Astrology is a group of systems, traditions, and beliefs which hold that the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details can provide information about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial matters. A practitioner of astrology is called an astrologer. Astrologers believe that the movements and positions of celestial bodies either directly influence life on Earth or correspond to events experienced on a human scale.[1] Modern astrologers define astrology as a symbolic language,[2][3][4] an art form, or a form of divination.[5][6] Despite differences in definitions, a common assumption of astrologers is that celestial placements can aid in the interpretation of past and present events, and in the prediction of the future.
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The differentiation between astronomy and astrology varied from place to place; they were strongly linked in ancient India,[22] ancient Babylonia and medieval Europe, but separated to an extent in the Hellenistic world. The first semantic distinction between astrology and astronomy was probably given by Isidore of Seville[23] (see astrology and astronomy).
The pattern of astronomical knowledge gained from astrological endeavors has been historically repeated across numerous cultures, from ancient India through the classical Maya civilization to medieval Europe. Given this historical contribution, astrology has been called a protoscience along with disciplines such as alchemy.
Astrology was not without criticism before the modern era; it was often challenged by Hellenistic skeptics, church authorities, and medieval Muslim astronomers, such as Al-Farabi (Alpharabius), Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, Avicenna and Averroes. Their reasons for refuting astrology were often due to both scientific (the methods used by astrologers being conjectural rather than empirical) and religious (conflicts with orthodox Islamic scholars) reasons.[24] Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292–1350), in his Miftah Dar al-SaCadah, used empirical arguments in astronomy in order to refute astrology and divination.[25]
Many prominent thinkers, philosophers and scientists, such as Galen, Paracelsus, Girolamo Cardan, Nicolaus Copernicus, Taqi al-Din, Tycho Brahe, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Carl Jung and others, practiced or significantly contributed to astrology.[26][27]
[edit] Modern approaches
Several innovations have occurred in astrological practice in modern times.
[edit] Western
Main article: Western astrology
During the middle of the 20th century, Alfred Witte and, following him, Reinhold Ebertin pioneered the use of midpoints (see midpoint (astrology)) in horoscopic analysis. From the 1930s to the 1980s, astrologers including Dane Rudhyar, Liz Greene and Stephen Arroyo pioneered the use of astrology for psychological analysis, with some following the lead of psychologists like Carl Jung. In the 1930s, Don Neroman developed and popularized in Europe a form of Locational Astrology under the name of "Astrogeography". In the 1970s, American astrologer Jim Lewis developed and popularized a different approach under the name of Astrocartography. Both methods purport to identify varying life conditions through differences in location.
[edit] Vedic (Hindu astrology)
Main article: Vedic astrology
Indian astrology uses a different zodiac than Western astrology and is a branch of Vedic science.[28][29] In India, there is a long-established widespread belief in astrology, and it is commonly used for daily life, foremost with regard to marriages, and secondarily with regard to career and electional and karmic astrology.[30][31] In the 1960s, H.R. Seshadri Iyer, introduced a system including the concepts of yogi and avayogi. It generated interest with research oriented astrologers in the West. From the early 1990s, Indian vedic astrologer and author, V.K. Choudhry has created and developed the Systems' Approach for Interpreting Horoscopes, a simplified system of Jyotish (predictive astrology)[32] The system, also known as "SA", helps those who are trying to learn Jyotisha. The late K.S. Krishnamurti developed the Krishnamurti Paddhati system based on the analysis of the stars (nakshatras), by sub-dividing the stars in the ratio of the dasha of the concerned planets. The system is also known as "KP" and "sub theory". In 2001, Indian scientists and politicians debated and critiqued a proposal to use state money to fund research into Vedic astrology.[33]
[edit] Effects on world culture
Main article: Cultural influence of astrology
Astrology has had a profound influence over the past few thousand years on Western and Eastern cultures. In the Middle Ages, when the educated of the time believed in astrology, the system of heavenly spheres and bodies was believed to reflect on the system of knowledge and the world itself below. Belief in astrology holds firm today in many parts of the world: in one poll, 31% of Americans expressed a belief in astrology and, according to another study, 39% considered it scientific.[34][35]
Astrology has had an influence on both language and literature. For example, influenza, from medieval Latin influentia meaning influence, was so named because doctors once believed epidemics to be caused by unfavorable planetary and stellar influences.[36]. The word "disaster" comes from the Italian disastro, derived from the negative prefix dis- and from Latin aster "star", thus meaning "ill-starred"[37] Adjectives "lunatic" (Luna/Moon), "mercurial" (Mercury), "venereal" (Venus), "martial" (Mars), "jovial" (Jupiter/Jove), and "saturnine" (Saturn) are all old words used to describe personal qualities said to resemble or be highly influenced by the astrological characteristics of the planet, some of which are derived from the attributes of the ancient Roman gods they are named after. In literature, many writers, notably Geoffrey Chaucer[38][39][40] and William Shakespeare,[41][42] used astrological symbolism to add subtlety and nuance to the description of their characters' motivation(s). More recently, Michael Ward has proposed that C.S. Lewis imbued his Chronicles of Narnia with the characteristics and symbols of the seven heavens. Often, an understanding of astrological symbolism is needed to fully appreciate such literature.
