The Uses of Astrology In Business - Robert Hand Ph.D. and Elyse K. Hand

Managing Editors note... At the MWLJ we think outside of the box, and believe it is imperative to gather wisdom and guidance from many different sources. That said, we present The Uses of Astrology in Business, by the world’s foremost expert, Robert Hand, Ph.D.

I. INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS

In the first edition of the Mark Willis Leadership Journal, we demonstrated the use of astrology in forecasting general business conditions in real estate for 2021. The first use of astrology for a professional or business client is to help the individual find a career path which is closely aligned with the potential shown in their birth chart. The lack of such alignment is the greatest cause of failure to achieve success in a career. The astrologer can counsel a business client in such a way as to maximize the talents and abilities of that client in pursuit of business success. This can take two forms. It can be that the person is in the right field but in the wrong part of it, or that they are not using their strengths and talents creatively within the field they are pursuing. The second use of astrology for a professional or business client is about finding the critical places in time, ever evolving in a person’s life, and in the life of the business, where we can alter the journey and bolster desired outcomes and/or lessen the negative effects of hard relationships and decidedly difficult decisions.

We must first dispel one myth about this work...

The idea that our lives are predestined with little or no free will, and can be described in detail, is perhaps the most destructive belief that has emerged in connection with astrology.

This tendency can be found in many schools of astrology except those that stress the use of astrology as a way of actualizing human potential. Popular astrology based on Sun-signs (see section 5) is especially prone to this. Special techniques are employed for writing sun-sign columns that make them both entertaining and eerily personal, but they should be limited to that. Just what does a chart for the date, place and time of birth or incorporation of a business show?

First, astronomically it is a scheme of the heavens centered upon the earth (rather than the Sun) and represents the locations of the planets with respect to the earth. The chart shows portions of the zodiac that are rising, culminating, setting, and anti-culminating. The chart also shows the twelve signs of the zodiac and which of these are rising, culminating, etc. Second, through the virtues of the planets and the signs and their relationships to each other, the Astrologer analyzes the life of the individual for whom the chart is cast. It is true that at various times in history, astrologers have claimed that it is possible to make predictions using various symbolic techniques. For this, they were roundly condemned by the great philosophers and religious teachers of their times. The ancients did not have a problem with the idea that the astrological arrangement of a birth chart did have an impact on an individual’s life, but if an individual’s ‘fate’ were completely determined at the moment of birth by this arrangement of planets or any other technique, there would be little point in evaluating the chart. The best that this evaluation might do is eliminate the element of surprise or prepare for the inevitability of an event – while the worst manifestation of this belief is that the planets in the signs of the zodiac and all the other components of the chart cause this ‘fate’. This is not true! What is true is that every possibility for future development is not attainable by every individual. Every one of us is subject to limitations in life, whether it be due to the planets or not. And within those limitations, the range of possible life experiences is great and flexible indeed. A birth chart reflects but does not cause our life experiences; likewise, the corporate chart of a business reflects but does not cause the success or failure of that business. The purpose of astrological analysis is to reveal the range of potentialities. It is to show the most positive, creative, and likely outcomes matched to the goals set by the client.

2. ASTROLOGY, CAREER AND SELF-UNDERSTANDING.

Profession, occupation, and career together constitute one of the domains of astrological work in both Natal Astrology and in Corporate Astrology. Regardless of the type of astrology, every analysis begins with a time and a place. This is never intended to limit the freedom of the client, but as a tool to show a range of potentialities. It is often and in fact routinely the case that environmental influences, such as culture, gender, religion, available resources, parents, and early life experiences play decisive roles in how individuals perceive and follow their paths in life. It is highly unlikely that anyone who has spent most of life following a career path and having success within that career industry will be seen as an individual who is not following the proper path. It is possible that the journey along the way might be distorted by environmental influences described above. And even if it is not immediately obvious, we have found in astrology that when individuals are living life destructively, or doing business destructively, it is because of conflicts between the best potentials, external pressures, and environmental circumstances. The mitigation of risk can be applied in these cases.

3. TIMING.

No matter how appropriate a particular set of decisions and actions may be for what is truly your path, it is equally possible that the time is not the best that it could be for the journey. If an individual is perfectly aligned with his or her own proper nature, in theory at least they should not need astrology. However, the same influences that can distort an individual’s choice of path, can also distort the sense of what to do and when. As an old Chinese Buddhist proverb says:

Enlightenment is easy for those who have no preferences.

