“When a plant goes to seed, its seeds are carried in all directions; but they can only live and grow if they fall on congenial soil.”
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- Stephen Paget

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​The English surgeon Stephen Paget proposed the “Seed and Soil” hypothesis to explain the mechanism of metastasis. While this analogy suggests an unwanted growth, such as cancer, it could also describe something we want to grow.

Though thoughts and ideas float around us constantly, some take hold at certain times.

A phrase that had no meaning or significance for you last year may change your life completely next week.

Something that was said in jest to you yesterday may still reverberate in your skull for many years, even if the person delivering the line didn’t mean it the way you understood.

Planting thoughts in someone’s mind is powerful and one we should all be mindful of.

This is even more so the case for astrologers who read charts. Yet, before worrying about the huge responsibility of saying the right thing at the right time, let’s also consider the other side.

We could also say that the astrologer's words are meant to be heard at a certain time.

I remember being in the company of someone I found way too direct (yes, even for this Scorpio!), saying things to people I would never dream of. At one point, I challenged them on this, and their response was a question: What if the person needed to hear what they had to say?

True. And if they don’t, I guess they won’t!

We say things all the time that never hit home. Heck, people are too busy to listen anyway, right?

But sometimes, a word is spoken at such a time that it hits the mark, even if you are not deliberate in your delivery. It may have been an off-the-cuff remark on your part. Yet, the person on the receiving end took it to heart, and it changed them.

There are so many nuances involved that I could not begin to cover them all, but I would like to share a story an astrologer has publicly shared.

This particular astrologer specialises in medical astrology and was reading someone’s chart when he picked up on something that he took a second glance at but then backed away from sharing his first thought.

The person he was reading for noticed this and asked him to share what he saw. He refused, but they pressed him, and eventually, he gave in.

He told them that their chart showed the potential for them to have a heart attack in a couple of years. Yes, you read that right! And yes, I thought the same: How could you say something like that to someone?

Here’s how things progressed. This knowledge sharing did not impress them, and they insisted on legal action, suing the astrologer.

To cut a long story short, two years later, they did indeed have a heart attack.

The obvious next question is: Would they have had a heart attack if they had not been told so and had not proceeded to stress themselves out by knowing so and taking the astrologer to court?

We shall never know, but it is worth considering the possibility that the astrologer was part of that person’s karma, that the astrologer was meant to say what they did, and that the universe dealt them their karma when it was due.

Nothing happens in a void. 

The moral of the story is to be mindful of what you say and what happens to those you say it to, but also to remind yourself that you are part of a bigger picture you cannot always see.

Are there certain things an astrologer has said to you that have stuck and others that have just not taken root?

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Aum Tat Sat