# Astrology: Fact or Fiction?



## ParetoCaretheStare (Jan 18, 2012)

*SO, we all know our sun signs; at least most of us do. Do you know your moon sign as well? How deeply do you believe in Astrology and zodiac sign symbolism and why? *
_
Many of the descriptions for Astrology are seemingly accurate, in my opinion. _
_
Any skeptics? _
_
Is there a reason Astrology is such a historical part of human society/where did it originate? I know it had something to do with the alignment of the stars in position to one's birthday/location/for all compatibilities to occur and integration of the human race, if you think deeply into it. _
_*
So whatta y'all think?*_:dry:


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## sprinkles (Feb 7, 2010)

I don't think it can make very accurate predictions.

I also think that to really determine if a sign shapes a person, rather than the person shaping their self to the sign, we'd have to find somebody who has NEVER heard of astrology and see if they still match.


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## kagemitsu (May 15, 2011)

> Confirmation bias – the tendency to search for or interpret information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions.


I believe this is what astrology is all about.  Try reading the horoscope of another sign and pretend for a moment it was yours. You'll probably see that the predictions for that sign are so generic that they could very well adapt to your sign as well.

It's true that some sign descriptions sound very accurate, like I fit very well in the Aquarius description. I also fit in the Pisces description too, and sometimes Gemini. <_< 

I personally believe it's just one big hoax.


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## MetaData (Jan 22, 2012)

I seriously doubt vague symbols created by drawing lines in between stars that are several hundred light years away from each other have any correlation to a personality of a person born while our planet faces in the general direction of that symbol. If anything, I would think the symbol visible during conception would determine the personality, before the frontal lobe of the child's brain is even formed. But I suppose the brain could always match whatever sign is over head (, assuming the child could see/recognize it.)
Perhaps there's some sort of energy emitted from the star symbols? But then it would take a long time for it to get here, eliminating the relevance of the star symbol shown at birth. Since the Earth orbits the sun, it would take longer for a certain symbol's energy to reach Earth at certain times of the year. This would cause certain symbols to have far less people born under the shower of its energy.
But if that was possible, why wouldn't the other symbols have any affect on the child's developing brain? The child would spend more time under all of the other symbols than just the one he or she is supposed to have a personality modeled after.


But as far as why it's rooted so deeply in our societies... People want to know why they're here, what they're supposed to do, things like that. Religion (the zodiac signs originate from Greek myths which was the Greek's religion [I think...]) provides a deeper understanding of the universe and helps people find unity and a sense of purpose. Horoscopes help provide people with a sense of structure and uniformity in life where there previously wasn't. They want help knowing what to do, and understanding why they might act the way they do. Astrology provides that, to an extent, to the people who believe in it. Which is great, I love the idea of religion and such things if it helps people feel like they're a part of a big family, even if it's a bunch of hogwash. We don't know what we're doing. lol

But that's just my opinion.


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## DeductiveReasoner (Feb 25, 2011)

I was looking for some sort of evidence, like maybe the "gravity of outer planets influences brain waves at birth, thus personality" but that wasn't what I found. Disappoint.


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## 22575 (May 23, 2011)

Your zodiac sign is supposed to be whatever constellation the sun is in front of on the day you are born. This has been changing due to the precession (wobble) of the earth, so the zodiac dates of ancient times do not correspond to the sun's position. Hence it's a load of crock.


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## ParetoCaretheStare (Jan 18, 2012)

unsung truth said:


> Your zodiac sign is supposed to be whatever constellation the sun is in front of on the day you are born. This has been changing due to the precession (wobble) of the earth, so the zodiac dates of ancient times do not correspond to the sun's position. Hence it's a load of crock.



Didn't they add an extra zodiac sign due to the Earth-sun shift last year? I believe it's called Ophiuchus. November 29th to December 17th birthdays. Everyone's sun signs have switched, therefore there is always a possibility to have some kind of correlation there. Here's the personality profile for our newest members: 

VERY INTERESTING article. Ophiuchus: Personality Traits of the 13th Zodiac Sign | NowPublic News Coverage

Perhaps it Astrology itself was an invented moneymaking business for manipulative gypsies.


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## ParetoCaretheStare (Jan 18, 2012)

Ophiuchus - 13th Astrological sign by Betmatrho


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## Thalassa (Jun 10, 2010)

I've always found full natal charts fascinating - I'm talking about knowing at least your sun, moon, and rising signs...but those little things in the paper? No.

I think the exact placement of the planets at your birth can paint a strangely more accurate picture than just knowing your sun sign. Like I'm a Gemini, but I have this intensity to me...and my rising sign is Scorpio, and by Victorian astrology, I would actually *be* a Scorpio because they went by rising sign.