Some modern thinkers, notably Carl Jung,[43] believe in astrology's descriptive powers regarding the mind without necessarily subscribing to its predictive claims. In education astrology is reflected in the university education of medieval Europe, which was divided into seven distinct areas, each represented by a particular planet and known as the seven liberal arts. Dante Alighieri speculated that these arts, which grew into the sciences we know today, fitted the same structure as the planets. In music the best known example of astrology's influence is in the orchestral suite called "The Planets" by the British composer Gustav Holst, the framework of which is based upon the astrological symbolism of the planets.
[edit] Astrology and science
Pseudoscientific concepts
Claims
Measurable correlations can be reliably found between the position of the planets and personality and human events.
Related scientific disciplines
Astronomy, Psychology
Year proposed
antiquity
Original proponents
ancient priests and astrologers
Subsequent proponents
Philip Berg, Michel Gauquelin, Linda Goodman, Liz Greene, Alan Leo, Sydney Omarr, Joan Quigley, Jackie Stallone, Athena Starwoman, Shelley von Strunckel, Richard Tarnas
By the time of Francis Bacon and the scientific revolution, newly emerging scientific disciplines acquired a method of systematic empirical induction based upon experimental observations.[44] At this point, astrology and astronomy began to diverge; astronomy became one of the central sciences, while astrology was increasingly viewed as an occult science or superstition by natural scientists. For example, Christiaan Huygens wrote in his Cosmotheoros: "And as for the Judicial Astrology, that pretends to foretel what is to come, it is such a ridiculous, and oftentimes mischievous Folly, that I do not think it fit to be so much as named."[45] This separation accelerated through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.[46]
Contemporary scientists such as Richard Dawkins and Stephen Hawking regard astrology as unscientific,[47][48] and those such as Andrew Fraknoi of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific have labeled it a pseudoscience.[49] In 1975, the American Humanist Association characterized those who have faith in astrology as doing so "in spite of the fact that there is no verified scientific basis for their beliefs, and indeed that there is strong evidence to the contrary".[50] Astronomer Carl Sagan was unwilling to sign the statement, not because he felt astrology was valid, but because he found the statement's tone authoritarian.[51][52] Sagan stated that he would instead have been willing to sign a statement describing and refuting the principal tenets of astrological belief, which he believed would have been more persuasive and would have produced less controversy than the circulated statement.[53]
Although astrology has not been considered a science for some time, it has been the subject of considerable research by astrologers since the beginning of the twentieth century. In their study of twentieth-century research into natal astrology, former astrologer turned astrology critic Geoffrey Dean, and coauthors, documented this burgeoning research activity performed primarily within the astrological community.[54]
[edit] Research
The Mars effect: relative frequency of the diurnal position of Mars in the birth chart of eminent athletes.
Studies have repeatedly failed to demonstrate statistically significant relationships between astrological predictions and operationally-defined outcomes.[8][55] Effect size tests of astrology-based hypotheses conclude that the mean accuracy of astrological predictions is no greater than what is expected by chance. For example, when testing for cognitive, behavioral, physical and other variables, one study of 2000 astrological "time twins" born within minutes of each other did not show a celestial influence on human characteristics.[56] It has been suggested that other statistical research is often wrongly seen as evidence for astrology due to uncontrolled artifacts.[57]
Experimental psychologists have suggested that several different effects can contribute to perception of astrological accuracy. One observed tendency is known as the confirmation bias, whereby people who are given a set of multiple predictions tend to remember more of the accurate predictions ("hits") than the inaccurate ones ("misses"). Consequently, people tend to recall the set of predictions as being more accurate than it actually was. A second psychological phenomenon is known as the Forer effect, which refers to a tendency for individuals to give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that are presented to them as tailored specifically for them, but are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. When astrological predictions turn out to correspond with some phenomena but not with others, the recollected integrity of these predictions may stem in part from confirmation bias. When predictions use vague language, their individualized appearance may be partially attributable to the Forer effect.
