Astrology for Children

Letter to a 6th Grader

By Glenn Perry

Dear Doctor Perry, I am in sixth grade doing some research for my science fair project, which is on astrology for children. I want to know how horoscopes affect people’s lives. For example, if someone reads their horoscope in the morning, I want to know if they change their life in any way to fit their horoscope. What if they do? What if astrology affects how their life is going? What if some big detail in their life is a detail in their horoscope? Please, tell me what you can about this topic and e-mail me back as soon as possible!

Respectfully, Ali

Dear Ali, The first thing to understand is that Newspaper horoscopes are not real astrology. They’re more for entertainment than for guidance. In the field of astrology, there is disagreement about this. Some astrologers think that newspaper horoscopes are Okay because they introduce people to astrology. But others think they mislead the public into thinking that astrology is just superficial nonsense and that only gullible people believe in it.

The problem is that newspaper horoscopes imply that signs are people – that is, the whole of the person is reduced to just the Sun sign. For example, “You’re a Libra. Today is a good day for socializing.” This kind of advice is based on the idea that a person’s day can be predicted by seeing how all the other planets relate to the sign Libra on that day, but this is highly questionable. It’s like trying to determine the state of a person’s health by examining their kidney and nothing else. Just as the human body has many organs (heart, liver, lungs, etc.), so each of us has a unique personality comprised of many parts. These parts are symbolized by the planets. Since any planet can be in any sign, a person is much more than his or her Sun sign. How the planets interact as a whole is what makes up the personality.

Another thing to understand is that the planets do not really have any influence. Astrology is actually about studying correspondences between earthly events and planetary movements. Just as a clock can indicate the time but does not cause the time, so the arrangement of planets at birth — your actual horoscope — can indicate the quality of your character and fate without actually causing that character or fate. This gets into some pretty big questions that have spiritual implications, such as why a person is born at a particular time. I’m not going to address that here. You need to learn addition and subtraction before you can learn algebra, right?

One other thing: even though the birthchart can symbolize one’s character and fate, this doesn’t mean that character and fate are unchanging. The birthchart actually symbolizes how character and fate evolve together over time. Free will has a lot to do with this, because our choices influence how we evolve. One’s fate reflects that evolution. If you make good choices, then you gradually become a better, higher version of yourself; likewise, your fate becomes more fulfilling and positive. More good things happen than bad things.

Of course, everybody has difficulties at one time or another, such as loss, defeat, failure, or rejection. It’s how we respond to those experiences that makes the difference between a good life and a bad one. If you choose to learn and grow from adversity, then you will express your birthchart at a progressively higher level. I cannot look at a birthchart and tell what choices the person is going to make. I can only see the nature of the opportunities and challenges that are likely to arise. A good life and a bad life can be equally symbolized by the same birthchart. This is because the chart doesn’t determine the person; the person determines how he or she expresses the chart.

It’s a lot like going to school. Your curriculum tells you what courses you have to take and who your teachers are going to be. A whole group of students will take the same courses with the same teachers. This is like a group of people who are all born at approximately the same time on the same day; thus, they all have a similar horoscope. Some students will study hard and get good grades, while others will be lazy or cheat or fight with their teachers, and get poor grades. The courses and the teachers are the same for everyone, but some students will take advantage of their opportunity to learn, and others will not. Likewise, some people will choose to express their chart in a good way; that is, work hard and strive to do well, and others won’t. The amount of effort one makes makes the difference. Earth is like a big school.

Good luck with your science project!

~Glenn

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