It’s a question many people ask: Is astrology true? Is astrology real? Or is it just for fun?

To explore the question, it is important to understand that Astrology has been around for a very long time, even longer than Christianity.

For thousands of years, the skies were studied for events that would affect human lives.  The idea at the heart of astrology is that complex patterns of the sky correspond to the complex patterns of life and that yours begins at the moment you were born.

How does the human story tie into the stars?

At night before there were light bulbs, clocks, and calendars, humans would have lain awake at night looking at the sky. As humans do, we would have started to pick out patterns. Not only in terms of shapes, but also in terms of repeated occurrences.

The sun and moon were obviously the most obvious occurrences. But, inevitably we would have associated stars being in certain parts of the sky with important seasonal changes: when this pattern of stars in here, droughts occur, when the stars are here: heavy rains, etc.

READ Study of 1.75 million patients links health, birth month — Toronto Star

If the stars can predict changes in our environment what else do they predict? Ancient thinkers and observers would have paid attention to this for our very survival.

According to scholar Benson Bobrick,

“It is an applied science, insofar as it is based on astronomy; an exact science, insofar as its judgements are based on mathematical calculations; and an empirical science, insofar as its deductions are based on data gathered over the course of time.” The Fated Sky, Astrology in History

The things that stuck were the mythology behind the stars and the patterns.  This is critical to understanding the real importance of astrology. Stories and myths help humanity understand ourselves and those around us better. Not do those stories only play a strong role in history, they continue to play a strong role today. We see archetypes and story plots in our books, movies, and TV shows. These archetypes have become embedded in our culture and our collective unconscious.

These stories can show us our potential power just as much as help us avoid common human pitfalls. Astrologers believe that we are not necessarily doomed to make the same mistakes over and over. They believe astrology can help us avoid making the same historical mistakes and help us become better more well-rounded, balanced people.

Five important lights in the sky

But inevitably they would have seen that a few stars – five of them – moved independently from the rest of the universe. They may have been brighter or different colors. When we look up at the sky today, they are still there: five stars that appear to have their own agenda. They each move at different speeds and in different directions.

Humans are essentially magical thinkers. We need to ascribe meaning even to those things we can’t possibly understand. It is not much of a leap to look at those five stars and see them as being important and powerful and without any other knowledge believe that perhaps they have much more power over our world than we know.

The Planets as Gods

Unless you study the night sky or astronomy you might not know that the planets move independently to the background of the rest of the stars that we see in our Universe.

The ancients believed this meant they were powerful gods, that, although were larger than life, had the same kind of inclinations that humans do. They believed that the patterns of movement and location of these events in the sky were synchronized with life forces and explained much that happened on earth.

Those gods would have developed an affinity with or been influenced by whatever sign that happened to be in the time. Combined with the sun and moon, these patterns and events would help explain the various moods and shifts that occurred.

What are those five perceived independent lights in the sky? The planets. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.

Astrology is the origin of science itself

From astrology came astronomy, the calculation of time, mathematics, medicine, botany, modern chemistry, and so on. Its terms are found in our language, even the pharmaceutical ℞ symbol is derived from the Roman God Jupiter who was based on an Egyptian god who was said to have magical healing powers.

We can trace Christianity back to its origins but the traces of astrology are so old we’re not sure how the signs began. But the stories and ideas that arose are essentially human and have over time been entrenched in our cultural history, language, and attitudes. Carl Jung was a famous and influential psychologist who died in the 20th century wrote a lot about archetypes and the collective unconscious and how it relates to us psychologically.

Today modern astrologers believe the planets signify basic drives, unconscious impulses, or moderators of energy that signify aspects of human experience.

Birth Charts show us hidden areas of our lives

Whether or not that you believe that you are talkative because you are a Gemini or honest to a fault because you are Sagittarius, astrology essentially is and has always been about interpretation. Looking at your birth chart as a whole allows you see explore potential areas you might nurture and develop that you may not otherwise see. It is a starting point to understand yourself, and those around you.

Create your own personalized astrology chart

Create your own birth chart to see what signs the planets were in at your time of birth. Check out our Birth Chart and Interpretation page.

A Guide to Strengthening and Using Your Psychic Powers

Developing your psychic powers can be hard, but actually strengthening and them and using them is whole other story. Actually building and developing your powers is rather simple compared to actually practicing them.

