Astrology is Bullshit!
Astrology is Bullshit!
Already knew this? Good, now read this anyways.
Find yourself a bit miffed right now, thinking I'm full of crap? Keep reading.
So, I am going to make the case today that Astrology is nothing than a pile of outdated and laughable ridiculous pseudoscientific fucking bullshit. And I will do this through 3 pathways:
Scientific Evidence
Psychological Evidence
Logic
After this is all said and done, my goal is for everyone who reads this to understand that
ASTROLOGY IS FUCKING BULLSHIT
Man, this feels good already. You have no idea how much I detest this astrology shit. Everytime I get asked ''What's your sign?'' I want to punch through the persons' stomach, pull their liver out, and beat them with it. I especially love how no one ever knows your sign, until you tell them it (well, I used to, to humour them, but now I just tell them it's nonsense, but I digress) and then they either nod and say ''yup'' or get all perky and say ''I knew it.'' Ya, you fucking knew shit, you liar, because if you did, you WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO ASK ME!!!!.
Like that one time I saw a ''psychic'' who gave me all sorts of vague information about what was going on with the situation between myself and my sister, which was great, save for the fact that I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING SISTER, YOU FUCKING FRADULENT LIAR!!!! YOU WOULD HAVE KNOWN THAT, IF YOU WERE REALLY PSYCHIC!!!! Ever notice how ''psychics'' always have vague answers, general statements, and they have to ask you your birthday and things.....I THOUGHT YOU WERE FUCKING PSYCHIC YOU SHOULD KNOW MY BIRTHDAY!!!! Funny, with the thousands of psychics in the world, not ONE steps forward before a terrorist attack and warns the people. Were were all the psychics before 9/11, HUH? WERE WHERE THEY? TOO MANY CROSSED ENERGY WIRES THAT DAY?
….Okay, sorry, big digression there. Back to the topic at hand (and yes, ''psychics'' are also bullshit; perhaps I'll get to that in another edition).
So, on with the evidence.
Scientific Evidence
Definition of atrology: Astrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs which hold that the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details can provide information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters.
Well, guess what? It has been scientifically demonstrated that this is bullshit.
I'll attack this in 2 ways:
1)Studies done on the accuracy of astrological predictions
2)The problem with the ''science'' behind the astrology to begin with
Studies done on the accuracy of astrological predictions
''Good news for rational, level-headed Virgoans everywhere: just as you might have predicted, scientists have found astrology to be rubbish, writes Science Correspondent Robert Matthews.''
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1439101/Astrologers-fail-to-predict-proof-they-are-wrong.html
Its central claim - that our human characteristics are moulded by the influence of the Sun, Moon and planets at the time of our birth - appears to have been debunked once and for all and beyond doubt by the most thorough scientific study ever made into it.
For several decades, researchers tracked more than 2,000 people - most of them born within minutes of each other. According to astrology, the subject should have had very similar traits. Researchers looked at more than 100 different characteristics, including occupation, anxiety levels, marital status, aggressiveness, sociability, IQ levels and ability in art, sport, mathematics and reading - all of which astrologers claim can be gauged from birth charts.
The scientists failed to find any evidence of similarities between the time twins, however. They reported in the current issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies: The test conditions could hardly have been more conducive to success . . . but the results are uniformly negative.
And that's not all.
The time-twins study is only the start of the bad news for astrologers, however. Dr Dean and Prof Kelly also sought to determine whether stargazers could match a birth chart to the personality profile of a person among a random selection.
They reviewed the evidence from more than 40 studies involving over 700 astrologers, but found the results turned out no better than guesswork.
The success rate did not improve even when astrologers were given all the information they asked for and were confident they had made the right choice.
Dr Dean said the consistency of the findings weighed heavily against astrology.
It has no acceptable mechanism, its principles are invalid and it has failed hundreds of tests, he said. But no hint of these problems will be found in astrology books which, in effect, are exercises in deception.
From wiki:
Studies have repeatedly failed to demonstrate statistically significant relationships between astrological predictions and operationally-defined outcomes. Effect size tests of astrology-based hypotheses conclude that the mean accuracy of astrological predictions is no greater than what is expected by chance.
But there's more
The problem with the ''science'' behind the astrology to begin with
The whole thing is based on the fact that your your zodiac sign supposedly corresponds to the position of the sun relative to constellations, right? Well, check this out:
The positions changed over 2200 years ago.
Let that sink in for a second.
