Who’s in control- You or your Destiny?

A million dollar question- one which almost falls in the category of politics or religion, it’s that sensitive a topic and guarantees to have people either strongly be in favour or against.

The more important qs is, why does it matter so much to be pro/anti destiny? And why do people have the need to convince other people about it? Do we not realise that these conversations.. or arguments, as suits the scenario, were predestined too?

Before the anti-believers give up reading this article at this point, I should quickly point out that this is not the stand I’m continuing for the rest of the matter.

One extreme stand you will hear is that everything is pre-determined and you have no escape from it. A famous fable I heard when I was a kid- A king was told by his astrologer that his demise would be on a particular day by a lion. Obviously, that astrologer did not believe the common rules we follow about not predicting death, or keeping a little flexibility in your readings since we are not God, but that’s a different topic altogether.

This King set out to prove the astrologer wrong since he was of the firm belief that he was too young and robust to die. He cancelled his hunts, he cancelled his appointments and locked himself in his room a week before the predicted day. The day came and almost went, the King, ecstatic about having avoided his death, pranced around in glee, slipped on the lion skin rug in his room, hit his head on the floor and died. Death by a lion indeed.

I’m in dual mind about taking my words back about the astrologer, he did know his stuff.

The second extreme- We carve our own fate. Now in my experience, these people flat out deny the existence of a super power, and forge ahead based on their own thinking and purpose. Which is absolutely fine. But there just might come a day in their lives later, where some occult practitioner predicts all the things which happened in their lives and what’s to come ahead- because, hey, it’s not like the Universe gave YOU an option whether to come to life or not, what makes you think you are being given an option regarding how your life plays out?

Me, being a Tarot practitioner, our basics teach us that not all things are carved in stone. You being born, or your death, for instance are. The major milestones of your life, the purpose of your life.. these will play out since that is the reason you have landed on Earth. But, the very small albeit important thing called free will allows us to have an iota of control in our hands. And oh, how crucial is that iota!

In Astrology for Real Life by Theresa Reed, she has used an example of a young child born with the ability to paint like Picaso. This skill which was inborn in this prodigy is something not in our hands, the talent has been put there and the child has potential for success. Our free will determines the outcome. If the child decides that he wants to abandon his skill and become a plumber instead of practicing his art, his path, which seems to be fated, has changed because he made a different choice. Or in a different scenario- and this is what I have seen personally plenty of times, I cannot pin this on Theresa- if the child has been told that he has a great future ahead of him because of his abilities, and he decides to just sit in his room without taking action on it just waiting for his great future to play itself out, it is NOT going to happen. Being proactive, trying to make things work for you is necessary for the wheel to turn.

If the stars are in your favour, use them to your benefit. If they aren’t, take that advice as caution and find a way out which minimizes your damage. Which brings us to our initial question, Are you in charge or is your destiny? Way I look at it, our destiny presents us with choices, paths, decisions. The broader details of what will happen if you take Option A, B or C has been predetermined, sure. But the free will which you have does allow you to make that decision of which route to choose.

Do you want to be a risk averse person or a courageous one bordering on stupidity? Do you want to learn from your past mistakes or do you want to be stuck in a vicious cycle simply because you refuse to accept or change things? Do you want to do the right long-term thing or just continue with the option which will promise you short term gains? These are choices which are in YOUR hands. All actions have a reaction, every small action matters in the long run.

So, If a person is meant to suffer a huge loss, that is bound to happen. One point for Destiny. The choices given to you will be A-Sit Crying, B-Find a way around it and reverse the damage and C- Something else which might be.. damage control, or running away or something else altogether. The option you choose here will determine how things unfold ahead, BECAUSE those paths have their own stories decided. If you ask me, this is good enough. Most bosses don’t give this much leeway in your working environment, the Universe or your Destiny is then being pretty cooperative, no? Our lives have to be a collaborative effort really, it can’t be just you paving your way, let’s not overestimate ourselves.

But we aren’t just a mere puppet in our own life too, don’t let that happen. Even the illusion of control is powerful, it makes us do things, which in turn leads to other things, which leads to other things.. and THAT is how our lives play out:)