Finding My Way Through Astrology: A Reflection (1/2)
This reflection is part of my final requirements for my online course about the introduction to astrology. Decided to upload it here just in case I want to look back at my realizations, and in case there are others interested to see how faith and astrology can be connected. This is Part 1 of 2.
Within 6 weeks, I gained a deeper appreciation for myself and astrology as a tool for greater self-awareness after enrolling in an online course by one of my friends. Some of my experiences and best lessons from the course are the following:
We are all connected
From the moment we learned about the four elements, up until the very end of the session, it was clear to me that we are connected to nature and the rest of the universe. I think I credit this to adopting the “astrological mindset” early on and in being open to the process. I realized throughout the course that much of how we behave or how we react is heavily influenced by our environment (in our case, the planets). This observation actually made me more interested in the topic because I saw that we weren’t just understanding the planets or the signs so we could predict the future or think of them like gods (like how many people misunderstand what astrology does), but we were merely understanding the planets to gain a deeper understanding about ourselves.
I am unique
I really enjoyed reading through my birth chart and understanding what it would say about me. Admittedly, I was quite surprised with much of my results. All along I thought that just knowing that I’m a Capricorn would be enough, but I soon learned that it goes much deeper than that. By understanding the different planets, and the houses, and even learning more about the different signs, I realized how many combinations there can be and I ended up appreciating myself more, because I don’t think I’d have the same combinations as anyone else. It was challenging at first to read my results from the birth chart, but it really is enlightening and quite affirming when I see that how I actually describe myself or how I see myself is aligned with my birth chart (you can find my own interpretations of my birth chart in the next part). I’m actually more excited and more confident to pursue my ideal career and focus on my goals now because my findings from my birth chart seem to be aligned. The more I went through my notes and interpreted my birth chart, the more I seemed to appreciate who I am and the more aware I became about what else I can do to become a better version of myself.
All ways lead back to God
I found this learning very fitting since the title of the course is “Finding Your Way Through Astrology.” As early as the first session, I noticed that I actually saw God more through astrology. By learning more about how our daily patterns are related to the cycle of the four elements, or noticing that there are different planets responsible for certain types of energies or ruling specific signs, I found myself being in awe of how everything seems to just work together! And I can only point this amount of detail to a Source that’s capable of doing this much organizing, which, for me, is God. The amount of insight that we can get just by observing the planets and the rest of creation honestly just shows me that we human beings are only capable of interpreting these, but ultimately the things we interpret (the planets, the signs, etc.) come from a Source that’s beyond us.
Studying more about the planets and everything we took up in the course just pointed me back to God. I learned to see these celestial bodies not as “gods” themselves, but actually as creations that pointed ultimately to one God. I personally don’t see any conflict with delving into astrology and living out my faith, and even in my prayer time, it never brought any negative feelings that I was doing something “sinful.” If anything, I think that understanding the universe and seeing how we are affected by it actually improved my relationship with God, because I was made more aware of how powerful and how much detail He put in creating the universe.
Honestly, even with 6 weeks of learning about astrology, I think it’s still not enough and I’m only getting started. I’m very impressed, though, with how much I was able to learn about myself and others, and I hope to continue practicing this and learning more about how to interpret my birth chart so I could be more intentional in my goals to improve myself.
