How To Astrology - Test Yourself

Astrology may not use scientific kind of proof, but that doesn't mean you should simply accept it. There is a way in which you can test astrology for yourself, much like you most definitely do with many things in your life - try it and see. You can try to find out if it works specifically for you, and not only on the level of belief. The more of these little personal tests described below you try, and the more you check if you are not just fooling yourself while doing them, the more reliable should your findings be.

Ideas on Testing of Astrology I

While it is true that most practicing astrologers do not really care for the search of scientific evidence definitively proving astrology, it is also true that most capable scientists do not care at all for astrology as such. Not surprisingly, neither helps the research on the subject. In the current state of affairs, it is entirely unclear how to distinguish a good astrologer or astrological theory from a bad one. As a result, there is a growing body of studies of unclear validity, which is however sufficient in the sustaining of skeptical negativism, while most astrologers wouldn't really care about any results of any tests in the first place. The atmosphere is a one of mutual hostility and various forms of denial on either side. Since this is not a constructive approach, I intend to try, as both an astrologer and a social scientist, to meet currently unresolved critical issues with both theoretical analysis and practical proposals.

How To Astrology - Human Ethics

Given that astrology is neither exact science, nor a religious doctrine, it is not obvious what it has to say about good or evil, or the nature of human experience, meaning of life, these sorts of things. Since I do maintain that astrology is not a collection of random nonsense either, there must be some value judgments involved, or insight into who we are and how we should live. After all, astrology does focus specifically on the composition of human soul and the meaning of events made manifest. 

Astrology Is Not Religion

Skeptics often insist that astrology is not science, that in contrast to what science is like, astrology is much more like a religion. This alleged fact is also practically universally judged by these people as bad. What if I told you that astrology is decidedly neither, and that its differences from either of those doctrines are a good thing?

You've Been Punked! Burden of Proof

One of the most obvious-seeming scientific requirements for taking anything seriously is the so called "burden of proof". The simple explanation of what it means is that only the claims based on evidence are acceptable to the scientific community. All that isn't proven, or worse still, what isn't even provable, simply isn't scientific. In reality, however, it isn't quite so straightforward, so please let me shed some light on the matter by un-simplifying it.

How To Astrology - Human Politics

Given the violent state of world affairs right now, it might be useful to look at the so called planetary transits, which are the key to how astrology can be predictive. Let's not get overexcited, however, since astrology is not supposed to give exact predictions in the scientific sense. According to astrological theory, the precise shape of the future is not set in stone, and because of that, astrology only outlines possible outcomes and conditions deciding them, typically rooted in human freedom of choice, that together create the general shape of the future.

Astrology Is Not Random

Whenever an astrologer, a real one, states anything about what any aspect of any horoscope means, he or she isn't randomly generating an answer. It would certainly sound like that to a person not versed in astrology, much like you wouldn't understand any specialist doing a sophisticated analysis in a cryptic professional language, but there is always a strict method to the madness. But not only that - astrology can only work in a universe, which is fundamentally non-random. In astrology, randomness isn't a valid concept, and probability is, at least in human matters, not much more than illusion.

How To Astrology - Human Health

Historically, astrology has been used in many different ways. One of the most common kinds, until relatively recently, has been medicinal astrology, which has of course waned with the ascent of modern medicine in the west. Let me be clear, I am not saying that modern western medicine is useless or that medicinal astrology is a sufficient substitute of it, not by a long shot. But it does have something to offer even today, in my opinion, and it won't cost anyone anything, since it is mainly focused on prevention and self-induced placebo - healing yourself, at least in part, merely by changing the state of your mind. Placebo is a real phenomenon, but even though medical science is fully aware of it, it doesn't really try to sufficiently understand and exploit it. That is where ancient medicinal approaches have done most of their homework, and that is where you can find most of their value. If you wish to learn how astrology can help you better understand the connection between your mind and your body, read on.

You've Been Punked! Occam's Razor

In science, just like in every other human endeavor, there are some underlying assumptions, which are ultimately arbitrary - value choices or random procedures. In every other human endeavor, this is quite clear. In science, however, the most fundamental assumptions are often presented as facts or fact-based, automatic or the obviously most reasonable. The problem is these are only arbitrary assumptions, which shouldn't be uncritically accepted, just like you shouldn't uncritically accept anything other people choose to believe or to live by. Since each of those is used as a way of criticizing or attacking astrology, I think it is a good idea to examine them closely. The first one is probably the most popular, the one you will hear mentioned most often - Occam's razor. According to this guiding principle, astrology shouldn't be pursued, because it is an unnecessarily complicated theory. Let's analyze that.

How To Astrology - Human Relationships

One can certainly both like or dislike a person based on some sort of summary of their race, education, profession, religion, etc. In behavioral psychology, such superficial descriptions matter. In astrology, not at all. Astrology is focused on what's underneath, what's inside of a person, what makes them tick, compels them to act from within in some ways and not in others. It aims to explain why you automatically get along (or not) with a person you've just met and know nothing about, or if you do know them, what part of it working out (or not) is independent of your informed decisions. In this article, I will try to introduce the branch of astrology that deals with relationships - show how it classifies functional and dysfunctional relationships in theory, but also demonstrate, how anyone can use it in practice to improve their relationships with all basic types of individuals.

Why Gaze into the Stars - Origins of Astrology

One of the most important things to know about astrology is the way in which it came to be. Unfortunately, the exact details of that have been lost, or were never recorded in the first place. Just as it is the case with any other ancient oral tradition, only that which was passed down from master to apprentice survived from the earliest period. In this article, I will try to assume that astrology is a reasonable practice rooted in logic and observation, and see whether the fundamental steps could be reconstructed. After all, there must have been some rationale to it, even if ill-informed, as well as some system or procedure through which it was developed, other than everyone involved just making up all of it. I will focus especially on the various different forms of practical application and on the similarities and differences of the major regional variations.

Astrology Is Not Fraud

If you are a scientist or at least a skeptic, then one of the first associations to the term "astrologer" in your mind would be something like "charlatan". One of the most commonly believed notions about astrology and the rest of the occult or esoteric practices is that people doing it are either con artists, or mentally challenged. That sentiment goes a long way to explain why illusionists, of all people, often try to publicly unmask the trickery behind it and thus debunk it. Leaving the mental challenge aside for now, let's discuss the possibility of doing something like astrology honestly, and how that which illusionists debunk as astrology is mostly illusion and trickery, but of their own making.

Astrology Is Not Vague

One of the most commonly held misconceptions by the would-be critics of astrology is its alleged vagueness. To the extent to which that is attributed to a manipulative technique know as Barnum or Forer effect, I will write a separate article focusing on that whole branch of research. To the extent to which it would have to do with sheer arbitrary randomness, I will deal with it in a separate article explaining exactly how un-random and un-arbitrary astrology is in comparison to modern psychology. In this article, I will deal with what vagueness means and why astrology doesn't produce vague statements, even if they were outright manipulative or random. From what I was able to put together from various definitions of vagueness one can come across, vague statements would be such statements, that are one of the following:

Why There Are Twelve Signs

If I am to explain what astrology is, there is no way of getting around its core method - numerology. At first glance, that would seem to take away even more credibility away from astrology, but that is only because numerology is today equally misunderstood. It is necessary because it shows that astrology uses precisely defined operations and generally has logical reasons for why it does things the way it does them. It also offers the missing link to mathematics and therefore any hope of maybe using computers one day not only to generate pictures of star charts, but also for making genuine astrological interpretations as well as living astrologers. Or much better, at least in the reliability department. None of that necessarily makes astrology true, but it does make it systematic, methodical, logical and (hopefully) testable - things that its critics don't attribute to it at all.

The Mystery of the Missing Method

Before I get into any explanation of what I conclude are the concrete features of real astrology, one other basic objection of skeptics needs to be dealt with. Astrology, to date, has not sufficiently explained the mechanism by which it works. Yes, that is a fact. But just in case you think that alone is enough to dismiss it entirely, or even find it patently wrong, look at what Carl Sagan, the patron saint of astronomy, has to say about this line of criticism in his book, The Demon-Haunted World:

"The statement stressed that we can think of no mechanism by which astrology could work. This is certainly a relevant point but by itself it's unconvincing."

Astrology Should Be Studied

First, please let me exorcise politics out of this blog's way. The purpose of this blog is to explore astrology. I do not argue that it definitely is true. I also do not argue that it definitely is false. I would like to start by arguing about what it is, and more importantly, what it is not. Most people I have ever talked to on either side of the fence have decided about the accuracy of astrological claims before ever trying to learn what those are, exactly. As far as that is concerned, I have only this to say - wanna-be astrologists, shame on you. Wanna-be skeptics, shame on you too. And actual scientists, try being actual scientists in this matter for a few minutes, okay.