Lately there’s been some discussion about whether outside forces like astrology have an influence on our reality, and if so, how much. Does our “sign” dictate what our lives will be? Or can we choose what we want in spite of the stars? Does astrology and other forms of divination contradict our understanding of Law of Attraction?

Really what it comes down to is the basic question: do we have ultimate control over what happens in our lives, or is there some outside force (the stars, god, the numbers of our birthday) that can influence our experience regardless of what we do? That’s a question that’s been on the table for a really long time.

I’m not an astrologer by any means. My understanding of it can best be described as basic. I’ve read a few books, and had my chart done, but that’s all. Here’s an example of the way I look at this kind of thing: I do know that my sign is Libra, with Libra rising. To the best of my understanding, this means that not only was I born in the Libra weeks of the year, but Libra was the sign that the sun rose in on my birthday. This is sort of a double whammy of Libra qualities, one of which is a focus on or importance attached to the idea of “home”.

To me, this just gives a sort of coloration or cast to my experience; it isn’t an “assignment” or even a limitation. It doesn’t mean I have to “be” or “do” anything. Home is something that IS very important in my life–in the normal sense of valuing it, but also in the sense of having built with my husband several experimental houses, as well as lots of renovation projects. All we do, it seems, is build or move or buy or sell houses.

This kind of unsettled but home-focused lifestyle doesn’t feel like I was “destined” to it, though. I think that I could have gone in any number of directions with it. I could have been an architect; I could have been another Martha Stewart! I could have written about houses; I could have stayed in one house that I loved for my entire life. I could even have been homeless and had the focus be on the lack of the thing I was focused on. The astrological characteristics don’t seem to me to be dictates, but tendencies that we can play with any way we like.

Within my focus on home, Law of Attraction still works every day and in every way. I still attract what I focus on, still have to sort out limiting beliefs, still have to figure out what I DO want and set intentions for that. I still have the ability to create the things I want and not the things I don’t.

To use a poker analogy, it’s like being dealt a hand of cards. To see a ten or a jack in your hand doesn’t mean anything about what you can do with the next play, or whether you are doomed or destined to win or lose. To say: I have a ten and so I can never win this hand would be ridiculous, as if a winning hand never included a ten. All it means is that if you win or lose, the hand you do it with will have a ten in it.

With any of this kind of attempt to give structure to our experiences (astrology, numerology, I Ching) I think it pays to look at things in the most freeing way possible.

(For the complete discussion of this topic, please check out the entire thread at the discussion forum.)