There are three basic faults in astrology, each of which invalidates any claim to scientific legitimacy.
First, when astrology is put to the test against reality, it fails miserably. For example, one’s astrological sign is said to be determined by the distribution of the heavens at the time of birth, as well as one’s personality and future. Twins should have roughly equal lifespan based on this assumption. Twins, on the other hand, frequently differ substantially in terms of talent, personality, and life choices. Keep in mind Jacob and Esau (Gen. 25:19-34).
Second, one’s so-called astrological sign has lost its significance. A person is actually born under a different star sign than the obsolete horoscopes in use today due to the precession of the Earth’s axis. Astrology is based on the placements of stars in the past (as they were 3,000 years ago in Babylonian times). The mistake in dating the zodiac signs increases year after year.
Third, it is difficult for the stars to influence a person, let alone global events. The only force that acts beyond space is the gravity of stars and planets, and its effect on Earth is insignificant.
In This Article...
Is it possible for astrology to be harmful?
Vyse thinks horoscopes can be troublesome if they have a big impact on your behavior, whether you’re looking for love or managing your finances.
Other devotees use astrology to help them make difficult health decisions. Before scheduling surgery, a New York lady who did not want to be identified says she contacts her astrologer. “I have complete faith in it.”
According to Vyse, this is going too far with the illusion of control. He says it’s amusing to make “insignificant judgments” based on your horoscope, but that’s where the line should be drawn. “Making a major decision based on your horoscope is never a good idea. You could just as well toss a coin.”
“Because the information individuals obtain from a horoscope is unpredictable at best,” Sandbek argues, “it can be downright destructive.” He goes on to say that relying on astrology during difficult times might stifle personal progress by obstructing your ability to make sound judgments.
What’s the big deal about astrology?
Astrology is a collection of belief systems that assert that there is a connection between astrological phenomena and events or personality traits in the human world. The scientific community has dismissed astrology as having no explanatory power for describing the universe. Scientific testing has discovered no evidence to back up the astrological traditions’ premises or alleged effects.
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.
Is astrology a reliable source of information?
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.
What is Islam’s position on astrology?
Astrology is the study of celestial bodies’ movements and relative placements, which are thought to have an impact on human affairs and the natural world. According to historian Emilie Savage-Smith, astrology (ilm al-nujm, “the study of the stars”) was “by far” the most popular of the “many activities aiming to predict future occurrences or perceive hidden phenomena” in early Islamic history.
Despite Islamic prohibitions, some medieval Muslims were interested in studying the apparent motion of the stars. This was partially due to their belief in the importance of the celestial bodies, and partly due to the fact that desert inhabitants frequently traveled at night and relied on knowledge of the constellations for navigation. Muslims needed to determine the time of prayers, the direction the kaaba would face, and the correct orientation of the mosque after the arrival of Islam, all of which helped give a religious impetus to the study of astronomy and contributed to the belief that the celestial bodies had an impact on terrestrial affairs as well as the human condition.
The criteria for Islam’s attitude on astrology are laid out in Islamic jurisprudence, the Quran, the Hadith, Ijma (scholarly consensus), and Qiyas (analogy). The idea is further differentiated into that which is either halal (authorized) or haram (forbidden) (forbidden). The view that astrology is forbidden by the authorities, as enshrined in the Quran and Hadith, is shared by all Islamic sects and academics.
Is astrology a factor in one’s life?
Astrology, according to hardened scientists, does not work. It does, according to believers. Who is correct? They’re both correct. It depends on your definition of “work.” Astrology is the concept that, depending on when one was born, the alignment of stars and planets influences one’s mood, personality, and environment. Astrologers publish customised horoscopes in newspapers based on a person’s birth date. These horoscopes make predictions about people’s personal situations, define their characters, and offer guidance based on astronomical bodies’ positions. According to a poll done by the National Science Foundation, 41% of people believe astrology is “extremely scientific” or “kind of scientific.” Let’s break down the original query into two more precise questions: 1) Is a person’s life affected by the position of astronomical bodies? 2) Can horoscopes improve people’s moods? These are two completely different questions. Both are scientifically verifiable.
Is it true that the positions of astronomical bodies have an impact on people’s lives (beyond the weather)?
No. Seasons are determined by the sun’s position and orientation in relation to the earth. Anyone who has shoveled snow off his path in January when he would rather be at the beach can attest to the fact that the planets have an impact on our lives. Electromagnetic disturbances caused by solar flares can impair satellites and possibly create outages on Earth. Ocean tides are caused by the moon’s position. If you’re a fisherman, the moon’s location might have a big impact on your livelihood. Beautiful auroras are caused by the solar wind, and sunlight is our planet’s primary source of energy. All of these effects, however, are covered by simple meteorology, not astrology. Astrology claims that, depending on a person’s birth date, astronomical bodies have an impact on their lives beyond fundamental weather patterns. This claim is untrue from a scientific standpoint. Several scientific research have refuted the idea that astronomical bodies have an impact on people’s life based on their birth date. For example, Peter Hartmann and his colleagues looked at nearly 4000 people and discovered no link between birth date and personality or IQ. Shawn Carlson conducted one of the most renowned tests in which he had 28 astrologers give predictions and then verified their accuracy. He fine-tuned the approach before conducting the experiment, ensuring that it was scientifically sound and that all of the astrologers believed the test was fair. He discovered that astrologers were no better at predicting the future than random chance, according to a study published in Nature. These findings are consistent with basic science.
