This is what Jemas T. Braha (a prominent astrologer, specialized in western and Hindu astrology) says in his book ‘Ancient Hindu astrology for the modern western astrologer’ about predestination and the reliability of astrology, and skeptics about that.

 

[Ancient Hindu astrology for the modern western astrologer, by James T. Braha] 

 
At the heart of all astrological work lies the question of free will vs. predestiny. Astrologers who are unwilling or unable to inquire deeply, openly, and rigorously into this question cannot do justice to their work or their clients. As Western astrologers gain accuracy in delineation and prediction through the Hindu system, they may wish to rethink their conclusions regarding free will. Reality is rather a personal matter, since it is generally based upon one’s experience. Reality changes as experience changes. Western astrologers practicing Hindu astrology are about to notice a bit more substance to predestined action.

 

In India, Nepal, and other parts of the Far East, there are two lions placed at the front of every temple. It is said that the fierce-looking beasts represent the prevents people from entering the worship – in other words, the blocks which keep man from realizing God. One problem is doubt or lack of faith. The other is paradox – that which is absurd or contradictory in nature but in fact true. Regarding the issue of free will, many if not most religions offer the following paradox: Free will exist, absolutely, yet all of life has been predetermined from the instant that creation came into being. In the same way a seen can produce a tree only of the same specific nature, creation, once begun, was also finished. This paradox is seed in religions, as disciples are taught how to behave and how to not to behave using their own free will. At the same time the teachings declare in no uncertain terms the omniscience of God, who is said to know the exact destiny of everyone and everything. That there is both complete free will and complete predestination is merely one viewpoint. But it is worth considering if for no other reason than the fact that it is the one which philosophers, Gurus, and religious sages of every culture for the past few thousand years have embraced. In any case, the important point is that if there is indeed absolute free will and absolute predestiny, then Hindu predictive astrology is one way which clearly deals with the latter. It is therefore of value for the astrologer to practice Hindu astrology with the assumption that all details of a person’s life may be delineated astrologically, even if possible in theory only, due to the enormous number of variables involved.

 

 “And God said let there be light in the firmament of the heaven tot divide between the day and the night. And let them be for sign and for seasons and for days and years. And let them be for light in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. And it was so.”

                                                                                  GENESIS – THE BIBLE