BRIGITTE astrologer Berit Freutel: How do the planets influence us, Berit Freutel?

BRIGITTE: Have you always been interested in astrology?

Berit Freutel: No, I started when I was 29, actually as a consumer. Back then, I simply went to an astrologer and had my birth chart read. It fascinated me, and I started to explore it myself. That was almost exactly the time of my first Saturn Return.

Yours what?

Have you never heard of it? In America, everyone is obsessed with it. Saturn, Capricorn's boss, needs about 29 years to get back to the point it was at when you were born. As the representative of order, responsibility, and duty, it then says at this point: So, what now? What is your plan for life, for your career, for your health? I want to know that now. And then we turn on the neon lights, sit down, and thoroughly examine who we are and what we want.

So does Saturn always influence us differently depending on where it is?

This applies to all planets. All planets orbit the sun. In doing so, they move through the twelve signs of the zodiac: Aries, Taurus, Cancer, and so on. They then take on the characteristics of each sign for as long as they are there. You can imagine it as if Jupiter in Cancer, for example, were wearing the garment of Cancer.

So what does it mean for us when a planet wears a certain dress?

It depends on the planet in question and the dress. For example: Jupiter is the planet that magnifies everything. Since the beginning of June it has been in Cancer, the primal mother, the typical Italian nonna who always wants her loved ones to be warm and cozy. In this year, with Jupiter in Cancer, we are all invited to feel into this energy a little: Who or what is my family, my loved ones ? Where can I find my cozy zone? What is my personal cashmere balance? That is a very beautiful, warm energy that Jupiter is giving us. But compared to Neptune, Uranus or Pluto – which will remain in Aquarius until 2044 – Jupiter is almost like a breath that rushes past us.

The planets have different speeds – and different significance for us?

Yes. That has to do with their distance from the sun. On the one hand we have the slow-moving planets, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, although Pluto is no longer officially a planet, but for me it is. These are the celestial bodies that can really make a difference and shape entire generations. That's why we call them Gods of Change . On the other hand we have Mercury, Mars and Venus - or the Moon - which change signs every few weeks - or days. These are the so-called Personal Planets . As the name suggests they are very personal because not everyone in school in 1976 had the same Moon or the same Venus. That's why they are particularly interesting for our birth chart because they are like a snapshot, a fingerprint, that shaped the moment in which we were born.

Speaking of your birth chart: You already told me you're a Capricorn—how does that fit with astrology? Capricorns are considered so down-to-earth, conservative, and dutiful...

That's a common misconception about astrology: people think we only look at our star sign, or sun sign. But we are all much more than our sun. Moon, Mercury, Venus, ascendant - our houses depend on these, but that's where it gets really complicated. In my birth chart, for example, we see that Mercury was in Aquarius. Mercury shapes our thinking. Aquarius is the visionary, the revolutionary, who has this unique ability to see things from a bird's eye view. I may be a classic Capricorn , a practical Capricorn who sets great store by punctuality, but everything moves very quickly in my head. I make detours like a rabbit, think in a networked, lateral, lightning-fast way. I express myself like an Aquarius: surprising, unconventional, sometimes contradictory. I have good ideas, I can always rely on them - but they are often far off the norm, not exactly standard. I love that.

What fascinates you about astrology?

For me, astrology is an art—the art of interpretation. Just like writing a poem or composing a piece of music, it's not just about knowing the rules, but about how you play with them. Yes, you have to understand the language of the stars—signs, houses, aspects—but the real magic only comes from the lively interplay. I am a student of symbols. I am fascinated by how astrological symbols make inner voices visible—those quiet, often unclear impulses that speak deep within us. When they are named, you feel recognized. Seen. And that is healing. For me, astrology is like reading an inner script—but you are the main character who decides how the story continues.

Can astrology provide us with solutions – for example in these tense times we are currently experiencing?

Awareness is key . The planets tell us: This is the energy. For example, it's notable at the moment: The Gods of Change , Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, are changing signs almost simultaneously. That rarely happens. Saturn contributes to the intensity with its transit through Aries. What we make of it is up to us. But the cosmos is signaling: Something wants to change, and radically so.

Based on your personal experience, are radical changes more good or more bad?

When I was 41, I threw everything I had into the trash. At the time, I was editor-in-chief of Diva (a former Austrian fashion magazine, editor's note). I had a boyfriend and lived in Vienna. And then, as if possessed by something, I destroyed everything. Everything I had painstakingly built. I went to America, fell in love again, and started studying astrology. Now I know that Pluto touched my moon at three degrees of Capricorn.

Have you ever regretted that?

No, quite the opposite. I would have never experienced so many things otherwise; I would have missed out on a whole other culture. Of course, you don't have to take it to such extremes. I had to. But if Pluto touches your Moon, that doesn't mean something like that will happen to you. It's in my hands, or rather yours.

What do you say to people who say astrology is nonsense?

I like to borrow a quote from the astrologer Alexander von Schlieffen, who says: Astrology is a language. If someone doesn't believe in the German language, what can I say? No one is forced to learn a foreign language, but it usually enriches us when we do.

Brigitte