Astrology – A Guide to Self-Awareness

If you’ve read my previous blog posts, you’ve no doubt figured out my bias lies toward a psychological understanding of the birth chart. Astrology is a great tool for understanding people — their strengths, their weaknesses, and their hang-ups.

You’ve also probably figured out that my bias goes against blaming the planets. I agree with the late Donna Cunningham that “. . . our lives are not controlled by things out there, but are shaped by our own thought patterns.”

The planets don’t cause bad things to happen to us. Bad things tend to happen to us because of the self-defeating, neurotic choices we make. Sun in Pisces doesn’t make you an addict. Abusing substances makes you an addict.

When you lose your job or get divorced, it’s easy to blame your horoscope. That’s just a cosmic version of passing the buck.

On the flip side, the planets don’t cause good things to happen to us, either.

The planets represent potential. Drives. Inclination. That makes astrology a great tool for self-analysis. It can point out the ways we cause our own self-fulfillment or self-defeat.

For example, the placement of Mars and the aspects Mars makes to other planets can, in some cases, incline a native to be hyper-aggressive. This can cause problems in group dynamics when they attempt to dominate. Periodic outbursts of rage can adversely affect their relationships. Etc.

Once a pattern of self-defeating behavior is identified, the birth chart can help understand what’s behind it, and that’s the first step to go about changing it.

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