abusive husbands were an embarrassment of riches, that she was choosing these men, and that unless she got into therapy, I could confidently predict that the next man she got hooked up with would beat her too. My prediction wasn't based on astrology, it just stood to reason.

Once you can identify a pattern of self-defeating behavior, however, the chart can lead you to an understanding of exactly what is behind it and how to begin correcting it. A problem in love? Look at Venus, the seventh house, and its ruler. Communication blocks keep you from being understood? Look at Mercury, the third house, and its ruler. Trace it all the way back to its roots-it's not enough to say that Mercury in Scorpio shows that you are reserved about expressing your feelings outwardly. How did you get that way? The chart can tell you that, too, if you look at it psychologically.

One of the more common roots of self-defeat and probably the most devastating is self- hatred. Self-hatred is one of the most painful emotions you can feel. It is also one of the most crippling, because when you hate yourself, you act in ways that lead others to reject you or in self-defeating ways that cause you to fail. The rejections and failures then make you hate yourself even more. How can you break out of this cycle? By trying to find out what causes the self hatred and then getting past it to accept and finally to love yourself. I doubt if any psychotherapist would quarrel with that, and psychotherapy may be needed to accomplish this deceptively simple-sounding thing. I do think, however, that astrology and a thorough understanding of your chart can help in this process. The person's natal horoscope can give a short-cut by identifying those nebulous, generally unconscious, and often irrational-seeming conflicts within the person which lead to self-hatred.

Sometimes we only get at our self-hatred by indirect means - examining what we hate in others. We have all probably had the experience of taking an immediate and powerful dislike to someone we just met. . . and maybe had it pointed out to us none too kindly that we disliked that person precisely because they were too much like us in some unpleasant way. What we reacted to so strongly in them was actually something in ourselves that we don't like to face up to.

This goes for sun signs as well. Richard Ideman, a profound astrological thinker, has pointed out that the signs you hate tell a great deal - not necessarily about the sign per se - but about yourself. By the psychological mechanism of projection, we "disown" parts of ourselves that we don't approve of, or are uncomfortable with, and assign them to someone or some group outside ourselves. "Me? Yearning to be passive and helpless instead of so darned self-sufficient? No, it's those Pisces!" (Stereotypes and prejudices are based on projections such as these, and perhaps astrological prejudices could become the prejudices of the New Age, now that we're "too enlightened" for the old ethnic ones.)

You may be amused by an illustration of astrological projection, the mechanism which Richard Ideman has identified so well, at work in one of the astrology classes I taught, a group of ardent feminists. A couple of the students began talking about the signs they hated. On instinct, I asked one of them, "What sign do you dislike most?""Oh, Geminis! They're disgusting!""What sign is your father? " I hazarded."Gemini! "

I went around the room like that, asking each of them what sign she disliked most. Dramatically, each one of them, myself included, named the sun sign of her father. Now this would only be an amusing curiosity, possibly revealing something about the roots of our feminism, if it were not for one tragic fact. Our parents, as shapers of ourselves, are part of our charts and part of our character. I may not be a Pisces, as my father was, but my Sun is in a water sign and located in the twelfth house, making me not unlike him. The fact that I generally do not like Pisces says that I dislike a very important part of myself, and that I need to get in touch with that part and reconcile it with the rest of me in order to be truly healthy.

You, too, are probably carrying around in your chart the signs you love to hate. Look for them in unsuspected places. If you have Sun conjunct Jupiter but can't bear Sagittarians, look out-you are practically a Sag yourself. If you hate Aries with a passion but have Mars on the Ascendant, then you hate the aggressive, competitive part of yourself. Can't stand Gemini? Isn't that where you have your South Node? Virgos set your teeth on edge? Strange, with a stellium in the sixth house, you have such a lot in common! Look for the signs you hate in your own chart- you may find out you are projecting an important part of yourself.

Then there is what I call the Sunday School or confessional brand of self-hatred. . . so named because it happens periodically, when we feel called upon to examine our faults, and because it generally has a moralistic cast to it. 'Why am I so BAD? What makes me do these terrible things? It is BAD to be so competitive!" Generally in these cases what we are doing is identifying ourselves with one part of our chart at the expense of another (often major) part. The part we identify with and want to be like is often that part our parents or society approved of as "good," and the part of ourselves we disown is what our parents told us was "bad." Cultural conditioning plays its part too . . . in our culture, it is considered "bad" or "unnatural" if a man shows strongly Venusian characteristics. Actually a strong Venus in a man's chart is neither good nor bad, but only his nature.

