Astrologers are always being asked questions. By open-minded members of the public. By closed-minded-members of the public. By one’s friends and family. By clients. By students. By interviewers for various media outlets. I set up this blog in June 2013 ( can it REALLY be that long ago?! ) and thought it might be a good idea – whilst I am recovering from having been flattened by truly the worst flu I can ever remember – to repost the very first post, slightly edited and updated to reflect contemporary events.
Here is the very first question:
Would it be fair, then, to say that astrology is descriptive rather than predictive? It occurs to me that much of the fascination with newspaper ‘astrology’ columns is related to their use as fortune-telling!
……from Linda Leinen, USA…….and my favourite blogger at the wonderful The Task At Hand.
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It’s fair to say that astrology is both descriptive and predictive. There are many facets to this statement. However, just a few examples should throw at least some light on Linda’s interesting question.
Descriptive
A properly drawn up horoscope using your date, place, and time of birth can allow me to provide you with a clear description of the characters who are acting out the play of your particular life, to use a familiar but useful analogy.The Sun represents only one character, thereby revealing right away how limited popular Sun Sign astrology is. The other characters are represented by the Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto (recently demoted by astronomers, but remaining very potent symbolically!).
The astronomical relationships between the nine planets plus the moon, when drawn onto the horoscope (see picture below – click on the image to enlarge) show the conversations, debates, disagreements and compromises happening between the major characters on your life’s stage.
Donald J Trump
Their action takes place against the backdrop of the twelve Houses of the horoscope, each representing a particular sphere of life. Then I have to take the Ascendant (how you appear to the world) the Midheaven (speaking of vocation/life direction) and several other factors including Chiron (where both wounding and healing take place)) into account. In addition, I need to consider and feed back what the interactions between all those factors are.
Reading a horoscope effectively needs both an experienced, self aware, sensitive astrologer and a client who truly wishes to reflect on their gifts, pains, preoccupations, fears, motivations etc in an honest and open way. A horoscope can be seen as the static drawing of a pattern of living energy ie a human being.
Thus, as an astrologer, I am working with explaining and discussing a number of different levels of manifestation which can and do arise from each symbol. Your birth horoscope is determined by your date, place and time of birth – factors over which we apparently have no control. This can be seen as the fated dimension. But what you do with those energies depends, to a considerable degree, on the levels of self awareness you bring to the choices you make as life unfolds. Therein free will probably lies….
However – you really have to experience a quality astrology reading fully to understand its power and value.
Predictive
Yes, any competent astrologer can predict very accurately when planetary influences from the unfolding energies through time and space, both in the present and in the future, are going to engage with the energy patterns which can be read from a birth horoscope. S/he can also plot out with complete accuracy how long this engagement is going to last; anything from a few days to several years.
But one can only speculate about the level of manifestation of those energies….
A simplified example: Venus in your natal horoscope represents relationship(s). The planet Uranus represents the urge to break down old patterns and is unpredictable, disruptive in its impact. If this planet is going to be exactly engaging with your natal Venus, eg for the whole of 2017, then I think you can work out without me telling you that this will not be the most peaceful uneventful year in your relationship life!
I can in this way predict the core of Uranus’ (or any planet’s) impact on any part of a client’s horoscope.Working out what the branches of manifestation arising from that core might be, however, is not something which can be done exactly. Of a few guesses, one might be accurate.
Then there is the danger to the client that if I choose a specific branch which I think might manifest, this could well collapse a whole range of possible outcomes into one only. In this way, I as the astrologer may be helping self-fulfilling prophecy along the way.
Personally, I think it is sufficient to describe the core manifestation of a planet’s impact, and work with the person regarding what they will do with this information.
A concluding observation on prediction. It is an inexact pursuit for all who attempt it, from economists through weather forecasters through astrologers.
The latter failed to spot that World War Two was about to break out, for example, although there are many examples of astrologers delivering exactly the right level at which energies would manifest (ask google about this, especially the famous prediction about the death of Henry the Second of France….).