To the extent that you are not perfectly aligned with your ‘proper self’, again due to the distorting factors mentioned previously, it is not only what you do that may be distorted but also your sense of when to do it. If you have a brilliant idea about something you may want to do in your business or career, it may cause you to become impatient about implementing it. One of astrology’s most powerful capabilities is Timing – identifying when to take action on that brilliant idea! For example, there are periods in life when it is best to spend your time learning, gathering information, and perfecting your skillset, and there are times when you have already done this sufficiently and must choose to act. There are a variety of techniques that astrologers can use to identify these times and best places for implementation. If you feel impatient and want to act immediately, impatience can be a distorting factor in your overall strategy. This is an example of having a ‘preference’. What you want to do may be correct for your choice and your path, but the timing may not be. And, of course, no amount of timing astrologically can compensate for actions that are completely inappropriate to your path.

Closely related to the general techniques used for timing there is an entire branch of astrology known as “Elections and Inceptions.” These are usually treated as one set of techniques but there is a slight difference in the emphasis of each term. ‘Election’ refers more to taking action that is going to be completed in a short time. ‘Inception’ is picking a time to begin an enterprise that is intended either to have a definite time span or to go on indefinitely. Often the difference between the usage implied by these two terms is subtle, which is why they are usually lumped together. What is often not understood is that birth, itself, is an inception! The main difference between a birth chart and inception chart is that the inception chart is usually chosen or at least could have been chosen intentionally. Most births do not take place at a chosen time, except in the cases of cesarean births. So, putting these two categories together, elections and inceptions, these may be employed for choosing times for taking an action, especially if that action is something that can take place at an instant. An obvious example of this is selecting a chart for timing the beginning of a business, which includes the registration of the business, or the incorporation of a business, or the moment that a business first makes a transaction. This is essentially picking a time for the birth of an enterprise.

There is one tricky aspect of the use of this kind of astrology for starting a business. How do you define the start of a business? It depends very much on the type of business. Certainly, any formal business requires a legal event that constitutes starting the business. If the business is an unincorporated business, there are two possible dates that could constitute the inception of the business. The first is the exact moment at which a license is granted so that it is officially in force. The chart would be erected for that time and place. In commercial enterprises that involve customers coming into a place of business, stores, restaurants etc., or enterprises in which a potential customer first makes contact, which would include service industries and businesses of all kinds, the moment of the first transaction can stand as the inception. The granting of a DBA (Doing Business As) is also a kind of license, only it is one in which the business adopts a name which it can use on its bank and other accounts that is distinct from the name of the proprietor.

Probably the best thing to do in unincorporated businesses is the use of a combination, if possible or appropriate, of the granting of the license together with the time and date of the first transaction. The main difficulty with solely depending upon the time date and place of the granting of a license is that you will not have the power to control completely the time, date, and place. There are dates and times when the licensing offices will not be open, and there is a real possibility that you may have to wait in a line and have little control over the time.

The use of a ‘first-transaction’ chart is dependent upon when that occurs and that also may not be entirely something that you can control. However, declaring a grand opening and opening the front door for the first time is one way of controlling that time if that is appropriate to the type of business.

Corporations are bit more complicated. These require filing articles of incorporation that do not go into effect until they have been stamped by the appropriate state official. Here, as with the license or DBA, you have a problem in regard to controlling the time and possibly even the date. There is one way by which it is possible, however, but it only applies in states where you can file articles of incorporation over the Internet. In this case you have taken an action which constitutes a beginning. The only way that this might fail is if, for some reason, the state rejects your application, or there is a computer glitch, or network outage. You could hire a qualified attorney who might be useful in other ways but might still not be able to control date and time of incorporation. The legal filing will be the moment of filing your papers with the state, not the moment of completing the process with the online service. In the past it has been common practice when filing incorporation papers to use only the date stamp on the papers along with a chart erected for noon at the state capital. I am not certain that this is a good practice for best results, but it might be better than nothing, especially if the day in general is a good day. Many state clerks now include the time on the date stamp, and because the filing is done by computer, you will have the time of the transaction.

4. ANSWERING SPECIFIC QUESTIONS.

There is also another branch of astrology which can be useful in business. This kind of astrology is called “Interrogations” or commonly “Horary Astrology.” The two terms signify the same thing, but the first word describes more clearly the function of this method, asking a question. Of course, you can answer questions by consulting your birth chart using the standard methods of astrological forecasting. But sometimes these methods do not always give sufficient clarity. Also, it is possible that the time in general may be suitable for action, but the specific time that you take it may not be optimum. Or there may be questions about the environment in which you are operating that are too specific to be answered by recourse to conventional natal astrology.

