Prediction in Astrology: Are We Unwritten?

Astrology Reading at the ASC New Age Fair

Astrologer giving reading

(Astrology Explored)

I am unwritten, can’t read my mind, I’m undefined
I’m just beginning, the pen’s in my hand, ending unplanned

Staring at the blank page before you
Open up the dirty window
Let the sun illuminate the words that you could not find

Reaching for something in the distance
So close you can almost taste it . . .Natasha Bedingfield, “Unwritten”

(note: play Natasha’s song at the bottom of this post while reading)

There are some astrologers who maintain that astrology can’t predict events; that ‘free will’ is too much a part of the human equation to allow for the prediction of events.

I couldn’t disagree more.

My experience in this area spans 44 years when at the precocious age of eleven I picked up my first tarot deck. Twenty years later I started a serious study of astrology and learned to apply the language of the stars to the predictive arts. I became and remain amazed at how the planetary cycles describe so perfectly the things that happen in our lives. Along the way I learned a few things about prediction and they affect how a prediction plays or doesn’t play out.

1.) Every human shares the same life cycle described in the regular movements of the stars. Steven Forrest elegantly pointed this out in his book The Changing Sky. For instance, Saturn Returns produce predictable shifts in our life circumstances. Many of us marry, have a child, or make a major purchase such as a car or a home during this time. Those of us that don’t make this transition into adult responsibilities may have a sense of “missing something” that isn’t easily resolved.

2.) Events described by outer planets are usually slam dunks when it comes to prediction. Unless you are dealing with someone who lives very consciously in the moment (and this is more rare than not) and who applies an act of will to change an outcome, the transits of the outer planets starting with Saturn going outward have pretty standard meanings and predictable outcomes. For instance, Uranus conjunct the Moon usually indicates the severance of a personal tie, the most usual a divorce. However, house position and aspects to other planets tell the tale.

An example of a client living consciously is of one client’s experience with Pluto, the planet of transformation, making a long slow transit of her eighth house. After a financially draining marriage and divorce, her house was in foreclosure and it seemed like she would file bankruptcy. However her attorney advised her that if she did so in her particular financial situation she would lose her house. The client asked me if bankruptcy was in the cards. Even though to her it seemed like a dubious idea, I advised her to explore her options with the available government programs at the time (other people’s money) and work to clear up her accumulated debt. If she could hold out until Pluto cleared her eighth house she could keep her house. Against all hope, she qualified for a state mortgage assistance program and she is in the process of clearing up her other debt. Its Pluto, and it wasn’t easy, but she still has her house and is in a better financial position than when she started. Now, had not the client chosen to live consciously about her options, bankruptcy and the loss of her home would be a foregone conclusion.

3.) Some questions the client asks are flawed in their construction and/or assumptions. Flawed questions muddy the waters and sour the reputation of the astrologer who can’t answer them. However, you can’t return a reliable prediction on such a question. Questions about the acquisition of sudden fortune, meeting soul mates, or sudden and outrageous career success play to the fantasies of the client and denies the realities of his or her life. For instance, more than one client has come to me to ask when “the great love of their life” will return, when that great love has obviously moved on. Edgar Cayce said that all things are possible, but some things are more probable than others. Astrologers need to keep this axiom in mind when advising their clients.

4.) There is a broad range of in the possibilities in the energetic inactions of planets, zodiac sign and house position. Sometimes an effect is weak; sometimes it is strong. There is a lot going on in a chart at any one time and it’s the astrologer’s job to figure out what in the chart is of consequence in the chart, and just where in the life of the client that consequence fits. Its not a job for the faint hearted.

For instance, I noted for one client, due to a planet’s transit of her 10th house that she had a bit of career recognition. She said, “I’m retired.” I asked if she was doing some charity work. She replied in the affirmative. I asked her how that was going and she said she was on television recently to promote her charity. As it turns out, this charity she works for takes a significant portion of her time, in fact, if not in paycheck, a career. Which leads us to another fact in prediction:

5.) A client usually has poor skills in self-recognition. If the NCGR-Berkeley Double Blind Study, that flawed study that purported to disprove astrology, proved anything, it proved that people just can’t recognize him or her self as other people see them. This makes carving out a prediction difficult, which is why it is important for an astrologer to spend some time in the reading going over the strength and the weaknesses shown in the clients chart so client and astrologer are on the same page when it comes time to talk about the transits.

6.) It is much easier to make predictions on people, places and things that are a bit removed from the client. The client always has the option to work for a different outcome, but the people who play roles in the client’s life usually do so for an express, and some say a pre-agreed reason. For instance, events in a spouse’s life that affect the client are revealed in the client’s chart. We are all mirrors of each other, and this is never more clear than when we look at a client’s chart.

7.) Science suggests that the human brain is a prediction machine. How we use that prediction machine is a matter, I believe, of talent and training.

It all comes down to skill the astrologer, their talents and predilections when it comes to the art of prediction. I admit, had I not had twenty years experience in making predictions with tarot cards, learning about how to ask a question for the clearest results, and learning how to build the story of a client’s life from a few scant cards I might not be the astrologer I am today. But from my experience prediction is possible.

Don’t get me wrong. It is an astrologer’s prerogative to find value in astrology as counseling but not a predictive tool. They can and should practice astrology as she or he sees fit. However, my opinion is any astrologer who denies the predictive value of astrology does no one any favors.

We are not “unwritten”. There is a framework of our lives that is revealed in the stars. Otherwise we would not be as Natasha Beningfield says “Reaching for something in the distance. . . So close you can almost taste it”. If that framework did not exist we would not have a sense that something was there for which to reach. We have a choice of defaulting to that framework or living consciously to produce desired results. This is how we write our ultimate destiny.

I still like Natasha’s song though.

What is your experience with prediction? Do you make a predictions? Or has a prediction been made for you? How did that work out?

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3 Responses to Prediction in Astrology: Are We Unwritten?

  1. libramoon says:

    We are not unwritten
    We are not a published work, or even a final draft
    There are a great many possibilities of expression, and reflection, and revised expression
    Yet, the possibility of surrender to what the winds of fate foretell
    is among them

  2. Pingback: Prediction in Astrology – Are We Unwritten? | AstroloMe Blog

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