You see, the Earth wobbles around in it's axis in a 25, 800 year long cycle. This phenomena is called precession, and it is the reason why your ''signs'' are completely wrong. Even if this was all true, they'd be off by about a month:
http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/your-astronomical-sign.html
Over the past two-and-a-half millennia, this wobble has caused the intersection point between the celestial equator and the ecliptic to move west along the ecliptic by 36 degrees, or almost exactly one-tenth of the way around. This means that the signs have slipped one-tenth—or almost one whole month—of the way around the sky to the west, relative to the stars beyond. For instance, those born between March 21 and April 19 consider themselves to be Aries. Today, the Sun is no longer within the constellation of Aries during much of that period. From March 11 to April 18, the Sun is actually in the constellation of Pisces!
You will most likely find that once precession is taken into account, your zodiac sign is different. And if you were born between November 29 and December 17, your sign is actually one you never saw in the newspaper: you are an Ophiuchus! The eliptic passes through the constellation of Ophiuchus after Scorpius.
Here is how the ''real'' chart would look:
Capricorn - Jan 20 to Feb 16
Aquarius - Feb 16 to Mar 11
Pisces - Mar 11 to Apr 18
Aries - Apr 18 to May 13
Taurus - May 13 to Jun 21
Gemini - Jun 21 to Jul 20
Cancer - Jul 20 to Aug 10
Leo - Aug 10 to Sep 16
Virgo - Sep 16 to Oct 30
Libra - Oct 30 to Nov 23
Scorpius - Nov 23 to Nov 29
Ophiuchus - Nov 29 to Dec 17
Sagittarius - Dec 17 to Jan 20
Ever heard anyone mention Ophiuchus before?
Ya, me either.
Psychological Evidence
Two psychological concepts can easily explain why people are so convinced of the veracity of astrology: The Forer Effect and Confirmation Bias.
The Forer Effect
The Forer effect refers to the tendency of people to rate sets of statements as highly accurate for them personally even though the statements could apply to many people.
http://skepdic.com/forer.html
Psychologist Bertram R. Forer (1914-2000) found that people tend to accept vague and general personality descriptions as uniquely applicable to themselves without realizing that the same description could be applied to just about anyone. Consider the following as if it were given to you as an evaluation of your personality:
You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic.
Forer gave a personality test to his students, ignored their answers, and gave each student the above evaluation. He asked them to evaluate the evaluation from 0 to 5, with 5 meaning the recipient felt the evaluation was an excellent assessment and 4 meaning the assessment was good. The class average evaluation was 4.26. That was in 1948. The test has been repeated hundreds of time with psychology students and the average is still around 4.2 out of 5, or 84% accurate. In short, Forer convinced people he could successfully read their character. His accuracy amazed his subjects, though his personality analysis was taken from a newsstand astrology column and was presented to people without regard to their sun sign.
Want to see a short 1:35 second video of this in effect? It's awesome:
Astrological readings are always vague and present common characteristics.
Think about it. What about the fucking assholes in the world? The serial killers, psychopaths, sociopaths, rude, bitchy, annoying, etc people. Where are their readings? You ever see a reading that said ''You will be a fucking prick today?”' NO! They present ideas that people are likely to agree with, because we all like to think of ourselves as being ''At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved.''
Confirmation Bias
Confirmation bias is the tendency for people to prefer information that confirms their preconceptions or hypotheses, independently of whether they are true. In the context of ''psychic'' and astrological ''readings,'' this describes the tendency for people to remember and place significance on the ''hits'' and to forget the ''misses.'' It has been demonstrated that people will come out of a ''psychic'' reading which had a success rate of that equal to chance (duh) and state that they thought the reading was 80 or 90% accurate. I have seen video footage of this, and in more than one, people even reported things like ''he knew all about my aunt theresa's illness, and I didn't even mention it'' when in reality, they are on video telling the ''psychic'' ''my aunt is sick.''
So you get people hearing a vague reading applicable to anyone, thinking it's really accurate and specific to them, all because they place significance on the things that seemed right, and downplay the ones that are ''off.'' Then, they tend to report a much higher accuracy after the fact than there really was.
Logic
Ah, logic. I love logic. We all should love logic. Astrologers hate logic. Tell me something:
Astrology states that our personalities are determined by celestial positionings at the time of our birth, right? Well then, WHY DO TWINS HAVE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES? Shouldn't they be exactly the same?
Here's a hint: YES, they should be, and NO THEY ARE FUCKING NOT!