The traditional way of dealing with this kind of situation is through an interrogation or horary question. This branch of astrology was considered a major branch of astrology, by itself. There are many long treatises devoted entirely to the subject, especially in medieval astrology. This technique was also most popular when most clients with astrologers did not know their date, time and place of birth. Date and place were readily available but more commonly than not there was no record of the time, nor were the clocks particularly accurate. However, even in modern times with more accurate birth information interrogation of charts can be useful.

There is one practical limitation. It is generally agreed that the proper moment for one of these charts is not when the question occurs to the person who asks the question (known as the “querent ”) but when the querent takes the question to an astrologer. There are two reasons for this. First, this process seems to require the formal asking of a question somewhat in the manner of consulting an ancient oracle. That may seem mysterious and somewhat out of accord with modern thinking, but the second reason is more important. It is very easy to ask a question in a manner that is impossible to answer either because of the wording of the question or a general quality of vagueness. It is also necessary that the answer must be capable of being framed in terms of “yes”, “no” or the question has been asked at a time when no answer is possible or reliable. If the answer is “yes” then the astrologer can give much information about other factors that affect the answer and that make it more likely that it will turn out as the querent desires. If the answer is “no”, then the astrologer can give information as to why, and if the question could be answered again at another time. The astrologer, having been given a question that is not valid can discuss the matter with the querent until the querent has decided that they either do not know what they are asking, or the astrologer and the querent have agreed upon a wording of the question that, in the opinion of the astrologer, is capable of an answer.

Surprisingly, as it may seem, a perfectly valid question may not be capable of an answer at the time of the question. The most common causes of this are indications that the subject matter of the question cannot be answered either because the subject matter is not yet formed sufficiently well as to enable an answer, or it is too early for an answer. Other indications are that whatever the trends may be at the time, they are about to change. It may be too late; circumstances are now beyond control. There are other factors in an interrogation that may make the astrologer reluctant to frame an answer that have nothing to do with the validity of the question or the talent of the astrologer.

But when questions are asked properly with the proper degree of clarity on the part of both the querent and the astrologer, this technique can be extremely powerful! There are many well documented examples of this in the literature.

5. ASTROLOGY AND HUMAN RESOURCES.

The management of human resources, whether in a large or small business, is a potentially useful application of astrology. However, there are definite limitations and possible problems in its use for this purpose. First, it is strongly recommended that you do not use employees’ sun-sign as a basis for hiring or firing, or anything else. For the reader that does not know, the “sun-sign” is what you find in newspapers magazines and other popular literature that purport to give the reader advice and even forecast events based solely on the sign of the zodiac in which one’s natal Sun was located at birth. You can tell very easily that this is what is done because the entire human race is divided up into categories depending solely on the day of birth, without a year, time or place required. The twelve categories will look something like this.

Zodiac Signs on Moon

HOROSCOPE DATES:

Aries - March 21 to April 19

Taurus - April 20 - May 20

Gemini - May 21 - June 21

Cancer - June 21 - July 22

Leo - July 23 -August 22

Virgo - August 23 - September 22

Libra - September 23 - October 22

Scorpio - October 23 - November 21

Sagittarius - November 22 - December 21

Capricorn - December 22 - January 19

Aquarius - January 20 - February 18

Pisces - February 19- March 20

Our year is based on the apparent movement of the Sun in the calendar year and is a reasonably close approximation of the solar cycle in days. It is then reasonable to expect the Sun to be in approximately the same place on the same day of each year. There is a small variation because the calendar year on average is not precisely the same length as the solar cycle extending from the Sun’s entry into the sign Aries from one year into the next. This is corrected reasonably well by the leap year. However, the result of this is that the day upon which the Sun enters each sign varies slightly from year to year. Anyone whose Sun is within a day or so of one of these dates could easily be in either of the signs. This is called in popular astrology “born on the cusp.” This is never actually true because with the precise calculation of the Sun for the time, date, and place of birth, the Sun will always be in one sign or another. However, the table above serves as an approximation. The difficulty with sun-sign astrology is that the Sun is only one point in the chart. It is one of the most important points, but the sign rising in the east, the sign passing over the South Meridian, the sign setting in the West, and the sign passing under the earth at the North Meridian, along with the sign of the Moon and the other planets, to say nothing of the various combinations they make with each other are all necessary to read a chart. It is functionally equivalent to dividing people categories by eye color. It may be a little bit more useful but only a little. Therefore, it would be nearly useless to hire employees based on their sun-sign, even if you think you get along with some sun-signs more than others. No astrologer would ever recommend this practice.

