Why does astrology work?

[ThunderGoddess]

Multiplication table is blind fate, too. But people use it because it PRACTICALLY works. There are two ways for someone to understand that actually soething is true and it works - you sit with them and you talk bunch of witty and really logical things, but they can disagree or you just show them the facts. As the ancient latin people said "Contra factum non datur argumentum" which is "There is no proove agains the facts".

 

[Neptune Rising]

I wish I could be logical when someone asks me this question, I think I will just point them to this thread. With Nep moving into my 3rd house, a logical mind seems to escape me, more and more these days!

So when someone asks me this question, I say I don't honestly know 'why' it works. I've studied it for x number of years and I have found it to work. Not really blind faith there, obsessive study rather to discover the 'how'. Same with the tarot, no logical way I can explain that one, but I know its pretty spot on usually, again after years of using the cards.

 

[Rayek]

You will never find a scientific explanation why astrology works. This is because science is 'smaller' than astrology. You can use science to point at results that seem to indicate that astrology works, this is possible.
But it's my belief that the WHY of astrology could only be explained by a larger knowledge, which we currently have forgotten.

Oh don't give me that.

Define Science:
1. The intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.

Electromagnetic energy is too weak to explain it.

The first step in proving WHY it works is to prove that it does work. Without question. If you can prove that it does work... and I mean actually 100% prove it with very little margin of error, taking out most human interpretation to avoid the observer effect and cold reading... then you can worry about the why's and how's.

Right now, Astrologers are divided into two major categories. The ones who are scientifically minded, who know and want to apply the Scientific method to the study. And the ones who are spiritually minded and just accept things as they are.

The spiritually minded people are holding the study of "why" and "how" back. Don't get me wrong, they're great for figuring out the intricate details of what things mean... but they're still holding the advancement of the study back.

Religion is holding the study back because it's taboo.... omg, no one can predict the future. You're a false prophet, burn the witches.

Science is holding it back because... you honestly expect us to take it seriously? LOOK at most of the people who study it.

Astrology is placed in the wrong category, and it's attracting way too many people who give it a bad name. It needs people to sit down, take it seriously, and actually work on it. Work on the proofs, work on the "why" and "how".

As for the things that were linked in this thread, showing why Astrology works, or the work that people have done to prove it. I say, sorry... not good enough. Work harder, or you're doing it wrong. When the answer is found, Astrology will take its place among the serious sciences. Until then, the answers that people have come up with are wrong, or only partial. It will be figured out, it will be proven. But classifying it as a spiritual or religious thing is just as bad as giving up.

 

[HoldOrFold]

As for the things that were linked in this thread, showing why Astrology works, or the work that people have done to prove it. I say, sorry... not good enough. Work harder, or you're doing it wrong. When the answer is found, Astrology will take its place among the serious sciences. Until then, the answers that people have come up with are wrong, or only partial. It will be figured out, it will be proven. But classifying it as a spiritual or religious thing is just as bad as giving up.

I wouldn't lump astrologers into two categories of 1) Scientific and 2) Spiritual, because well that's often not the case. Most astrologers are observational, they like to learn what works from experience.

I agree that science needs to catch up to be able to describe the full range of phenomena associated with astrology. On the up side, science has come a long way from classical neutonian ideas. We have ideas such as the past having not been created yet. As a digression, you can read about here: Does The Past Exist Yet? New Research Suggests Not

Spiritual people aren't holding back the "why" or "how". Many are advancing understanding but in a different area other than science. Science is catching up to thoughts that 'spiritual' people have been having for thousands of years.

Nobody's holding anyone back. There just needs to be more merging of science and spirituality. This is already happening, but yes it would be nice if it speeds up even further.

 

[ptolomy]

I dont believe Astrology is Scientific,I believe that trying to explain Astrology from a Scientific/Materialistic framework will never work,Astrology is of a higher order/level and Governs the lower level of Science/Materialism.
The reason why Scientists dont understand Astrology is because its not Scientific,Ask a Scientist.The reason why Scientists dont understand Religion/Spirituality is because Religion/Spirituality is of an even higher level than Astrology, and twice as higher level than Science.
The reason why many religous texts are misunderstood is because people try to apply Materialistic laws to higher laws,I believe that most Religous texts can only be understood through Knowledge of symbolism,I see many religions making this mistake taking Religous text literally,IE:the world was created in 7 days,Should not be understood literally,Its an Symbolic Aproximation.Higher laws will never be understood properly on this level of Conciousness in my opinion,If you want to understand how the higher affects the lower you will have to hope that when you drop your materialistic planetary body that whilst you are on a higher level of consciousness you will become informed.But as in a dream,when you awaken again on this level,chances are you will have forgotten and not have the apparatus to understand either.
Astrology falls between materialism and spirituality.We as Astrologers have a much harder task to understand our 'ART' than Scientists,It is of a much higher order,It cant be reduced to the laws of Science,Look at how the signs cover such large diverse areas of our lives,this is because its of a higher order.Science is divided into lots more diverse areas because it is of a lower order.

