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A Map of Our Life
 Much like our fingerprints or DNA, our energies and the lines of our destiny are also arranged in specific patterns that can identify us. Similarly, the approximately 100 000 dreams we have during our lifetime also form a certain pattern in our subconscious, which is unique to each of us individually.
It is therefore a good starting point to regard our birth chart as the map of our life.
Strengths and Weaknesses
A birth chart helps us identify our strengths and weaknesses, the successful areas of our lives and those in which we regularly face difficulties. It shows our abilities that we can confidently rely on, or those, which we can adapt to various circumstances as we go along. It also identifies the energy resources that we can easily get support from, and - painful as it may be - the conditions we must learn to live with.
Orientation, Life Patterns
The birth chart reveals the directions of our vital energies, our motivations and drives, irrespective of our upbringing, or sometimes in direct contrast with it. It shows the most appropriate way of life, everyday routine that fits us so we can fulfil our destiny .
Like a train fixed on its tracks, we are also restricted to these energy patterns, but we still have some leeway to move freely within certain limits and make many choices during our journey. We must fulfil our destiny, but the quality in which we do it is not all the same. This is the real aim of astrological counselling and that's why it is much more than a mere lecture about our patterns of fate.
Conscious Destiny
While even the ancient Greeks were aware that one trying to run away from his destiny falls into the trap of his fate, there is a big difference between agreeing to fulfil it consciously, or behaving like helpless victims dragged behind against our will.
Some very common - though somewhat extreme - examples mention two people with similar personality structures and character traits, but one becoming a psychologist and the other a psychiatry patient. Also, the psychic structure of a member of the Special Forces regularly risking his life to save someone else's might have more in common with a psychopathic murderer than it may first seem.
So things are modifiable within certain limits. If we understand our patterns of life, we can modify a significant number of factors previously considered unchangeable - and this indeed enables us to avoid many mishaps or even tragedies.
The Helpful Crisis
 We all experience periods of ease, when things are going well and we take it all for granted without thinking much of it. We may then encounter times when we simply get stuck and don't understand why things have gone from good to bad, and why our old techniques of getting things done don't seem to work. We may loose our job, our partner may leave us, we can get ill, or encounter some other type of disaster.
These crises normally have a "secret agenda", trying to force us to reflect on certain aspects of our life and make changes, thus become more mature.
We can come to the conclusion, for instance, that our string of failures in the past doesn't necessarily mean that we miss the abilities for being successful. One of the possible explanations can be that we have been going against our instinctive background, energy patterns or character. And this brings up a couple of very constructive questions regarding our future progress.
Are we sure that we are walking our own paths, or do we struggle only to fulfil the expectations of our family, spouse, friends, neighbours, etc? Are we sure that we long for what we really need, or could we perhaps confuse our real needs/demands with those that other people think we should long for? Are we able at all to make a difference between our innermost desires and the expectations of the outside world?
Unexplored Potentials
 The undiscovered creative potentials as well as those not taken seriously enough can cause awkward symptoms. They can generate serious problems especially during the critical times mentioned above. Then, under their impact the individual tend to act like a child with a growing tooth.
Or, very likely they work as a real curse during our everyday life creating steadily reoccurring problems. In such cases we find ourselves again and again in the same vicious circle, as if there would be something within us that completely ignores our endeavour, our good will, common sense, social rules, and instead follows its own way. Or, to be more precise, it flows in the direction of lesser resistance.
These unrecognised potentials can cause lingering states of lacking energy, depression, resignation, blockages, as the futile fight against them withdraws focus and energy from other fields of life.
Our birth chart reveals not only the possible existence of such resources, but it also shows where to look for them, and in what area of our life can we make the best use of them. It also shows the potential problems caused by ignoring them.
Child-Parent Relationships, Education
 While basically every parent wants the very best for their child, what also needs to be understood is that parental goodwill always has to be harmonious with the offspring's basic character, temperament and talents. We should not try to recreate our lives in the form of our child's life, and we should also not impose on him/her any of our lost desires, which perhaps we were not able to achieve in our lives.
