Using a tool like astrology can be helpful in providing us with insights about our life purpose, and the opportunities and potentials we have to work with.
But how much of what we find in our charts can we alter, and can we change astrological predictions about how our lives will unfold?
Astrological predictions use the current position of the planets, combined with your birth chart, to predict likely events. However, these can only ever represent potentials or possibilities, not absolute certainties, and through self-awareness and free will, you can change how these events unfold.
Let’s take a closer look.
Changing astrological predictions
In order to better understand whether we can in fact change a prediction that has been made about us using astrology, we first need to take a closer look at how astrological predictions are made.
This means we need to understand what our astrological birth chart actually is, what our zodiac sign means, and how astrologers use this information and the current or future positions of planets in the sky to make predictions.
The natal or birth chart
The birth or natal chart in astrology is drawn up, often by a professional astrologer, using a person’s exact time and location of birth.
This chart shows the state of the universe at the moment of birth, including where the planets were in the heavens, and the relationship between them.
Our Sun position in the zodiac is our “sun sign” or what’s sometimes called our zodiac sign, and each of the other planets also appears in one of the zodiac signs, giving us our Moon sign, our Venus sign, our Jupiter sign and so on.
These celestial bodies also fall into different sectors of our natal chart, which are called the houses, and represent different spheres of our life, such as relationships, health, career and more.
What does the natal chart represent?
Our natal chart represents the potentials we are born with, and what energies and tendencies we have to work with over our lifetime.
Using karmic astrology, we can also see issues and skills we have brought over from previous lifetimes and what we are here to experience in this lifetime.
It does not, as some would have you believe, represent a fixed destiny or fate, that will just unfold over the course of your lifetime, without any input or influence from you.
From my own experience, I can certainly see this. As a “Pisces-Pisces” (Sun zodiac sign & Ascendant) it would seem that I should be very soft, yielding, changeable and intuitive. And although I am many of those things, I am also practical, direct and a kind of “get things done” girl, so it’s important to understand that energies may not always express themselves as you expect, and that there are many, MANY different factors at play, all at once.
Can you change your birth chart?
Since our birth chart is based on our exact moment and place of birth, it is not possible for us to somehow modify this information and thus the potentials that we were born with.
However, there are actually a couple of ways that those potentials can change over the course of our lives, meaning that the expression of our horoscope can be changed.
Firstly, our natal charts do evolve over time through something called “progression”, which is the gradual forward movement of our charts over our lives, usually calculated at the rate of one day per year.
Although our base natal chart stays the same throughout life, we can overlay this progressed version of our charts to understand how we have evolved over the course of our lives.
And secondly, we need to factor in the role of free will. Our chart only represents potentials, or the possibilities we are born with, and it is up to us to decide how to make use of those energies in our lives.
Making predictions with astrology
So now that we have a basic understanding of our birth chart and what it represents, we next need to look at how astrologers use this information to make predictions about our future.
How are astrological predictions made?
Astrologers may use a variety of methods to make predictions about your future based on your natal chart, but one of the most common approaches is to use the current position of the planets in the sky, and how these relate to your birth chart, or possibly even your progressed chart.
Astrology will examine the current sign and position of the planets scattered throughout the heavens, and map them against your horoscope, looking for relationships – called aspects – between them.
Faster-moving planets, such as the Sun, Venus and Mercury can show short-term potentials, while slower-moving planets, such as Jupiter and Saturn, can indicate longer-term patterns.
Understanding astrological predictions
But what is the basis of these astrological predictions and how do they work?
Astrology is based on the idea that each planet, sign and house represents a certain energy, or quality of experience. Stephen Arroyo’s book Astrology, Psychology & the Four Elements is an excellent introduction to this concept.
When these energies interact – whether that’s through a planet in a sign, or an aspect (or specific angle) between planets – then certain types of events or experiences tend to happen.
For example, let’s say that the Sun was in Pisces when you were born, in your 12th house, and currently, Jupiter is in the same position as your natal Sun (or conjunct your sun).
The combination of the expansive generous energy of Jupiter and your personal energy (the Sun) in your 12th house could lead to great learning about spirituality and religion, or even deeper aspects of yourself more easily than usual. You might also return to school, start new projects or experience an increase in freedom, especially around spirituality and the more hidden things in life.