The side of us our parents approved of is often reflected in our rising sign or ascendant. The ascendant shows our ways of trying to get along with others-our front or our tools for getting along in the world. The ascendant is not our essential self . . . the Sun and Moon are far more basic to our character. It is dismaying to me how many people are totally identified with their ascendant. A terribly meek double Leo friend-Sun and Moon in Leo-was much more receptive to astrology once she found out she had Pisces rising. "I always thought I was much more like a Pisces. Why, Leos aren't nice people!" A double Leo who shows none of that Leo at all is a Leo in a heck of a lot of trouble. I call that kind of trouble "getting trapped in your ascendant. "

A client who was trapped in her ascendant was a Gemini with Sun conjunct both Uranus and Saturn. She had Cancer rising, and this was what most people saw of her-mother to the world. When I pointed out to her that she really didn't have a motherly bone in her body, she admitted that she really resents having to take care of all those people. "But it's BAD to be the way you described my Sun! " It took her a long time to accept that not only was it not bad for her to be her Sun, it was more real and more truly herself. I told her I felt she was brilliant, that she was wasting a lot of time mothering people who did not in the least appreciate being mothered, and that she would do a lot more for mankind in the end if she concentrated on developing the tremendous potential of her Sun.

Much self-hatred, then, can come about when the basic natures of your Sun and Moon or Ascendant are in disagreement. Another source can be hard aspects like squares or oppositions. A square, in particular, demands a resolution of the conflict within, and all too often a phony resolution comes about by identifying with one of the planets in the square against the other. Which side of the square you will take is somewhat unpredictable, possibly depending on the relative strengths of the two planets. The other side will also come out, however, perhaps in a disguised or unconscious manner that causes you to undo what you are consciously working toward.

Let us take, as an example, two people who have Mars square Neptune. The conflict may be "resolved" in two different ways, depending on their upbringing. A person, brought up in a deeply religious home where the child's natural competitiveness and aggression are regarded as "bad" may suppress open competition and compete in religious fanaticism-becoming a "holier than thou" type or an evangelist, for what is evangelism but a disguised lust for conquest? The other person with Mars square Neptune may have been brought up in a home which was terribly competitive and ridiculed compassion and spirituality, and may resolve the conflict by making a religion out of war and patriotism. Note how in both cases a strong hint of the suppressed planet comes through in a disguised way. A suppressed (in technical terms, repressed) planet is still very active, on the unconscious level, where it can often work in an unhealthy and self-defeating way. There are healthy ways of resolving the Mars- Neptune conflict, but not by ganging up on one of them and glorifying the other.

When you have two planets in conflict with each other or your Sun or Moon clashes with your ascendant, what can you do? Well, first stop making value judgments! The two things in conflict are both valid parts of yourself. They are neither intrinsically good nor bad, they just are. In order to find health and a degree of comfort, you must be fully aware of the needs and drives represented by both sides of the conflict and find some ways for both of them to be satisfied. For instance, I once did a chart reading for a woman with Sun in Capricorn and Moon in Aquarius. She had enormous responsibilities and drove herself to exhaustion, never taking vacations. Meanwhile, her Moon in Aquarius yearned for freedom-to break away, to do kinky things, to get rid of all those responsibilities. The conflict was beginning to affect her health. I explained all this to her, and, partly in jest, I wrote a realistic looking prescription: "Rx: One free weekend a month, getting away from it all." She was so relieved at getting permission to take care of her own needs that she framed it and now faithfully refills her prescription once a month.

By becoming familiar with all the parts of your chart you will know yourself better. Recognize that each of the symbols in the chart represents a valid part of you that exists and must find an expression. Repressing or pushing aside some part of yourself is only asking for trouble - emotional or physical trouble - or else "trouble" from the outside world that you bring on yourself. Remember that any repressed part of yourself will find expression in disguised, unconscious ways that may be unhealthy for you. Perhaps it will help you to accept yourself better if you get to understand the positive side of each planet, sign, house, and aspect. Your Mars in Scorpio in the third may lack tact, but you can work on that-what it does do is give you a very keen, analytical mind. . . a precious gift, for sure.

