Navigating Life with Astrology: A Deep Dive into Celestial Influence

Imagine unlocking the mystery of the stars, gaining insight into your future and understanding ancient knowledge that has been passed down through centuries. This is what we tackled in our fascinating exploration of astrology. Douglas James Cottrell unravels the artistry of astrology, how it has influenced various cultures, and its role in shaping our lives. From the interpretation of planetary positions and constellations to the ancient Mayan Empire's calendar based on the Milky Way, we discuss how powerful the celestial bodies can be.

Have you ever wondered how ancient civilizations, like the Ottoman Empire, possessed profound understanding of mathematics, astronomy and other sciences without the aid of telescopes? By looking to the stars, we found some answers. We also journey into the evolution of our consciousness, the influence of planets and constellations on our life orbit, and the intriguing role of prophecy and predictions. The possibility of using birth charts to predict tendencies or future events in a child's life is also touched upon, giving us a new perspective on the power of astrology.

Finally, we explore astrology's influence on life decisions. How it has been used in selecting children, spouses, and even predicting the future in various cultures. We distinguish between the three main types of astrology - Western, Egyptian, and Phoenician - and emphasize the importance of an astrologer's skill for accurate interpretations. We also delve into the power of intuition and dreams, using tools like pendulums, numerology, and astrology charts. We end with a reminder - astrology is a tool to understand our lives, not a definitive answer. So get ready to unlock your destiny and take on an enlightening journey through the stars.

Hosted by Douglas James Cottrell. Co-hosted by Les Hubert. Audio engineering by Douglas M Cottrell.

Transcript

Announcer: 0:00

Welcome to Wake Up with Dr Douglas James Cottrell, your source for helpful information, advice and tips to live your life in a mindful way in this increasingly chaotic world. For over four decades, Dr Douglas has been teaching people how to develop their intuition and live their lives in a conscious way. His news and views of the world tomorrow, today, are always informative and revealing. To learn more about Dr Douglas, be sure to visit his website, douglasjamescottrell. com, where you can download self-help exercises you can do right in the comfort of your own home. And now here's your host, Dr Douglas James-Cotrell.

Douglas James Cottrell: 0:43

Welcome everyone. You're here on the Wake Up. I'm your host, Douglas James Cottrell, and my good friend and co-host, Les Hubert, is here today with another exciting topic in exploring the human consciousness. Good day, Les. What do we have as a topic today?

Les Hubert: 1:00

Hi, Doug. The question today is astrology. You know, we hear and read in ancient times that astrology was very powerful. It was a tool used by the ancients to determine their possible futures. But is it legitimate today? You know how important is astrology in our lives and our development. Is it viable?

Douglas James Cottrell: 1:18

Well, some people live their life by astrology and people being people, you know they would only do, they'd only participate with something that actually is helpful, and so astrology must be somewhat helpful. I understand 67% of all North American people believe in some form of astrology or metaphysical or intuitive sources of information. So when I asked by mentor Ross Peterson about this, about astrology, you know, when you talk to astrologers as well, they say astrology is an art form, it's not a science, and I think that's something that all astrologers would say that they're not. It's not scientific, it's not infallible, it's not, let's say, it's not something that can be reproduced with the same results. It takes someone to interpret the planetary positions, the constellations and your rights.

Douglas James Cottrell: 2:24

In ancient times there have been references to the stars. We can look back in Christian, judeo religions, we can look to our friends in the Far East and to Hindu and religions, and to also as far and as far away as the Asians, and basically every culture I know has some reference to the stars and what the stars mean. In certain locations and certain configurations they represent something, and people over the eons have come to some determination as to what certain positions of the planets, certain positions of our solar system in relationship to the constellations and what these positions mean or have influence over us. So the idea to say that astrology is an art and it needs the information that the astrological charts, the positioning in the study of the stars Well, there's a whole lot of information that is there, people have studied over the years and I get to my point is that it has an influence over us or an indication of what kind of people we are. Now I know our friends in India and other places who have studied I guess even throughout all of Central Asia, have studied these references through charts, comparing one person's chart to some other person's chart, meaning if they're looking to see if two people will be compatible for marriage, there would be a certain configuration of planets that would be suitable to the other person's astrological chart. And because they do it all the time when on the outside, looking in would say, well, there must be something to it.

