When we look at a birth chart, what are we looking at? A map of karma? The influence of planets? There are many ways to describe it, but for me, it’s a visual representation of consciousness.
Since consciousness precedes every manifested thing, it is your consciousness that creates your life and experiences. So, your birth chart is merely a visual representation of your psyche and the fruits born from it (with a few curveballs thrown in there).
With Astrology, we understand the power of personality and its concrete creative potential. If you take the time to understand the capability of your mind, you will recognize that your will has the power to exalt your life and destiny. Once you know and feel the truth of this, you will never feel inclined to remain unchanged in your character and habitual tendencies of mind.
Have You Ever Witnessed Someone Transform their Personality?
Have you known someone who went through a dramatic change? Maybe they were emotionally bottled up, or cynical and angry, or perhaps depressed. And then you saw them again one day and they were laughing and smiling all the time, they felt light and charismatic. Chances are, you’d wonder what the heck happened. It’s less common to see such a shift in a person, – most settle deeper into their habits. We all know how difficult it is for people to change their minds – changing a personality can feel impossible.
This is exactly why a birth chart can feel so predictable or fated. How stuck are you in your ways? How willing are you to change your mindset? Can you admit to behaviors that hurt you? This is, assuming, you want a different outcome from what you’ve been getting.
Sometimes I get asked how it all works. Do planets create events and is there any changing it? If a chart shows someone will be poor, is there any escaping that? All it shows is how difficult or easy it is for to think in ways that support what you want. But what about actions? Thoughts precede action. Thoughts dictate action, but they dictate much more than that by how they energetically interact with universal forces.
A person will have a desire, but have habitual thoughts that conflict with that desire. Many people want a good outcome but spend too much time thinking about the bad outcome. All it shows is how empowered or insecure you feel about different areas of life. You just can’t expect a good result for something you feel bad about.
Man is certainly not a creature of environments or circumstances. He can control and modify them by his character, thoughts, good actions, and right exertion (Purushartha). Tivra (intense) Purushartha can change the destiny. That is the reason why Vasishtha and Bhishma have placed Purushartha above destiny. Therefore, dear friends, exert! Conquer nature and rejoice in the eternal Satichidananda Atman.
– Sri Swami Sivananda
Sri Swami Sivananda says to “conquer nature” in his quote above, and I’d like to remind you that our astronomy IS nature, and that is part of what he is referring to. Our solar system is our immediate environment – another form of nature that creates “weather” in our lives. Just like a stormy day may ruin some of your plans, or cause some setbacks, you decide whether you let it dictate how you feel that day. You decide what your potential is for yourself without worrying about which time is going to be easier or more challenging.
You Can Change Anything
When you’re not in control of your thoughts, and sequentially your emotions and happiness that stem from those thoughts, it’s hard to feel in control of anything.
If the hardest thing for people to control is their own thoughts, then why not assume control over our thoughts could change everything? The Sages have told us we can, but why take their word for it. Have you tried it? Have you examined the 60,000 thoughts you have per day and realized how many of them keep you stuck, agitated, anxious, repressed, or unmotivated? Why expect the decisions and actions that come during those states of mind to bring anything different from what you’ve been getting?
Some might call me naive (wouldn’t be the first time), but I think you can have anything you want. I think the whole point is to untie the knots that are keeping you from having everything you want. You have knots, I have knots, we’re all a bunch of people gradually working out our knots.
And when those knots come undone, the resistance to what we want falls to the wayside. Suddenly this thing is working out, and this thing is working out, and this other thing is working out. Who knew all these different parts of life could simultaneously thrive?
But, it’s up to you. It’s not up to anyone else and you don’t need anyone else to make things happen for you. Use Astrology to understand your emotional/mental tendencies. Use it to understand your self-imposed limitations and then work out those knots.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” – Carl Jung
That’s all,
Peace.
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