Some self-dislike can be valid. . . if you are expressing only the negative side of something in your chart. But disliking something about yourself and then going to work on it is a much healthier response than brooding on something and letting it grow to self-hatred. Self-hate and guilt are immobilizing and non-productive. Working toward a positive level of expression of your chart and its difficult points will change your image of yourself, and your self-love will grow. Realize, however, that we can exist at many different levels of functioning at the same time. Some of us may develop more quickly in the mental areas (Mercury, Uranus) than in the emotional areas (Moon, Neptune), while others might develop more fully in the relationship areas (Venus) first. Therefore, it doesn't make sense to judge ourselves harshly or to compare ourselves to others. We should also understand that it is unrealistic to expect perfection, and that it is very human to regress (go backwards) a little in times of stress in order to restabilize and to recharge before taking another forward step for growth.

Another source of self-hatred lies in faulty definitions. It is the old joke: "He says I'm stingy; I say I'm a good manager". . . only in reverse. We define ourselves, often, in very negative and uncharitable ways. . . not seeing that the very things we see as weaknesses, others may see as strengths. The oyster, for all we know, may regard that pearl as a hideous while we regard it as a precious jewel. Likewise, a person with Mercury in Taurus may regard it as a defect that her thinking is very concrete. . . Others may consider her quite refreshingly down to earth and sensible. It's all in your definitions of yourself. That's why it can be quite helpful, even for an advanced student of astrology, to have your chart done several times by others who may be able to give different perspectives on you and foster a more positive self-definition.

Take a long view of things also. The qualities that start off as weaknesses often develop into tremendous strengths, as we try so hard to compensate for them. (This is often the case with the house and sign your Saturn falls in.) You need to periodically re-define yourself. By hard work, you may have already overcome some of the weaknesses you are still feeling inferior about. Let your consciousness catch up with your growth. Or, you may still be in the process - we are always in process - of overcoming some of them, but at least see where you are in that process and how far you've come.

Other parts of ourselves that we regard as weaknesses are merely the consequences of specialization. The more time and energy you devote to any one thing, the less you have for something else, purely as a matter of course. I feel badly sometimes that I can't paint or draw, but I paint and draw with words, because that is where I have chosen to specialize. People with a stellium (a group of three or more planets) in one sign or house, or with Sun and Moon in one sign or house, or who have most of their planets in one quadrant of the chart, are especially prone to overspecialization. If you have a chart like this, you will find a great deal of your energy concentrated in one area of life.

Naturally, you will develop more skill and ability in that area of concentration and may consequently be lacking in other areas our culture may define as desirable or important. But why hate yourself for those lacks? Only by some degree of specialization and devotion can you build something really worthwhile. Many of the greatest talents of our time are one-sided people because they devote so much time to practicing their art. But to hate themselves for being one-sided? That's as silly as a great neurosurgeon hating himself because he can't pull teeth.

Self-hatred can also be a rather strange inversion of self-love. "Look at me! I'm so TERRIBLE! I'm the biggest monster on earth!" How very important that makes you, doesn't it? Neptunians often fall into this pattern - or Pisces-Leo combinations like my "meek" double Leo friend, who loved to dramatize her own sense of worthlessness. I asked a question in a poem once, and I still think it's a good one: "why is true humility so foreign to the self- hating?" Find some other way of being important besides being miserable.

If you behave in self-defeating ways, start now to overcome these crippling patterns. In some cases, psychotherapy may be needed, but begin by understanding your natal chart in depth. It is a priceless tool for gaining perspective on the self, for finding the roots of conflict and self-defeat within us. By discovering the sources of self-defeat and self hatred in your chart, you will be able to free the life affirming parts to work more openly. Only by accepting all parts of yourself and allowing them positive expression can you become a healthy, fully integrated person.

A Gift from India

The public is often amazed to learn that in the realm of astrology, the Sun sign column found in their local newspaper is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. There are many systems of astrology emanating from such diverse cultures as the Babylonians, Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks, Mayans and Hindus. All have developed extensive astrological systems. Jyotish astrology springs forth from the ancient Vedas of India, and is reportedly thousands of years old.