Why, in that video I posted above, did a room full of people with completely varied ''signs'' all agree that the reading they got described them, when they ALL GOT THE SAME MOTHERFUCKING READING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
How many times does science have to disprove bullshit before people let it fucking go?
Another one, as I posted above: What about the fucking assholes in the world? The serial killers, psychopaths, sociopaths, rude, bitchy, annoying, etc people. Where are their readings? You ever see a reading that said ''You will be a fucking prick today?”' NO! They present ideas that people are likely to agree with, because we all like to think of ourselves as being ''At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved.''
So, again, Think abouuuuuuutttt iiiiittttttt!!:
There are tons of assholes in the world, yet NO READINGS for them? So, what, celestial positiongs only determine the personality of nice people? Assholes get their personalities from, like, what? Genetics? Environment? Give me a break. Our personalities come from the fucking sky, man, we all know that!!!!!
Astrology is absolute fucking horseshit. It's bullshit, it's fake, it's a huge money making industry (seriously, famous astrologers make MILLIONS) that takes advantage of people. Astrologers should be in jail for fraud, not making millions. Same with ''psychics'' but that's for another day.
They are propagating pseudoscientific nonsense that has been discredited since we moved to a heliocentric view of the cosmos. In other words, a few hundred fucking years. They are exploiting people, and if you have ever paid for a ''reading'' you should go demand your money back.
The End
Thanks for reading.
Wow. This was an awesome, awesome rant.
ReplyDeleteThat video alone proves how b.s it is, but if there was any doubt the evidence you give should be enough for anyone with any intelligence.
Why thank you :)
ReplyDeleteI may rant on other related topics in the not too distant future, so if you enjoyed this you may have some more vitriolic ranting to look forward to ;)
Let’s see a couple of points…
ReplyDeleteThe psychic example is excellent I really liked that anecdote! Unfortunately for the psychic they themselves have fallen into the trap of taking interpretation to mean divination which falls into the category of enchantment, dillusion, and deception, all of which are generally condemned not only in spiritual practices but in the scientific realm as well. As thou shalt not misrepresent thy data, or attempt to bend thy data to comply with thou’s hypothesis. I would take such characters with the exact same grandual of salt that I would take someone who said, “I am a Christian”. As being meaningless.
The studies example is good, however, smacks of being a correlative study, correlative studies are easy to manipulate for and against, and are often meaningless. Not to mention each person studied was already an established adult, that had already had countless life experiences which have influenced the person one way or another. To properly study a concept one should start at a 0 point and work out, not at a 50 percent point relabeled as the start point.
That 700 people could be found that claimed to be astrologers is not uncommon, however, in my life I have found 2 people who could compute a proper star chart using pen, paper, azimuth, a map, and a sextant. That’s after having have looked for years. There are simply not that many people in the know on such things. It is more of an art then science.
The problem again appears to be prediction. Prediction falls into the realm of divination, which is enchantment, and deception. Though to say that massive objects have no effect on the disposition of a biological organism is simply not paying attention to the facts, especially when concerning lunar and solar positions. Tides, marine biology, even human beings have sexual reproduction timings thanks to these movements. If one allows a correlative study to be accepted as data, then I would submit that the movement of a large astral body such as the moon, tied to sex and sex is linked with human psychology. These factors show at least the beginnings of proof that position of large objects affects other objects far beyond the control of the subject desire or will.
The psychological effects, excellent find there! Astrology is typically a self-fulfilling prophecy; many logic errors could find a whipping boy here.
Your conclusions are really quite good, and while I am here I will anecdote my own experiences with such curious occult sciences. I am quite the fan of Tarot you see. Astrology is not my strong suit though I am able to compute my relative position on the surface of the planet using stars. Comes from a sailing background.
Considering the Tarot, I have found that it is a very complicated, very intuitive ancient form of the Rorscach ink blot test. As a tool of situational interpretation it is excellent, though, as a tool of divination it is simply not very good.
With the Tarot, and I will assume the same for Astrology, to attempt to explain the inner workings, the original psychology, or even the methodology for its use would require far more then a paragraph to work out or even to teach. No more then one would think that the field of calculus could be taught in such a short working environment. Many things in life are this way though, especially in fields that border on a pseudo science rather then clinical studies with repeatable results, which would define a science. It is an unfortunate casualty of modernity, proper study, given way to the immediacy and pamphlet knowledge common to people today.