However, there is another potential issue that may arise in the use of astrology for evaluating potential employees. There is the issue of Personally Identifiable Information. These are items of information such as the Social Security Number, for which the employee must give permission and access. This information is often on medical forms for which a patient must give the medical firm permission to share it with others. In some countries and in some states, it is entirely possible that you cannot legally ask for potential employees’ time, date, and place of birth. Date is almost certainly permissible because it is routinely requested on all manner of forms. But the only thing you can get from the date alone is either a Sun-sign analysis or a detailed reading of a mostly incomplete chart. Do not assume that you have the right to demand the complete birth data of a potential employee. Also, it is likely that you would be on legally shaky ground if you refuse to hire someone because they would not give you access to their complete birth information.

Now, assuming that you have been given that access, then it would be useful to evaluate the natal chart for the potential employee and, if possible, to compare it not only to your own birth chart but also those of other major persons in the company, again if you have access, to see not only if they are temperamentally qualified for the job in question, but are also likely to get along with a group of people with whom they are to work. Examine the chart of a potential employee only if all other indications are favorable, that you feel good about that employee, and the employee gracefully agrees without compulsion or pressure.

A more ambiguous area is the question of whether you in your position as employer or executive should use in employee’s birth chart to manage in an ethical capacity the proper employment of that individual within the company. Again, the essential issue is the employee’s permission. Keep in mind that astrology is not usually considered an established technique in employee management and if someone believes that they are being unfairly discriminated against on the basis of the natal chart, they may have a good legal case against you or the business. These are all issues that must be kept in mind when using astrology in any kind of human resource management.

Assuming that everything is managed properly, using astrological analysis can assist you and your employees in managing business relationships effectively, and by having strategic relationships, potentially increase the efficiency of operations in general.

6. FORECASTING GENERAL ECONOMIC AND OTHER TRENDS THAT MAY AFFECT YOUR BUSINESS

With regard to Mundane Astrology, there are two ways in which these charts can pertain to you in your business. First, each of these charts makes important combinations with either your personal birth chart or the birth charts associated with your business, or all of these. Second, these charts can be read by themselves because every type of business is associated with certain of the houses (the signs of the zodiac in relation to the rising sign) and the several planets. Books on Mundane Astrology typically assign various businesses and industries to planets and signs. The way in which these all combine in these charts can give valuable information on the state of the several businesses and industries indicated by the signs, planets. and houses. Granted the indications from these charts is somewhat limited if they are not analyzed in combination with personal and business astrological charts, they do give indications in general. When the article in 2020 was published, astrologers had not, by and large, forecasted the Covid-19 pandemic, but they had forecasted an extremely difficult year. As was pointed out in that article, using the methods of traditional Mundane Forecasting it was quite easy to see the possibility of such a thing. The problem is that extremely rare events are difficult to forecast because we are not looking for them. In the future, we will be more alert to that issue.

Forecasting Economic Trends in Stock, Commodity, Futures, Options, Bitcoin and Other Specialized Markets. This area of astrological forecasting may not be as well-known as some others, but it is a very vigorous and widespread application of astrology. It is, however, an area which requires highly specialized financial knowledge and expertise. The methods used go beyond conventional horoscopic astrology. Forecasting the fluctuations of markets and pricing is another business topic that requires specialized techniques that go beyond the scope of this article.

7. CONCLUSION

This article was a follow-on to “Outlook for Real Estate Markets in 2021 in the U.S.” published in the first edition of the Mark Willis Leadership Journal. While the first article was a demonstration of one particular set of methods for forecasting, this second article was written to explain the purpose of astrological analysis in setting and achieving goals. The purpose of astrological analysis is to show the most positive, creative, and likely outcomes matched to a client’s needs and goals, as well as provide tools for flexible strategies that have the highest likelihood for success.

Robert Hand began studying astrology at the age of 17. His father, Wilfred Hand, was a specialist in cosmobiology and heliocentric astrology, and used astrological charts to forecast changes in the stock market. Hand is the author of numerous books which include, Planets in Transit and Planets in Youth. To learn more about Rob and Elyse’s work, visit: WWW.ARHATMEDIA.COM