What is man's relationship to the universe ? Or, for that matter, to the earth? These and many similar questions have forced many of us to search for the truth. But how blind we humans are, for the truth we seek is located within our unconscious mind. To unlock the door to our unconscious mind, we need to have a key.

There are many different keys, but strangely enough, they all seem to fit the door of the unconcsious. These keys have many different names, such as tarot, palmistry, numerology, Rosicrucian, Zen, and, of course, astrology. These keys merely unlock the door so that you can get a glimpse as to who you are, where you have been, and where you hope to go. The key, or keys, you use is unimportant. What is important is for you to unlock the door. Once this door is unlocked, there is more work to to, but at least you will have seen a glimmer or light.

Astrology, as a key, can help you understand yourself and others better. All of us are involved in the same struggle for soul development and growth. The planets in our solar system have certain vibrations which we react to unconsciously. We call these vibrations urges or inclinations. But, because they are urges only, we can bring the under control by the use of our free will.

Free will means the ability to make your own personal choice. Free will can change the direction of our life at any time we decide to use it. We used free will when we entered our present bodies. It was our own decision as to who our parents should be, and what the vibrational influences we wanted from the planets in order to help resolve some of the karma from previous lifetimes. Planets have set vibrational influence, Mercury in Aries gives a different thinking pattern than Mercury in Taurus. In Aries, the mind is alert, and quick to react, whereas in Taurus, the mind is methodical and moves at a slower rate in order to absorb all the material before decisions are reached.

We have no one to blame for the life pattern of this particular incarnation but ourselves. In the Astral World, we are not weighted down by our emotions so that we can make an accurate appraisal of our record of deeds and misdeeds. A decision is then made as to what area we need further improvement on and in what area we wish to make atonement. After our decisions has been reached, a suitable vehicle (body) and parents must be found that will best suit the selected program.

Our entanglement into the physical bodies began eons because of our curiosity about emotions. Were we wrong to allow our natural curiosity involve us with physical matter? No, I don't think so. All experiences are important to the formation of a complete , perfected soul.

We learned, much sorrow, that the price we had to pay for feeling emotions was to experience ALL emotions. In the beginning, we saw an animal experiencing an emotion, we flitted into their body. Thus, we were able to choose only the pleasant emotions. No one was experiencing pain. Our lives were exciting and pleasant. We were like children playing games, as we watched earth's slow evolution process.

So, what happened? Why aren't we still resting on a cloud watching the animals' adapting to the ever-changing environmental conditions? Alas, the audience became actors instead. The answer as to why this happen can simply stated by saying that we interfered in the natural evolution laws. No one has the right to interfere in anyone's life. We can guide them, love them, encourage them, but not interfere. Our interference earned us our "reward." Since we wanted to experience emotions, we found that we could no longer remove ourselves from the animal's body when we flitted in for an "emotional experience." Thus, the fall of the angels was complete.

This fall of angels meant that we had to live out that animal's life until it either died, or was killed. Before the animal's death, however, the soul had to experience many emotions. In a three-dimensional world, emotions have two sides. All the pleasant emotions had been experienced, but imagine the torment when the emotions of hunger, thirst, cold, and fear invaded the soul. How could one eat unless one killed? Our first kill placed us under the "law of cause and effect." The bible refers to this as "an eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth." This we were totally entrapped to incarnate over and over again until we had perfected emotions to their highest possible state.

Other souls who were not entrapped watched the anguish of the entrapped ones and the decided to help them work through their karma (the consequences of ones behavior). This was attempted in many ways. To simplify things, we will say that volunteers in perfect human bodies came attempting help. They used there psychic creative ability to perfect the animal bodies and to advise on how to resolve karma. But what started out as an errand of mercy turned out to be an entrapment for the volunteers also. Emotions got in the way of their clear, analytical thinking. Some of them began to treat the entrapped souls as inferior creatures we were only fit to serve them. Thus they too, fell under the law of "cause and effect."

