Thank you Astrology News for posting this link from Oculus Divinorum with this link to an article by astrologer Victoria Bazely that mirrors my feelings on this issue EXACTLY!!

I have a pet peeve, and like most pet peeves perhaps, it’s a bit hypocritical. My pet peeve is people who use astrology (or anything else really) to support a life run by fear. I’ve read that Nancy Reagan used to consult an astrologer before her husband did anything and wouldn’t let him do things like sign legislation unless an astrologer gave the okay–which meant he sometimes ended up doing things at odd hours like 1:59 a.m. I don’t know if she actually did this, but just reading about it irritates me. It irritates me because it strikes me as operating out of a combination of fear, dependence, and an excessive need for control. . . .

Life happens, and life includes bad, scary, challenging or even exhilarating twists of fate. You can’t control the entire universe with astrology or anything else. Life happened to Ronald and Nancy Reagan, just as it does to everyone else. His presidency had its challenges and its triumphs, just as other presidencies do. If credit is to be given for the success of his presidency, I’d rather give it to a combination of his character, his ideas, and his willingness to act on them. . . .

It’s the same thing when I hear astrologers say things like “don’t get a haircut or buy shoes when the moon is void of course!” Something in me just says “I’ll buy shoes and get a haircut whenever I darn well please. I can’t live my life running around checking to see whether or not the moon is void of course every time I want to go shopping.” . . .

“Get over it!” I want to say. Live your life with bravery and conviction and passion and daring and enthusiasm. Listen to your own inner voice and honor it. Take some chances; dare to indulge in some real risks.

A good astrologer (I hope) puts you in touch with the inner voice you do have and encourages you to explore it and understand it and work with it and enrich your life by accessing your own intuitive wisdom to reach the dreams you’re half terrified to pursue. A good astrologer doesn’t make you afraid to buy shoes or sign a document in the middle of the afternoon when everybody else does.

In fact, if anyone or anything makes you too scared to live your life, then I don’t see how it can be a good thing. I knew a therapist once who told everybody as soon as they embarked on a relationship that they were “getting co-dependent.” Oh, come on. What is life worth if you’re too scared to love anyone for fear of “getting co-dependent?” . . .

So I’ll say it again. Buy shoes, get your hair cut, sign documents, fall in love, get on the freeway, dance in the moonlight, take a chance, honor your wisdom, face your challenges, and don’t live a life run by fear. And I’ll try to do the same.

I love this article. We create most of our problems through our fear, and at least half the time our fear is worse than that which we are afraid of.

I had an email from a woman who had just had a series of difficult transits and she wrote to me hoping the rough cycle was over. Alas, it was not! She still had more to go. I gently let her know what was coming and how she could best navigate those rough waters and I never did hear back from her, I know that was not what she wanted to hear.

These are difficult times, there is no doubt. But hidden in every difficult planetary event are the keys to our soul’s evolution. There is a lot of “doom and gloom” in the astrology world and here, like in the mainstream press, bad news sells. But I don’t find it particularly useful to tell clients “Look out, you’re having your second Saturn Return and you will face the demise of your ego.” Rather, there is an opportunity with the demise of the ego to seek the truth that lies deep within and underneath the personality; the true self that we become more and more familiar with as we age.

We can’t avoid pain and discomfort in our life, and once we accept that then we are able to utilize the energies of the planets to facilitate the transformation that the challenging cycles of squares and oppositions have to offer. If you think humans have it bad, just rent “March of the Penguins.” Those poor little guys have to walk 100 miles just to breed, and then the males spend the Antarctic winters in a huddle hoping desperately that their eggs won’t freeze. Meanwhile the females make the 100 miles trek back to their homeland where they hope they can get some rest and many don’t make it. You can’t help but appreciate a mere Pluto transit after watching that film.

Anyway, I loved this article and it is excellent advice!!