To practice your psychic powers, you must physically use them, which can be extremely difficult for someone who has never used their abilities before. However, after you become used to using your powers, it will seem natural and easy, like it was something you’ve been doing all your life, like painting, singing, or playing a sport.

And even though the mystical world of psychics seems very different from everyday things like painting, singing, or playing a sport, they are actually quite similar. Just like these things, you must train your mind and body to learn and use your psychic powers.

But the question is, how? Practicing your psychic powers isn’t something you can learn in school, and it can be difficult to find instructions for such a thing on the internet as well. You might end up getting some expensive book that turns out to be nothing but a hoax.

Fortunately, there’s a free and easy way to discover the in and outs of psychic powers, and it’s right here! Continue reading for some fun games and tips for using and strengthening your psychic powers!

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 It’s important to remember that any kind of performance pressure, negative energy or nervousness will interfere with your abilities. If you haven’t already read it, check out 5 easy tips for preparing to develop your psychic powers. If have already prepared yourself for developing your psychic powers, it’s on to the next step.

Practice and explore in the spirit of play.

Psychic Games and Tests

There are some great games out there dedicated to improving your psychic powers. Below I’ve made a list including good games you can play with friends, games you can play online, and games you can play on your own.

Psychic Games to Play on Your Own

• Toss a dice, and before it lands, close your eyes and try to guess what number it lands on. Use more than one dice to make it even harder!

• Get a small object and place it on a table. Use your psychic powers to try to move it. Use bigger objects to make the game harder!

Psychic Games to Play with Friends

• (Game requires at least 2 people) Give everyone a slip of paper and a pencil, and have all of them stand around a large blank wall. One person will try to visualize a simple shape and project it on to the wall, while the rest of the group tries to see it. Everybody will then draw on their paper what they saw. This will continue until everybody has visualized something. You get one point for every time someone gets yours correctly, and when you gets someone else’s correctly.

• (Game requires 2 people) Both players will rub their hands together for at least 10 seconds. Then they will put their hands together and slowly back away. The point of this game is to see how long you can sense the other person’s energy while being separated.

Test Your Psychic Powers Online Quiz

•  www.horoscope.com/horoscope/genie/psychic-test.aspx

Tips on Strengthening your Psychic Powers

1. Practice your powers daily. Practising daily will not only make you feel more relaxed, but your powers will skyrocket!

2. Don’t over practice your powers. While you should still practice daily, over practicing your powers can lead to fatigue, headaches and weakened psychic powers.

Your powers are like muscles. Overworking them will eventually exhaust them to the extent where they become too weak and stressed to function.

3. Meditate often, and especially before practicing and testing your psychic powers. Meditation has been proved to not only lengthen and cut down on stress in your life, but to expand and strengthen your powers as well!

If you want some more tips and advice and growing your psychic powers, check out 5 easy tips for preparing to develop your psychic powers.

Once you start to see an increase in psychic phenomena in your life, you can start to apply this toward your horoscope readings and your birth chart information to interpret this information more meaningfully.

Many people don’t experience much luck in developing their psychic abilities. This is often because our psychic energy is in conflict with the way we live our modern day to day lives.

5 easy tips to gain strength in the mind and soul

It is commonly believed that that those who have psychic powers are simply born with them and there is no way one can develop them on their own.

This is in fact, is believed to be untrue. These otherworldly powers are considered to be a natural part of us, and were heavily practiced by all once upon a time. However, after many, many years of neglect, these enchanting talents became rare and unheard of. People even doubt with they’re real.

But even though the practice of these powers has been sadly abandoned, it is thought that most people still sport a trace of them, even if very small.

Have you ever had a dream that’s mysteriously come to life, or experienced Deja Vu? Or been the subject to more than one suspicious coincidence? You are likely unknowingly exercising your psychic powers.

But how can you control and expand these ancient skills? The first step is to prepare your mind and body and psyche. With these 5 easy tips, nearly anyone take the route to becoming a master psychic!

1. Develop a strong relationship between your mind and body

Developing a strong relationship between your mind and body is the first and most important step towards unlocking your psychic powers, and constructing your soul and spirit.

Think of it like a building. You cannot build the second floor without building the first. It’s the same with the relationship between your mind, body, and soul.

Meditation, particularly that which focuses on your breathing is the quickest and most effective route to developing a harmonious connection between your mind and body.

Relaxation exercises can also be very useful as well, since there is a direct link between the neural activity in your brain, how you feel and your body responses.

