Temet Nosce (Know Thyself)

One of the reasons that it can be frustrating to read horoscopes is that predictive astrology that doesn’t take into account the aspects made by transiting planets to your natal chart or progressed chart can seem really off-base – for example, telling you how much good fortune you are supposedly experiencing when you are in the midst of serious disaster, or vice versa. And even when an astrologer is talking about aspects that apply to the entire world rather than you specifically, something that creates general good fortune still may not be strong enough to remedy the pain caused by a particularly unpleasant aspect being made to something in your natal chart or progressed chart at that moment.

A key thing to remember in astrology is that we all start from the place described in our natal charts – we are all dealing with our own unique energies and circumstances, and each of us interprets those in our own way. This is why the charts for twins can’t account for all of the differences or similarities between them – each person responds to the energies of their birth with their own free will, and no matter how uncannily accurate astrology can be in predicting the situations of our lives and our behavioral tendencies, free will is the wild card. My natal chart can predict that I have a powerful will, that I rush in where angels fear to tread, that I am stubborn and easily provoked. It can also predict that I will struggle against my own temper in social situations, that I prefer to be a peace-maker despite my instinct toward conflict, but can it predict exactly when I will shake things up versus when I will uphold the social order?

Like the Oracle in the movie The Matrix says, “We can never see past the choices we don’t understand.” In order to make real use of astrology, you need to know the people involved, and that means knowing yourself first, inside and out. Natal astrology is a starting point for that path of self-discovery.