Astrology and Some Knowledge of the Stars, Part 1 of 2

In the west, astrology can be traced back to 3,000 BCE and the ancient Babylonians. Every medieval European court had its own astrologers, and the pope even consulted them for advice. Great philosophers such as Johannes Kepler, Francis Bacon, René Descartes, and Immanuel Kant were devout students of astrology. Nowadays, people read their horoscopes based on the Zodiac signs that represent the time when they were born. A birth chart is essentially a snapshot of the sky at the time of a person’s birth from the place where they were born. No two birth charts are the same, and even twins who are born minutes apart can have different birth charts. The position of each planet at the time of birth plays an important role, as each planet represents a different energy. Since the Sun and Moon are the two most dominant “luminaries” in the sky, they are the Celestial Bodies with the greatest impact on our lives. By calculating the future movements of the planets that would result in potential energetic phenomena, the probability of certain events could be ascertained. Thus, for many talented mathematicians and astrologers, studying the sky and planets is an extremely scientific pursuit by which they’ve been able to foretell events hundreds or even thousands of years into the future. The astrological configuration of planets that we were born into may be likened to our karma or destiny. However, our most insightful Supreme Master Ching Hai (vegan) says that while astrology can control our destiny, it can also be changed if we practice spiritually. “If we practice spiritually, if we change our life into more morally fit, if we are more virtuous and more selfless, more spiritually elevated, then our destiny changes, even if it’s fixed. But destiny has nothing to do with astrological sign, okay? […] We can always change. For spiritual practice, the (inner Heavenly) Light and (inner Heavenly) Sound person is changing, very fast and very unrecognizable sometimes. Just meditate, do good deeds, be selfless, then you are under the new astrological sign, saintly sign.”