Though the earliest knowledge of astrology dated back to the mists of antiquity, it lives and grows and needs re-presentation based on current research. Its development is similar to that the medical knowledge. From time to time, certain medical treatments have been dropped when other methods have proved to be more effective. Today, most astrologers have dropped the "fated" or "doomsday" interpretations of natal charts. This has been the direct result of the discovery of Pluto in 1930. Pluto caused an upheaval in the thinking of astrologers. This does not mean that it was not affecting us before that year, but means that its visibility forced astrologers to study again. The results of their studies have gradually updated astrology. As more and more souls reach a higher level of soul evolution, we will discover another planet. It is commonly referred to us as Vulcan and will probably rule Virgo. Thus, the rate of soul evolution will be accelerated even more on the long journey back to our original home.

Astrology is both Science and an Art. It is science, because the setting up of a chart is an exacting process for each factor has to be calculated. On the other hand, as an Art, it depends on the astrologer's skill in interpreting the chart. Like all skills it improves with practice, but the genius astrologer is just as rare as a genius in any other field of endeavor.

Astrology can't solve your problems for you, but it can go a long way toward giving you a greater understanding of both your problems and yourself. It can, also, tell you when to proceed with your plans so that you obtain the best possible results.

Personally, I think astrology's greatest value lies in its method of self-analysis. No man sees himself as others see him, and he is tempted to discount other people's unfavorable opinions of himself as being founded on prejudice. Each Zodiac sign and each planet have positive and negative traits. Are you willing to admit to yourself your negative traits and begin developing the positive traits?

Too many people think that astrology is based on the star constellations. This confusion of thought exists because the constellations have the same names as the signs in the Zodiac. However, it is possible to set up a NATAL CHART based on sidereal astrology (or star constellation astrology), but this is entirely different from traditional astrology. India uses sidereal astrology and a few astrologers in the West, also.

Zodiac astrology begins with 0 degrees Aries when the sun crosses the equator heading north. (It is actually the earth doing the moving, but it clarifies things to say the sun.) Thus, when the sun crosses the equator heading north, this is called vernal or spring equinox. (equi=equal and nox= night). It is autumnal equinox or 0 degrees Libra when the sun crosses the equator heading south.

This is the original celebration of what they call now "easter day" celebrating sun's resurrection from the cold winter. But that's another topic I will cover later.

Seasonal changed are seen in the house cusps of the natal chart. In the Northern Hemisphere, Aries on a house cusp indicates "spring," Cancer indicates "summer," Libra indicates "fall," and Capricorn indicates "winter." In order to adjust to the seasonal differences between the Northern and the Southern Hemispheres, a 6 month adjustment is made for births in the Southern Hemisphere so that the correct natal house cusps can be determined. This adjustment places Southern latitudes in the identical position relative to the sun as the Northern latitudes were six months before. Seasonal differences are only important to the house cusps and not to the twelve signs. The Sun signs are determined by where the Sun is reflected on the zodiac belt during the time and day at birth. For example, the sun is reflected on the zodiac belt in Aries from March 21st to approximately April 21st each year. No matter where you were born during that time. This is because the sun would be between the earth and the Aries section of the zodiac belt. To visualize this better, see the chart below.

It is because of the four Zodiac names which are used to herald spring, summer, fall, and winter in the Norhern Hemishpere that the controversy concerning the unsuitability of using "Northern Hemisphere Astrology" for the Southern Hemishpere began. Some astrologers feel that if a person is born in the Southern Hemisphere, their natal Sun sign should be polar opposite of the Northern Hemisphere in order to correspond to the seasonal differences. Thus, they feel that someone born in the time period for Aries should be considered a Libran. However, most astrologers disagree with this theory. The other eight zodiac signs are not in the least seasonal except for the Sagittarius the hunter, but he could refer to hunting in the fall in the Northern Hemisphere or hunting in the spring in the Southern Hemisphere. So, each of the characteristics assigned to Aries marks the beginning of spring in the Southern Hemisphere, day and night are equal. The symbol of Aries is the ram, In the spring and the fall, the ram will use his head to dig around on the ground for food to feed his family. Arians, too, are thinkers, leaders, and "seekers" of new ideas. And like spring, fall, and the ram, they can, also be stormy.