The Difference Between Relationships with the Zodiac and G_d

    Today I finally finished my first read of a very intense, information-filled book about the spiritual realm, "Inner Space" by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan.  It was so informative that I will have to read it again and hope that I can absorb more the next read.   It ended with an interesting and potent note about the difference between the relationship with the Zodiac (astrology) and G_d.  Now I had always been taught that one should not have any relationship with astrology, because it is putting faith into something that is not G_d.  Rabbi Kaplan explains it in a way that I'd never experienced.
    First we must note Ezekiel's visions prior to the destruction of the First Temple and the end to the prophetic era.  In both visions he similarly describes the Chayot, living creatures that receive the life-force from the highest spiritual dimension and transmit it.  The Chayot have four faces.  In Ezekiel's first vision the faces were that of an ox, lion, eagle, and man.  In the second vision Ezekiel did not wish to have the ox represented, since it was a reminder of the Golden Calf, the darkest hour of idolatry of Israel.  He prayed and the face of the ox became a Cherub, the face of the man as a child.
    Each face of the Chayot represented a tribe of Israel:  the ox represented Joseph or Ephraim, the lion represented Judah, the eagle with a snake-like tail represented Dan, and the man represented Reuben.  Each of these tribes were located on different sides of the Tabernacle.  To the south was Reuben with Gad and Simeon, to the West was Ephraim with Menashe and Benjamin, to the North was Dan with Asher and Naphtali, and to the East was Judah with Issachar and Zebulun.
    So what is the correlation with the Zodiac?  The twelve signs of the Zodiac can also be grouped in quadrants and related to the four faces of the Chayot:  Aries-Taurus(ox)-Gemini, Cancer-Leo(lion)-Virgo, Libra_Scorpio(Eagle)-Sagittarius, and Capricorn-Aquarius(man)-Pisces.  We know that the Potiphar's wife was told by an astrologer that her line and Joseph's line would create a great nation which is why she kept trying to seduce him.  It was Potiphar's wife's daughter though that would marry Joseph and create this great nation.  Therefore, the Torah does give some validity to astrology.  So why do we not put any faith in astrology then?
     Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan answers this:  "It is important to realize that although the tribes follow the signs of the zodiac, the Jewish people as a whole were lifted above the level of the Mazalot (constellations) by virtue of their receiving the Torah.  The concept of Mazalot is essentially a physical concept.  It is a channel through which spiritual forces come down to the terrestrial.  The more a person can establish direct contact with the spiritual dimension, on the other hand, he can bypass the influence of the stars to a great extent.  This is done primarily through prayer.
    "We are thus allowed to do character analyses through astrology, but predictions are forbidden to us.  The source for this prohibition is the Biblical verse: 'You shall be perfect with the Lord your G_d' Deuteronomy 18:13.  In other words, the more we perfect our relationship with the spiritual dimension, the more G_d is going to do for us to change the natural course of events, thus making any action based on astrological predictions superfluous."

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