Also, my moon (emotional house) makes sense: Capricorn. I'm not going to go into detail why, but Capricorn specifically as my emotional house makes tons of sense for multiple reasons, and it has throughout my life. 

I also have my Venus and Mars (love/relationships and sex/power/will) in Aries, another very intense sign. 

I know someone else who is a triple Capricorn and it makes tons of sense for this person. 

My friends used to pay me five bucks to write out their full natal chart. 

I think Chinese astrology is too sketchy, because it goes by entire birth year. However, I don't know as much about it.


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## ParetoCaretheStare (Jan 18, 2012)

Chinese astrology, as I understand it, is based on a yearly description in the same way communism, China's form of government, likes to group its people: mass quantities who mass produce. But that's an entirely different story. 

Astrology is based on Indian beliefs, and note that your individual personality is distinguished through it by your RISING, SUN, and MOON signs. Just as psychology's DSM categorizes SUPEREGOS, EGOS, and IDs in personalities. How your three signs either combine or conflict with one another spiritually determine who you are as a starchild. 

Indeed, even five years ago my physics professor explained that we all really are MADE OF STARS. And if that can be scientifically proven, and the alignment of the sun in reference to the earth is hypothetically supposed to change in 2012, causing global revolutions in climate change, then there definitely is a way to prove that Astrology must have some kind of correlation with facts. 

To ease away from the analogies can't we also presume that the four elements: earth, air, fire, water, are all natural byproducts of earth's fertilization? Then how do these correlate with Astrological signs and alignment of the stars?

I guess it all depends on what one believes in.


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## DarkWarrior (Sep 21, 2011)

Why is this even in the science board.


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## Belrose (Dec 23, 2011)

How in the world could giant hunks of gas/rock in the solar system effect us in a way astrology says? Simply put, they cannot. Besides, many people share the same sign and what the horoscope says on that day would have those people under ___ sign have similar outcomes in that day.

Those who made astrology believed in Gods who controlled specific elements and whatnot because they had no way to explain the actual reasons behind those forces of nature. How reasonable does it seem to go and put any worth in the creation of something like this? Mind you, yes there were innovations in that time but Astrology is far from anything useful or practical.


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## ParetoCaretheStare (Jan 18, 2012)

_I never said anything about daily horoscopes being factual. I' merely stating that there must be a way to prove that Vedic Astrology has a possibility of being a theory. Why not combine science and spirituality? Science can be considered to be a spiritual awareness, as well, but for the benefits of increasing a society's functionality. 

Let's be simple. If we can conclude that the theory of the Big Bang was a possibility, how can we accept the traditional Mayan calendar as something to consider in terms of energy shifts? Indeed, another sign was reinforced into the Astrological calendar last year. 
_


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## Belrose (Dec 23, 2011)

ParetoCaretheStare said:


> _I never said anything about daily horoscopes being factual. I' merely stating that *there must be a way to prove that Vedic Astrology has a possibility of being a theory.Why not combine science and spirituality? Science can be considered to be a spiritual awareness, as well, but for the benefits of increasing a society's functionality.
> 
> Let's be simple. If we can conclude that the theory of the Big Bang was a possibility, how can we accept the traditional Mayan calendar as something to consider in terms of energy shifts? Indeed, another sign was reinforced into the Astrological calendar last year.
> *_


*I was simply disproving how it could effect us, really. There are different areas of Vedic astrology, one which has a more predictive nature.

Siddhanta was primarily for mapping out the stars and whatnot, it is after all Indian Astronomy. Then, Samhita is the application of astrology to important events such as wars, personal issues, ect.; Astrology assisted in the mapping out of the sky, but astronomy is the base of that belief. 

The signs of the zodiac are a twelve-fold division of the ecliptic, so that each sign spans 30° of celestial longitude, approximately the distance the Sun travels in a month, and (in the Western tradition) are aligned with the seasons so that the March equinox falls on the boundary between Aries and Pisces. Constellations, on the other hand, are unequal in size and are based on the positions of the stars. The constellations of the zodiac have only a loose association with the signs of the zodiac, and do not in general coincide with them.

What is this about energy shifts? Elaborate...*


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## jeffbobs (Jan 27, 2012)

It is basically cold reading, I learnt it for when people ask me to read them in a psychology sense, i will just cold read, psychology isn't as instant as people seem to think and has many different possibilities until you can hone them down to 1 or 2. So i would cold read.

All the things i use to say and use are in most astrology readings i have seen or heard. Althou for some people can prove to benefit their lives....but only because they believe it to be true


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## Kaspa (Jul 11, 2011)

Fiction, I say. 

Really, how would the place of stars affect your doings?