So this is the way in which astrologers can use the future position of planets (or transits) to describe events that may happen to you.
Personally, I’m not a huge fan of using astrology to make predictions.
Firstly, there’s too much chance that I will be wrong, but secondly, why create stress and anxiety about something that may never happen?
I prefer to let life unfold as it will, and use astrology and my own self-awareness and free will to understand events and make the best possible choices in the circumstances.
It’s also important to understand that astrological potentials are not inherently good or bad. Some may be more challenging than others, but what we make of them is up to us.
Can we change astrological predictions?
Although some astrologers may use very rigid definitions of what a specific interaction between the transiting planets and your birth chart means, what you can see from the example above is that we always have to talk in terms of potentials and possibilities.
It’s not that “you will have a car accident” if Mars and Uranus are interacting in your third house, but that any experiences you do have around this time will have a disruptive, forceful nature in your everyday life, which could take a wide variety of forms.
And even if this seems like splitting hairs, this distinction is actually the key to understanding that astrological predictions can indeed be changed.
Yes, your birth chart shows your general tendencies. Yes, the current planetary positions show the current energies that are active.
But at the end of the day, it’s your current circumstances, your choices and your actions that will determine how things actually unfold.
You can’t change your fundamental nature and you can’t change the zeitgeist – or the energy of a specific point in time – but you will always have a choice as to how you engage with these potentials.
Listen as BK Shivani explains this from her perspective.
The importance of free will in astrology
And so this brings us to the role of free will, which is essential in determining how our lives unfold.
No matter what happens to us, no matter what we experience, we always, ALWAYS have a choice.
Sometimes it’s the choice of the words we use or the TV show we watch and sometimes it’s a bigger choice – like whether to end a relationship or move to a new city. We make choices like these hundreds of times a day.
And our lives are the sum of each of these choices.
Yes, our choices are influenced by who we are – our natal chart – and what’s happening around us – the transiting planets – but we are still the ones in charge.
In any moment, we have the choice of what to focus on.
Do we complain to our partner about the crappy day we had, or do we find things to appreciate, like our comfy clothes or the good book we’re reading?
Do we get angry at the salesperson who gives us bad service, or do we distract ourselves by looking at a pretty pair of shoes or the latest smartphone?
What we choose to focus on is a habit. A habit that takes daily practice over a lifetime to master, but that makes all the difference to how the astrological potentials turn out.
I have now been practising daily gratitude for over four years, taking time every day to find at least one thing to appreciate or be grateful for. And as a result, my ability to choose my focus has strengthened tremendously.
When something unpleasant or unexpected happens to me, I now am much more able to choose what aspects of it I focus on, and be more deliberate in how I respond to that situation. And as a bonus, my life has improved wonderfully over that same period of time.
The role of karma in astrology
When looking at whether astrological predictions can be changed, and how the planets influence our experience, we also need to consider the role of karma.
Not karma in the sense that I learned it to be growing up – “an eye for an eye”, or “if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you”. That’s an old and outdated perspective on what karma really is.
I mean karma as in, “what we want to experience in this lifetime”. After all, we’re all souls – pieces of the divine – here to have an experience.
And from this perspective, our karma is simply the experiences (some would call them “lessons”) that we want to have in this lifetime to balance out the experiences we had in our previous lifetimes.
As pieces of the divine, we all just crave to experience life to the fullest, from every possible perspective.
Maybe in a previous lifetime, you were a cruel leader, and so in this lifetime, you want to experience what it’s like to be on the other side of that relationship.
Maybe you were a generous, giving individual that others took advantage of, and now you want to experience what it’s like to take advantage of others.
And much of this karmic experience can be described by our natal charts and is played out through the transits – or potentials – that trigger experiences for us throughout our lifetime. I really came to understand the karmic elements of astrology in a new way after reading Discovering Your Soul Mission: New Rules for a New Age by Linda Brady and Michael Brady, and I highly recommend it.
Again, the planets don’t indicate specific experiences that we will have with absolute certainty, but they do suggest the general nature of the experiences we will have at different times.
And as always, it’s up to us to decide how to react to those experiences and best make use of them to round out who we are, as human beings but also as divine beings.