Douglas James Cottrell: 4:27

So the belief in it should be tempered with a little bit of practicality and say that these are tendencies, these are influences and they seemingly have an effect upon us as to our time that we're born, the place in the world that we're born and the parents and the circumstances that we find ourselves in and they give us a certain direction or a shape, sort of a mold, but it's what you do with it. Everybody has free will and free choice and so you have tendencies and you have, if you will, areas of opportunity. But that doesn't mean that you can't make mistakes and kind of you know, quote-unquote, screw it up. You can and you can go a different way because of your will, or something might happen to you that's tragic or traumatic in your life and it changes your personality or belief, structure the influences that are there. So the short answer is that because there are so many people who have great respect for astrology and there are so many people who are very, very good at interpreting a chart and the positions of the stars and the position of our solar system within the constellations, that absolutely there's some benefit there. I know in historical times, as far back as the Christian times, the star Bethlehem is a reference to astrology or astronomy.

Douglas James Cottrell: 6:00

The Mayan Empire used to study the Milky Way and as well as the constellations, rather than the individual planets, and they were able to have a timetable worked out. The Mayan calendar, for instance, was based on certain positions of the Milky Way. There's a story about in one part of the Milky Way. They called it the donkey's tail, and when the donkey was dipping its tail in the water, that meant that hard times were coming and that was a prophecy that was made for the demise of the Mayan Empire, and it happened. The Mayan calendar also is another way of showing us what's happened. We were expecting huge changes in the world almost in a day in 2012.

Douglas James Cottrell: 6:51

Well, it happened in 2020, it didn't happen in 2012. Look what happened. Covid came along and the entire world changed in a day. So the answer to the question one should not think that astrology or the planets or the influences from the planets rule your life. They have a tendency as to influencing who you are as a physical being, but your heart and your mind basically rule your life, so you can go along with the flow, use the tendencies. If it says you could be a leader, well, maybe you'll end up being the president of your local union, maybe you'll end up being the leader in government, somehow, or maybe you'll be the leader of your own corporation and be the CEO. So the influences are there. Some people are good at certain things and the astrological charts would say they are good at these things and they are, but then every now and then, there comes a confrarian that just bucks the system and they don't fit in at all.

Douglas James Cottrell: 8:01

So we have to say well, here's somebody enjoying their free will and all the constitutional benefits of free speech and all those other things. So it's not a scientific thing, more of an influence, an indicator, the probabilities of what somebody is going to encounter in their life and also approximately what these times are.

Les Hubert: 8:31

The other question they have was because astrology is nothing. It's not simple. If you have seen an astrological chart, it's very complex, with all the different relationships between the planets and astrological bodies out there. How did the ancients ever figure this out? How did they get it? I mean, did they? They didn't have telescopes back then. Was it simply because they observed through their eyes and watched the effects on mankind?

Douglas James Cottrell: 8:53

Well, we don't know if they had telescopes or not. Every time we look around we're finding out oh my god, they had higher forms of technology than we anticipate. So to look at it from a certain perspective and say different parts of the world were destroyed through different means tidal waves, volcanic actions, like Pompeii being swallowed up by Mount Frasovius, blowing up great fires and great hardships over the world but that knowledge lingered. So did it come from ancient times? Remember it was the Ottoman Empire. When they came up through Spain and into Mediterranean, they brought with them great understanding of mathematics, including the understanding of the concept of zero. Many of the things we know today came from the Ottoman Empire and their scientific background, knowledge, et cetera.

Douglas James Cottrell: 9:52

So the knowledge has been floating around for a long time. But that's a good question as we look at it from a certain perspective. But again, going back in ancient times, they knew a lot. The pyramids were built on specific parameters and directions and there were calendars. But when the sun was going to rise there were maps made of the world, peri-reeze maps, for instance. That date, long before anybody was able to come up with the concept of the world, was round and there were certain continents, including South Antarctica, I should say.

Douglas James Cottrell: 10:32

So the knowledge has always been there and, of course, people who are interested, who would be taught certain things, as far out as we could reach, into the space, into the solar system. That would be sort of an indicator of our evolution, of our understanding of who we are as a human race. And every time we discovered another planet because we could see or perceive it with telescopes or something else, well then the human nature evolved a little more. So goes the concept. And now look where we are. We're sending telescopes up in space. That's peering way, way, way, way out there into space, and look where our human consciousness is way, way way out there and understanding a lot of things, not only the macrocosm, but now, because of COVID, we're looking at the microcosm and we're understanding the cause of cancer and such terrible diseases as Alzheimer's. And so what we perceive in space, if you will observation outward, we're also perceiving that within ourselves, and so our consciousness is increased.