What is Vedic astrology?

Vedic astrology originally comes to us from the Rig Veda, the oldest of the four Vedas, the spiritual Bible of ancient India. The Vedas were an oral tradition passed down from family to family, generation to generation. These works contain the spiritual teachings of Hinduism. Much later in their history the Vedas were put in a written form, and so it is with Jyotisha as well. We also find astrological references abound in the great oral Epics of India, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, particularly in the most famous portion of the Mahabharata, the Bhagavadgita. Such ancient works as the Vedanga Jyotish and the Surya Siddhanta shed further light on both the astronomy and astrology of ancient India.

Later in history, about the 5th century AD, many of the previous oral astrological teachings were put into written form. Many of India's most well known Astrologers-Sages lived during this time. Such personages as Parasara, Vaharamihira, Kalyana Varma and Mantreswar and their masterpieces on Vedic Astrology, e.g. Hora Shastra, Brihat Jataka, Saravali and the Phaladeepika, are still readily available today, having been translated into English many times over. In our times, such prolific Indian authors as the late Dr. B. V. Raman have popularized Vedic astrology in Western culture. In the last decade there has been a resurgence of Vedic Astrology in the United States facilitated by such American authors as James Braha, David Frawley and Ronnie Gale Dreyer, and their books; Ancient Hindu Astrology for the Modern Western Astrologer, The Astrology of the Seers, and Vedic Astrology: A Guide to the Fundamentals of Jyotish.

How is Vedic Astrology different from Western Astrology?

The astrology of India is different from Western astrology in that Vedic astrologers use a different Zodiac. There are two Zodiacs: the Tropical and the Sidereal. Western astrology uses the Spring Equinox as the starting point of Aries in the month of March. Meanwhile, Vedic Astrology uses the precessed constellation of Aries, currently in the month of April, to start the Sidereal Zodiac. The difference between the two Zodiacs is currently 22 to 24 degrees. So, if you were born up to 22 to 24 degrees into a particular sign in the Tropical Zodiac, say the sign of Aries, you will now become recognized by the previous sign, in this case Pisces. In this manner all the planets, as well as the ascendant, in your astrological chart will move backward into the previous degrees of the same or earlier sign. This major difference between the two systems shocks many new and old comers to astrology alike.

Western Astrology uses the Spring Equinox in the month of March to start the Tropical Zodiac in the constellation of Aries. Meanwhile, Vedic Astrology uses the precessed constellation of Aries, currently in the month of April, to start the Sidereal Zodiac

How can there be two Zodiacs? Which one is correct?

There really is no correct Zodiac. The answer, of course, depends on our perspective. Relative to your point in the universe, the world reveals itself to you. For instance, viewed from the earth the heavens have a particular order and appear to be moving through zodiacal signs that are very different than if viewed from the Sun. This is the difference between geocentric astrology, from the Greek words meaning earth- centered, and heliocentric astrology, from the Greek words meaning Sun-centered. Your vantage point can be said to determine your perceptual reality. This is true also of the two Zodiacs, depending on the vantage point of the seasonal equinoxes, which characterizes Western astrology or the vantage point of the fixed stars, which characterizes Vedic astrology. Reality is indeed a relative construct that can best be described in the adage what you see is what you get! It all depends on your point of view.

A second vantage point of Vedic Astrology is the cosmological, spiritual viewpoint of the ancient Hindu, or Vedic culture. The sacred writings of ancient India are embodied in the Vedas, Brahmanas, Puranas and Upannishads. Their spiritual and philosophical precepts are deeply ingrained in the concepts of Jyotisha. In fact, Vedic astrology is a Vedanga, one of the six limbs of the Vedas and thus it is a natural extension of the spiritual belief systems of Hinduism. This value system of ancient India is part and parcel of Vedic astrology. This view is very different in its values and conceptual view of life from our modern western cultural viewpoint. For example, the purushartas, or the four pursuits of life, as outlined in the Vedas are: Dharma, Artha, Kama, and Moksha. The Sanskrit word Dharma, means our purpose, or duty in life. The word Artha, reflects our attitude toward the accumulation of money and resources. The word Kama, reflects the desires of the individual. Lastly, the word Moksha, reflects the desire of every soul to enlighten itself from the confinement of this world. These pursuits are qualified and clarified in the fundamentals of Jyotisha. Frameworks, such as this, and the Hindu doctrines of Samsara, the belief in past lives, and Karma, the influence of these past lives on the current life situation, lend a unique perspective to a Vedic astrology reading.