The true purpose of astrology in your life
Part of the reason that people can get confused about predictions made by astrologers about their future, based on their birth chart, is because they have the wrong idea about the purpose of astrology.
In its highest form, astrology is not about mundane divination – who will I marry, will I get the job, when will I be rich?
It’s about insight. Personal understanding. Information that empowers.
Astrology helps us to understand who we are, and why we came into this specific life, and chose these specific circumstances, to advance our soul’s development.
And by using our natal chart to understand our natural tendencies – our strengths and weaknesses, our karma, our potentials – we can derive the maximum value out of each experience, embracing every moment as a valuable contribution to the fullest expression of our unique and beautiful natures, without trying to control the outcomes, but instead exercising our free will to find the silver lining (AKA the “lesson”) and become everything we came here to be.
Can astrologers predict the future?
Using the position of the planets in our birth chart, in combination with the current (or transiting) positions of the planets, astrologers can describe the potentials of a given moment – in the past, present or future.
By looking at the potentials of a future situation, astrologers can make educated guesses about what is likely to happen, based on the energies of the planets, signs and houses involved.
But these can only ever be rough estimates, because the universe is a complex beast, with an infinite number of moving parts, that we can never hope to understand, let alone predict with 100% accuracy.
Instead, astrology is best used as a tool for understanding and insights about the likely nature of a future situation, helping us to respond more effectively, no matter what actually unfolds in the moment.
As I mentioned before, I tend to stay away from making predictions in my own astrological practice, because they have the potential to distract us from focusing on the things that matter – what we can control, how we can respond, and what we chose to put our attention on.
Can astrological predictions be wrong?
It is always possible that astrological predictions can be off the mark, and that things may not unfold as expected, for a few reasons.
Firstly, any prediction by its very nature, has to pass through the filters and experience of the astrologer who is making it. And if they have biases, or allow their personal prejudices or experiences to flavour their interpretations of a potential event, then their predictions can be corrupted or influenced, leading to less accurate or relevant predictions. Or maybe, they’re just not very experienced.
Secondly, it’s also possible for the data that the predictions are based on to be wrong. Your birth data might be off for some reason – perhaps because your mother misremembered when you were born – or possibly because the wrong data was used for the transiting planetary positions.
And don’t forget that there’s more than one astrological system that can be used in making predictions – including Western astrology and Vedic astrology – and these different systems also may not agree on the nature, time or meaning of an event.
Thirdly, astrology can still only ever describe potentials. Our future is not set in stone, and even if we can see that a certain type of event is on our horizon, we never say with certainty exactly how it will play out.
All we can do is describe possibilities, and use our self-awareness and our free will to decide exactly how to respond to what happens to us in any given moment.
Can we trust astrology?
Having said all of that about the potential of astrological predictions to be wrong, can we actually then trust astrology?
And to that, I say absolutely yes.
You can trust that astrology accurately describes your basic nature through your birth chart. You can trust that astrology accurately describes the energies that are affecting you right now, or will do so in the future.
My own personal experience with astrology has shown me clearly that although I can be off the mark when it comes to predicting how a certain aspect or transit will affect me, the specific nature or “feel” of these moments is very accurate.
The issue with astrology is not that it is a broken tool – it actually works perfectly – it’s just that sometimes those of us using the tool can get it wrong, because of our wonderfully flawed, imperfect human natures.
So use your own discretion when deciding what and who to listen to, do your own research and find your own understandings and insights, and learn to listen to your own inner guidance on what works for you with astrology and what it means for you.
Time to change your fate?
You now have a better understanding of what your birth chart represents and how astrological predictions are made.
You’ve also seen the importance of free will and karma in determining how your life unfolds.
And you understand that you have the power to decide what to focus on, how to react to life, and to change your fate as described by astrology.
So now it’s time to go out into the world, feeling empowered – not controlled – by astrology, and make the most of this life.
Let me know in the comments below about a time when an astrological prediction didn’t turn out the way you expected, and how you handled this experience.
Resources
These resources are also included in the article above and will help you explore the topic in more depth:
- Astrology, Psychology & the Four Elements by Stephen Arroyo
- Discovering Your Soul Mission: New Rules for a New Age by Linda Brady, Michael Brady
References
Some of the ideas and information in this article were inspired by the following sources:
