As a result, it is considered pseudoscience.
In This Article...
Is astrology based on any scientific principles?
Is astrology accurate? Reading horoscopes is a popular pastime, but is there any scientific evidence that they are accurate?
When you’re enticed by a familiar interruption and your willpower weakens, problems can occur.
Every day, up to 70 million Americans consult their horoscopes. At least, that’s what the American Federation of Astrologers claims. According to a Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life poll conducted twenty years ago, 25% of Americans believe that the positions of the stars and planets have an impact on our daily life. In 2012, the General Social Survey indicated that 34% of Americans think astrology is “extremely” or “kind of scientific,” with the percentage of individuals who think astrology is “not at all scientific” dropping from two-thirds to about half.
Astrology is the concept that astronomical phenomena, such as the stars over your head when you were born or the fact that Mercury is retrograde, have the potential to influence our daily lives and personality traits. Of course, this is distinct from astronomy, which is the scientific study of celestial objects, space, and the physics of the cosmos.
A particular facet of astrology, the foretelling of a person’s future or the provision of daily counsel via horoscopes, is gaining in popularity. The Cut, for example, recorded a 150 percent rise in horoscope page views in 2017 compared to 2016.
Clearly, a lot of people are trying to figure out how to read the stars for guidance. Understanding the positions of the stars is the foundation of astrology, which appears to be a scientific discipline in and of itself. Is there any scientific evidence that astrology has an impact on our personalities and lives?
But, since I still have five minutes of this six-minute podcast to fill, let’s take a look at how astrology has been put to the test.
experience. As for the illusion of control that comes from astrological reading, it can be relatively harmless but not always. ” If you turn down a great opportunity because of something your horoscope said that day, or if you pursue a risky opportunity because of that, it may steer your life in a non-optimal direction. I can unfortunately imagine someone postponing a life-saving surgery because the stars yield an ominous reading.
If we are to resist the pull that magical thinking has on us, we need to reconcile ourselves with “not knowing, an important lesson in science which some of us are perhaps better equipped to take on board. Saying “I don’t know what will happen and that’s OK is grounding. It thwarts flights of fancy. Of course, believers in astrology may not see “as above, so below as an extravagant view. Carl Sagan was famous for having popularized the saying that extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. The problem arises when a pseudoscience, poked and prodded by scientific fingers, retreats to the wishy-washy world of unknowable mysticism. In that universe, where planets have been imbued with an innate mythology by some strange divine force, there are no extraordinary claims. Anything is possible.
Take-home message:
– Astrology is a pseudoscience due to its lack of progress and refusal to deal with a large body of critical scientific studies
– Many modern fans of astrology do not see it as a science but as a tool for introspection, in large part because its predictions can give them an illusion of control in a time of stress
– There are more grounded ways of dealing with uncertainty, like mindfulness practice and engaging in activities that put you “in the zone
What was Jesus’ take on astrology?
I believe that God created astrology as a tool for us to better understand ourselves and to use as a spiritual tool. Numerous bible texts, in my opinion, support astrology. As a Christian, I try to remember what Jesus said. “There shall be signs in the sun, moon, and stars,” Christ predicted in Luke 21:25, referring to the importance of astrology. He explains the value of astrology with his pupils, as well as how it might be used as a sign of his return. Why would Jesus provide us this critical knowledge if we are not intended to understand the energies of the planets and signs, and if he was actually against it? Just as the three wise men knew Jesus would be born under the star in the sky that led them to him lying in the manger, Jesus warned us that when he returns, there will be signals in the sky.
