Those of you who got a negative impression of astrology from cheap pocket books in supermarket checkout lines in the States or from those awful sun-sign columns in the newspapers: I sympathize completely. Even though I'm a psychological astrologer, I can't stand them and what they promote. When I was younger, I was very much down on astrology because of that sort of material until I happened to meet and discuss the matter with a serious, learned and experienced astrologer. (I enjoy discussing philosophical and theoretical matters with people I disagree with. Such conversations help me sharpen my wits in inquiry and debate, and show me occasionally that I need to revamp some of my opinions.) Though I'm not from Missouri, I have a strong "show me" mentality, and when the astrologer offered a demonstration, I gladly took her up on it.

How I was introduced to astrology

The experienced astrologer gave me three impressive demonstrations, but they didn't convince me that astrology is valid. Still, those demonstrations gave me a reason to investigate the matter further, so I spent more than a year learning astrology and testing it on my own to be certain. I discovered that astrology is not magic, nor is it occult. The cheap pamphlets and newspaper sun-sign columns promote a distorted, oversimplified view of astrology, an extremely complex subject that requires years of learning and practice to achieve even basic competence. Astrology is as much of a science as an art. It requires being able to analyze as well as synthesize, and strong intellectual abilities along with emotional sensitivities. It's an area of complex, specialized, ancient learning, the result of accumulated observation over millennia. Anyone interested can read a more complete account of how I tested astrology by clicking here.

A year of study led me to determine that astrology can be a very useful tool. Since that year, I spent another three years studying it in depth with texts written by practicing psychoanalysts who are also prominent astrologers.

I asked the astrologer who first introduced me to the subject lots of questions and learned much from her answers. Then I spent two years applying astrology in counseling situations and gained practical experience. After eight years of learning and practice, and I'm now available for consultation and counseling as a psychological astrologer.
 

What can astrology do for me?

Some of the services that astrology can provide are:

1) Help with adjusting difficult personality traits or internal psychological dynamics.Our personalities are like toolboxes. We all have abilities and talents, some conventional and others perhaps less so. Some of the tools we are given are easier to understand than others. The trick in life is to understand how to use the personality tools we have. Psychological astrology can help us understand them and make the best possible choices for ourselves. Many people figure out how to use the tools they were given, but it may take most of a lifetime to sort out some of the more knotty personality traits. Psychological astrology can get to the bottom of such factors, and often even one session can uncover new directions, expressions and abilities, saving the client years of frustration and unproductive behavior. Ultimately, psychological astrology can help a person get to know him- or herself much more deeply. It can reveal unexpected depths even to those who are already very self-aware. We all have difficult parts of our personalities, and psychological astrology can show us how to use them to help us grow. A competent astrologer can also help us find ways that feel right and natural to us to solve problems.

2) Career or job orientation A major task in life, starting in adolescence, is to figure out how to apply the tools have been given and turn them into a job or career. A competent astrologer can focus on a client's unique abilities and help narrow down suitable job areas or professions. The information from a counseling session can save a person years in his or her search for the right career.

3) Helping a person through a major or minor life upheavals If we face a life crisis or one has already occured, psychological astrology can help us understand the factors and underlying issues. A person undergoing a crisis often needs clarification. Psychological astrology can show the date a crisis is most likely to occur, the phases within it and when it will pass, and what we can learn and how we can grow from the experience. The typical phases in a major life transformation are:
 

Initial crisis
Development phase(s)
Lag phase(s) when not much, if any, progress toward conclusion occurs
Partial development milestone(s) toward completion of a life transformation
Final conclusion that puts a finished life transformation into place in a person's life
Major life upheavals typically last from one and a half to three years. Frequently, psychological astrology can estimate to within 48 hours when each of the above phases will occur. Even if people are sufficiently aware of the factors involved in major life upheavals, they often find great comfort and strength in knowing when, often to the very day, the life process in which they find themselves will conclude.
There are also much shorter transitory factors in life that affect us all. These can be easily charted beforehand so that one can take advantage of the positive periods and/or be forewarned when certain "bad days" are probable, such as when one is likely to be physically and/or emotionally vulnerable.

4) Determining personality dynamics between individuals Determining the suitability of a potential marriage or business partner is one of the most useful tools psychological astrology has to offer. It can also help us to gain insight into the dynamics of a problematic relationship with a loved one. It can map relationships with precision and help us understand the flowing and stressful factors within them. (This can be done with only one individual present for a counseling session.)

5.) Determining a job applicant's suitability; group dynamics on the job
Psychological astrology can help determine an applicant's suitablity for a job or the applicant's suitablity to work closely within a certain group. It can also help us understand what's going on and the best way to help when work groups experience interpersonal difficulties.
 

