Читать книгу Astrology: The only introduction you’ll ever need - Charles Harvey - Страница 36

Astrology has always had a reputation for encouraging a sense of determinism and predestination. People often express apprehension about looking into astrology, for they are frightened they will learn what fate awaits them. The I Ching tells us that the destinies of men are subject to immutable laws that must fulfil themselves, but that man has the power to shape his fate ‘according as his behaviour exposes him to the influence of benevolent or destructive forces’. But notice our emphasis of the word ‘behaviour’. We can use the knowledge of ourselves we gain from astrology, and simply from our experience of life, to act in accord with a more desirable outcome. To benefit from astrological insights, one must exert effort. That is where the real free will lies. (As Schopenhauer said, ‘We may have free will, but not the will to use it.’) A person having Saturn transit their Sun will know that it is not a time to take risks or to try to expand in adventurous directions, but rather a time to consolidate one’s material and professional position, a time to carry current responsibilities successfully.

Certain parameters are fixed in life. That is the nature of reality, for man cannot live in a vacuum. The contract with time and space is signed and sealed at birth; the parents and family we were born to and the society and historical period in which we gain our identity cannot be changed; the life drama we have chosen is ready to be played. But within the matrix of our given life parameters, we have the freedom to make choices. It is the unique combination of fate and free will that provides the psychic soil out of which we grow and live our lives. That same psychic soil grows heroes and heroines. In fact, man is free only in his mind, his inner attitude. Changes in fate are made according to inner attitude – that is what determines the wisdom of our choices, and ultimately our fate.