he normal belief is that successful people have very good horoscopes, devoid of difficult combinations and full of beneficial features. My experience of studying celebrity horoscopes however suggests the contrary, as I have found that Successful people often have difficult horoscopes.

This will be demonstrated this fact in the later part of this article by the examples of PV Narsimharao: The former Prime Minister of India; Amitabh Bachchan: The Movie Super Star and most admired actor in India; Frida Kahlo; One of the most admired Painters of last century and National Icon of Mexico. You may not find much in common among these famous people except for the fact that all of them have extremely difficult horoscopes. An interpretation of their horoscopes rules out any possibility of accomplishments and success and forecasts extremely difficult and doomed lives.

So what is the point? Is Astrology just a fake psychological game? Far from it.

But if this is true, then those with easy horoscopes should be more successful then those with difficult horoscopes. But that is not the case. Why? Because Astrology gives an insight into the various events that the cosmos is going to present to us. However, Astrology does not control our responses to the events. So, at a very difficult time, we may face a very big challenge, but if we respond to this intelligently with high awareness, same event may turn out to be the foundation of something beautiful in our life.

I would like to compare this phenomenon with the game of cricket. In this analogy, bowling is akin to the Astrological dictation of the cosmos. Consider yourself as the batsman facing the bowler, where Astrology describes whether you are facing an easy bowler or a difficult one. So when your times are good, it is akin to you facing an easy bowler, whom you can hit for boundaries easily. Tough times are akin to the difficult bowlers, who could cause you to put in greater effort. Astrology defines the ferocity of bowling, and not the number of runs you are going to score. This depends on how you play these bowlers. While it is easy to make runs if you are facing an easy pace, you may still get bowled out if your batting skills are bad, or if you are not focused. On the contrary, if you are a superb batsman and are focused, you can even hit best of the bowlers for boundaries.

Those with easy horoscopes (or the GOOD horoscope as per traditional astrology) will face easy bowlers. Those with difficult horoscopes (or the so called BAD horoscopes as per traditional Astrology) would face challenging bowlers. Now, stop for a moment and consider, what kind of bowling a great batsman have faced? Easy or difficult?

All those who have succeeded in their lives, have faced difficult circumstances and struggles. While a person with low intelligence and poor awareness might have crumbled in those circumstances, some people grow out of it and become successful by accepting these challenges and transforming them into opportunities.

I have very often seen so called GOOD horoscopes. It is very rare for these people to accomplish something big. The only feature of their life is that their life is easy, devoid of any challenges and obstacles. Whenever they need anything, they get it without any struggle. This however, keeps them in their familiar and restricted zone, and they are unable to explore and discover different dimensions of life. On the contrary, those with difficult horoscopes face difficult circumstances and struggles constantly. If they respond to these with despair and pessimism, there are sure to doom. But if they respond to these challenges with awareness and joy, it becomes an opportunity to cultivate intelligence and understand life.

Before we look at some famous people horoscopes, let’s start by a brief background of Astrology. The major source of difficulties in anyone’s life mostly relates with 3 Houses - the 6th House (Health Troubles and Enemies), the 8th House (Upsets and Death) and the 12th House (Losses). But I have realized that for those, who live their life with deep intelligence and intense awareness, these houses start to assume very different meanings. Hence for such people I would prefer to redefine these houses as follows: 6th House (Harmony and Joy of Service), 8th House (Unfolding of Mysteries and Radical Approaches), 12th House (Detachment and Divine Blessings /Talents). With this in mind, let’s look at the horoscopes of some famous people.

PV Narsimharao 28.6.1921, 11:30 AM, Karim Nagar, AP

PV Narsimha Rao’s Horoscope

The placement of Jupiter and Saturn in 12th House and Placement of Venus and Ketu in 8th House, makes his Horoscope an extremely difficult one. As per traditional Astrology, such kind of person would have bad luck and constant opposition. His own discretion would fail and he will not be able to recover from the major accidents through out his life. Such a person would hence be destined to lead a miserable life.

Now if you look at his life, all this seems to be true. He faced court cases, jail sentences, Defamation and lot more. Many of the people would not have been able to withstand all that and they would collapse under these circumstances. But he was a person of extreme intelligence and high awareness, so life turned out to him differently. He was recalled out of his retirement to become the Prime Minister (As 12th House stands for Detachment and Divine Blessings, hence when he got detached he received Divine Blessings. This would not have happened had he kept trying for the post). Also the success of his tenure can be credited to the Liberalization era for Indian Economy, which happened because of his radical approach in choosing a completely non political person, Mr. Man Mohan Singh for the coveted post of Finance Minister (As 8th House stands for Radical Appraoch, he would not have succeeded had he chosen a traditional approach).

