Why your chart isn't a life sentence: Introducing The Spectrum of Fate.
In this episode, learn why you keep attracting the things you don’t want, what your planets have to do with it, and how to break the cycle via a philosophy that’s central to the whole refating universe: The Spectrum of Fate.
The Spectrum of Fate posits that the astrology chart isn’t a single fixed outcome but a range of possible expressions—from closed-fate expressions to open-fate expressions to all caps OPEN-fate expressions. Where do you express on the range right now?
(00:00) Podcast intro
(01:35) Defining The Spectrum of Fate
(03:48) Closed fate, open fate, and all caps OPEN fate
(07:40) Why closed-fate experiences exist
(08:56) Money: My closed-fate example
(11:26) How to break the loop
(13:14) Venus Refating Retreat
Introducing The Spectrum of Fate
To be clear, The Spectrum of Fate is something I constructed. It's not something I was taught. And so, with everything in the Refated universe, it's a great Aquarius Moon experiment. But after 11 years of practice, I'm pretty confident that this checks out.
The Spectrum of Fate philosophy essentially says that your chart is not a static description of one possible outcome. Rather, it's a range of outcomes, and you get to decide where on that range your life manifests. What I want you to start playing with is the idea that your birth chart is plastic, as in neuroplasticity, and the way you maneuver between these possible outcomes is through the refating process.
Your birth chart defines this range or spectrum that you get to participate in. That range is fated, but where you express on that range, whether more beneficial or challenging, is up to other things.
Now, sometimes those things are outside of your control (oppression, inequality, trauma). But many of them are within your control. Your choices, decisions, habits, and mindset, all play into where you land on our individual Spectrum of Fate at any given time.
Closed fate, open fate, and all caps OPEN fate
There's a few vocabulary terms that I need to define before we move on. If you imagine the Spectrum of Fate as a table (how very Virgo of me), there are three columns. On one end we have closed-fate expressions. In the middle we have open-fate expressions. And on the other end we have all caps OPEN-fate expressions.
What do I mean by closed-fate expressions? This was a term that was really hard for me to decide on. I had other terms floating around in my head, but closed fate felt the most nonjudgmental. Because, what I don't want to do is to make you feel crappy because you’re experiencing something on the closed end of your Spectrum of Fate. It's part of the human condition.
A closed-fate expression is a behavior, experience, or thing that feels constricting or challenging in your life. It's not an expression that you feel is truly supportive or life-affirming. It’s something that you’d like to change or transmute.
On the other end, an open-fate expression is a behavior, experience, or thing in your life that you identify as supportive, as constructive, and it's something you've already experienced, even if it was on a teeny tiny scale. Your subconscious mind knows that it's possible for you to experience that open-fate reality because it already has.
Now, all caps OPEN fate is an expression of fate that you deeply desire, that you wish for, but that you haven't experienced yet. It's kind of like a planetary wish list. We always keep the open end wide open. We want our planets to surprise and delight us.
Just a fine point here: when it comes to all caps OPEN fate expressions, they’re often things we can't even imagine. Sometimes they’re so far beyond our comprehension that we can’t even jot them down on a list. We often don’t even know to wish for them.
Why closed-fate expressions exist
Let's go a little bit deeper into closed-fate experiences because, again, it’s not my intention with this philosophy to make you feel bad about yourself because you're experiencing a closed-fate outcome. Again, it's very normal. I do it all the time. We all do it. It's the human condition.
The reason closed-fate experiences exist is because our planets are trying to protect us from harm, from something they’ve identified as a threat. And these behaviors, which I'm going to call Planetary Protective Strategies from now on, are usually working in opposition to what we consciously want. Because our planet parts feel scared and threatened, they continue to play out these protective loops and we continue to be stuck on the closed end of our Spectrum of Fate.
My closed-fate money example
One of my most challenging planets is Saturn. I have Saturn in the 12th house, and it's square Mars. That's a classically difficult aspect, and it rules my second house of money. Part of my closed-fate experience throughout my lifetime has been having just enough to scrape by and nothing more.
Through the refating process, what I’ve learned about this expression of Saturn is that beneath this closed-fate experience is a very scared Saturn trying to do whatever it can to protect me from experiencing what it considers a great danger. And that great danger is finally building up stability and then losing it all.
Saturn's worst-case scenario is to finally build something strong and then for it to get wiped out. All that effort wasted. My Saturn is going to do everything in its power to keep me from experiencing this…including keeping me broke.
Planets have core fears
Each planet has a core fear that it’s trying to protect you from. From that core fear branch off all of these related closed-fate behaviors, mindsets, and experiences that a planet is using to protect you from that core fear.
A closed-fate experience doesn't exist because you're “bad”, or you're less than, or you've failed, or you're not measuring up. It's also not because your planet sucks or your planet is bad. It’s because your planet loves you, and it's scared to death that you're going to experience something harmful. It's just that its protective strategies are misguided.
How to break the loop
This is where refating comes in. Refating invites you to build a trusting, loving relationship with each planet so that you can open up a dialogue sort of like this:
Hey, Planet, I know that you're scared of this outcome, but your fear of is creating challenging things in my life. I'm curious, what are you afraid would happen if you let that go? What might you need to feel safe enough to let that go? And do you give me permission to help you let that go? And if you do let that go, what do you wish you could do in my life instead?
And that’s when a planet is liberated and becomes available to express open-fate qualities and experiences in your life and even all caps OPEN fate qualities and experiences in your life.
Like I've said before, refating is relating. It's not building altars. It's not buying expensive planetary tinctures or doing really bizarre rituals at midnight. Refating a planet just requires a relationship with it, and all you need in order to do that is your body, your mind, and maybe a journal.
And there you have The Spectrum of Fate. Start testing it out in your own life. I invite you to pick a planet in your chart, map out its closed-fate and open-fate expressions, and start picking out the core fear it's been trying to protect you from.