2. Release yourself from all negative energy

Giving yourself a positive outlook on life and acting optimistic when times are tough can drastically improve your happiness level, the length of your life, and of course, your psychic powers! Even just pretending to smile can increase your mood and make you feel happier!

However when people are feeling angry or down, there can be a certain sense of satisfaction from holding on to those bad feelings. This is why we indulge in complaining or going on “rants” about things that are bothering us. It feels like that we are somehow honouring ourselves and the injustices that we perceive have been made against us.  But its not. These attitudes cloud both our perception and our perspective.

There are two ways to tackle this.

First, acknowledge that your attitudes are a position that you have chosen (even if unconsciously!). You are not powerless to negative energy. You don’t need to feel bad to prove that injustice has been made against you. You are not losing out by letting that negative energy go. You are benefiting from it in the long run.  Second, you can release negative energy by seeking to understand others from a place of empathy.

Once you learn how to release negative energy you will start to feel a simultaneous detachment and connection to the world around you. The detachment means you are not so caught up and distracted by the mundane petty details  life. The connection means you are in a more empathetic and tolerant place. Energy will be more attracted to you now and you will find yourself more aware and receptive to it.

3. Develop a healthier lifestyle

Believe it or not, making physical changes to your body can largely affect your mental health. Working out, especially low impact aerobic exercise can improve your mood and is even thought to reduce anxiety!

Eating healthy can not only give you needed energy, help you lose weight and prevent diseases, but it can also extend your life by a number of years!

But developing a healthier lifestyle is not only good for your physical health. A healthy lifestyle can sharpen your mind. Exercise can help you improve your self control; two of the major factors in developing your psychic powers!

4. Increase your self-control through repetitive tasks

This may not seem like a helpful tip, but practicing dull and repetitive tasks can hugely ameliorate your self control and willpower. This is an extremely important skill for those who want to grow and enhance their psychic powers.

Willpower is like a muscle. It can be worn out. This is why we are more likely to lose our tempers, or cheat on our diets in the evening. But like a muscle, science has also proven that it can be strengthened through practice, too.

Some dull and repetitive tasks are washing the dishes, folding laundry, doing math (if you’re a student at school who does not enjoy math – otherwise doing math might fit into your life for point 5!). Even volunteering to do a menial task even for an hour a week will help you. This kind of activity is not only good for increasing your psychic powers, it will serve you well in everyday situations.

5. Do what you love

Doing what you love with your whole heart can definitely strengthen your psychic powers, not to mention make you feeling happier. Whether it be painting, playing the piano, or simply hanging out with friends, it’s important to let loose at times and do what you want! This helps you be in tune with your purpose in life, and the more in tune you are with yourself, the more in tune you will be with the energy around you!

Once you have prepared your body mind and psyche you are ready to move on to the next steps! See Tap Into Your psychic Powers, a Guide to Developing and Strengthening Your Psychic Powers.

Some astrologers believe that your dominant planets and signs in your birth chart may have an even greater influence on you than your sun sign. Determining what your dominant planets and signs are is half the fun of reading your Birth Chart.

Most birth chart reports, including WeHoroscope’s reports, give you interpretations based on where the individual elements lie, but the interpreter needs to look beyond the report at the bigger picture to see how they all fit together.

Identifying these dominant planets and signs helps identify major themes in a person’s personality and life. (Learn about planetary aspects and astrological Houses in our article on how to interpret a birth chart.)

Dominant Planets

1. Planet lying in the sign that it rules

A planet is considered to be dominant if it lies in the sign that it rules on your birth chart.  

For example, the ruling planet of Aries is Mars: if the planet Mars has an Aries background on the chart, Mars is a very powerful planet in your birth chart and would have a more powerful influence than other planets on the Birth Chart.

Below the Moon is considered to be a dominant planet in this chart

Planets and Points in the Night Sky and their Symbols

2. Planets that fall on the Angular (or cardinal) houses

Astrological Houses

In astrology, the night sky is essentially divided up into 12 “houses” (starting at the “9 o’clock” position on the chart and heading counter-clockwise).

As the earth spins, the sun and other planets are in each of these houses for approximately two hours (as there are 24 hours in a day) as do other planets.

