Is life fatalistic? Is everything fated?

No. A lot of things in life are, though.

‘Fatal’ sounds like a bad word. It has the appeal of a drug lord whose cartel is taking over the city with everyone and everything bought. We can either succumb to the network or just suffer plainly.

In Astrology context, ‘fatal’ has a connotation that is similar to that of a strong wind that has the propensity to blow off in a direction. Like a rose bud, which has the potency to bloom into a rose tree when the conditions are right, it has the capacity to manifest an event or a part of being in a particular way. You can read more on this on my blog post.

What all can be known from a horoscope?

Following things can be known from one’s horoscope (whether or not these things will always be known depends on some conditions):

Personality, health, wealth, education level and skills, spousal tendencies and characteristics, career and work trends, house and cars, journeys and foreign travel, settling abroad, siblings and expriences with them, tendencies of neighbours, information about children and parents, legal cases, diseases, teachers and spiritual experiences, parents, income sources and expenses, manner of death, diseases & cures, and much more.

Then repeat above for: father, mother, siblings, spouse, children, in-laws, friends, neighbour, servant

What do you mean by much more? Give me an example.

(This was before my own deep dive into the subject). I was once sitting with a family astrologer. As we were talking, something led to a discussion about spirituality and my journey in meditation over the years. Both of us got passionate and briefly lost the sense of time. When we came back to the purpose of my visit, he paused and looked at the local panchanga (ephemeris of the city) to connect it to my horoscope. My 3rd House (speech and communication) got strongly linked to Ketu (planet of spirituality) for a few minutes and that’s when we had our passionate conversation on the spiritual experiences.

While listening to you say all this, why do I feel like vomiting?

Probably because you thought you were the captain of your ship. And you are actually TBH, but just not in the way you thought you were. 

​

Probably you figured life out and so far it has been a good ride. You don't want to change your beliefs due to some voodoo gibrish like Astrology. 

​

Or, probably because you ate something bad today. If you have Mars in the fifth house btw, then Mars recent transits are very bad. It is in Ashlesha Nakshatra these days and conjunct Saturn that is supposed to mean that 'upset of your stomach' karmas are rising up from the depth of your being.

If everything is so well understood here in Astrology, what's the point of life then and pursuing anything? Just visit any good astrologer and shazam - everything resolved! 

Point of life is to be your best self. Even though many things in life aren't in your control. And have fun while doing the ride. Point of life is to decide which route are you going to take and then pursue it. Point of life is to hear your deepest murmur of the heart, and follow it's lead. Point of life is to be wise.

​

And we don't visit astrologer everytime and for everything. We seek help from Astrology when the clarity fades in front of our own eyes. Jyotish means 'Light of God', it is the generator when one's own light wipes out. 

Do astrologers know all things about themselves?

They know somethings by study of this discipline, know other things by going to fellow astrologers. They don’t know everything about themselves at all times.

​

Not everything can be known about everything. Rules are science like, but integration is a very difficult art to master. It's like solving Sudoku and you don't know that the puzzle in front of you is 'basic' or 'advanced'. We also don't have all the dictums available on Earth, so we rely on some indirect techniques which may not work well on occasions. 

So you mean I should consult astrologer when I'm stressed out? Any tips to find a good one?

Yes. It is good to do – gives you perspectives you haven’t looked into. The business tycoon of his time Mr. J.P. Morgan once famously said “Millionaires don't need astrologers, but billionaires do”.

Choose someone who is honest, has integrity as a professional, someone you feel pulled to, and who honors your aspirations and tastes as a person. It's a  matter of fit. 

If you feel that your astrologer pushes too much into fatalism and suffocates your beliefs, may be it’s time to look for someone else. There are people who spend their entire lives (and monies) chasing many astrologers – some are just addicted to the feeling, others find it difficult to trust a person fully. That might not be the best attitude, but yes you can always change (and then stick to) another astrologer. 

How about I study Astrology myself? Amazon.com can deliver any book I ask. 

It’s a wonderful subject that takes a lot of time. It is my personal belief that everyone should study basics of Astrology by themselves, and then make the way forward accordingly. One is engulfed by depth, variety, specializations, and noise. And to have that discretion to separate chaff from the grain, one needs a teacher.

There’s Indian Astrology (typically known as Vedic Astrology) and there’s Western Astrology. Within Indian Astrology, we have ‘systems’ or approaches to predictions – systems of Parashara, Jaimini, Nadi, Bhrigu, K.P., Lal Kitaab. Then we have traditions which hold some ‘special’ or ‘secret’ principles only expounded by the teacher when the student is ready. Great Astrologers keep studying till the end of their lives.

Are you telling me I can't study Astrology on my own? Let me tell you - I cracked N.T.S.E. exam in std XI without taking private tuitions. 

You can. Astrology is like detective work. The subject uses logic and meanuvering of thought-constructs in a special way. Not everyone who thinks good is suited for that kind of training and practice. Plus, the subject is esoteric and is laced with spiritual practices of certain mantras/deities/higher energies. It is not rare to begin study of astrology and be bumped into learning about archetypes of heavens. There’s a lot to be learnt by undertaking the spiritual/deity aspects of the teachings - and its fun also. Yet, you would miss a lot of valuable links of Universe and knowledges of remedies without having key sutras that a Guru readily provides. A true genius can do on his own, sure!

I went to meet an astrologer last month who told me that I had pepperoni pizza on my way to his appointment. And he was right! Does that mean the astrologer knows all about me?