Astrology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia



> Contemporary science considers astrology a pseudoscience.[78] Criticisms include that astrology is conjectural and supplies no hypotheses, proves difficult to falsify, and describes natural events in terms of scientifically untestable supernatural causes.[79][_not in citation given_] It has also been suggested that much of the continued faith in astrology could be psychologically explained as a matter of cognitive bias.[80] Skeptics[_who?_] say that the practice of western astrologers allows them to avoid making verifiable predictions, and gives them the ability to attach significance to arbitrary and unrelated events, in a way that suits their purpose,[81] although science also provides methodologies to separate verifiable significance from arbitrary predictions in research experiments, as demonstrated by Gauquelin's research and Carlson's experiment
> 
> Astrology has repeatedly failed to demonstrate its effectiveness in controlled studies, according to the American Humanist Society. The group characterised those who continue to 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."[82] One well-documented and referenced paper, for instance, which conducted a large scale scientific test, involving more than one hundred cognitive, behavioral, physical and other variables, found no support for astrological accuracy.[83]







This Penn & Teller experiment illustrates well how the astrology seems to be only a leap of faith. Though, Penn & Teller have been wrong, for example, about the the issue of passive smoking, and they publicly admitted the fact that they were wrong. And that what the whole fucking scientific method is all about, and that's why *I love it.* You can be wrong and admit it, every theory is just a theory. Nothing has been written into stone.


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## DirtyMink (Oct 28, 2011)

I find it interesting and it never fails to amaze me when someone reads their natal chart and it blows their mind. I know when i was presented with mine....i found answers to questions about myself that no one could ever answer for me before. 
So while I dont follow a daily or monthly horoscope...i do visit my natal chart on occasion cause its fun and its free.

For example I fell in love once and the break-up was very hard on me, so for years I thought there was something wrong with me and my inability to let go......then i found out I have Venus in Scorpio and it made me feel better about why I loved so deeply and why it hurt so much to lose her. Why couldnt I not control my passion??!! Well Venus in Scorpio makes me that way and thankfully i have evolved and I control the V in S now and not the other way around.


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## dagnytaggart (Jun 6, 2010)

You know, I did a mini-experiment recently. I pulled aside several people and asked their dates of birth. I then informed them of "good qualities" their sign had...except those that I fed them were the OPPOSITE of the "real/correct" qualities as prescribed by astrology.

For instance, if I found another Scorpio, I'd "predict" that they were very cheerful, extroverted, chatty and easygoing. 

Nearly ALL of them agreed and said that they thought their sign described them pretty well.

Then, with a different batch of people, I fed them the "correct" qualities...and again, they agreed.

All in all, people don't see themselves as distinctly as astrology tries to prescribe - either that, or they just like being flattered.

I should try the "negative" version sometime...

Anyway, a friend did my chart, and I'm almost entirely Scorpio, according to astrology. Yet I don't relate. It's in my signature as a "what the hell" throw-in of a "stat"...


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## dagnytaggart (Jun 6, 2010)

DirtyMink said:


> I find it interesting and it never fails to amaze me when someone reads their natal chart and it blows their mind. I know when i was presented with mine....i found answers to questions about myself that no one could ever answer for me before.
> So while I dont follow a daily or monthly horoscope...i do visit my natal chart on occasion cause its fun and its free.
> 
> For example I fell in love once and the break-up was very hard on me, so for years I thought there was something wrong with me and my inability to let go......then i found out I have Venus in Scorpio and it made me feel better about why I loved so deeply and why it hurt so much to lose her. Why couldnt I not control my passion??!! Well Venus in Scorpio makes me that way and thankfully i have evolved and I control the V in S now and not the other way around.


I think I had Venus Scorpio as well, but I can't relate.

Literally, I am all Scorpio, my friend was blown away, because she said she had never seen someone with a chart so dominated by a single sign.

I should be a walking posterchild for Scorpio, but I think Capricorn is a far better fit.

So maybe you just got overly attached?


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## DirtyMink (Oct 28, 2011)

dagnytaggart said:


> I think I had Venus Scorpio as well, but I can't relate.
> 
> Literally, I am all Scorpio, my friend was blown away, because she said she had never seen someone with a chart so dominated by a single sign.
> 
> ...


 
Maybe you havent really been in love?


And Venus in Scorpio attachments could be to money as well. Anything one is passionate about really.
Venus is the only thing in Scorpio in my chart.


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## lib (Sep 18, 2010)

Sheldon Cooper says it better than I ever could:


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## Devalight (May 27, 2012)

The only chart I have really studied in depth is my own, although I got some indications from a couple of other people's charts and they said I had some accurate things to say.

The sun sign alone is not going to tell you much. The stuff in the newspaper and most of these crummy books with readings for the year don't get it either. You have to do the entire chart and you have to know what energies the different planets represent, how weak or strong each influence is in the chart, and the angles between them (opposition, conjunction, trine, square, etc.). A lot of study has to go into it or you cannot do a proper interpretation. 