Douglas James Cottrell: 11:42

Now, that's just my opinion. Of course it may be right, it may be wrong, but the point is that we evolve by these things, and the consciousness has evolved as people in the past, especially in our recent past. What we would call from the dark ages through to the Renaissance, to these times of revelations that we have now in our life, at this time, Is that these consciousness are increasing and expanding, and, as we did so, we begin to embrace the heavens and understand more of the relationship between the configuration of planets and constellations and our orbit in the solar system. Our solar system, as I've said before, it's not flat, it's more vertical and it's progressing with the sun, like the center of a target, the red dot in a target. It's progressing, leading the rest of us, the planets, that is to say, on its merry way, following almost like the tail of an acomet, if you will. And so here we are, looking further and further out and understanding more and more within.

Douglas James Cottrell: 12:55

This huge spiritual awareness that we're going through is a revelation of these times that are supposed to happen. At this time, prophecy and predictions of long ago are now common. True, so what is it? Do people need telescopes in the past to perceive an understanding of the universe? Or were they clairvoyant? Were they able to meditate? Were they able to contemplate the universe, and were they able to discover the influences of these planets through their metaphysical or spiritual abilities? I kind of think they were.

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Les Hubert: 14:50

You know one of my friends.

Les Hubert: 14:52

She actually has a I think he's about five years old and she's a fan of yourself and also of Edgar Cayce and she said she had a birth chart done for her son when he was first born and she said it was wonderful.

Les Hubert: 15:08

She had it done through the ARE out of Virginia Beach. And she said it came back, was like about 60 pages, and she said "you know, Les I put it under the coffee table and I forgot about it". And she said, as my son grew older, she said one day I remembered it and I took it out and I started looking at" and she said, oh my god, it was unbelievable how it was describing my son as he developed." and so I'm wondering--a nd she said it also gave her Indications of where he might run into problems, like some of his misbehavior, some of his traits, and she said it's starting to make sense and and so would you would think that this would be a good idea for anybody who has a small child to have a birth chart done for their child for So-called coming events? Well, the answer that is, of course, more information is better than less information.

Douglas James Cottrell: 15:55

But the rule of thumb is not to say this is the way it's going to be, exactly Okay. You say these are the tendencies and and again. Mommy put the chart in the coffee table and forgot about it so that she wouldn't be influenced by it. Well, was she? You know, because she read it the first time. So it's in her subconscious there somehow. So we can always consider that maybe there was some sort of influence there. But I'm not going to go to that end and say ha ha, that's it. I'm going to say that's a possibility that she was pleasantly informed when she was young, when the child was younger.

Douglas James Cottrell: 16:36

I have on my website Douglas James cultural comm. There's a lady there who talks about how I was to do the same thing with her children In a meditation state. I looked forward and saw what they were going to do as they get, they got older. They're in their 40s or 50s now, and she goes on about how exactly I Was able to foresee events In business and how they go along with each other and what their personalities were going to be.

Douglas James Cottrell: 17:04

So Astrology is little more than an indicator. Clear boyance is an observation of the future, but of course the person has to live their life and as long as they stay within the the guard reels of that Indication, they will more than likely come out and do that. So the answer to the question do you want to know what your child is going to be? Most everybody does? Okay, then take that as a grain of salt helping you as a parent to formulate the child's Destiny. You know, if it says this person should be higher learning or really smart, well, then you can proceed. That the child is going to go to university, or more than likely, well. And then if you say this person really like airplanes, or, you know this, this child really likes to to use heavy machinery, or this child likes to do heart, or this child likes to be in the healing arts, well, that can help you. Even though you might have Great determination that you want your son or daughter to be a doctor or something, they might say well, no, they don't, they're not gonna like that, they're gonna like more, like, you know, wild life, and they want to be a forest ranger, or they want to be in the military, and and you could say, okay, well, it's a child's destiny, but more than likely as a parent. You sort of sort of already know that, but I think I'm a parent of Ed Ford children, and Not one of them turned out exactly as I hoped for or wanted to, wanted them to, or expected them to. They all found their own way, sort of within the guidelines of what I would have expected them to do, and of course, the great disappointment is that, oh my gosh, my kids didn't turn out like I wanted them to. You know, johnny went and became a hockey player and I want him to be a dentist. Oh my god. But yeah, but look, johnny's making more money than the dentist now, you know.