Also, in the recent USA election, astrologers’ predictions regarding whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump would become president, were both right AND wrong. Most predicted that Mrs Clinton would win, and were correct since she won the popular vote by around 3 million votes. However, Trump got the Presidency – because he won via the Electoral College system by which Americans elect their president.
Science teaches us that we live in a universe which conducts a great dance between order and chaos, where probability and indeterminacy, not exactitude, are the order of the day. I like that!
There is a great deal more that can be said. But I hope this is sufficient to give my readers a thought-provoking introduction – and to stimulate more astrological questions on any aspect of astrology.
Zodiac
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1000 words copyright Anne Whitaker 2013/2017
Licensed under Creative Commons – for conditions see Home Page
Astrology: Questions and Answers 
I’m sorry about your flu, but happy to know it hasn’t gotten you completely down — however close you may be! Isn’t it amazing to ponder how much time has passed since we first met, and how much has happened? The next months are going to be chaotic, no question about that. Here’s wishing the best for you, and for both our countries!
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Many thanks for the commiserations, Linda. That flu deserves a sideseswipe – before one gets to more interesting matters. Yes, we have been commenting on each other’s blogs for nearly a decade, now! And what a pleasure that has been. As you say, so much has happened too. I never expected to be returning to work at an age when everyone else was trying to retire, for example;but there you go…and writing, as always,has been the continuous thread running through it all. I wish you, your wonderful writing, and your varnishing, all the very best too. In many ways, where our respective nations have got to, ours in microcosm of yours, are mirror images. But Carl Sandburg, I think, has got it about right. ‘The People, Yes’, is a brilliant poem…
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Thanks for sharing your first post with insightful updates. Ecuador has its own elections soon, and candidates are upping the campaign, visiting pueblitos, blowing horns, loud music, and promising to do better than previous ones did!
January would not be the best of months to be recovering from the flu… May your strength return pronto!
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Many thanks, Lisa, your commiserations appreciated. I have much more interesting things I’d prefer to be doing with my time…but the body demands rest, and prolongs illness if you don’t oblige. I have to to confess to being sick to the back teeth of politics, and deeply fascinated, simultaneously. My Web friend and writing colleague Linda Leinen, whom you also follow and who in my view is one of the best writers on the planet, posted an extract from Carl Sandburg’s ‘The People, Yes’on her blog just after the USA Inauguration. Sandburg says it all…
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I agree with you regarding dear Linda; reading her posts is a balm to the soul. Anyone who apreciates the written word surelly notices her amazing gift.
Yes, our bodies sometimes sam us to a hat if we think we know more than it does regarding our health! I’m still experiencing ‘down days thanks to lingering side effects from dengue/chikungunya.’ I do little except rest (and read!) and usualy the next day my energy reserves have been restored.
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Yes, well, like you I had to learn the hard way to listen to what my body was telling me. So now, like you, I see the warning signs and take note of them. Wouldn’t it have been great to have had such good sense in our early years, eh what?! I’ve never yet met anyone with spirit and imagination who didn’t have to be hurled against Life’s Hard Wall a few times before acquiring a bit of humility…that seems to be the way it goes.
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ha! that made me laugh – re: hurled against the Hard Wall! I recently read somewhere about the topic of reincarnation and some who have made hundreds of ‘visits’ — it was said, tonge in cheek, that they were slow learners!
Oh yes, to be able to start Life with ‘Old” wisdom intact – we’d be soaring and making wise decisions regarind health — and maybe living for a very long time!
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Yes, but the journey would probably be less eventful and interesting…
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Thank you, Anne, for this perfectly timed reminder: “But one can only speculate about the level of manifestation of those energies….” Thank you, also, for the link to Linda Leinen’s wonderful blog.
May the Year of the Yin Fire Rooster bring you consistent good health.
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And thank you, Leslie, for dropping by with encouraging words. Must go now and look up that Yin Fire Rooster. Sounds good!
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Reblogged this on Lost Dudeist Astrology.
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Much appreciated, GT!
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You are welcome!
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Pingback: Ask an astrologer a question | Astrology: Questions and Answers | The Halau
I’m back, and I hope that you’re feeling well!
