A viewer asks: “Astrology is claimed by some to give insights to a person’s character and temperament, as well as karmic issues to be faced in this lifetime, in order to evolve the soul. Is there any substance to such claims?”

There is some substance to such claims and that is the reason this perspective has survived through the ages. It is not superstitious nonsense, magical thinking, or disinformation imparted as a corruption by interlopers. There is a grand plan, a celestial orchestration energetically, that influences everything in the cosmos and to some extent life forms including human beings. This is understood by the divine realm and taken into account when helping to orchestrate the launching of new incarnations. There is much pre-life planning when to launch a pregnancy and arrange a birth date, to have it in conjunction with an astrological configuration and timing that suits the karmic environment that is desired to be in play, as a complement to the new go-round for a given soul. This may not be optimum and designed for smooth sailing and advancement, as one might think. It might, as well, be an environment that will trigger karmic rumblings and inner discord that allows the Law of Karma to go to work bringing around problems to fix, and lead to a rocky life and not an easy one. But that decision is done with the person's soul in mind and is always agreed to by the physical extension before launching the lifetime. Such decisions are made because, as a light being, you know the value of healing negative karma that has accumulated, and will see that as a high priority even if it is a painful process and has a risk of backfiring and worsening things if not handled well. But keep in mind, there is an ultimate goal intended here, that is worth striving for, and that is why you are on this path, coming into life for better or for worse as seen on the surface, but we see in the future, long-term gains for all who participate in spite of the near term difficulties they might face. The astrological influences will be subtle, but it is as much that the astrological configuration happens to be a match to soul characteristics on display as shaped by karmic predisposition. So the hidden lesson those who propose astrology as a divination tool need to learn, is that it is as much the opposite of an influence as they assume. Much of the time, it is not the astrological configuration that is influencing personal characteristics, but rather that the personal characteristics brought into their configuration by the workings of the Law of Karma make it most appropriate for a person to be launched in a way the timing suits their karma, to have a certain disposition and character traits. So we see this as a kind of largely indirect exercise with marginal benefit. It is too general, and because it is not truly the determining force people assume, it is more an indirect and vague correlation to factors determined by other forces, largely.