Thanks for the comment. I take issue with your assessment of the scientific evidence. The longitundianl study of the 2000 people failed to find any significant coreelation bewteen star sign and over 100 traits deemed, by astrologers, to be influenced by star signs. The results were uniformly negative. That's a solid conclusion, and I see no flaws in drawing the conclusions they did based on the methodology.
ReplyDeleteYour two people who could cleary compute a proper star chart....well, can you account for the psychological effects I mentioned (and you agreed with)? If not, such anecdotal evidence is unconvincing. As for the 700, they were tested in in agreed upon conditions, and failed to deomstrate a success rate beyond the level of chance. That's incredibly telling.
You said this:
"Considering the Tarot, I have found that it is a very complicated, very intuitive ancient form of the Rorscach ink blot test. As a tool of situational interpretation it is excellent, though, as a tool of divination it is simply not very good."
I really found that very interesting!!
Great observation.
Coming to this a bit late but feel like I might comment anyhow. I plan to look at the rest of this blog as the topics covered appeal to me. If they are, however, dealt with in this manner I will be forced to conclude that you are not in fact a logical or scientific person.
ReplyDeleteAstrology is no more illogical then my childhood belief that trees made wind. The system, a complicated one, does not come from nowhere. It is based on an Aristotelian cosmology adopted and adapted by the Arabian intellectuals, from whom I believe we acquired astrology somewhere in the 12th century renaissance. When the Aristotelian cosmology was replaced this was not because it was 'hockie superstitution,' but on the good scientific reason of it simply not having as efficient predictive powers when you treated the planets on a spherical orbit as an elliptical one. Astrology was a necessary cost of adopting a more efficient astronomical theory.
Tarot on the other hand seems to be a system of symbols entirely useless due to the fact that no one is actually as familiar with them as is claimed. Symbols are lovely because they help us communicate and draw a group together. I know because my roommates and I will our house with symbols and secrets and jokes because it gives us a common identity. The common identity in tarot is simply not there.
Jess: One question. Are you saying that astral positions at the time of birth determine or effect personality?
ReplyDeleteYou cited Geoffrey Dean's phantom test without checking it, perhaps because you would like to believe it.
ReplyDeleteGeoffrey Dean's test of 2,000 time twins was announced in 2003 in a short outline in another paper. However, it has yet to be published. For some mysterious reason he has been sitting on the data. Check page 188 of his original paper where he refers to it. (search under Dean astrology PSI)
If you can find any scientific evidence against astrology other than Sun Signs, magic tricks or fake contests, good luck! There's now an increasing amount of scientific evidence supporting the practice of astrology if you are prepared to do the research.
Blah blah blah!!!
DeleteHAHAHAHA.
ReplyDeleteYour delusion is showing, pal.
Thank you for another weapon in my anti-astrology arsenal.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it appears that those ignoramuses who believe in Jehovah, Christ, Alla, or astrology are not moved by reason, and merely get angry at those of us who ridicule their discredited and absurd belief systems. So I sent them your rant anyway just to provoke the gullible assholes.
Great work!
Dosamuno
Ah, crap, here come the hordes!!!
ReplyDelete*fortifies the walls*
;)
@Robert Currey:
ReplyDelete"There's now an increasing amount of scientific evidence supporting the practice of astrology if you are prepared to do the research."
Odds consistent with random chance isn't really evidence.
Gee, Mr. Curry hasn't returned. I'm terribly surprised....
ReplyDeleteA brilliant post and very entertaining one to read. My mother is an avid astrologer and actually uses software to make her "predictions" -just a thought: if astrologers can foretell the future, why do they predict and not confirm? hmmmm.
ReplyDeleteAfter a clean install with Linux, I couldn't run that software, but offered to install a Linux native astrology software. Mom insisted that the results would be different. I argued that as long as the times, DOB's and other criteria are the same and the same "rules" are followed, it wouldn't affect the outcome. Even that didn't convince her. Her charts have "come true" for many people and she gloats over her success rate. Common sense dictates that the Sun is not a "planet", there are 9 planets and not lesser and that these heavenly bodies cannot rule over us in any way. I don't believe in God or destiny and most of all it infuriates me to no end that a well educated person like my mother would allow herself to be deluded to this extent.
Haha that is why you should stick to your video games, man. You obviously hate what you cannot understand.
ReplyDeleteDon't like it when someone demonstrates that your delusions are just that, Billy Boy?
ReplyDeleteNeed someone to assuage your newfound discomfort?
