If we are not in control of our lives at all as part of our incarnation, then what is the point of free will? I think free will exists for a reason and our choices do matter and decide our paths.
Free will is subjective to the person having an experience, based on their level of consciousness development, but also if they are a volunteer or not as well.
What I have found is that the more you progress on the spiritual path, the more free will you end up having as you learn to manifest, not attract, what you want. That attraction creates events and situations, based on what you and others need to go through to grow. But if you have done a lot of work, and/or are already at a higher level of development, that is not as common.
We are guided in so many ways that free will is not as it seems, but most don't see any of that guidance. So that is in addition to life planning and contract upgrades during a life after decisions have taken us in different directions or updates are simply required.
Random occurrences occur in the world for a number of reasons, such as people making decisions that they were not meant to and their guides/guidance not taking them in the right direction, so in these cases we have some stronger influences/guidance come to us to make sure we don't get involved, as it was not part of the plan. Timing is everything here as something may come up, delaying something we were going to do and that delay can mean we were not in that moment in time to experience that random event.
There are instances of experiences coming up in past life regression that people have shared, such as Dolores Cannon, where individual beings have a life on a planet with no free will, as that's simply not part of the system in place soul learning and growth. The learning in those places are based on predefined plans and they just have no clue they don't have free will. So we don't always have free will when going through this process while separate from our higher self and over-soul.
Astrology plays a major part in who we are and why we do what we do, including our choices. Our guides and higher self also are a big factor here. Through my own claircognizance I have picked up on some really stupid and weird choices I have made—while wondering WHY I did what I did— and how I was actually forced/guided to make them for the spiritual learning of not just the other person(s) involved, but also my self. I have had major forks in the road completely change because I did something that was not my choice (even though I did the action based on "choice per say"), but an influence from spirit (guides/higher self) as I was not meant to go in a certain direction. So technically I had no free will then, yet I completely trust and feel fully comfortable that they are looking after me at such times. I also sense when I do have a choice, in terms of the choice being very important for my future. What I pick up now is that I was ready to
know that this was the case, meaning not everyone is ready to just "know" that they don't always have free will because it might scare them and destabilize their world.
Higher aspects of who we are, specifically an aspect of our over-soul in consultation with other beings who's role it is to do exactly this (and who may have had a life on Earth before), decides things for us on occasion, in connection to our contract being updated, and guidance we need to make key decisions. Most of the time the guidance is just guidance, it's not forced on us, so it is still up to us to decide, I have found. So free will certainly exists, but it's not as simple as us having choices about every single thing we do, especially when astrological influences, energy waves from the
galactic center and other sources including CMEs and solar energy, have strong influences over our state of mind and consciousness.
The thought forms of people also influence us, which tie into the global consciousness. We could come into contact with a person who—from an ego based element such as fear or lust—unconsciously created a type of etheric entity and energy that may influence us simply through proximity, and again, our free will is there but with such an influence, it may seem like we didn't have free will based on what are actions were.
There is a lot involved with free will!