Douglas James Cottrell: 19:08

So the bottom line is to say that If you have a mind to do this and to find out, then Make sure the quality of the person you're consulting is of the highest caliber. You don't want somebody that just took an astrological course or they have the, the big book with all the numbers in it. I guess now they do it online more exactly, and you don't want to take that as Ironclad, as carbon stone. What you want to do is to say to yourself Okay, this is a tendency, this is a possibility, now yours, yours truly.

Douglas James Cottrell: 19:49

Myself, I am, and always have been, a conscious skeptic of what comes my way. In other words, I'm an open-minded person. And so when back in the day, in 1975 or six, the topic of the investigation of astrology came up, along with other things like numerology and and spiritual healing and those kinds of things, past lives and aura gazing as well, and so I did have my astrological chart cast. I was about 70, was 1975. So what did I do? I went to three different astrologers at the same time and had all three cast my Chart. I think that's how you call it.

Douglas James Cottrell: 20:40

Well, I'm not an astrologer, so I don't know the terms that much. I know certain things about my chart, but Well, I learned from that moment in time and I know certain things about my chart. I don't pay attention to my chart every day because, again, the lesson is we all have free will, a free choice, and you should teach your child to develop their free will. It's the most powerful force that they can have and it's the greatest thing you can teach your child free will and the ability to be willful and to by by being willful, they'll be successful at whatever they do. They won't give up your seat. So anyway, getting back to this lesson I had was I had three astrologers come back and basically, within about 80% of the things I was told by all of them they were the same. Oh, wow, they were the same.

Douglas James Cottrell: 21:34

One astrologer said Douglas, are you a pilot? And I said no, I'm not, but I've taken flying lessons. My father was in the Royal Canadian Air Force, so was my stepbrother. I've taken flying lessons, always wanted to be a pilot, and she said, without missing a beat, well, you would have made a good one. And I went oh, okay. And there again goes. My chart showed that I should have been a pilot, but I didn't become a pilot. I became, so what I am now.

Douglas James Cottrell: 22:06

So the law, in the short of it, is that I do like to fly. By the way I have been, you know, I've soloed in the plane myself. You know, on a few occasions. I love to fly and I at one time used to love to go real fast, which is an indicator of being a pilot. You like to go fly, you like this celebration acceleration and you like to go fast.

Douglas James Cottrell: 22:28

And also, when I'm in the air, I can look out the window and I kind of know where I am in the air, which is another indication, but that's about me and that's just to give it as a flavor of what the astrological charts will say or project. But again, you can go along a certain way and the child can change its direction the same as we can as adults. So again, if I didn't say it before, it's like sure, have a chart done, but get the best astrologer you know, somebody that's that's been in the business for a while that they're very good at what they do, and then take the information and sort of as a plan or a recipe of you at that way and then maybe you can help avoid the child being tempted to get involved in in that's called and bad things and you can direct a child to get involved in good things. Now, if you have a chart that a child is going to be a born fighter, they're gonna, they're actually.

Douglas James Cottrell: 23:31

I'm not sure if they do this in charts, but I think it might be possible. They say well, your, your son or daughter has this tendency for combat, they like to challenge other people, they, they just have this warrior chart. What do you do less? Well, you take your son or daughter and you get them involved in karate oh all right. Or amateur boxing or something like that, so they can fulfill their need to be warriors, but in a positive way. So you see, by understanding that you might find out that your son is always getting in fights at school or are picking fights with people, that he needs this outlet and the way to modify that is to take him to a place like karate or judo or, you know, weightlifting, whatever.

Les Hubert: 24:26

It's interesting because, as you were speaking, I looked up the term for pilot and one of the definitions is when who guides, and you have been a guide for many, many people for many years. So, yeah, you are fulfilling that.

Douglas James Cottrell: 24:38

Yeah, and a higher octave. That I was Right.

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Les Hubert: 26:00

So basically astrology, we should take it as almost like a kind of like broad brushstrokes, kind of like an overall guideline kind of a thing. I do.

Douglas James Cottrell: 26:11

Other people are very, very, very good at it. In some cultures and societies they live their life by it. They, their children, are their mates or husband or wife, are selected by astrology. So for some cultures, again, they would have the very best.