Why has there been such an intensified interest in Vedic astrology in recent times?

This is the question I am asked most frequently and it is the most challenging to answer. From my vantage point as a professional astrologer, I believe that for some time the discerning Western mind has been going through a crises in culture, questioning the very values of the times in which we live. This discontent has long been fermenting and is tragically once again echoed in the continuing conflict of East and West. Sadly, this long standing crisis is no longer just an intellectual debate between respected parties. It has spilled into the streets of every city in North America.

A well respected philosopher and Western astrologer, Richard Tarnas, speaks to the roots of this developing crises in his masterpiece The Passion of The Western Mind. (Harmony Books, 1991) He chronicles the western mind from Plato and Aristotle to Kant and Einstein. The pertinent question being: Has our materially prosperous culture given the Western mind any peace of mind? Perhaps not. There is a growing restlessness in the western mind that is looking for answers beyond the scope of our material and technological breakthroughs and achievements. The search for answers takes many Western minds back to the Eastern mind of the Greeks and Babylonians, as well as the rishis and sages of ancient India. Their view of the cosmos is finding renewed interest in our time. Witness the interest and continuing popularity of Deepak Chopra's books such as Quantum Healing (Bantam Books, 1990). This Indian-born, Western Doctor of Medicine is taking the wisdom of India's past and cross-fertilizing this knowledge with today's Western wisdom and technology.

Likewise, there is a growing number of Western-minded astrologers who are embracing the ancient Eastern mind as defined through the precepts of Vedic astrology. In fact, there are a growing number of Western astrologers who use both systems of astrology in an attempt to answer the often profound and confounding questions that clients pose concerning the development and timing of particular life issues and the purpose the soul has come to fulfill in its earthly sojourn. In fact, in answering this very question, the earliest of the Vedas exclaims: “If you want to know your swadharma (personal purpose in life) consult a jyotishi (a Vedic astrologer).”

With the very Vedas of India backing their astrological work, the practitioners of Vedic astrology have a strong sense of spiritual community. This sense of a diverse but united spiritual community in Vedic astrology deeply draws the passion of Western-minded astrologers, who more often than not suffer a spiritual persecution and the accompanying isolation for their celestial and spiritual beliefs.

There are more questions than answers to why Vedic astrology is becoming more popular to the Western- minded astrologer. But for the western-minded astrologer who wishes to more fully explore the very meaning of life in these difficult modern times, Vedic astrology offers an ancient astrological perspective that asks these very same profound and confounding questions, questions asked some 5000 years ago by the very authors of the Vedas, the Puranas, the Bramanas, the Upanishads, and the Bhagavadgita. Now, that’s not bad company to be keeping

The purpose of presenting this discourse is two-fold. It is well that new students of astrology obtain a perspective of what this Path requires of them in mental training and what it includes in expansion of knowledge and understanding. Those students who are experienced on the Path should periodically remind themselves of the requirements of their chosen Path and refresh their spiritual aims, methods, and objectives. The Astrological Path is a long one, containing many complexities of unfoldment; the "long- range viewpoint" and quiet, unshakable patience are prime requisites for the fulfillment of any of its phases. Some students, in the present life, may be recapitulating knowledge gained through study in past lives, now ready to begin to apply their knowledge and understanding; some may still be continuing their program of absorption, and still others may be taking their first step on this Path. Regardless of present placement, all should have a comprehensive knowledge of the over-all program that is involved in this complex study so that the spiritual ideal and purpose may be held to unwaveringly.