Gravity, electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force, and the weak nuclear force are the four fundamental forces of nature. When an object interacts with a human, it must do so via one of these fundamental forces. Strong acid, for example, burns your skin because the acid’s electromagnetic fields pull on your skin molecules so intensely that they split apart. Gravity drags a falling boulder onto you, crushing you. Because of nuclear forces, a nuclear bomb will evaporate you. Each of the fundamental forces has the potential to be quite powerful. The issue is that they all die out as time passes. Beyond a few nanometers, nuclear forces decay so quickly that they are effectively nil. Electromagnetic forces can range from nanometers to kilometers in length. Electromagnetic waves (light) can be detected from the boundary of the observable universe by sensitive equipment, although the light is extremely feeble. Although a star’s gravity is technically felt across the cosmos, its unique impact on the universe is limited to its solar system. Polaris’ gravitational attraction on an earthbound human is weaker than the gravitational pull of a gnat flying around his head due to the impact of distance. Similarly, the electromagnetic waves (light) from Sirius that reach an earthbound human’s sight are dimmer than the light from a passing firefly. If stars and planets had an impact on humanity, gnats and fireflies would have an even greater impact. Even if the planets’ gravity was powerful enough to influence you, a literal alignment of the planets would not result in you winning the lottery, for the simple reason that it never happens in the real world.
Yes. But it has nothing to do with the accuracy of the horoscopes. Because of a psychological impact known as the placebo effect, horoscopes make individuals feel better. The placebo effect occurs when a person’s belief in a useless procedure makes them feel better. The improvement is caused by the belief rather than the method. The placebo effect has been shown scientifically. If you offer ten sick people water-only pills and tell them it’s a potent new treatment that will assist them, and then have ten sick patients refuse to take the pills, the patients who take the pills will improve in health over time. Because of the placebo effect, a new treatment must be shown to make patients feel better in addition to making them feel better. It must be demonstrated that it outperforms a placebo. The control group in accurate medical experiments is not a group of untreated patients. The control group, on the other hand, is made up of patients who were given a placebo. The placebo effect is at work when it comes to astrology. A large number of people believe in astrology. They feel better when they read their horoscope and follow its advise. However, it is their belief, not the astrology, that makes them feel better. The placebo effect is used in many pseudoscientific treatments, from crystal healing to homeopathy. Believing in a treatment that doesn’t work may be beneficial, but believing in one that does is much better. Sticking to scientifically proven treatments allows you to reap the benefits of both belief and therapy action. Instead of reading your horoscope first thing in the morning, go for a walk. Exercise has been shown to be beneficial to both the body and the mind, and your belief in its benefits will also aid you.
Topics:
astrology, astronomy, gravity, horoscope, placebo, placebo effect, sign, stars, astrology, astronomy
Who is the inventor of astrology?
Jones stated, “This is possibly older than any other known case.” “It’s also older than any of the written-down horoscopes from the Greco-Roman period,” he said, adding, “we have a number of horoscopes written down as a kind of document on papyrus or on a wall, but none of them as old as this.”
The discovery was presented in the most recent edition of the Journal for the History of Astronomy by Jones and StaoForenbaher, a researcher at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb.
Forenbaher told LiveScience that the crew was working near the entrance of a Croatian cave in 1999, a site well known to archaeologists and residents of the surrounding hamlet of Nakovana who simply named it “Spila,” which means “the cave.”
Nobody realized at the time, however, that the cave featured a part that had been locked for over 2,000 years. Forenbaher’s girlfriend (now his wife) dug under the rubble and discovered a broad, low passageway that ran for over 33 feet in the dark (10 meters). “The unique King Tut experience, arriving to a spot where nobody has been for a couple of thousand years,” Forenbaher said of passing down the corridor.
When Forenbaher entered the cavern, “there was a very thin limestone crust on the surface that was splitting under your boots,” indicating that “nobody had gone there in a very, very, long time,” he added.
The researchers eventually discovered that it had been blocked off in the first century B.C., presumably as a result of a Roman military effort against the locals.
The archaeologists discovered a phallic-shaped stalagmite, as well as countless drinking containers deposited over hundreds of years and something more. “These very small bits and pieces of ivory came out in the course of that dig,” Forenbaher explained, “and we didn’t even recognize what we had at the time.”
The group got to work. “It took years to piece them together, find more bits and pieces, and figure out what they were,” Forenbaher explained. They ended there staring at the ruins of the world’s oldest known astrologer’s board.
Archaeologists aren’t sure how the board got inside the cave or where it came from. The Babylonians developed their own version of horoscopes around 2,400 years ago, which is where astrology began in antiquity.