I generally avoid speculations about the child's future, but the birth chart offers precious indicators as far as the psychological type, basic character, strengths and weaknesses are concerned. The most promising educational methods or the most effective approaches to his/her healthy development can also be identified through an analysis. Such clues can be very helpful even in the cases of so-called problematic children.
Family Charts: It is very enlightening to compare the charts of parents and children, brothers and sisters and thus get precious information on the areas of harmonious family relationships and those more or less loaded with tension, as well as the best way to handle these challenges.
Also - although it is not likely to undo the agonies of preceding years - identifying past failures in the upbringing that occurred in early years open new ways of regeneration and development for the adult.
Possible Solution Techniques
Perhaps we have not even been aware that besides common decision making processes - aided by consultation - one might need other aids such as therapy or meditation and relaxation techniques in order to coordinate the inner energy processes. Other activities - such as yoga or various schools of martial arts, dancing, a new diet, etc - could also make huge differences.
Certainly, such changes take a lot of time and energy and there are no magic bullets or magicians that will do the job for us, it is mostly up to us to first acquire the understanding and then make a serious effort to improve our lives.
Love life; Relationships
This field of life is one of the most popular topics of astrological analysis. It stands in the focus of attention either because an existing relationship might have become troublesome, or the client suffers from isolation. What may also happen is that she/he might have never experienced loneliness, but steadily bumps into the same types of difficult partners.
"Who fits me after all? When am I going to find Mr/Ms Right?" is often the client's bitter question. While methods do exist in astrology for forecasting - more or less precisely - the periods that are more favourable for new relationships than others, or periods prone for hardship within a relationship, it is worth considering some other points before we get into anything else. Namely:
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"What kind of a partner are you?"
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"What could be the incompatible element?"
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"What kind of relationship patterns have you developed?"
Only after these questions have been analysed can we move on to the subsequent tasks of:
Work, Business
 A comprehensive understanding of the birth chart helps answer some crucial questions related to the temper, personality type of the client as a worker. Is someone dynamic, lively, open to changes? Is he/she rather self contained, full of initiative or lost without a guiding authority? Monotonous activities and routine work can make some people feel safe, while others might even be willing to face financial uncertainty only to be a part of an adventure. Is somebody a typical team member, a sociable person easy to get along with or rather an individualist? Is he/she a good listener and chat partner, everybody's agony aunt without being able to utter a word in front of an audience?
Such information offers a good starting point even in early school years. In cases of job changes, unemployment, of for head hunting firms, employment agencies, human resources departments: an analysis like this offers essential key points for estimating the situation, whether it is an employee, a prospective boss or a business partner that we are trying to assess.
Health Issues
 The personal horoscope also gives valuable information on the inner and outer circumstances needed for the client to maintain his/her psychological and physical health. It shows warning signs that one might not (yet) be aware of at a given time regarding health issues and tendencies to develop certain diseases and disorders.
The birth chart reveals how close the native's relationship is with his/her body and physiological functions. Some people feel it in their bones if a situation, a person, or a certain food has a good or a bad impact on them. Others are not even aware of such apparently trivial issues as to whether they are really hungry or thirsty when they eat or drink, or is their consumption motivated by other factors, like lack of love, procrastination, feeling of guilt, etc. Therefore, in cases of eating disorders or obesity, help is available for finding the right diet, combined with physical exercises and lifestyle adjustments tailored to the client's character.
Chart analysis also helps identify the hidden roots of various types of addiction. In the case of smoking, for instance, it will enable us to distinguish whether it is a suppressed aggression, a yearning for freedom or love, or simply a form of rebellion that stands behind the compulsive attitude. Similarly, in cases of other addictive substances (like alcohol, drugs, foods, sweets), activities (gambling, shopping), human relationships and the like, an analysis gives relevant information about the needs and motives behind. Thus, even if the native cannot fully escape the physical/psychological effort and sacrifice that the treatment might require, valuable guidelines can be given about the healthier directions in which these energies can be directed in the future.
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