The art-science called "astr-ology" is the study of universal laws as they apply to evolutionarily unfolding consciousness; consciousness is the one primordial light and the symbols of the "lights"--Sun, Moon, and planets--are used to designate the faculties, vehicles, and powers by which unfolding consciousness becomes aware of divine consciousness. Just as our solar system is one of seven systems comprising a galaxy so each of our "solar-system-lights" is one of a family, inter-related to and interdependent upon each other and the central sun; all being externalizations of the divine creative consciousness of our Logos. Astrology is primarily not a "study of the stars"--that is the astronomer's job. The astrologer is a student of modes of consciousness which are externalized as the planetary, solar, and lunar bodies of our system. We humans have correspondence with these planetary bodies because we and they are creations of the same Divine Source and vibratory affinity aligns us all together in this solar system. The astronomer assists the astrologer in providing scientifically calculated data pertaining to the geocentric and heliocentric relationships of the "lights" to the belt of the zodiacal signs; this data is synchronized with time- space principles of incarnation for the calculation of the natal horoscope which symbolically pictures the present cyclic status of an evolving hu1nan consciousness. The "astr" of astrology refers to "star" only exoterically; esoterically and philosophically it refers to that light which is consciousness. It is by the degree and quality of evolving consciousness that all phenomena, experience, and relationship are interpreted; this refers to the physical body as well as to all environments, activities, endeavors, karmic lessons, aspirations, and ideals. All of these factors are symbolically pictured in essence by the natal horoscope; the sum-total of the "contents" of a chart represents the person's basic inclinations and tendencies in viewpoint--the specific result of the way he exercised his inclinations and tendencies in past lives up to the present life. When the astrological student establishes his awareness of the "astro-path" as being the study of consciousness--ever evolving through incarnated experience and patterned by the great archetypal Principles of the Universe--he will then appropriately evaluate each factor of the study to the basic core and thus maintain all evaluations in proper proportion and perspective. Every factor in a correctly calculated horoscope is an exact picturing of results in consciousness from causes in consciousness. Regeneration of consciousness determines improved conditions, more truthful evaluation of experience and a clearer and more perfect apperception of powers-- potential and actual.

The ancients were encouraged in their apperceptions of Divine Nature and Consciousness by the technique of "personalization;" modes and facets of the Divine Essence were given exposition as "the gods and goddesses." The anglicized versions of some of these divine names are now applied to our identity of the planets--the name of each planet representing a composite or synthesis of divine potentials, principles, and powers. So, in considering the many phases of the Astrological Path we will also personalize, for concreteness, and, in imagination, consider the nature and abilities of one whom we will call "The Master Astrologer," and whom we will identify as the prototype of all astrologers and astrological students, past, present, and future. His name will be "Astrophilus" (he who loves astrology), and he is one who, through many lives during many centuries of time has dedicated himself to the ever-expanding comprehension of astrological principles. As a Master-Astrologer, he is one who now is able to correlate all phases of learning with astrological symbolism. He will be understood to be the "personalized ideal" of all who walk the "Astro-Path."

Astrophilus always has been, is now, and will continue to be aspiritual aspirant. This means that he does not permit his desire for astrological knowledge to supersede his desire for understanding of right use of astrological knowledge. He dedicates his application of knowledge to the service of human enlightenment because he knows that the enlightenment-service is the basic purpose for the attainment of knowledge in the first place. He knows that the maximum fullness of his knowledge is but a fragment of universal wisdom so, with true humility, he keeps his mind and consciousness ever-open and ever-adjustable to the consideration of new ideas. He is as impersonal and honest in his evaluation of his own chart as he is with the chart of anyone else because he knows that only total honesty will nourish his own unfoldment and ability. His intellectual and analytical endeavors--extensive, profound, and crystalline as they may be--are continually nurtured by prayer; whenever the need is felt, he invites the recharging of his consciousness and intuition by the powers of the Super-mind. Every act or endeavor in his astrological service is dedicated and consecrated by his love for God and fellow-humans. He recognizes that he is "Elder Brother" to--probably--most of humanity, but he never forgets that he himself is as much a child of the Divine Parent as is the most ignorant and uninspired of his fellows. His calculation of each horoscope is an act of spiritual ritual by which the forces of his mind, consciousness, and Spirit are focalized and unified to the fulfillment of his service.

