Astrology And The Secret

The Secret has been one of the best-selling self-help film/book combinations in recent years, reportedly grossing over 300 million dollars. It was brilliantly marketed and put together extremely well, in terms of focusing on the things that people might be interested in bringing into their lives: money, fulfilling work, happy relationships, good health.
The 'Secret' itself of course is not new, and is based on ancient hermetic laws, which since the early 1900s have found following under the name the 'Law of Attraction'. The Law of Attraction is predicated on the idea that the entire world is pulsating as an energy field and that our own particular energy fields resonate at certain frequencies. Things that come into our lives, which are 'attracted,' are therefore those things that resonate to our own vibration. Thus, if we emit the right frequencies, we can attract anything we want into our lives. The Secret then is that changing yourself, and attuning yourself to those things you want to attract into your life, can actually help them arrive!
Another way of understanding this is to consider the idea that mind creates reality, although one has to appreciate that it is mind in the largest sense of the word. Empty affirmations or positivity masking inner despair will not do at all. The Law of Attraction responds to one's entire vibration, what we are emanating from every cell in our body and psyche.
The Law of Attraction was once described as 'You are what you think, not what you think you are'. This seems to represent a direct challenge to astrology, which often suggests the birth chart is the pre-defined essence of who we are, an essence that cannot be changed. Astrology may therefore seem to have the opposite philosophy 'you are not what you think you are, you are what you are!'
Yet this is only a superficial problem. Astrology does suggest there are limits in life, but this does not render the Law of Attraction or 'The Secret' invalid. We could see astrology as a more sophisticated philosophy for the human encounter with the world. It recognises that life has limits, and that each of us is unique. The Law of Attraction still works, in the sense that each of us attracts that which is encoded into our energy field. The additional premise of astrology however, is that our planetary pattern is part of our energy field, and as such plays an important role in the sort of things we will attract, and indeed gives us a starting point for what our true desires may be!
Part of the beauty of astrology is that it avoids much of the crass naivety inherent in some of the 'think positive' strands of New Age philosophy. Astrology has never maintained that we could have anything we want, be anything, or that there aren't some parts of life that are difficult, tough and at times downright terrible. These experiences in life are often correlated with the planets Saturn (limits, duties, responsibilities, karma), Chiron (wounds, pain, healing through wisdom) and Pluto (destruction, descent into dark places, being stripped of superfluous elements in life). At the highest level these planets are certainly not 'bad', but the experiences they symbolise are tough processes, whose ultimately benign purpose can sometimes take a great deal of work and reflection to appreciate.
Astrology as a means of understanding one's energetic interaction with the world by no means nullifies the improvement one can make in life by following the Law of Attraction or 'The Secret'. In fact it gives us greater scope for using the Law with a better appreciation of what our deepest desires actually are, and who we really are. The most satisfying life is one that is lived in accordance with one's real essence, and often we may be at a loss to know just what that is. An astrological chart, a map of one's relationship to the cosmos and inner dynamics, helps to illuminate just that. Astrology may also suggest the very best times in which the Law of Attraction may be most easily used to attract various qualities. For example, expansion and success can be focused on when Jupiter is strong, or a loving relationship when Venus is powerful in the chart.
The validation of who one is through astrological patterning is profound for the vast majority of people, and its realism in understanding the harder, tougher times of life suggests a viewpoint much more in tune with the way life actually is than a simplistic application of positive thinking. Aligning with one's real self, through the help of astrological knowledge, is a deeper, and ultimately much more satisfying route to using 'the Secret'.
Laura Andrikopoulos is an astrologer from England. Her website is http://www.starpoetry.co.uk/. She offers consultations, reports and audio readings with the philosophy that astrology can help us align with who we really are, aiding us in attracting those things into our lives that bring the most meaning to the individual in question. Visit her website to make your order or booking.
Laura is Vice-President of the Faculty of Astrological Studies. She is the author of several astrology books, including the series 'Short Guides to Serious Astrology' and 'The Astrology of 2012: July to December.'

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