Astrology as a Science... finally.

I am pleased to report that so far I have had two comments on my thoughts on "Astrology as a Science".  And I will comment on those comments to further illustrate the points I made in my last two posts.  The first one is a comment on the use of Vedic or Hindu Astrology, as the case may be.


Vedic Astrology is an ancient Indian science which explains planetary motions and positions with respect to time and their effect on humans and other entities on earth. Vedic astrology can be traced thousands of years back. Early Vedic astrology was only based on the movement of planets with respect to stars, but later on it started including zodiac signs as well.

By Vedic Astrology on Astrology as a Science continued on 5/6/11



 My source for this as in most cases is Wikipedia.  The Hindu have made many valuable contributions to the observation of stellar phenomena, but the fact that the Vedic material came forth written in sanskrit does not necessarily give it credence as "ancient" nor justification in its ability to predict the future of any human being.  And the basis for this is the fact that when human beings are born, they are born with the gift of free will.  That is the capacity to make a choice between more than one option.  In the Western world this becomes a subjective point of view where the individual takes the information under advisement and then makes the decision on his own.  In the Eastern world, the tradition is from an objective point of view where the decision is based largely on the inputs of a Guru or some other outside agency and he has no other course but to obey.  This has a tendency to support a self-fulfilling prophecy and encourage the belief that the stars compel a specific result.


Take for example the urban legend about births, accidents, arrests and comittals to insane asylums during the full moon.  Police and medical personnel will affirm that there is more activity during the full moon than at any other time of the month.  Statistics supposedly have been kept on both sides of the discussion with very little mathematical resolution.  But Astrology offers no explanation for that other than to say that if the Moon is opposite the Sun in a horoscope, the native might be seen as one who could have difficulty between a logical or rational approach to a problem and its intuitive or emotional counterpart.


The second comment that was submitted was....

The previous article left me with a sense that you were describing astronomy but with human interpretation. This one gave me more insight by your phrase '(cannot) occuppy the same space at the same time'. I am Sagitarrian, but know many other Sagitarrians who portray diversly different personalties, not at all as I percieve myself. But none were born at the exact moment 'and place' as I. But I question how one can assign or attribute personlity traits to a person based on the time and place of birth when there are so many other factors influencing life, perhaps many that we cannot begin to comprehend? I remain dubious, but curious. Thanks for continuing to stimulate my mind!!!

By nutmeg45 on Astrology as a Science continued on 5/5/11

Well Nutmeg.. you are right in the respect that there are many factors that go into the understanding of the personality and character of a single human being.  The newspapers and magazines would lump you in with all the other people born on the days when the Sun appears in the zodaical sign of Sagitarrius.  And this casts doubt on the validity of those articles that would suggest that all those Sagitarreans, for example, would benefit from that particluar advice.  It is difficult to conceive that 1/12 th of all the people of the world would respond in the same way or that the advice would be applicable to roughly one half billion people at the same time.

What the horoscope does is to chart the character traits that we all have in common.  For instance, we all have a sense of responsibility(Saturn) and a zest and enthusiasm for life(Jupiter) and so on.  Many millennia of experience has allowed the Astrologer to assign the different planets to these different character traits in the combinations that make up the mosaic of any one individual.  The other factor is the circumstances in which the individual character traits might be expressed.  And this comes from the environment.  In other words an indication of leadership might be expressed under circumstances where the individual could be the president of the United States or perhaps a large corporation.  Whereas in different circumstances this character trait of leadership could express as the leader of the local "gang" or PTA or some lesser organization of people.  But it still expresses the trait of leadership.  And then there are others who have no interest or aptitude in leadership at all.

As I said earlier, it is not my intention to give a course on Astrology.  But having gone through a long period as a scientist and an equally long period as an Astrologer, I wanted to show how the training, the application and responsibility are the same for the Astrologer as counselor as they are  for any scientist.