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As astrology is an ancient art very grounded in our place in the universe and on earth, there are four points in the day that are considered most important and each is associated with a house:

• Sunrise (Ascendent) – first house
• Midday (Mid-Heaven) – fourth house
• Sunset (Descendent) – seventh house
• Midnight (lower-Heaven) – tenth house

These are known as Angular Houses.

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3. Planet has a lot of aspects in relation to other planets

If a planet has a lot of significant aspects in relation to other planets, it can have a dominating influence on the Birth Chart.

Aspects

Aspects are the angles between the planets as seen from Earth (Earth being in the middle of the chart).  In other words, if you map out your planets on your birth chart, you can literally create a triangle by drawing a line between them and back to Earth in the middle.  This way you can give them an angle (remember geometry?) as it relates to your middle position of Earth.

So if one planet is at the 12 o’clock position, and another is at the 9 o’clock position and you draw lines between the two and also from the planets back to Earth, the degree of angle at Earth is 90 degrees (a square aspect).

How they relate to one another in your life has an impact on you and this is particularly fascinating.

Hard Aspects

Some aspects are called hard aspects, such as the square aspect, and signify challenges, conflicts, or energy blocks. These tend to be red on a birth chart.

Harmonious Aspects

Other aspects are called easy or harmonious aspects and these signify beneficial influences and potential, (although can also be taken too far if indulged too much). These are typically represented by green or blue.

Aspect Relationships At A Glance

Often in a birth chart, you will also get a natal grid like this image below which can help you get an overview of the chart quickly.

This is just a different and less complex representation of the birth chart below. In the example below, you can quickly see the square that represents the relationship between the Sun in Virgo and the Moon in Taurus. You can also quickly see which plants have more aspects than others.

Example

The difficulty between Sun and Moon is easy to see here, but this may not be as much of a difficulty as there is between the Moon and Jupiter, which is one of only two direct oppositions on this chart represented by the symbols in red in the grid.

4. Solitary in the Hemisphere

If the planet is the only planet in the hemisphere, then this can have a strong influence and therefore is considered a dominant planet in the chart.

The Southern Hemisphere is actually at the top of the birth chart. Simply stated this hemisphere is characterized by extraversion. The Northern Hemisphere is at the bottom of the chart and relates to introversion and the inner world. It is concerned with the outer world.

The Eastern Hemisphere relates to identity while the Western Hemisphere relates to other people and relationships.

Dominant Sign

1. The Sun Sign

The Sun sign is obviously an important one and the one we are most familiar with.  When you learn you are a Capricorn or a Gemini for example, this refers specifically to your sun sign, meaning what constellation the sun was in front of when you were born.

This is not the same as where the sun passes through the houses during the day. Rather it is more specifically related to where the earth was in terms of orbiting the sun throughout the year.

2. Signs Representing Elements and Quadruplicities Groupings

Look at the signs that are the background of your planets in your birth chart.  Each sign has both an Element (Earth, Water, Air, Fire) and Quadruplicities (Cardinal, Fixed, Mutable).

Map them out in a chart similar to the one below. For example, if you have two planets in Aquarius, you could put a two in Aquarius’s box.

	Fire	Air	Earth	Water
Cardinal	Aries	Libra	Capricorn	Cancer
Fixed	Leo	Aquarius	Taurus	Scorpio
Mutable	Sagittarius	Gemini	Virgo	Pisces

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Example

For example, in the example below, the table and the birth chart show more Fire signs than the others and more Mutable signs than the others. The sign that has both these qualities, in this case, is Sagittarius. Therefore Sagittarius is a dominant sign in this chart even though they have more planets in Virgo.

	Fire	Air	Earth	Water	Score
Cardinal	Aries √√	Libra √	Capricorn –	Cancer √	4
Fixed	Leo √	Aquarius √	Taurus √	Scorpio √√	5
Mutable	Sagittarius √√	Gemini –	Virgo √√√	Pisces √	6
Score	5	2	4	4

3. Ascendant’s ruler

You need to know your birth time to accurately get your ascendant’s degree. The ruler of your ascendant (or your Rising Sign) is the planet that rules over your ascendant sign – both planets and sign have a significant influence that should be considered.

If you don’t know the time you were born, you could try this app to do a birth chart rectification. It will take you through possible qualities and significant moments in your life to calculate possible times you were born.

4. Several planets in a sign

If several planets appear in the same sign, this sign has a powerful influence.

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Learn about planetary aspects and astrological Houses in our article on how to interpret a birth chart.