We’ve discussed what astrology is, how the planets work, their condition as benefics or malefics, how strong they are and how they operate through the twelve [12] houses and signs. But what does this all mean? What can one do with this information? When we put everything together, we end up with something called natal promise—the idea that a person’s birth chart lays out the parameters for their life, from the family they are born into, their early years, education, their vocation, the level of success they will achieve, will they get married and have children, will those children survive to adulthood, will the person be healthy throughout their life or will they have health crises? But how much do we believe the moment of our birth determines the course of our entire life? And even if we accept that some parts of our life are predetermined, does that mean that everything that happens to us is in the stars and we don’t have any control over our destiny?
This is a fiercely contested question today, and astrologers in the Hellenistic and Medieval Islamicate traditions, didn’t agree either. [1] There was a consensus in both eras that astrology is designed to be an early warning system. [2] If you know something horrible is coming, like a plague or a war or crops failing, you can prepare so you’re not caught off guard. But how far that extends into determining the course of a person’s life varied from astrologer to astrologer. One of the reasons astrology isn’t taken as seriously in western society today is because it conflicts with a foundational tenet of western and particularly American dogma: that we as individuals are the only determinative actor in the outcome of our lives. If we fail or succeed it is the result of our own actions and only our own actions. In such a mindset, the idea that the moment of our birth begins a journey to a predetermined set of outcomes seems nonsensical.
This is a major distinction between modern and traditional astrology. Modern astrology focuses on the individual and views the individual as the most powerful actor. [3] Traditional astrology uses the planets to explain the structures that we can’t control and explains the weaknesses of those systems through a moral lens. From parental estrangement to corrupt governments, those are things we cannot control but modern astrology does not have an answer for. Traditional astrology does. Arguably one of the reasons traditional astrology is experiencing a revival driven mostly by Millennials and Gen Z is the because the promises made to us about how our lives were supposed to go, does not match up with the course our lives have taken. As a result, we are looking for a language to articulate this contradiction and to explain why it is occurring in our lifetimes.
Modern astrology barely touches on natal promise. Before I moved to traditional, of all the books I read in bookstores and kept on my shelf, I can remember only one discussing natal promise and even that book only lightly discussed it, making it easy to disregard it. In traditional astrology, the birth chart is the root of any prediction about a person’s life. Whether from the Solar Revolution (Solar Return), decades-long techniques like Fidaria, or the character of the soul, they must be rooted in the natal chart. If someone wants to get married, or travel or have children or be at the top of their profession, it must be promised in the natal chart.
Every person’s chart is unique to them and collective events like retrogrades, eclipses, and transit aspects affect everyone differently based on their natal chart. The influence is universal but how that influence is felt, if it is felt at all depends on the natal chart. And just as the planets promise to bring certain events in our lives, certain influences in the chart overpower others.
AstroGold
Billie Holiday’s chart is a great example. In many respects she had a powerful chart with an exalted Sun, exalted Venus, domiciled Jupiter and even a debilitated Mercury that gave her a powerful voice through song. But her voice also made her a target of the government, as most of these planets were squared by Saturn (government) and conjunct Mars (theft/separations.) While Billie Holiday enjoyed success and money, she was exploited by her partners and died in poverty handcuffed to her deathbed. The racism of Jim Crow could not handle a successful Black woman not afraid to call attention to the racial violence Black Americans lived under. Arguably, her natal promise went unfulfilled.
We also have an example of how success and challenges unfold over time such as in Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex’s chart. In her Netflix docuseries, she reminisced about lamenting over living above a garage as a child. But by the time she met Prince Harry, she was a multimillionaire actress on a hit TV show with a profitable lifestyle blog called The Tig. During her six years in California before returning to the U.K., she amassed an even bigger fortune through deals with Netflix, Spotify, Lemonada, her lifestyle brand As Ever, and personal investments into female-owned businesses, while continuing philanthropy with her husband through their charitable entity Archewell Philanthropies. This is reflected in her Sun (life purpose) in the 2nd house of accumulated assets in its home sign, Leo.
Meghan’s birth chart also reflects her familial estrangements and the hostility she’s faced since 2016. She has a planetary buildup in the 4th house of home and family with the Moon, Jupiter and Saturn, all squared by a debilitated Mars. Mars’ actions are to separate, inflame and aggravate and sits in her 1st house. The media scrutiny exposed complicated relationships with relatives on her father’s side (4th house.) And her presence as a half-Black woman in the British Royal Family brought hostility to her person (1st house) in the form of media and online hatred.
AstroGold
Now I want to ask you: what is the story of your life? Which life topics seem challenging no matter what you do? Are there areas of your life that feel easier? Are there topics that feel more predominant in your life? This is all part of your natal promise.
In previous posts Benefics & Malefics, we discussed how benefics bring blessings and malefics bring challenges. The houses that are ruled by benefics can feel easier, and the houses ruled by malefics can be more challenging.
You can see which planets rule which areas in your life by calculating your own birth chart for free on at AstroSeek by clicking here: https://horoscopes.astro-seek.com/birth-chart-horoscope-online
Works Cited:
[1] Benjamin Dykes. Traditional Astrology for Today: An Introduction. The Cazimi Press, 2011. pp. 20-24
[2] Abu Ma’shar. The Great Introduction to Astrology. Edited and translated by Keiji Yamamoto and Charles Burnett, Brill, 2019. pp. 165, 167
[3] Helena Avelar and Luis Ribeiro. On The Heavenly Spheres: A Treatise on Traditional Astrology. American Federation of Astrologers, 2010. p. 7