Jewish law regarding astrology

As far as Jewish Law goes on this matter, our Sages said that it works, and that's a fact. A tiny minority of later rabbis (two, to be exact) opposed it ("Ein mazal le-Yisrael"), and the Rambam was most vocal about it. An example of those rabbanim who saw no problem with astrology can be found in R. Yaakov Culli's classic work "Me'am Lo'ez," the end of parshat Miketz. (In English, it's "The Torah Anthology," translated by R. Aryeh Kaplan z'l, volume 3, page 434). It contains an interesting passage which states that Jacob asked his youngest son, Benjamin, to use astrology to determine his brother Joseph's whereabouts. The text says that Jacob had taught Benjamin the branch of astrology that governs locating lost objects and missing persons. Benjamin applied this form of astrology without protest or hesitation, and was able to find Joseph. So the use of astrology in Judaism, within certain limitations, is acceptable.

I asked R. Nachman Kahane, one of our generation's outstanding scholars, whether one may use astrology for psychological purposes. He replied that it is permissible as long as one does not view the planets as controlling our lives, since HaShem and only HaShem can do that. Still, we may use the planets as indicators as long as we acknowledge that ultimately, G-d calls the shots.
 

What is an astrologer unable to provide?

Although I have mentioned a few of the useful tools of psychological astrology can offer, I would like to make it clear what it cannot provide:

1) Astrology does not indicate absolutely certain fate. Our Creator has given us free will, so we have many choices to make in life. Though we receive a basic personality at birth, we have some range and latitude within it, and our choices and life habits have a great deal to do with the way we handle our lives. The planets are merely indicators of high probability; they cannot and do not determine our fate. Ultimately, our destinies are in G-d's hads alone. Not one of the many books I have read on this subject suggests that planetary positions cause events or determine personality. Still, one can change one's life for the better much more easily if one knows the possibilities and limits available.

2) An astrologer cannot be expected to lay out all the answers with absolutely no feedback from the client.Competent astrologers can put forth an impressive amount of information about a person, but we cannot do all the talking and come up with all the answers to a person's difficulties just by reading their chart. We need a certain amount of feedback to keep on the right track, to know how the client expresses aspects of his or her personality within the range of possibilities. I demonstrated this once in my early days of astrological counseling when I did a reading for woman who wanted to know the full range of information I could learn from her natal horoscope. Normally, I stick to one subject or range of issues and deal with that, and I limit sessions to one hour. Yet here I made an exception: we had two extremely long sessions, four hours each, and in the end we only covered two-thirds of her chart and I did ninety-five percent of the talking! I could have gone on for another four hours, but by that time neither of us was interested, since the point had been made. By the way, she said that I was eighty-five to ninety percent accurate in my assessment of her life. The amount of information in a natal horoscope is overwhelming, and a major task for the fledgling astrologer is to learn how to focus on the relevant material for the issue(s) at hand.
 

How to reduce negative astrological influences in life

There are two good ways to reduce negative astrological influences in one's life: first, by being as observant and spiritually connected a Jew as possible. Major life upheavals come into our lives as life-correction, and only very rarely as punishment. G-d never, ever gives us a situation that we cannot handle. If we take Jewish law (Halakha) as a guide, correction will usually not be necessary and we can reduce the amount of difficulties in our lives. Jewish law contains the blueprint of realistic living for the Jew, and following it is our best insurance. But because we are neither perfect nor profoundly learned, we will have to receive some life-correction at some point.

The second-best way to avoid negative astrological influences in one's life is simply to be aware of them. Once you're aware of potential problems and sensitive areas in life, you can often use your logic, reason and preparation to avoid potential difficulties in advance. Just as a person who knows the weather can take steps to avoid unpleasant or dangerous storm situations, so too one can use astrological indicators to be aware of possible life difficulties. Simply put, forewarned is forearmed.
 

Event prediction

I am not a fortune-teller. I make no attempt to predict events. I will not try to predict the amount of money a person will make in life or the day of a person's death. I have no interest or desire to suggest when or where one should invest in the stock market, though some competent astrologers do this quite well (for example, Crawford's Profiles). I can predict potential major emotional issues in life, but I'm not interested in the kind of event prediction where one asks whether one will get a new car or house. I take the position that G-d is in charge, and our emotional issues and material situation are ultimately for the good: "Gam zu le-tovah." Since G-d is in control, we can be certain that we will be able to handle whatever comes our way, and that it's all for the best. It matters less what happens to us; what really counts is how we deal with events and learn from them. This is where psychological astrology can help us a great deal.
 

Qualifications

I earned my bachelor's degree in social work from Illinois State University in 1975. I was a volunteer counselor for the Jerusalem Institute of Biblical Polemics for some fourteen years and did counseling on issues pertaining to missionary activities and deprogramming. I've had significant paid experience in psychiatric work dealing with highly suicidal individuals in major depression and depressive breakdown. I am a religiously observant orthodox Jew. I can furnish references upon request.
 

How to get in touch
 



Dale Baranowski
Cellular phone  057-614-246
[email protected]
P. O. Box #24,
Yishuv Elazar
Mobile Post: North Judea, 90942
Israel