Fate and Free Will

  
One Monday morning in October 2007, I did a short live telephone interview on BBC local radio on the subject of "Fate". 

I'd given this a bit of thought in advance, but nothing had prepared me for the shock of hearing of the death of my friend Neill that morning, an hour before going on air. Was I "fated" to be saddened that very morning? I can't say, but I do know that after a few tears and a short walk to clear my head, I switched on the radio to hear the start of the programme and danced around to the music being played to release some more energy ease myself into the right mood for the interview.

Fate versus Free Will is something which is often discussed in the context of astrology. Is our life already mapped out for us in the natal chart? Or are we able to steer our own course through life and assert our free will and our ability to choose and make decisions in the real life situations we experience? My take on this is the latter. Of course we can utilise our own free will and make choices in our lives - that's what living is about. And if we get to know ourselves well we are able to approach life's experiences with confidence and the ability to roll with the changes and challenges that come along. That's where astrological psychology comes in.

The birth chart doesn't tell us what is going to happen to us. It provides us with the equivalent of a "Rough Guide" to life, complete with plenty of signposts showing how we can cope with the challenges that come our way as well as the best places to hang out and express our innate energies.

If we feel that fate has dealt us a blow, we may spend a lot of time railing against the unfairness of our situation and focus all our energy on this, forgetting that we have the ability, using our free will, to reclaim our power, make some choices and take responsibility for ourselves. Sometimes what seems like fate can be the start of the making of us, and astrological psychology is an invaluable tool to have when we are developing the use of the will, the use of the mind in making decisions, and when we are nurturing our ability to make choices and create our own lives as we want them to be.