Astrology 101: Ancient science or complete BS?

Decoding astrology beyond daily horoscopes through personal experience and observations

It was the winter of 2019. I was exhausted, lost, and on the verge of going broke. All my hard-earned money was slipping away from me like water through a sieve. For the past eight months, I was dragging around the weight of a failing clothing business and had no idea what to do next. Fashion design had been my lifelong dream, for which I had given up an engineering degree and a corporate career.

But when I finally became a designer, honestly—I hated it! I wasn’t cut out for that life. All the bling and glamour did nothing to entice me but only blind my eyes. Despite the growing losses, I kept pushing forward because of the money and time my husband and I had already invested. Knowing our desperate situation, my mother-in-law, a firm believer, suggested that we should visit an astrologer.

Even though I didn’t understand how an astrologer would help us in rectifying our business mistakes like choosing a business we knew nothing about, the wrong location, and a non-existent marketing strategy, we eventually gave in to her insistence.

My husband and I reluctantly walked into the astrologer’s office, and I told him about my business struggles and asked what my options were. Ironically, he too was an engineer who decided to become an astrologer. Good for him, because he was pretty popular across many states and even had a YouTube channel with over 100k subscribers.

After analyzing my astrological chart, he responded with a stern expression, “There are very low chances of you succeeding in a clothing business.” Quoting some unfavorable planetary positions, he told me that this doesn’t seem like an ideal career option for me.

There was a voice inside me that had been screaming since I started my label that the fashion industry was not for me, but I had been shushing it down for months. He further suggested that work related to science, analytics, technology, and even spirituality would be good for me. He did suggest some remedies in case I was fixated on continuing my clothing studio.

Maybe it was the words of that astrologer, or perhaps I had simply run out of energy to keep pushing forward. In the next month, I made the difficult decision to close the business that I had painstakingly put together. I felt lost. Cried all night, but the next morning I felt light, like a huge burden had been lifted from my life.

In the following months, I returned to freelancing with my husband, and we quickly reaped the rewards. When the world went into lockdown in February 2020, I was incredibly grateful that I had closed the business when I did. Had I kept it open, I would have faced even greater losses. Our freelance work, on the other hand, was thriving since online services were the only thing going in the upward trend during the times of Covid.

Although I occasionally used to read my horoscope for fun, my interest in astrology deepened after I visited the astrologer. A lot of things that he told me about my life were bang on, and I was fascinated by how he could tell those things with such precision.

During my recent visit, he also said that I’m currently under the influence of Jupiter, a good planet that drives you towards seeking knowledge, learning new things, and spirituality. It kind of felt legit to me since I started my Substack during this period…Lol.

The real question is, How can some distant, inanimate objects floating in space affect your life?

The fortune tellers will give you a lot of arguments for this, but here’s my perspective: Everything in the universe is energy, and planets, though distant, are part of that cosmic web. They may influence us energetically in subtle ways—in ways that not all of us can comprehend yet.

According to ancient scriptures, a soul chooses when to be born. At birth, the slate of our karma is clean, yet we carry the karma from previous lives. The astrological chart, based on planetary positions at the moment of birth, can give details about the karma a child brings with them.

Astrologers predict the future based on past-life karma, suggesting possibilities, and our actions decide which possibility will happen. At every step, you have multiple choices, and the choice you make decides the course of your life from that moment. This means that at any point in life, we can make a different choice, create good karma, and seek better consequences for our actions.

For instance, if you eat junk food and wake up with a stomach ache, that’s a consequence of your actions—your karma. But if you keep eating junk every night, it shows you haven’t learned from the consequences.

When you notice some patterns repeating in your life, the universe is trying to teach you a lesson, pushing you to grow. By choosing differently, you can change your destiny.

In that sense, an astrological chart is no different from a health report. If your sugar levels are high, there is a probability of you getting diabetes, so you need to make healthier food choices. It’s simple. But if you keep loading up on carbs and sugar, you’re likely to get diabetes.

Astrology provides a prediction, not a certainty—a probability based on the choices you make. Your decisions shape your reality, yet many people accept these probabilities so strongly that they turn them into their reality.

A child is born on that day and at that hour when the celestial rays are in mathematical harmony with his individual karma. His horoscope is a challenging portrait, revealing his unalterable past and its probable future results. But the natal chart can be rightly interpreted only by men of intuitive wisdom- Swami Sri Yukteswar

Hold on, Am I here to convince you to try astrology?

Actually No. I have studied a lot about astrology, tarot, and palmistry, and even learned numerology at some point in my life. I’m simply sharing my observations so you can decide for yourself whether you wish to rely on future predictions or not.

I figured that astrology is like a weather prediction. If the weather guy tells you it’s going to rain today, you will carry an umbrella with you, and if he tells you it’s going to be windy and cold, you might carry a jacket. Similarly, if an astrologer predicts a potential life challenge, you might act more cautiously.  For instance, my astrologer told me I’m prone to switching careers often and suggested I seek something I can stick to without burning out. That sounded like fair advice.

But what if an astrologer tells you something negative—something you’d never even considered till now? What if they say you’re likely to divorce your spouse?  Imagine being in a loving relationship with your partner with no major problems at all, but because an astrologer told you so, you start noticing those minor issues, and it gradually snowballs into bigger problems. You might even create the very reality you were warned about, all because someone planted a seed of doubt.

This is the downside of astrology, tarot, or any kind of fortune-telling. People let certain things influence them so deeply, they weave their reality out of it while it was just a possibility.

Is it possible to transcend astrological predictions?

My astrologer once told me that I’m prone to anxiety and depression. After learning this, I made a conscious decision to meditate and practice pranayama regularly. Over the years, these practices have helped me gain better control over my emotions and respond more calmly to life’s challenges.

Astrology is just one aspect of the vast knowledge of life, and we should never become prisoners of it. We shouldn’t rely on astrology or any form of fortune-telling to determine the course of our lives. Ultimately, only we can decide our path. True liberation and self-realization come from practices like meditation, self-inquiry, and the pursuit of life’s deeper truths—not from predictions.

The awe of astrology makes one an automaton, slavishly dependent on mechanical guidance. The wise man defeats his planets—his past—by transferring his allegiance from the creation to the Creator. The more he realizes his unity with Spirit, the less he is dominated by matter. The soul is ever free; it is deathless because it is birthless. It cannot be regimented by stars. Paramhansa Yogananda in Autobiography of a Yogi.

The day I will hold complete power over my thoughts, actions, and desires, I know I will have power over my destiny, and I won’t need to see how a ‘Mercury retrograde’ is affecting me anymore. Till then, I do visit an astrologer once in a while, but I do not let their predictions overpower my thoughts or dictate all my actions. I’m more focused on following my meditation and mindful practices that help me take better control of my mind. Because that’s the most important thing—to conquer your mind.

No one can or needs to make predictions for someone who has taken full control of their life. Those who have mastered their minds and elevated their consciousness do not let inanimate objects in space dictate their lives.

If you believe in astrology, good—it can help you navigate life a little more cautiously and consciously. If you do not believe in astrology, great—you do not have to. You can still live a mindful and intentional life.

The soul is beyond the influence of the stars; willpower is the dynamo that helps us avoid all influences, no matter what they are. The stronger the mind, the more it can rise above these influences. -Paramhansa Yogananda.

Do you believe in astrology? I’d love to know your thoughts on this in the comments.