The Most Frequently Asked Questions I Get About Astrology

“Oh, you’re an astrologer?!” People are often quite amused when I tell them what I do for a living but I suppose my career is unorthodox! Anyway, as an astrologer, I’m often asked roughly the same questions about astrology by people who are curious about it. Here are those questions and my answers to them:

What Exactly is Astrology?

You can view astrology as the blueprint you came to earth with. Your birth chart indicates what sort of personality you chose to have in this incarnation, the various obstacles and challenges you decided to experience along with your rewards, strengths, weaknesses, where you came from, and what you chose to do in this lifetime. Of course, how we deal with the events that occur in our lives is up to us. We all have free will.

Is Astrology a Science?

No, it isn’t a science. It’s very much open to each individual’s interpretation. Often, interpretations can actually vary widely. These different interpretations can spark very interesting and lively debates. 

Does Astrology Actually Have any Merit?

Astrology has always faced numerous obstacles, including opposition from the church and skeptics. It continued to be a dynamic and important cultural phenomenon that millions of people all around the world could relate to. Its significance can be seen all throughout history, and I think it’s safe to say that it’s a part of our societal development.

Astrology, alongside other similar subjects, will always attract scepticism, and I think that’s a given, because of its spiritual and esoteric nature. But we cannot forget that great minds like Carl Jung thought of astrology as being valid and found connections between it and the widely accepted science of psychology. His legacy could be seen in the later works of other psychologists who tried to bridge the gap between modern science and astrology, by confirming the validity of astrological methods. 

How Long Has It Been Around?

Astrology is very old. No one knows exactly how old but it has certainly been around for thousands of years. The Babylonians are credited with developing many of its foundational concepts.

What Is the Difference Between My Star Sign and My Birth Chart?

The star sign refers to the Sun sign, which is a small yet significant part of the birth chart. It’s the sign the Sun was in at the time of your birth. The birth chart contains the Sun’s placing along with the placing of all the other celestial bodies in our solar system, and how they relate to one another. It’s essentially a snapshot of the sky when you were born.

What Do the Houses in Astrology Mean?

There are twelve astrological houses and each one represents a few of the different themes of life. The first house is viewed as the most influential as it affects your overall personality, physical appearance, and outlook on life.

Each of the houses represents the following areas of life:

1. How we view ourselves, how we act, our physical appearance, our general outlook on life, and the first impression others have of us.
2. Personal values, talents, skills, and tangible possessions.
3. Communication style, our siblings and other close relatives.
4. Family home, our family and biological lineage. 
5. Creativity, our romantic endeavours, and our children.
6. Work, lifelong responsibilities, our pets, and our physical, mental and emotional well-being.
7. Partnerships both personal and professional, our open enemies and legal matters, our social awareness and interactions.
8. Shared resources, transformative experiences, sexuality, and our spirituality.
9. Higher learning, spirituality, travel and exploration of distant places, teaching, and personal principles. 
10. Career, work, employment, and our public image.
11. Friends, social groups, personal and professional networks, our dreams and goals in life, and our outlook on innovation, change and social reform.
12. Karmic resolution, spiritually and mysticism, hidden enemies, healing, isolation, dreams and the subconscious.

It should be noted that there’s a plethora of different house systems one can use to calculate the house placements. The most commonly used one is the Tropical Placidus system but a handful of astrologers I know like to use the Whole Sign system. Using an online birth chart calculator, you can calculate them using the different systems and use your intuition to discover the one that resonates best with you. 

What Do Aspects Mean?

Aspects are angles made between planets, other celestial bodies like asteroids, houses, and calculated points in the birth chart. There are many different types of aspects and some are regarded as more favorable than others. However, we all have a mix of positive and negative aspects. Some have more of one kind than the other. Just bear in mind that negative aspects can be viewed as opportunities for Soul growth rather than simply bad news.

What Can Affect an Astrological Placement?

MANY things can affect how the energy of a placement manifests. Here are the most prominent influences:

• Your age; we change as we age for numerous reasons including planetary transits 
• The degree of a planet
• The angle of a planet
• How it is aspected or unaspected
• The house it falls in
• Our free will choice; how we choose to act and deal with things
• The dominant signs, houses, elements, and modalities in the birth chart
• Spiritual factors
• Your beliefs, both conscious and unconscious 
• Other factors outside the realm of human awareness

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