As a Brother, Astrophilus is sincerely appreciative of the endeavors and aspirations of humans on all paths which serve human enlightenment and regeneration. Through his many past lives he has shared the absorption of knowledge with fellow- students who represent all lines of inquiry and investigation. He maintains an essential gratefulness toward all teachers and experiences which serve to further his astrological, philosophical, and spiritual education. In finding a correlation between his chart and any experience, he appreciates the experience, however painful or difficult, because it served to expand his knowledge and understanding. He regrets and resents no experience; the healthy adjustability of his mind--dedicated to the reception of Truth-- permits no morbid retention of negative interpretations of experience but rather rejoices in each and every opportunity for the expansion of comprehension and apperception. He seeks always to avoid attitudes or viewpoints of bias and so refuses to retain in consciousness that quality of mental action that breeds prejudice or false approbation. He strives to regard his own experiences with spiritual equity so that he may more perfectly represent the equity of true enlightenment to those he helps.

As a scientist, Astrophilus is first of all a mathematician and geometrician. The technical aspects of his work require a fluent comprehension of all arithmetical principles and of certain principles revealed through geometry. Since algebra is the mathematical exposition of the universal Law of Correspondence, a knowledge of this branch of science enables Astrophilus to evaluate and tabulate any and all vibratory equations to be found in a given chart, or which form the "patterns of linkage" between two or more charts. In his training, back in the early days in Atlantis, Chaldea, and Egypt, Astrophilus learned that accuracy in mathematical calculation and comprehension not only externalized the apperception of a mode of Truth, but acceptance of the mental disciplines involved in training externalized the sincerity of his pursuit of truth. Accuracy is truth externalized; and because of the tremendous complexity of "things" which are studied on the Astrological Path, the willingness to discipline the mental body so that the right results are obtained in mathematical endeavors is an important factor in the astrologer's dedication to his service. Whenever it is possible to do so, Astrophilus always seeks to determine the accuracy of all data; he works with that data in such a way that the maximum accuracy may be obtained. In his teaching-work, Astrophilus encourages his students in every way possible to appreciate the value of mathematical training; he knows from his own experience that Humanity owes a great debt to Mathematics for what it provides in disciplining, harmonizing, and focalizing the mental vehicles and the powers of consciousness. To engage successfully in mathematical endeavors, one cannot be satisfied with anything less than right (truthful) results!

It is interesting--and significant--to note that so many forms of visual exploration are made through a circular frame-work. Our two eyes are focused in such a way that everything we see is through a "circular window;" the astronomer gazes through a circular mechanism to study and explore a portion of the solar system, a galaxy or some other division of the phenomenal universe exterior to the earth; the chemist and biologist peer through a circular microscope to study the "littleness" of material phenomena. In his work as a student of human consciousness, Astrophilus centers his attention also on a circular diagram formed by a certain arrangement of the zodiacal belt which contains a specialized set of symbols placed according to accurate mathematical principles and which convey a revelation of spiritual laws. Astrophilus is a specialist in the sense that his prime objective is to serve the furthering of human enlightenment but the principles which are inherent in his specialized study are germane to all forms of exploration made by other scientists.

As far as scope of knowledge is concerned, Astrophilus "takes hands" with all of his brother-scientists; the essences of his study and exploration are found to be represented in some form or degree in all other branches of study by which the nature of the universe is revealed and comprehended. In the degree that the nature of the universe is comprehended does the realization of unity with the universe unfold. Astrophilus must use the powers of analysis just as a chemist does, but in addition he must also synthesize because his purpose is not to teach the "separateness of man from the universe" but to reveal the unity of humans with each other, with all creatures, and with divine source. The analytical factor in his study pertains to the human as an individualized aspect of consciousness, with particular karmic requirements of experience and particular "personal tendencies." The factor of synthesis is actually a process of the Higher Mind by which Astrophilus may assist the person to experience an expansion of awareness of unity within himself through developing spiritual autonomy and of awareness of unity with other humans through affinity of common destiny and evolutionary goal.

