So, I'm pretty new to astrology myself- and the deeper I dive into it the more wowed I am.

It's clear, that anyone who gets serious about studying astrology, is going to eventually re-examine the whole idea of 'fate'- on a much deeper level than before.

I'm curious how any experienced astrologers here have changed their views on this- compared to before having an understanding of the art.

Specifically, how do you approach days that , from transits and such, are obviously going to be super powerful?

I was thinking about this this morning- it seems to me, that there are going to be certain transits/aspects that are more obviously 'this is a once in a life time thing'.... How do you approach a day like this?

Having an understanding of the lesser transits obviously results in a more efficacious 'in the flow' way of operating- Might decide it's a good day to say 'yes' to your gambler brother when he invites you to the casino when Jupiter Venus are in a good place for example. This level of electional understanding- I get this- but it's the larger, "stars say today is a day of fate in a strong way' that I'm more interested in.

Especially for those transits which look to be majorly transformative- It seems to me that being able to see them coming would somehow remove the .... naturalness? of the experience if one were to otherwise be ignorant to it and experience it without the foreknowledge.

The question gets more confusing as, it's possible to calculate EXACT times for some of these things- I can imagine that there could be a tendency to 'watch the watch' to try and pinpoint- while living the day- what's going on at that exact moment- But, it seems to me a catch 22- because if you're waiting for the transit- you're not actually in the here and now of experiencing what it's bringing.

Welcome, Gnome!

I think it depends how much one wants to control life.

I did not believe in free will before, I do not believe in free will now, so in this respect there was no change. Sometimes I do an election if something is important to me and I want to influence it. But my main purpose of studying astrology is the wish to understand and first of all unite with life. To accept what’s coming and to let go what’s going. To be in the flow of life and (planetary) rhythm.

I believe you will see that transits are not enough to make things happen. Sometimes constellations manifest in your life sometimes not. A profound prediction of practical proceedings is not made in five minutes, so maybe the wish to preview is somewhat muted over time.

But… what is a long time of practicing? One year, 12 years, 50 years? Things change and moods too. And approach to life changes too.

As to 'long time' is kind of arbitrary.

but there's a point when practicing anything consistently for years where one could say you're perfectly fluent in a language- and comprehend it totally.

That's more what I was getting at.

To give a more precise example of what type of transit I'm referring to- and I could be totally wrong here- but coming up next april is a Mercury Mars Saturn conjunction- in perfect degree- for the first time in a least 70 years- which happens to occur in a 1st house profection year for me- Virgo Rising, so Mercury is lord of the year (and clear ruler of my natal chart)- This is occuring in aries- where my natal mars is placed- At the same time, the south node is perfectly conjunct my ascendent and the north perfectly conjunct the descendent- and the entire triple conjunction makes a sextile to the north node and a trine to the descendent.

I'm at the point in my study where I can understand the 'gist' of what these things mean- but it certainly looks like one of those "this one is going to be big'

I'm less concerned with the interpretation of that specifically, and more just curious how those with experience recognize these 'power points' and actively work with them. Do you sort of 'let go' of it and not try and consciously wait for whatever 'it' is to happen?

I've seen in my studies that sometimes transits manifest quite literally- I imagine there's some delination techqniques which can shed some light on whether or not something is going to be a 'manifestation in a sudden moment' vs 'energy unfolding over time'- but I have yet to discover exactly what those are.

Gnome wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2025 6:07 pm…next april is a Mercury Mars Saturn conjunction…

Sorry, but…no, it is not. There is no such conjunction in April 2025.

There is an exact Mercury-Saturn-conjunction on Feb. 25th 2025 not in Aries but in Pisces. MA is in trine in Cancer (not exact).

Georgius wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2025 7:09 pm

Gnome wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2025 6:07 pm…next april is a Mercury Mars Saturn conjunction…

Sorry, but…no, it is not. There is no such conjunction in April 2025.

There is an exact Mercury-Saturn-conjunction on Feb. 25th 2025 not in Aries but in Pisces. MA is in trine in Cancer (not exact).

april 20th 2026 - my bad

Hello,

I moved this to the Philosophy and Science section because your question is a philosophical one rather than one about studying general astrology.

Our words are not the words of cosmos.

To answer your question, I'm not sure that I believe in fate so much as karma. In using horary, I often see that outcomes can be changed. We have free will but we also have karmic debt that we either choose to face or will be forced to face eventually. Some believe we have already chosen ahead of time the focus of our energies of this life and that might be true, but is that fate or just a general focus of our life that we may or may not abide by? If we don't face our karma, we may have to deal with it again in another life, perhaps.

Even death indicators can lose to modern medicine. I know Robert Hand believes he should have died in childhood. My chart is similar - I survived a deadly bought of pneumonia at the age of 5 (and several times later) with modern medicine.

Welcome home Gnome,

I have been doing astrology since 1972 and it took me a long time to realize that I was more into teaching and research than consultations.
Stopped doing astrology for 10 years as I had other priorities in my life.
Came back to it as a hobby, no pressure, just for the fun of it and it suits me well.
I never used astrology to try to avoid my destiny, that would be foolish, but instead to answer the question "How long is this going to last?". Otherwise, happily living what the universe sent me. I am profoundly optimistic in life. No pills, no therapy, just strict on a healthy diet.
Similar to Tanit, I was put in an incubator at birth and technically I am living on borrowed time.
One thing. I have never discussed or brought up is what my closed ones (family and friends ) should do with their life. Astrology never interfered over the relationship. At most, I was secretly looking at their chart and offered guidance without never naming astrology. What do I know after all? So little in front of the universe! But caring for someone is more empowering than any science.

Ouranos

What are some indicators to look for to determine whether a certain transit/configuration is more likely to manifest literally, in a specific moment, instead of unfolding over time?

My birth chart is an interesting example of a 'literal-in the moment' configuration

I was born with the umbilical cord around my neck, blue in the face-

And my Jupiter (literal birth) and mercury (breath) are combust- with saturn (obstacles/obstruction) in opposition and mars (blades, abrupt/sudden action) as the apex of the t-square. Jupiter is exalted in Cancer- and saturn and mars are in good places (both domicile)- so the whole thing seemingly points to exactly what happened - A challenge overcome.

Just reflecting on it now in the moment, I can imagine that perhaps anything involving Mars could be 'acute/physical manifestation' - though I imagine it's likely not the only signification of that.

You are able to declare things that happen but you cannot see them before they happen. Life happens in coincidence plus need/necissity. If we try to look into the future 50% is not really done with astrology.

Fidibus wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:33 am You are able to declare things that happen but you cannot see them before they happen. Life happens in coincidence plus need/necissity. If we try to look into the future 50% is not really done with astrology.

Though, a considerable portion of traditional astrology is concerned specifically with making exactly these kinds of concrete predictions,.