I know the feeling. A lot can be known by casting a chart of the time a person sees an astrologer (In the giant scheme of things, even this 'meeting' is nothing but a tiny symphony of life's orchestra). This section comes under a branch of Astrology known as Horary or Prashna Vidya. It’s fascinating and my personal favourite. 

​

Your astrologer can tell beautiful things about what you did that day of meeting him. And can still fail at the first prediction for your next month. Telling someone what they ate is a matter of exhibition or a fun moment and should be treated accordingly.

My Astrologer uses the horoscope that was cast at my birth. I’m now 40 years old, so what about the things I’ve done after birth – what about their effects?  Do 40 years of present life karma not matter?

Past karma is like a fabric that unwinds. Kala or time is an element of Karma, and the Architect (God) uses time to unwind karmas of the past to fructify throughout life.

​

Present karma is highly important too, and has the power to nullify, support, or boost past karma. what you've done in this life after birth and how universe is taking it into consideration can be known from the date/time at which a client approaches the astrologer. 

​

Karma is a complex machine in itself.

My Astrologer cautions me from venturing into an enterprise. But I want to listen to my heart and do what I cherish the most.

Do what your heart desires. Just discuss with your astrologer if there is a major threat to your pursuits that you need to address. Try adjusting astrological reading to your life pursuits and not changing life pursuits to fit the reading. Consider astrologer as a normal mentor who advises, but he is building advice on some charts rather than his own life memoirs.

​

Looks like you are the kind of person who needs a friend in the astrologer - someone who can talk openly and guide you after listening to your side of the story. You need to search the right fit, such astrologers exist.

Can I marry a person I love so much, my astrologer has advised me not to.

Ptch! That's a tricky area and makes up 35% of customers seeking astrology services.

Discuss with your astrologer why he is advising against this person. What personality trait he finds alarming. Then ponder it deeply or discuss with a friend/confidante. 

​

Remember that as much as true love exists in the world, 'lust disguised as love' also plays it's big role around us and that usually damages. You can always combine advice from the stars in the light of common sense of past patterns of your person who you love. 

My astrologer told me that I have only six more years to live and I’ve lost my sleep since then. How should I live my life now?

The rule of thumb for living a passionate and fulfilling life is: to be and do as if you only have six months to live. Six years is a BIG TIME.

​

Plus, death calculations in Astrology are intricately difficult and vary from manuscript to manuscript. It's not at all an easy task to calculate timings of death for everyone.

​

Life expectancy is an area where most good astrologers fail on occasions. It is a tool for the astrologer to make note for himself before taking a case in hand. Not for forewarning clients of their death time which is not certain for all the humans.

I don't want to be bothered about this planet transiting that house, or that Rahu-Kaal is operating right now. I also don't want to be buying 15 gemstones like those Aunts. I just want to have fun!  

You're a lucky person. Go have fun. Life is meant to be easy and joyous.

The science is beautiful though and can help mitigate lot of headches in life. That was all the reason it was devised at the first place. 

​

The watch is meant to make us aware of time reality, so that life can be managed better. Not to be lost in the myriad levers of the machine. Same goes for this subject. 

So I get that Astrology is about knowing this Karma Machine. Fine. Where then Remedy fit within all this?

Remedies come from the genesis principles of the beautiful Earth we live into. There are many kinds of remedies that one can employ and usually they make a dent in the energy structure.

​

Know that the whole world is a manifestation of energy (we call it 'Shakti' in Devanagari) and sometimes will power alone is not sufficient to cause a dent in things that we so desire (in fact, too much will power is detrimental - it makes us hard and places binders on our eyes that further skewes our vision). And so we get out of the way and let some other energies take it from us. These energies work wonders at times and come under the 'remedy' section of Astrology. 

Why is my Astrologer poor, if he knows remedies?

Perhaps, he doesn’t know remedies good enough. Or, he doesn’t believe in remedies. Or, he has limiting beliefs about the world and isn’t learning tools to grow himself financially.

​

Btw, I personally know astrologers who are rich. Specialisation, mastery, behaviour counts here too. And also the past karma of the astrologer. 

Astrologers actually do remedies in their lives, without much noise. And also reap rewards.  

Nice! So I do the remedies and life will be all hunky dory. When do we start?

It's not that simple. Sometimes one dent to this part of our life causes a ripple over there. And not all remedies involve pure energies. 

​

Besides, these are called 'remedies' and not 'cure'. Some karma is strong, and not meant to be resolved. 

Interesting! But Astrology sounds like a tough subject to grasp. My head is getting heavier as you've told me all this.

Well said. Even I feel the same after spending 6 years in the subject. Karmic thread decoding isn't a linear process. The cost is umpteen dictums not integrating on someone's chart. The reward is getting to know how the Universe works - the joy that comes out of giving a succesful prediction of a future event is undescribable. It makes you feel you are a part of the whole and gives faith. 

​

It would have been so much nicer if clients knew elementary things about the subject. That was the case few centuries back when Astrology was taught together with weaponry, economics, and mathematics to little children as a part of school education. The knowhow of planetary language and how it works was a second nature to many in those days.

Last question, I find it very unpleasant that I have to pay to Astrologer every time I visit him. 

Astrologers work very hard. Big money and time are spent to get good in the field. I have personally spent more money getting trained in Astrology than I spent to finish my engineering. Consider payment as just a form of energy exchange you are doing for him helping you out.