posted December 04, 2004 09:27 PM            

1.My transits/natal influences are guidlines and influences to my life, they have no actual bearing on my fate, and I still have complete control over myself/environment.

The second and, unfortunately, more commonplace view of astro is this:

2. My natal influences define who I am, and my transits affect my moods and state of hapiness, and I can attribute bad things that happen to me as well as good to my transits.

After studying much social psychology as of late, I realized that not only do I have the second viewpoint, but that it is extremely unhealhty. Multipe psychological studies show again and again, that the less perceived control you have over your life the unhappier, lower performance, greater stress, and worse health you will have. Taking this view of astrology (fatist approach) takes away the control we think we have over our lives. When we start attributing our successes and failures to the stars, we take away our will, our choice, and that is bad for our health, both mentally and physically.

posted December 04, 2004 09:49 PM              

anyhow, I was thinking, what if we looked at the houses, planets, transits, etc...as more like, activation portals of certain energies, or the energies that are associated with a certain transit are easier to deal with at that certain time? Like say, I decided (free will) to go make hot sweet love tonight, could I look at the Venus/Mars conjunction in Scorpio as maybe having extremely passionate intercourse much easier at this time, because the energy was activated by the transits and planet placements?

posted December 05, 2004 12:29 AM              

This is a view point that I have been advocating for some time. We are all masters of our own destiny and the power to shape our lifes is phenomenal and its in OUR hands. I love astrology, find its a fascinating psychological tool but I do not place TOO much credence on it. We are all individuals and I think its dangerous if we start to relate to a perception of someone based on their astrologcal data rather than with the people themselves.

Birth charts can provide great insight into people but they do not govern the person. Equally, we have all met people that turn out to be say a Virgo when you were so expecting an Aries etc. I have been very surprised by some peoples charts finding planets and aspects that just dont seem to fit the personality. Thats fine, it reaffirms my belief that its the person first astrology second.

Well said

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

posted December 05, 2004 02:05 AM              

Succinctly put, and so truthful. I have felt at odd with some of the things you have posted... but with this thread I totally appreciate your logic.

having been part of this board over a year? or so, i was absent for 8 months.

COming back, I havent posted much because of how I perceived the words alot of people posted. I started getting annoyed with how people used astrology to justify the most innane of habits or predicaments, and wallowing in "I cant do anything about it. I am a (fill in blank here)."

Assuming I was oversensitive, I said nothing.

But here you have defined what I was seeing- especially since I function in the number 2 mindset.

thank you so much.

posted December 05, 2004 04:41 AM              

i mean, despite the fact that I pride myself on not judging people till i know them for myself, as opposed to what they wear, the colour of their hair et al, i know that surface indicators can cloud our judgements.
its an evolutionary thing..

its only when my virgo friend told me off for constantly saying 'its typical virgo male thing' that I realised i had begun to get an astrological bias

but, i dont take it for gospel...i think its entertaining and higly accurate, but i believe nurture has a big role in these things too.

posted December 05, 2004 06:11 AM              

When I was 17 I decided to go and see a psychic so she could "tell me my future"... Well... she got a few short term things eerily spot on (things that would happen within the next year or so)... but what irked me in the few months after the reading was that I realized I didn't want to know what was going to happen. I realized that she had told me my path and now I felt bound to it because it was "fated"... It made me question the concepts of free will and predetermination, fate, destiny, life... And I came to the conclusion I would never visit a phsycic again... and which is why until I came to LindaLand, I haven't interested myself in any sort of predictive astrology (but my interested has been piqued)...

I do read my own tarot cards, but I'm of the mind, just like with astrology, that they can only tell me what the possibilities are, or the likely outcome according to influences present right now. Nothing my beloved cards tell me is etched in stone (I'm kinda attached to them)... they just give me understanding. Every time, I'm astounded at how the perfect cards to describe everything happening come up.

With astrology, I'm not really interested in other peoples charts unless I'm very close to them... so my family, dearest friends and lovers... I know all their charts inside out, again in the name of understanding. I don't really ask other people what their sign is, lol. To be honest, I could care less

Having said all that, right now I'm concentrating on synastry and composites... but next I do want to learn about transits and predicting influences... I don't believe the stars have us bound to live out preordained destinies at all.

posted December 05, 2004 09:49 AM            

We can't blame Astrology for our perception of it. The stars in their paths are relatively benign. They indicate energies that are available to us. And those energies are quite handy sometimes, when we are aware of them. For instance, I have bought my last two cars under earth signs, one was a Taurus, the most recent a Virgo with a Taurus moon, and they have been very reliable cars. Would they have been, had I waited and bought the most recent under the Libra moon? I have no idea, I can't tap into that reality.

But it is of some comfort to me to know that I can control my reality by using Astrology to what I believe is my own advantage.

So yes, these are important reminders. Astrology, like us all, is a Piece of a Part of a Whole.

posted December 06, 2004 03:11 AM              

I think Linda talked alot about transcending our charts, that they are a tool for self-knowledge. The Avatars are ones that have risen beyond the constrictions of natal/transital influences. I think in past lifetimes we have learned more + more how to deal with those influences, so depending how many times around the wheel or how the karma goes it gets easier. Maybe "old souls" can chose simply to erase the qualities that bind them! grow + know.......

posted December 06, 2004 08:33 AM              

quote:

---

Multipe psychological studies show again and again, that the less perceived control you have over your life the unhappier, lower performance, greater stress, and worse health you will have.

---

So - Margaret Mead wrote that it is in our nature to, at some point, seek an alternate reality. Does that mean the human race should be required to drop acid every day?

posted December 06, 2004 06:11 PM              

I totally agree with you on this one. Its not just astrology people do this with, its with other things as well. I enjoy reading tarot cards (for myself), and see them as a guide to energies unfolding. I believe that people are blessed with free will, and nothing is set in stone. However, I see many people who view the cards and other divination methods as something inevitable... I've seen people rush to psychics, card readers, and astrologers every time they have a problem, and pay lots of money for consultations... I have a cousin who is always shopping around for the latest astrologer to predict her love life, and I think thats a harmful and unempowering way to view these things.

posted December 09, 2004 11:54 AM              

The whole damn thing started (barely perceptibly)around late November's Mercury retrograde, and developed into the full-blown version this week. (I'd had severe stomach pains for 2 weeks beforehand - apparently the "shadow period" of the retrograde phase). I anticipate another week - 14 days of this, easily, and reckon it will take till early January before I can confidently face the outside world .

And no, I couldn't have seen it coming. Not in a million years.

In fact, November and December were supposed to be good months for me, but so far, they've been utter crap.

posted December 09, 2004 12:21 PM              

I'm SO SORRY to hear this. Hoping you get well soon ...

posted December 09, 2004 05:05 PM              

LOL

AriesTiger