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Ask Anything!
Hi Kidz!
My name is Alan Oken and I am an astrologer and a teacher. I am here to answer any questions you may have about the incredible world we live in. Your questions can be about anything to do with spiritual matters and the ways people try to come closer to the Source, the Force, the Spirit, the Universe, or whatever you wish to call It. So feel free to inquire about astrology, numerology, the Tarot cards, meditation, yoga, the world’s many religions and ways of worship, or anything that comes from deep within your heart and mind. And I will do my best to answer you in this column. If you have a question, make sure you enclose a photo of yourself plus your name, age, and the place where you live. You can contact me here at alanoken@kidztimez.com.
Question #1 comes from my eldest grandson, Tyler Oken:
How do you do a horoscope for someone?
The word horoscope comes from the Latin word for “hour” (hora) and the Greek word “to look at” (scopos), so horoscope means “to look at the hour” and refers to the hour when you were born. So what I need in order to see your horoscope and cast your personal birth chart is your date, place of birth, and time of birth. From at least 5,000 years ago until the late 1970’s all astrologers had to calculate the horoscope by hand. This took a lot of math, including a good dose of trigonometry and geometry and you could spend several hours just doing this procedure. Now astrologers use computerized astrological software and it takes about 1 minute to calculate and print out the horoscope! But it still takes quite a bit of time (and many, many years of hard work and study) to be able to see a person’s character, past, present, and future in this astrological map.
Question #2 comes my “spiritual” grandson, Salvador:
Why do we exist?
Salvador—Age 13, Lisbon, Portugal
Now that is some question, Salvador! This is a question that mystics and philosophers, plus heaps of ordinary people have been asking since the appearance of the first thinking human beings on this planet. I cannot tell you that I have The answer. But here at least is my answer. We exist for many reasons. The first is so that we can know ourselves not only as being alive but as Beings who live consciously. Each of us is a unique single cell in a Great Unite of Life. The more we grow into knowing ourselves for what we really are (and this takes a lot of time!), the more we see the Great Universe inside of ourselves. Each of us is a single cell wired and unified into an immense computer that is always turned on and generating. All I know is that the closer I get to the Heart and hard drive of this universal computer the happier I am that I do indeed exist, and want to share this happiness with others.
Question #3:
I have had a lot of changes in my life this past year and some of them have been very difficult. I was wondering if can tell me what to expect in the upcoming year. This is an exciting time in life and also kind of scary. I was born on March 22, 1997 at 09.27pm in Anaheim, Ca.
Caitlyn, Age 14, Riverside, Ca.
Hi Caitlyn, Before I answer your question directly, let me speak to all of the Kidz.
Hey Kidz, For many of you the image of Caitlyn’s horoscope is probably the first time you have seen a real astrological chart. So let me tell you something about charts in general. You can see that it is divided up into 12 parts, sort of like pieces of a pie. Well this pie represents Caitlyn’s life and each of the twelve sections is call an astrological “house.” Each house points to a different area in her life like relationships (7th house), friends (11thhouse), career (10th house) and so on. If you look inside each of the houses you will see the symbols for the planets (in astrology, we also call the Sun and Moon planets even though we know that the Sun is a star and the Moon is a “moon”). 
is the symbol for the Sun and 
is the symbol for the Moon. The planets speak to us about the people in your life (the Moon is your mother, the Sun is your father), but they also tell us other things like the Sun speaks about your general health and the Moon tells us a lot about your emotions and feelings. Each of the planets is in one of the signs of the zodiac. 
for example is the symbol for Aries, so that in Caitlyn’s chart she has ^5 which means she has the Sun in Aries in the 5th House and that this tells the astrologer among many other things that this is a girl who is a leader and a pioneer, one who is often impulsive and head strong, who may lack patience but is also very courageous. She will also be a very creative person, likes her special hobbies and past times and may feel inclined when she is older to work with young people. Now I do not have the space here to explain it all but if you are interested in learning more about astrology, I wrote a book called “Alan Oken’s Complete Astrology” (IBIS Press, 2006) where you can find out a lot more.
is the symbol for the Sun and is the symbol for the Moon. The planets speak to us about the people in your life (the Moon is your mother, the Sun is your father), but they also tell us other things like the Sun speaks about your general health and the Moon tells us a lot about your emotions and feelings. Each of the planets is in one of the signs of the zodiac. for example is the symbol for Aries, so that in Caitlyn’s chart she has ^5 which means she has the Sun in Aries in the 5th House and that this tells the astrologer among many other things that this is a girl who is a leader and a pioneer, one who is often impulsive and head strong, who may lack patience but is also very courageous. She will also be a very creative person, likes her special hobbies and past times and may feel inclined when she is older to work with young people. Now I do not have the space here to explain it all but if you are interested in learning more about astrology, I wrote a book called “Alan Oken’s Complete Astrology” (IBIS Press, 2006) where you can find out a lot more.
Now to answer Caitlyn’s question:
Dear Caitlyn, You have an amazingly powerful horoscope; it is creative to the max! You will find that you will periodically have to reinvent yourself. This is sort of like a caterpillar entering its cocoon and emerging out as a butterfly. You will do this many times and this is one of them. Each time you come out of the cocoon, you look and feel more like yourself, more like the individual that you are. But going into the cocoon is scary because you do not know what the butterfly is going to look and feel like once it comes forth. This process often requires leaving the past behind or at the very least, getting rid of what you no longer need for your life’s journey. In astrological terms, the planet Uranus in the sky is sitting on top of (we call this a “transiting conjunction” in astrological terms) many of your planets in the sign Aries. Aries always indicates new beginnings as it is the first sign of the zodiac. So you are coming out of your particular cocoon with many new talents and abilities, strengths and creative potentials. This process will last until February of 2013, so get prepared to rid yourself of some old habit patterns and leave a lot of space for the new, exciting, and very interesting girl you are becoming.
Much love and many blessings to all you Kidz and I look forward to hearing from you!
Alan
Submit Your Questions to alanoken@kidztimez.com!!
these were the type of people found at the recent “Take Over Wall Street” movement. They are also the type of Aquarians you found in the peace marches and human rights demonstrations in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Such Aquarians are now working for Greenpeace, and Feed the World, and other such humanitarian organizations and institutions. Yes, of course people of all the twelve signs participate in such demonstrations but the themes of these social movements are Aquarian: Right Human Relation, Freedom for All People, and Equality for All People. 75% of the time, if you speak to an Aquarian friend of yours, he or she will be working on some sort of idea or project that relates to one or more of these themes (and if not now, certainly when they are a bit older). The other 25% of the time, the Aquarian boy or girl will be thinking about how to be more him or herself: what to wear that is part of the latest trend to shock and open eyes, what to say that is sure to disagree with what other people are agreeing upon, and what to do that will surprise and wake people up.