Douglas James Cottrell: 26:33

And I have met a couple of astrologers that are absolutely amazing in my life. They were able to, before I even opened my mouth, they were able to say, oh, you are this, you are that and you have a handicapped child. And I was just, without saying a word, they told me based on my birthdate and time. So, yeah, I've been really impressed by some over the years. Now, not the first three, they were different, but I will mention for the record that Alan Sprague, the famous astrologer and TV host, was one of those people that did my chart. He was very good and he gave me explanations as to why my daughter, shariah and Kautral came into my life the way she did, which of course, put me on the spiritual path and took me away from the career path I was on in the Toronto Daily Star newspaper. So purposes, family, circumstances, all can be foreseen.

Douglas James Cottrell: 27:38

But, as I said that one astrologer, he was a Hindu man, he was a master, and I said when I showed up he said don't tell me a thing, I'm going to tell me. I'm going to tell you why you're here, I'm going to tell you the questions you want to know. And he was amazingly accurate. Now I kind of think there must have been a little clairvoyance or other mystical aspects, and sometimes good astrologers will confess that when they're looking at the chart, things occur to them and I think the chart is acting somewhat as like psychometry, where the person is picking up psychic information, that is to say intuition or clairvoyance. I will add that as a possibility. But I would say, if you're a parent and you're interested and you're just a novice kind of person, it's not in your culture. Otherwise do go and have it done and keep an open mind.

Douglas James Cottrell: 28:39

But you might want to have tours redone at the same time and then kind of by on average figure out what they say Well, I'm only aware of three different types of astrology the Western version that we have here in the United States.

Les Hubert: 28:52

I'm going to show you have it up in Canada Also. We have the Egyptian method which is, according to archaeologists, it's gone. We can't find it anymore. And then we have the Phoenician method, which I think is still used and they say one is a lot more accurate than the other. Should we be seeking out a specific form of astrology for ultimate accuracy or is the Western method okay for us? Does it come down to the skill of the astrologer and maybe their other worldly powers?

Douglas James Cottrell: 29:20

I think it comes down to the skill of the astrologer and their ability to interpret the charts either intellectually or intuitively.

Douglas James Cottrell: 29:32

I know there's side astrology, which is another thing. I think, generally speaking, if you can find a really good astrologer, if you're intending to do that, that would be the place to start. But also I have a couple of other astrologers to the chart and take it. And we're talking of people just beginning or looking at it. We're not talking about the dedicated people who are already knowledgeable and know what to do and who to consult. But my comment is to the people beginning. This is how I did it look for a good one, get references etc. And then take it as a grain of salt, as a tendency or possibility.

Douglas James Cottrell: 30:19

And for those people who are longtime advocates of astrology, again, don't limit yourself.

Douglas James Cottrell: 30:26

It's a tendency and allow yourself to build upon those tendencies which you have obviously by time and effort, discovered what the stars have in store for you. And always remember the future is changeable in as much as you have free will and free choice to change the probabilities, those things that are in prophecy, fate, if you will. They cannot be changed, but by knowing about them in advance you can mitigate the effect upon you. You can be prepared for difficult times, for instance, if you know they're coming, which is what we talk about all the time on my website and my books the New Earth, for instance, which is available on DouglasJamesCartlecom. It's predicted a lot of the circumstances, situations, warfare, climate change and the reasons for it all in that book written in 2011. So being able to foresee the future is what we're all looking for, and astrology is one way to forecast the future. But always, no matter what, there's always that moment where you can go or don't go. You have free will and free choice, and so that's the important thing at least from my opinion, but free will.

Douglas James Cottrell: 31:48

You can do anything you choose to do, or you can do nothing. If you choose to do so, it's better to do something than nothing, I always say. But for anybody listening to this podcast, we encourage you to continue the investigation. You're your best forecaster. Work with your dreams. Your dreams will forecast your future. Whether it's a pendulum, whether it's a numerology chart or an astrology chart, you are the one that is your own, best intuitive, and your dreams and meditations will lead you to the most prosperous directions that you can possibly go in. But be willful. If you decide to do something, do it. Don't quit until you get to the end.

Les Hubert: 32:35

Well, thanks, Doug, for another great podcast and hopefully we will see you all very soon.

Douglas James Cottrell: 32:41

Indeed, I hope so too. Remember, my friends, this is not the end of the journey, it only continues. From this point, I'm your host, douglas James Scottrill, with my good friend and co-host, les Hubert. We'll be right back to see you here on the wake up with our next exciting version of Expanding the Human Consciousness.