Frida Kahlo 6.7.1907, 8:30AM, Coyoacan, Mexico

Horoscope of FRIDA KAHLO

Frida Kahlo’s Horoscope is one of the most difficult I have ever seen, with 5 planets, Jupiter, Sun, Neptune, Venus and Pluto placed in the 12th House and Mars and Uranus in 6th House. As per traditional Astrology, the life of such person would be totally filled with gloom and doom, as she will keep loosing everything she has. So accomplishments are completely ruled out, as each and every day of her life will turn out to be full of pain and sorrow.

And she lived such a difficult life, enough to send shivers through your spine. At the age of six, she was infected with polio, which left her with one leg shorter and thinner than the other. In her early teens, she was preparing for a career in medicine, until she suffered a serious auto accident in Mexico City. An electric trolley car crashed into the wooden bus in which she was riding. Freda was pierced by the trolley’s metal handrail which entered her lower body on the left side and exited through her vagina. Her spinal column and pelvis were each broken in three places; her collarbone and two ribs broken as well. Her right leg, the one deformed by polio, was shattered, fractured in 11 places and her right foot dislocated and crushed. A lifelong series of operations followed, and her first prolonged hospitalization led to her learning to paint. After the accident, her life was spent in pain, with at least 32 surgeries.

Anyone living such a life will be completely shattered, and will live in total misery as dictated by the prominence of 12th House. But look at her life. Her faith in life and her urge to live, led her to express her pain and agony through her paintings, touching the heart of masses. That’s what made her into the national icon of Mexico. If she did not go through all this tough life, could she still be such a great personality? Probably not. For someone so intelligent and aware, 12th House assumed higher meanings of Detachment and Divine Talents. Her intensity and appetite for life was voracious. Filled with a radiant and explosive fury, her paintings showed a symbolic realism and spoke to contemporary and feminist issues: the pain of love and feminine identity. Her faith in life amidst of all the trials and turbulences caused her work to be highly successful even after her death. By 1994 there were some 87 publication about her, and her 1942 “Self-Portrait with Monkey and Parrot” sold at Sotheby’s for $3.2 million, the highest price ever paid for a Latin-American work of art. In Mexico, Kahlo is known as “la heroina del dolor,” (the heroine of pain). Recent Hollywood movies “FRIDA” starring Salma Hayek have immortalized her.

The moral we can thus draw, is that your horoscope does not suggest how successful you will be in your life. It just gives the account of your hidden potentials and the challenges life is going to throw at you.
So you may ask, if this is so, then what is the point of using Astrology. Well, let me explain a whole refreshing approach to Astrology, which I am calling Inspirational Astrology
Inspirational Astrology

Astrology is a very powerful tool which can help to: generate deep insights about life by understanding past; prepare for future by generating fairly accurate predictions of forthcoming life events; and empowers to live in present by deeper acceptance of yourself. With this astrological understanding you can tap the creative potential of cosmic energy as the destiny unfolds, and hence enabling you to transform your dreams into reality by:

Imagine visiting your favorite astrologer to consult about your life ahead. What are the questions that come to your mind? When will that promotion happen? When will I find a husband and settle down? When will I move into my own house?

You have put your Astrologer in the ‘event prediction’ mode. He is searching in the vast number of charts and tables of data to see when these events are likely to happen in your life. He gives you a broad indication of the period - typically six months or more in the future. And you go home happy that at least he didn’t say none of this is foreseen! The exact period fades from your memory.

Event Prediction is the most popular use of Astrology and also happens to be the most criticized aspect of Astrology. The debate of whether Astrology is a Science or not is often limited to whether event prediction is possible or not! The debate turns to whether we have Free Will or whether everything is predestined. Astrologers will typically tell you that 60% or so is predestined while you still retain control of 40%. The percentages could vary.

In the euphoria of how many ‘events’ the astrologer got it right, we forget that the grand purpose of Astrology as envisioned in the ancient scriptures is ‘Personal Growth’ and ‘Inter-personal Harmony’. There is nothing fatalistic about Astrology in the Scriptures. There is no debate of whether you have Free Will or not. Rather, the scriptures insist that we do our karma, without which no result is possible.

Western Astrologers seem to be cleverer than the Indian counterparts. They have been practicing what is called ‘Psychology of Astrology’ since antiquity. The mode of delivery of Astrology is essentially the personal counseling process.

Without doubt, Indian Astrology (also called Vedic Astrology) has a richer set of tools for identifying your inherent Strengths and Weaknesses and Opportunities and Threats that may come your way. All you have to do is induce your Astrologer to do a SWOT analysis for you.

And the easiest way to do this is by staring your question with a ‘Why’. Why am I a not getting that promotion? Why am I not getting married? Why am I not able to buy my own house? Chances are that you will get a more involved response and inspire you to towards Personal Growth and Inter-personal harmony.

Next time you visit your Astrologer, you know how to frame your question! Change your question and you will be on your way to chart a happy and contented life!