Astrophilus, in addition to being a scientist, mystic, and priest, is also an interpretative artist. He seeks to find, through study of horoscopical indications, those modes and techniques by which the person concerned may through regeneration of consciousness become consciously more and more aware of the beauties of his own spiritual consciousness. Every principle used in astrological representation has its counterpart in one--or all--of the fine arts. In an over-all survey of astrological factors, we find design, rhythm, color (by implication), structure, mass (by implication), spectrum, and every conceivable aspect of beauty that can be realized or externalized by human beings. During the many years and lives of his experience, Astrophilus enjoyed contact with artists and artistic interpreters of all kinds. His spiritual affinity to these persons was based on the inspirational factor inherent in all artistic expression and enlightenment-service. To "enlighten" might be thought of as a process by which "light is thrown into consciousness" or "the presence of light in consciousness is revealed." Any human, by whatever mode or means, who serves to reveal harmony to other persons is an inspirator; harmony is the revelation of equilibrium throughout all parts of a thing and it is the conscious re-attainment of equilibrium that characterizes our evolutionary goal. It was from that state that we were projected, as individualizations, at the start of our experience as humans. All apperception of Beauty is a glimpse of the "heaven in our own consciousness," and through his knowledge of alchemy, Astrophilus is able to help people understand how they may effect conscious regeneration of their inner powers and thereby unfold wider and purer apperceptions of the beauty of their divine nature.

After many lives devoted to the practice of realized truths and in accordance with high ethical standards, Astrophilus found a strange and wonderful awakening in his own consciousness. It pertained to a cognition that "the planets" which he had studied for so long in horoscopes were modes by which the divine revealed itself through human consciousness. As a result, Astrophilus found himself becoming more and more conscious of God's presence in all planetary aspects--each aspect being thus perceived to be an indication not of "absolute evil" or "absolute good" but rather that of spirit-ual viewpoint. The hitherto-considered "evil" aspects were then perceived to be, in truth, symbolic pictures of experience-methods by which a human must ultimately realize his own divine nature. All square and opposition aspects register karmically timed and karmically qualified conditionings from which, through incarnate experience, the human is to be brought face-to-face with the results of past thought and action; from experiencing these results he is to apprehend in greater degree those modes of thought and action which further, rather than obstruct, evolutionary unfoldment and realization of the Spirit's highest ideals.

Reader, these things said herein about "Astrophilus" are really being said about you-- now an astrological student, perhaps a practitioner--who from some point on the Path may unfold the powers of the perfectly trained mental vehicle, the winged power of intuition and the diamond-clear power of clair-cognition through your continued and devoted application to astrological study. May the Spirit within grant you the strength of patience, the buoyancy of inspirational joy, and the blessing of ever-expanding appreciation of your fellow-humans through the truth- pursuing study of horoscopes as the need for such study may be brought to your attention. Life provides all opportunity to fulfill the Astrological Path.

A lot of people think it does, and the preponderance of evidence also suggests that it does. People have been practicing Astrology for thousands of years, and if it were just a passing fad, it would never have persisted over the millennia. The problem is, nobody knows why it works, though some fairly good theories have been put forth in the last 100 years or so.

Astrology has been used to tell us about ourselves since ancient times, and has only been separated from it's parent discipline - Astronomy - for the last few generations. Modern media has made a farce of Astrology, but in the end, with further research, it will hopefully become much more mainstay.

That's not to say that powerful, important people today don't recognize the validity - we have all heard about Nancy Reagan's' belief in Astrology - and many other important people consult their astrologers before jumping into the frying pan of life, too.

A significant study was done in the 1950's that suggests that we are influenced by the magnetic forces generated by the interactions of planets and the sun. We know that the earth itself is, in essence, a magnet - and it has a magnetic field that extends over 3 times it's circumference. It would be silly to think that this magnetic field doesn't affect us somehow, and this may be the basis for the accuracy of Astrology. Simply put, it is not an individual planet or the sun per se that influences when we are born, what we are, or what we will become, as much as it is the magnetic interaction between them all that determines our fate. Obviously, choices and life circumstances also contribute, which explains why we are not all millionaires.

Genetics also appear to play a major role in Astrology, and a confluence of magnetic signals due to planetary and solar interaction, absorbed into a yet undefined receptor in the mother's womb, may be a very important trigger as far as the actual moment of birth, as well as with what transpires in the lifetime after birth. Thus, the eerie accuracy of Zodiacal Signs.

Regardless of the technicalities, each and every one of us can use Astrology as vehicle with which to start sorting out all kinds of problems that hamper our success in daily life. It can bring to light why we are attracted to some, and give us clues as to why others seem to be bent on antagonizing us. For people dating or contemplating marriage, a good look at the other person's astrological characteristics may prevent major problems in the future. Often, when meeting someone new, that person doesn't seem to fit their profile - but as you will see, in time it becomes absolutely amazing how close they really are to that original profile.