Venus Rising

Astral Advice Nov 30

What About Fate and Free Will?

Dear Ann,

So, if my sun is in Sagittarius, does that mean I am destined to follow a certain path in life, or do I have the free will to make my own choices? I mean, are horoscopes that predict the future for real?

by LizSagittarius

Dear Liz,

What a great question! The issue of fate and free will has been a big problem for the body of work that we call astrology for a very long time. At one point, there was no separation between astronomy and astrology. They were one science. However, once the Christian church became powerful in what is now Europe, they stripped out astrology and left only the physical science of astronomy. The church felt very strongly that humans must have total free will to choose between good and evil, and anything that contradicted that must go. Now, however, some uses of astrology would make it seem that there is a future that can be predicted by looking at one's horoscope. I believe this is very unfortunate because I believe that everyone has free will. However, I also believe that we all have a certain "lens" with which we see and experience reality. This lens can be analyzed by taking a look at one's birth chart. Understanding the lens can help us discover why we sometimes make the choices that we do and can prompt us to have more compassion for ourselves and others. This really is the main goal of life and any tool that can help us get there has value!