First of all, there are certainly many charlatans out there. Most so-called astrologers are not properly trained. Auyervedic astrology, which is actually accurate WRT the physical positions of the heavenly bodies has some value imo. However, if you carefully study it you will see it is not meant as a predictive means. Like most mythology, it is simply a framework that can be used to express things that are harder to approach directly. Painful memories, nagging questions, etc. The proper roll of the astrologer is to identify what the person is struggling with, and to provide counsel. The planet's positions provide enough variety that the astrologer is able to easily fit his/her advice into the framework of this planet transiting the natal moon, or whatever. But, you are right in that most astrologers are just looking to make a buck, and here in the west the accepted astrology is no longer accurate (I've heard it was accurate when it was first translated, but due to procession, the positions have changed, but I don't know western astrology well enough make an accurate judgement). I'll leave you with this: Logic is only as valuable as the assumptions it is built on. When one of those assumptions turns out to be incorrect, the whole system needs to be rethought. May life bless you, however you choose to view that.
ReplyDeleteOn the one hand I'd like to say "Yay! You are quite right! Astrology as presented is universally bullshit!" but on the other you're a completely intolerant, pompous asshole.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to know that I can piss you off just by asking you if you're a Leo.
Intolerant? If you mean I am intolerant of bullshit masquerading as science, then yes, I am intolerant of that.
ReplyDeletePompous? Not really, actually, but the me who blogs and the me me, if you know what I mean, are sometimes two different entities. The blogging me is prone to hyperbole and I guess some things that would seem pompous, but this is only me blowing off steam, and I often blog when I am emotional (usually pissed or dismayed).
Asshole? Not at all. See above.
"It's nice to know that I can piss you off just by asking you if you're a Leo."
Interesting, not only because your assertion is misguided, but because that would make you an asshole, no? It being 'nice' to know you could intentionally piss someone off?
Who cares. You're expressing a view in an intolerant and pompous manner. It's nice that you can blow emotional steam off by writing about how awful you think astrology is. I like to blow off steam by writing about how awful I think niggers are. Do I have the same legitimacy?
ReplyDeleteHey, look at this. Quotation marks.
"Man, this feels good already. You have no idea how much I detest this astrology shit. Everytime I get asked ''What's your sign?'' I want to punch through the persons' stomach, pull their liver out, and beat them with it. I especially love how no one ever knows your sign, until you tell them it (well, I used to, to humour them, but now I just tell them it's nonsense, but I digress) and then they either nod and say ''yup'' or get all perky and say ''I knew it.'' Ya, you fucking knew shit, you liar, because if you did, you WOULDN'T HAVE HAD TO ASK ME!!!!."
Ka-pow. You're so angry you feel the need to murder me. Even if you legitimately feel a fraction of the anger you express here, that still qualifies as being pissed. Who cares whether I'm an asshole. The point here is that you're an asshole.
It's called hyperbole you simpleton.
ReplyDeleteWow, I wish I could ctrl+V shit that's three years old and then extrapolate in a completely pseudo-intellectual and pedantic manner. Your subject line pretty much said all that needed to be said there, Mr. Kierkegaard.
ReplyDeleteas stated above^ http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=astrology
ReplyDeleteWell, mr. anonymous, you're actually wrong in your presumptions, but ad homs aside, do you actually have a valid argument in defense of your precious pseudoscience, or just more anger and defensiveness?
ReplyDeleteAside from the fact that you can't seem to make your point without the use of profanity, i.e. without the use of reason or logic you might want to check out this page that explains it much more elegantly than me.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.astrologer.com/tests/basisofastrology.htm#flawedtests
Ad hominem and a random link to a biased webiste?
ReplyDeleteWow, you guys sure bring the heat!
Why don't you actually address my points rather than use my profanity as a cover?
You actually deleted my post where I completely ruled out your rantings?
ReplyDeleteHow mature of you...
I didn't delete a thing. I never do. There's a bloggger glitch or something, because this has happened before. I read your comment in my email inbox, where I usually read them, and was planning on responding to it in the next few days.
ReplyDeleteThis has happened 2 times now. A comment shows up in my email but is not on the blog. I will copy/paste it here for you.
Actially,
ReplyDeletehttp://www.astrologer.com/tests/basisofastrology.htm#flawedtests
holds pretty much all that I wanted to say to you.
I'll be glad if you understand that most of things that you've presented are not related to Astrology. If you knew how intriguing it is to fight for astrology and prove to others how they're wrong you'd easily find people having strong prejudices.