Yesterday started on a good note, as I joined two friends to trek to a high ridge over their property in the cloud forest.. We went to a neighbor’s house to ask permission to go through their land/ the shortest route.. neighbor thought perhaps it wasn’t wise, as it was very overgrown.. Second plan, her worker drove us to another site, but just as we were getting in the truck, one of their three dogs crept behind me and bit me in the thigh…. yowch.. i closed the door and discreetly checked w/my hand to be sure i wasn’t bleeding.. no..
Long story short,after a great first hour, we reached difficult trekking and turned around for a retreat.. then took a wrong turn and ended up almost like three little girls lost.. but eventually found our way back just before dark.. and it was raining/we were cold – but happy..
that night i walked a short distance to meet someone who was in town for the night, and after an hour’s visit, i left them at the table overlooking the little river and headed home.. oops, i was locked inside the quiet hotel… then saw an open door at the side-street entrance and – oops walked straight into the glass in that low light.. bam! all fine, but it was a glass door from top to bottom, duh…
a friend mentioned that her bicycle was ‘wrecked’ while being transported in a truck….
so on reflection i wondered, ‘was the entire world a bit off yesterday?’
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Ouch!!! What a day you had…yes, well, the entire world has generally been a bit off since 20th January if you ask me. But for specific individual mishaps, you’d need to check your/ your friend’s personal birth chart with the planets of the day. I trust things have calmed down…
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ha.. i forgot to mention thtt when we returned hours after dark, we met tourist friends in the driveway… planning to leave the next morning, they got out of their car to say ‘goodbye’ and locked the keys (and their things) in the car!
things are moving forward again, and i hope that the same will happen with the world! Thanks, Amiga!
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Hi, I was wondering as I have had two birth charts done. One included the Midheaven and the other included the North Node and they seem to have similar essences – which one should be included in the twelve houses if only one or the other should be? Is one of them in addition like such things as Chiron or True Lillith? Thanks for clearing that up if at all possible.
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Hello Oscar, I hope I have understood your question! Both the Midheaven and the North/South Nodes are essential parts of any horoscope. The Midheaven always begins the Tenth House in the Placidus system which is the house system most commonly used. The North Node and South Node are an axis, one opposite each other, and can fall across any pair of houses. They have certain similarities in that they both speak about life direction – but considerable differences, which would need to be explained in a horoscope reading. Here is the link to the series of posts I recently published on the Nodes, which should give you a clear picture of their deep significance: https://astrologyquestionsandanswers.com/2016/10/06/introducing-the-moons-nodes/
Chiron talks of issues centring around healing and wounding in a person’s life, and I do not use Lillith so can’t help you there. Suggest you google that one!
Hope this helps
Anne
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Hi Anne, thanks for your reply. I did one birth chart and the midheaven was not included anywhere. The north node was in house 12. I did another and both were included. I find it strange if the midheaven was important that it would be left out – it sounds important from what I have read both here and elsewhere.
I also read that there are over 131,000 different combinations over the 12 houses of a person’s potential birth chart – does that increase in number when taking into account Chiron, North and South Node’s? Or is that inclusive?
Thanks for the advice!
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Well, I cannot stretch my paltry braincell far enough to encompass this figure and all its astro-permutations; but I do hope that whoever compiled it DID include Chiron and the Nodes, given their significance…
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Hi Anne, thanks for your previous replies – I am doing a bit of research into Astrology and if this question is too out there I apologise! I know we have known of Astrology for a few thousand years but what about birth charts and the houses? Any idea (roughly) when we came to know about the existence of a birth chart??
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No problem, Oscar! I used to have facts such as these at my fingertips, but to the best of my recollection the first known horoscope dates back to around 160 A.D.
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Hello!
My birthday is 5/11/1984, 05:05am in Athens,Greece. I have relationship with Spiridon. His birthday is 22/2/1980, 08:20am in Athens,Greece.
What development will our relationship have in the future?
Thank you
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Dear Alicia
here are all the details you need re my approach, experience, qualifications, supervision arrangements and professional fees in deciding whether you want a consultation: https://astrologyquestionsandanswers.com/consultations-and-tuition-2017/
Best Wishes
Anne
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