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Your destiny is generally limited to the undeniable and factual circumstances surrounding your birth such as the exact position of the planets, the time and place of your birth, your birth parents, your gender and so on. It also covers some of the more solid but still mutable elements of your being such as religion, class and drive. Once these factors are set, it is quite difficult for anything to be done to change them. Everything you do stems from these initial, immutable influences.

Destiny is also about those factors of yourself that are predetermined. It pens the conditions that are given by divine or human will. Destiny can't be easily explained and its toll is not subject to human intervention. In addition to being in charge of the facts surrounding your birth and approach to life, destiny structures the aspects of your person. If an individual has an innate desire to pursue a goal or interest, something that has driven them since birth with very little outside influence or encouragement, these passions can also be described as destiny. A strident mission that isn't likely to change or be stripped from you is also destiny at work.

The differences between your fate and your destiny can only be determined by individual discretion. There is no scientific line to be drawn here. It's up to the individual to decide what is their fate, freewill or destiny and to act accordingly. For the most part, the individual has some say, but your destiny is all the things about you that are foreordained or predetermined.

Allow me to give you a personal example. I have been pursuing Astrology since I could barely read, somewhere around the age of three. Without any prompting, influence or encouragement from the members of my family, my destiny drew me into the world of Astrology and, in more recent years, drew me to put together astrology.com. I have always had a conscious desire to learn as much about Astrology as I could and to share my findings with those interested in the subject. My destiny, like yours, comes from within rather than being a path that I've chosen.

From my early childhood onward Astrology has been an intoxicating hobby; even during my studies in England, the passion never waned. I never considered until later in life that I could make Astrology my job. Putting these pages together became my destiny. Whatever else has gone on in my life, I've always kept coming back to Astrology, and I've been fortunate enough to make it my vocation.

Arguably I had free choice to steer away from my astrological pursuits, but the drive to learn more was so strong that it still seems almost innate. I share all this with you because Astrology's influence in my life is a good example of destiny. In theory I could have chosen to suppress these urges to pursue the subject. In that respect I do have ultimate control over my destiny, as I do over freewill and fate. However, my sense of purpose was so strong and so prevalent throughout that I felt I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn't follow this path. I encourage you, too, to think about your destiny and to make the choice to pursue whatever it is that makes you feel the most fulfilled.

In Astrology we believe that destiny stems from the strong feelings of our past, thus bringing us full circle back to the question of our fate. Destiny is our final calling to resolve old issues and to complete cycles started long ago.

The factors of Karmic Astrology that affect our destiny are the Planet Saturn, the Outer Planets, the Balsamic Moon and the Critical Degrees. Saturn oversees all authority and responsibility; this taskmaster rewards and reprimands you for the choices you've made. The Outer Planets -- Uranus, Neptune and Pluto -- are the generational planets that affect us individually and globally. The Moon is usually the planet we refer to in its Balsamic Phase; this teaches us about task completion. The Critical Degrees, borrowed from Vedic Astrology, offer great opportunity for success.

Balsamic Phase
Critical Degrees
Outer Planets
Saturn