Also, if you look into the transits you can tell when you are in for a rough spot. I prefer not to know, so I stopped checking. I have gotten some insight into my own personality from studying the chart.


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## Diphenhydramine (Apr 9, 2010)

>believing astrology


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## TheProcrastinatingMaster (Jun 4, 2012)

There's no real reason to believe it unless you want too, so I'm pretty inclined to see the whole thing as unprovable nonsense. Also I like Sagan so much that I'll try to introduce him into just about anything.


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## DMack (Aug 16, 2011)

Never read a horiscope that was close to what my day/year/life turned out to be. So to me it's bunk.


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## VioletTru (Jun 24, 2012)

Even though I had fun reading astrology charts when I was younger, I personally think that it's fiction. Different kinds of personalities are born under the same astrological 'sign', so there's no correlation between the two. But it's okay if other people believe in it for a spiritual purpose.


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## DecadentDisCordis (Dec 17, 2012)

So there are people that believe in this? I mean really? Tis basically a con. The descriptions are broad enough that of course people will be like " shit, that's generally me". Now if it where to give me an exact perfect description of me, I would be believing..Maybe. 

....Waiting for argument that says they are more like guidelines. To which I respond. So your following them? Letting them lead your life? You have made them true, not the other way around.


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## slender (Sep 28, 2012)

*Your January Horoscope by Susan Miller*
You are about to enter the most romantic, tender, and bewitching month of 2013. If you are single and hoping to find love or if you are attached and hope to have more time and attention from the person you already love, this is your month. Most people associate December with love and social activity, and that is true for many (this year, especially the Leos), but for you, January will be your golden month for enjoying love.The same house that rules love also rules babies, so if you hope to conceive, this month will offer exceptional opportunity, especially...
vague.... now if it was "you will meet someone and fall in love without fail on january the 13th" and it occurred, then i would do so (believe horoscopes). but, then the other virgo's wouldn't have that happen to them. now if ALL virgo's had that happen on a specific date.... then i would be REALLY impressed.


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## geekofalltrades (Feb 8, 2012)

There are actually are some measurable and predictable tendencies that people born in certain months can be expected to have. For example, if you're born in June or July, you're less likely to be a corporate CEO. How astrologers manage to link up these characteristics with stars, though, is beyond me.


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## Distort (Aug 31, 2012)

I don't any reason why there couldn't be a correlation between some behavioral patterns and the time of yearn they were born. The weather conditions at the time of birth might affect them, and the activities that humans engage in; such as in summer people go on holiday/go out more, and the opposite is true for winter (generally). But as for your personality being decided by the position of celestial bodies in the sky, and those awful horoscopes: Of course not. Shouldn't even need to be discussed.


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## SuburbanLurker (Sep 26, 2010)

from Dimension 5 said:


> I don't any reason why there couldn't be a correlation between some behavioral patterns and the time of yearn they were born. The weather conditions at the time of birth might affect them, and the activities that humans engage in; such as in summer people go on holiday/go out more, and the opposite is true for winter (generally). But as for your personality being decided by the position of celestial bodies in the sky, and those awful horoscopes: Of course not. Shouldn't even need to be discussed.


Except seasons correlate to different months depending on your location.


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## countrygirl90 (Oct 11, 2012)

ParetoCaretheStare said:


> *SO, we all know our sun signs; at least most of us do. Do you know your moon sign as well? How deeply do you believe in Astrology and zodiac sign symbolism and why? *
> 
> _
> Many of the descriptions for Astrology are seemingly accurate, in my opinion. _
> ...


I believe that astrology is related to the deeds we do .Nothing is there we get by luck or without any payment.
I don,t believe in Zodiac signs they are not true most of times ,again because we get what we work .
Astrology was originated in Sumerian culture first I guess though in India astrology science has been researched and used from very ancient times .Its still used in making horoscopes of people at their birth time which predicts the way their coming life would be ,their nature and what kind of life partner would be suitable for them at the time of matrimonial s.issues related to wealth and money etc.
But I believe that astrology is complete bullshit, life changes as you wish and work for.


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## drmiller100 (Dec 3, 2011)

my farts determine the future of children in Australia. 

and the math to prove my farts have more gravitational, magenetic, weak force strong force, etc on them than the zodiac is pretty easy to find.


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## Doom (Oct 25, 2010)

DeductiveReasoner said:


> I was looking for some sort of evidence, like maybe the "gravity of outer planets influences brain waves at birth, thus personality" but that wasn't what I found. Disappoint.


This.

Music is said to effect the brain of a baby so it's possible that waves caused by the planets may have some sort of effect on people but to the level of what Astrology describes? Unlikely, though I do notice I gravitate towards some signs specially Libras.


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