Funny thing is - they also don't know what's astrology, never learned it deeply enough. I don't find that to be intelligent.
Anyway, I believe that best suited for you is - You don't know astrology well enough (trying to be polite here) and therefore you can't talk about it and be correct while you're doing so.
Hopefully, you're not an Vegetarian and you'll enjoy in this :}
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9qgGach0QQ
Jesus...I'm scared to comment now haha. We all have our moments when we can act like any sun sign...astrology is just based on which one we're supposed to act like the most...or that's what it seems like to me.
ReplyDeleteYou shouldn't let astrology put standards on your behavior, and you most certainly shouldn't pay 50$ to obtain a report that's only going to tell you how to live your life.
It's like getting a diet plan. only less logical. Instead of them telling you how to eat, they're telling you how to act. Don't be so weak as to conform.
Live your life in any personality you want to, and screw the people that tell you the stars say you can't live it that way.
Shine on (without the help of the stars haha),
Logic ;D
(Shakespeare thought it was crap and where is he now? One of the greatest playwrights of all time.)
"Astrology states that our personalities are determined by celestial positionings at the time of our birth, right? Well then, WHY DO TWINS HAVE DIFFERENT PERSONALITIES? Shouldn't they be exactly the same?" HOLY SHIT, A CROWNING MOMENT OF AWESOME! Take THAT, you stupid pieces of SHIT!
ReplyDelete"The whole thing is based on the fact that your your zodiac sign supposedly corresponds to the position of the sun relative to constellations, right?"
ReplyDeleteNo. Here, briefly, is the lowdown on what certain astronomers are too lazy to find out for themselves.
The astrological signs are not defined by the constellations you see in the sky. In antiquity, when both astrological and astronomical thinking were based on insufficient data, the names of the constellations happened to be paired with the astrological signs. Today, those pairings are no longer in sync: Astrological signs do not line up with the constellations in the same way they did way back then, due to the precession of the equinoxes.
Modern Western astrologers understand this perfectly. It 's irrelevant to their work because the information upon which they base their hypotheses does not involve a study of distant stars or constellations. Rather, their data have to do with the movements of the planets in our own solar system within a zone of influence defined by the relationship between the Earth and Sun.
The key demarcation points in that relationship are the equinoxes and solstices. At the Northern Hemisphere's vernal equinox, which occurs on about March 20th of each year, the Sun enters into the sign of Aries. At the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice, the sun enters into the sign of Cancer. The locations of the constellations are irrelevant; the "influence of the stars" isn't considered.
To reiterate: Western astrologers don't work with stars or constellations. Their focus is our solar system. They study the patterns of the planets and the moon as they pass through 12 zones defined by the relationship between the Earth and sun. Those zones have the same names as constellations because of a historical quirk, but they are unrelated to the constellations.
When Parke Kunkle triumphantly says, "There is no physical connection between constellations and personality traits," as if he has finally stamped out the delusions of us astrologers, he doesn't realize that we agree with him completely. We don't deal with constellations.
There haven't been many corrective articles in the mainstream press -- most publications have been content to let their un-fact-checked stories stand as if they were gospel -- but the New York Times and the Daily Beast did have the journalistic integrity to make a stab.
One of my best mates consulted the family astrologer who had predicted everything for 2 generations in her family (from her fathers success to the house they would buy) and mind you was super expensive of course :-) So she consulted this astrologer (pundit)who is also supposedly extremely well known for his "talents" in India, her family consulted him because she was getting married soon and wanted to know if he was the right one. She had to fax over photocopies of their hand prints and a shitload of information like the times they were born at etc. This pundit said they were completely compatible and meant to be. Well guess what? The relationship went to shit within the first month and she suffered through a horrible marriage where it got to the point they couldn't stand eachother. She divorced him and is much happier.
ReplyDeleteAlso I went to this so called renoun psychic and she told me I would meet my soul mate at the age of 26, well I'm 29 now and single. HAHAHA. Also I believe people happen to "match" their signs and have qualities because of conditioning, since we are children this horoscope is everywhere, we almost get moulded into our signs because if we believe we are a certain way, we most likely will live that out because we read it everywhere...like when I was little reading horoscopes I didnt think I was anything like my star sign, but as I got older I started to think it was SOOOOO ME, only because I had been conditioned to think I was a certain way so you almost subconsciously become what you read about because you want to believe it....until you wake up and smell the BULLSHIT.