How a Forecast Reading Can Help
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
When I began practicing astrology with my own chart in the early ‘90s, I was most interested in looking at the current transits--the planets in the sky as they were affecting my birth chart. I had a hand-drawn chart and made multiple copies of it so that I could plot the moving planets directly onto it. To find the current planetary placements, I had to look them up in an ephemeris, a big book that lists the planetary positions for each day over a period of several decades. There was no astrology software readily available, and the internet was just beginning. So the only way I could find out what was going on in my chart was to do this tedious process.
I was driven by the desire to know: What’s going to happen to me?
This is the question that compels people to seek astrology readings. But I came to see that trying to predict everything prevented me from getting the real benefits of astrology.
When I relied on astrology to predict what would happen, it didn’t work. Things never turned out either as badly as I had feared or as good as I had hoped. And the specific things that I imagined never actually happened.
For example, with Pluto conjunct my Mars in 1996, I feared I was going to die. Pluto is the Lord of Death, and Mars is about our inner Warrior. Most of what you’ll find written about Pluto-Mars will focus on the likelihood of accidents, violence, and death. Inspiring stuff! Instead, 1996 ended up being a year of regaining my independence (Mars) and power (Pluto) after being immersed in an unhealthy relationship for two years. It was a painful and intense period, I’ll be honest. My relationship died, but I didn’t. I grew from that experience.
And sometimes, we think that everything’s going to come up roses with any Jupiter transit. Not so. I had Jupiter squaring my Moon-Saturn when I got my first student credit card in 1990. I got into a HUGE amount of debt during what was my first year away at school. Jupiter is not just about good luck. It expands whatever it touches. And right then in my life, my loneliness and insecurity (Moon-Saturn) were at their height. I used overspending (Jupiter) as a means to comfort myself emotionally (Moon). And the consequences were harsh (Saturn). It took me years to pay off the debt that I accrued during my junior year of college.
I thought I had a grasp on my future by looking at the transits. But life showed me over and over again that any attempt to predict was futile.
So what is an astrology forecast good for, then, if not to foretell the future?
I began to see that while astrology could not literally predict the future, there were always correlations between what was going on in my life and what the planets were doing in my chart. I found this awareness of my transits sometimes comforting, sometimes daunting. There are three things that I came to understand about forecasts:
There is a reason for what is happening
There is a way through it
There is an end date
These three concepts are why I turn to astrology forecasting again and again. They guide how I interpret charts for others. We can find comfort, insight, and validation through an astrology forecast.
For everything, there is a reason and a season
When we go through rough times, it can be comforting to know that there’s an order to things. Understanding our current forecast can be validating, showing us that there’s a reason for what’s happening. There’s a deeper meaning we can access through an understanding of the current sky in our chart. If you’re going through a Pluto transit, there can be endings (and the necessary grief that follows). But on the other side of the transit, you’ll find that whatever ended cleared the way for something better in your life. Learning to trust this insight when the next Pluto transit arrives is the key.
The planet is your teacher
The planet that’s moving through your natal chart is your current teacher. This planet and its archetype are here to show you the way through the challenges and how to seize the opportunities. All of these planetary events in our lives have helpful and challenging ways of manifesting. When you look to the nature of the moving planet and work to integrate its teachings, you’ll be able to move through this part of your life with more ease and grace. Through a forecast reading, you can gain a more detailed understanding of how to navigate the Now.
This too shall pass
When we’re going through a rough time, it can also be helpful to know that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s not that we should “hold our nose through the transit,” as Steven Forrest jokes, just waiting for it to be over. But if we feel like a challenging time will never end, it can add to our distress. It can be comforting to remember that whatever you’re going through, it will end. An astrology forecast actually gives us the end date! This awareness can help us to attend to the lessons on our plate with more focus.
We must change our question from “What will happen to me?” to “What can I learn from this?” Only then do we become a co-creator of our future, rather than a victim of it.