Then, around 2,100 years ago, astrology went to the eastern Mediterranean, where it became popular in Egypt, which was ruled by a dynasty of Greek monarchs at the time.
Jones explained, “It gets transformed very much into what we think of as the Greek style of astrology, which is really the present type of astrology.” “The Greek style of astrology is the foundation of astrology that spans the Middle Ages, modern Europe, modern India, and beyond.”
The ivory used to produce the zodiac images dates back to 2,200 years, just before the advent of this new kind of astrology, according to radiocarbon dating.
The location of the board’s manufacture is unknown, though Egypt is a possibility. They believe the ivory came from an elephant that was slain or died in the area around that period. Because ivory is such a valuable commodity, it would have been preserved for decades, if not a century, before being utilized to make the zodiac. These signs would have been adhered to a flat (probably wooden) surface to form the board, which could have featured other features that did not survive.
It could have been loaded onto a ship sailing through the Adriatic Sea, a vital trade route that the cave overlooks. Illyrians were the people who resided in Croatia at the time. Despite the fact that ancient writers had a negative view of them, archaeological evidence reveals that they interacted with surrounding Greek colonies and were a vital part of the Mediterranean civilization.
An astrologer from one of the Greek colonies may have visited the cave to make a prediction. A consultation in the cavern’s flickering light would have been a powerful experience, if not particularly convenient for the astrologer.
Jones commented, “It doesn’t sound like a very practical site for performing horoscope homework like calculating planetary placements.”
Another hypothesis is that the Illyrians acquired or stole the astrological board without fully comprehending its use. The board, along with the drinking containers, would have been presented as an offering to an unknown deity worshipped in the cave.
“This astrologer’s board could have shown up as an offering along with other exceptional items that were either bought or robbed from a passing ship,” Forenbaher speculated. He noted that the drinking cups discovered in the cave had been chosen with care. They were made in another country, and only a few cruder amphora storage vessels were discovered with them.
“It nearly appears that someone was bringing out wine there, pouring it, and then discarding the amphora away because they weren’t good enough for the gods, or to be deposited in the shrine,” Forenbaher said.
The phallic-shaped stalagmite, which may have formed naturally on the site, appears to have served as a focal point for these offerings and rituals held in the cavern. Forenbaher cautioned that all stalagmites appear phallic in some way, and it’s difficult to know what significance it had to the cave’s inhabitants. “It had to mean something significant,” he said.
“This is a spot where goods of local importance were deposited with some type of supernatural power, transcendental being, or whatever.”
calculates and interprets the movement of planets. It isn’t predicated on wild guesses. Several Hindu households consult their astrologer before making major decisions.
In Islam, astrology is also a belief. Their forebears believed that the movement of the stars, sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies might influence the lives of individuals who lived on the planet, as seen through the eyes of India’s best astrologer. Their faith in astrology has waned over time, and just a few people still believe it. It is entirely dependent on the individual. While a conservative Muslim may not believe in astrology, someone who does not believe in any religion may have faith in it.
Christianity is the only religion that is known to believe in astrology. People should not trust astrology, according to the Bible. Despite this, the western world has many astrologers. They claim that the Bible has been misinterpreted and that it warns about individual people’s faults. When compared to a nation like India, Western countries have significantly fewer astrologers. This also reveals how little Western countries trust in astrology. People were already distrustful of astrology, and the Bible just supports their doubts. As a result, only a small fraction of Christians believe in astrology.
It may be assumed that India is a top country in terms of astrological believing. More than half of the population has consulted an astrologer at least once in their lives. Because Hinduism and Islam are both prevalent in India, it’s safe to suppose that astrology adherents are as well. Astrology performs a fantastic job at describing the future as well as offering answers to issues.
Individuals’ belief systems vary, and it is their personal discretion whether to believe in something. Despite its age of 5000 years, astrology still flourishes. This reinforces our faith in astrology.
Some relevant facts:
- The hostility of some devout religious believers dates back to a time when priests and religious leaders attempted to interpret and mediate all religious experiences from their positions of authority. Before the development of male-dominated organized religion, our predecessors sought heavenly inspiration directly from the stars and thought themselves to be an intricate part of an active universe unfolding.
- Anyone could use astrology as a tool and a belief system based on an enchantment with the divine orchestrations of the heavens. Astrology presupposes the existence of an unlimited and purposeful mind that pervades the skies and the earth in a grand symphony of meaning, rather than the worship of a particular deity or leader.
A client’s confidence might be boosted with the help of a trustworthy, neutral astrologer. I’ve helped several customers reclaim and activate their religious roots through a chart analysis, guiding them toward the power that comes with following a religious path.
For some people, religion is a cornerstone of psychological and mental well-being. Astrological principles and practices are free of sexism, racism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression, unlike many organized faiths. Even the classic astrological metaphors of masculine and feminine planets and energies have been reinvented as non-gendered receptive and active energies. Every individual, like every planet and star in the sky, has a firm seat at the table of the universe.
This is enormous.