The French psychologist and statistician who devoted his life to the attempt to demonstrate the validity of certain fundamentals of astrology, Michel Gauquelin, wrote that he had found correlations between some planetary positions and certain human traits such as vocations.[58] Gauquelin's most widely known concept is the Mars effect, which denotes a correlation between the planet Mars occupying certain positions in the sky more often at the birth of eminent sports champions than at the birth of ordinary people. A similar idea is explored by Richard Tarnas in his work Cosmos and Psyche, in which he examines correspondences between planetary alignments and historically significant events and individuals. Since its original publication in 1955, the Mars effect has been the subject of critical studies and skeptical publications which aim to refute it,[59][60][61] and of studies in fringe journals used to support or expand the original ideas.[62][63] Gauquelin's research has not received mainstream scientific notice.
[edit] Obstacles to research
The Ptolemaic system depicted by Andreas Cellarius, 1660/61
Astrologers have argued that there are significant obstacles in carrying out scientific research into astrology today, including lack of funding,[64][65] lack of background in science and statistics by astrologers,[66] and insufficient expertise in astrology by research scientists and skeptics.[64][65][67] Some astrologers have argued that few practitioners today pursue scientific testing of astrology because they feel that working with clients on a daily basis provides personal validation for their clients.[65][68]
Another argument made by astrologers is that most studies of astrology do not reflect the nature of astrological practice and that the scientific method does not apply to astrology.[69][70] Some astrology proponents argue that the prevailing attitudes and motives of many opponents of astrology introduce conscious or unconscious bias in the formulation of hypotheses to be tested, the conduct of the tests, and the reporting of results.[8][26][50][67][71]
[edit] Mechanism
Early geometry was connected to the divine for most medieval scholars. The compass in this 13th century manuscript is a symbol of God's act of creation via the divine or perfect circle.
Astrologers have not presented consistent explanations of physical mechanisms underlying astrological beliefs,[72][73] and few modern astrologers believe in a direct causal relationship between heavenly bodies and earthly events.[65] An editorial published by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific reports no evidence for a scientifically defined mechanism by which celestial objects can influence terrestrial affairs.[8] Researchers have posited acausal, purely correlative, relationships between astrological observations and events, such as the theory of synchronicity proposed by Carl Jung.[74] Others have posited a basis in divination.[75] Others have argued that empirical correlations stand on their own epistemologically, and do not need the support of any theory or mechanism.[67] To some observers, these non-mechanistic concepts raise serious questions about the feasibility of validating astrology through scientific testing, and some have gone so far as to reject the applicability of the scientific method to astrology entirely.[67] Some astrologers, on the other hand, believe that astrology is amenable to the scientific method, given sufficiently sophisticated analytical methods, and they cite pilot studies to support this view.[76] Consequently, several astrologers have called for or advocated continuing studies of astrology based on statistical validation.[77]
[edit] See also
Astrology portal
* Astrological organizations
* Astrological symbols
* Astrology and astronomy
* Astrology and computers
* Credulity
* Da Liu Ren
* List of astrologers
* List of astrological traditions, types, and systems
* Planets in astrology
* Pseudoscience
* Qi Men Dun Jia
* Season of birth
* Superstition
[edit] References
Background
History of astrology
History of astronomy
Astrology and astronomy
Traditions
Babylonian astrology
Arab & Persian astrology
Chinese astrology
Egyptian astrology
Hellenistic astrology
Hindu astrology
Muslim astrology
Western astrology
Sidereal astrology
Tropical astrology
Astrology is generally considered a pseudoscience or superstition by the scientific community, which cites a lack of statistically significant astrological predictions, while psychology explains much of the continued faith in astrology as a matter of cognitive biases.[8][9][10][11] In 2006 the U.S. National Science Board published a statement which said it considers belief in ten survey items, astrology among them, to be "pseudoscientific".[12]
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