 

[ptolomy]

Ps,I think more important than anything else to consider is that the levels of consciousness above us are so removed from our understanding of reality,so Extraordinary,so Inexplicable,so amazing, that Science is a useless tool,its like asking a microbe its opinion on Einsteins theory of relativity.Absolutely useless innapropriate and incapable.
Astrology is of a much higher realm,we barely understand it in my opinion,I find it ridiculous to ask for a scientific recognition from 'egotistical idiots'*,They were unfortunately not given the tools this life time to see beyond certain boundaries.leave them to do whatever they are equipped to do,maybe they might be given better tools next time round?

*Ive never met a scientific opinion on astrology that came from a logical understanding,ie,ask them something simple about astrology which they should have known to have studied it,and they dont know,There fore my conclusion,they have an egocentric opinion,not knowledge.And definately not scientific.

pps.sorry,ranting about science as usual.lol

 

[LionLady]

Ps,I think more important than anything else to consider is that the levels of consciousness above us are so removed from our understanding of reality,so Extraordinary,so Inexplicable,so amazing, that Science is a useless tool,its like asking a microbe its opinion on Einsteins theory of relativity.Absolutely useless innapropriate and incapable.

I agree with you. I once read an article which took the view "The gods are to us as we are to our cats"

I am also reminded of Terry Pratchett's characters the "auditors". The only way they could understand something was to break it down into its basic components; you knew when they had been through an art gallery because all that was left were blank canvases with little piles of different coloured paint on the floor in front of them! I love that analogy.

 

[ptolomy]

Thank you Lionlady.I like the analogy,I think its also important to remember that Astrology deals specifically with the most important area of all ;'Consciousness'the seat of everything,nothing else is more fundamental,Consciousness is the reason why the Physicists observation makes particles change their behaviour.
Because it is so fundamental to our experience, and the art of Astrology deals specifically with Consciousness,It therefore makes sense that it is of a different higher order than the world of Science which deals with the 'Projection'.

 

[SniperBomber328]

To the OP, I have asked a somewhat similar question like this, of my skepticism of astrology, but you know what? I learned to just accept the way Astrology works. I have seen it work through the lives of the people I know, and how accurate it, at often times, was.

I too was curious as to the way Astrology worked, the "science" behind it all, or at least some logical explanation of how it works. But learned that with the current or modern intelligence we have today may not suffice enough to say or accurately prove how Astrology works, it just does (somewhat). So I am not going to explain some theory of electromagnetic energy (which may be true for all I know), but I do know that Astrology has proven me wrong a few times, and in turn, made me believe more that it indeed does work (Traditional Astrology that is too say).

Note: Except that 1st House intepretations of Appearance (which I almost fully believe genetics plays a major role in), which have never really proven right for me. I have seen some ugly Libra Risings, Hot Capricorn Risings, short Sagittarius risings, etc. I think that 1st House plays a role of how we "show" or "present" ourselves to the outer world, not neccesarily physical appearence.

 

[ptolomy]

Yes Sniperbomber,i agree,I spent years getting nowhere fast trying to find a scientific reason for how Astrology worked,I gave up eventually trying to find the mechanism,All that ultimately mattered is that it worked.
The only reason why Scientists 'know' is because they study their art,The same applies to Astrology,You can only 'know' it by lots of study,If you havnt, or dont have the skill to study astrology then you cant 'know' it,You can then only have an opinion.The 'knowing' comes from the observation of following ancient rules,Not from a Scientific observation.
Im a very earthy person so i got caught up in wanting to know the mechanism for a long time,It was just a barrier to 'knowing' that was better dropped imo.

 

[Aquarius1.35]

As for the things that were linked in this thread, showing why Astrology works, or the work that people have done to prove it. I say, sorry... not good enough. Work harder, or you're doing it wrong. When the answer is found, Astrology will take its place among the serious sciences. Until then, the answers that people have come up with are wrong, or only partial. It will be figured out, it will be proven. But classifying it as a spiritual or religious thing is just as bad as giving up.

Try harder! I agree with your message and hope like you that people will accept to work together to understand it.

It will be figured out, it will be proven.

 

[KIRONO]

I'd like to suggest that the question should be re-phrased to 'what is at work in Astrology?' People don't ask 'why does archaeology work?' or 'why does biology work? or 'why does zoology work?'. Something is 'at work' in archaeology, biology or zoology. These things are bodies of knowledge. Sometimes old ideas have to be replaced when new knowledge comes along.
As to 'why does Astrology work?' - well it just doesn't 'work' all the time. Astrologers 'work' with certain sets of information and Astrologers make analyses or predictions according to their knowledge but there is no 'absolute' set of information to which all Astrologers agree.

 

[dr. farr]

Excellent insights!