The Science of Astrology
Before the invention of the telescope, people looked at the stars for thousands of years and wondered what they were and what they meant to us. Several cultures developed means for identifying the patterns of the stars as they travelled across the skies at night. Imagine a time before streetlights and buildings were lit at night, you could see a thousand percent more stars anywhere you stood... and the planets would look so close you could touch them. You can still get a sense of this if you travel to the middle of the desert on a clear night.
Ancient civilizations such as the Egyptians, Mayans, Greeks, Norse, etc... all developed means of tracking the stars' positions in the skies over the course of a month, a year, a decade, even for centuries. They realized patterns in the stars and grouped them into clusters and gave the clusters names for easy identification. We commonly refer to most constellations using the Greek names, but remember that the Greeks had spread their civilization across most of their continent and explored as far as Asia and Africa. They incorporated many ideas of different cultures into their own mythologies and ideologies.
All of these cultures also noticed the effects of the stars and planets on their civilizations, the personalities of their peoples and the functioning of their societies. The science of studying the heavens was known as Astrology and was a holistic interpretation of the physical nature of the universe and its effects on our subconscious minds.
With the invention of the telescope came a new science called Astronomy which focuses only on the facts of the locations, orbits, compositions and movements of the stars and planets. Astronomers wanted to be considered only for their findings and the math they could generate regarding their observations and did not want to be associated with the spiritual aspects of Astrology. Also came the theories of Gravity by Newton and later by Einstein which explained the effects of astral objects on each other in terms of orbits and movements.
Many religions allowed Astronomy to be pursued as a science while they began to persecute "Astrologers" and relegate them into the company of heathens, pagans and the occult. It was told that any explanations of why things work the way they do was a form of devil worship, because only "God" was the reason for everything and to question "God" was a sin. This was a massive form of control and the Catholic Church did its worst during the dark and middle ages with the Inquisitions and hangings and burnings of people who wished to pursue knowledge outside of the scripture.
Thankfully, the human race survived such terrible times and has gradually learned not to persecute people who pursue knowledge. It still happens, in some cultures more than others... but much of that is politically inclined and is seen by most of the world as atrocious. As we have grown as a species, we have developed scientifically and also, thanks in large part to the Constitution of the United States, we have developed tolerance for those that believe in ways other than our own and have gone so far as to incorporate new ideas into our own religions and philosophies. Even Pope John Paul went so far as to incorporate Darwin's theories into the Catholic Church and admit that Darwin could be correct about HOW species have evolved... and that the important thing to the Church was that people understand that WHY species evolved and WHY humans emerged as the dominant species is, "because God breathed consciousness and conscience into Adam and Eve." p.s. Millions of Catholic souls were released from Purgatory that day and ascended to Heaven!
In my own studies of religion and science, I came to realize that the more you study science... the more you have to appreciate the Universe, and even worship it. The deeper you dig into science, the more mysteries are revealed. And the more you know about how things work, the more likely you are to adopt a religious view of what it all means... and, the more likely you are to open your mind to other interpretations of the universe.
In my early years, studying astronomy and physics and calculus and eventually entering a program in Aerospace Engineering, I had little time to learn about Astrology... and in many ways had a closed mind to it all the way up to the time I was dissected by an astrologer at a Christmas party. She was so correct about so many aspects of my life, I had to open my mind and wonder how she knew what she knew when we had never met and didn't know any of the same people. I began to research Astrology and learn more about its origins... and began to realize that Astrology is essentially the study of Gravity and how it effects our personalities. A simple example... the Moon and its orbit of our planet, with its gravitations pull, is a direct cause of the tides in our Oceans, lakes and rivers. The Earth is about 70% water, so the Moon has a huge effect on our planet. Humans are also made up of approximately 70% water... so how could the Moon not also have an effect on us as individuals???
Our Moon is relatively close to our planet... but it is also relatively small in size and Mass, compared to our planet. Other planets in our system are also relatively close compared to the stars we see in the sky, and relatively small compared to the size and Mass of those stars. But you can still do the Math to calculate the Gravitational relationships between us, our planet, our Moon, our neighboring planets... and of greatest importance, the relationship to our closest Star in the sky... our Sun!
I'm not going to go into the Math... Wikipedia does a great job of that. But now we can discuss the commonly held theories of how the Math relates to our personalities, our relationships with others, our opinions of ourselves and some of our natural strengths and weaknesses. Let me first say that every person is unique and that Astrology only explains the most fundamental traits of a person, based on Math and Gravity relating to the positions of the Sun, the Moon, the Planets and various Star systems at the time that person is developing in the womb and born. Astrology does not take into account upbringing, environment, other types of learning we receive as a child, and so many other factors that go into making us who we are. Astrology DOES however, give us an understanding of the most fundamental aspects at the root of our personalities and may give us a bit of clarity as to why we make certain choices and/or react to various stimuli.
Your Sun Sign
The most massive object in our Solar System, by far, is our Sun. Our Sun gives us life with its light and its warmth... and its Gravity! Without it, we would be a cold frozen ball of rock and dirt and ice flying through the Universe on an eventual collision course with some other object with the same disposition.
We also have to thank Jupiter for gobbling up most of the asteroids and meteors which could fly into our Solar System and crash into our lovely Earth. But that is another story.
Here is a simple way to appreciate the size of our Sun. If it were a gumball machine and Earth were a gumball... you could fit 1.3 MILLION gumballs into the machine. (That is a lot of gumballs!) Again, no need to go to deep into the math and science of what the Sun is made of and what makes it tick when Wikipedia has all of that. I just wanted to give you an idea of why the Sun is the most prevalent factor in de terming your Astrological makeup. We will also talk about Rising Sign, Moon Sign, etc. on other pages of this Website.
When you see a horoscope in the paper or online, or when someone asks you, "what's your sign?"... they are referring to your Sun Sign. Your Sun Sign relates to the position of the Sun in relationship to various constellations at the time you are born. All of which is simply a manner of referencing the math regarding the Gravitational influences of the Sun and Stars without using a bunch of scientific notation that you'd need three years of calculus classes to even read. It is way easier to say, "If you were born between November 21 and December 20... you are a Sagittarius."
I'm using that example because I am a Sagittarius. God help me.
There are literally thousands of books, magazines and Websites which attempt to explain what the fundamental characteristics of each sign are. I don't want to go into that here... my favorite interpretations are by Susan Miller on AstrologyZone.com.
When we have a consultation, I will ask you several questions about your date of birth, time of birth, where you were born... so I can quickly calculate your Sun Sign, Rising Sign and Moon Sign. I am not the most advanced Astrologer in the world... and I can recommend resources for deeper research on this particular topic. I look at these factors in order to help interpret our Tarot and I Ching readings and also to give you an easy to understand description of your Astrology when we talk. You can then do more research on your own without paying me by the hour to do it for you, unless you want to.
If you have not taken a look at any of this before, here is a list of the signs and their dates, with links on each one to a description on Astrology.com
- Aries (The Ram)
March 21-April 19 - Fire Sign - Taurus (The Bull)
April 20-May 20 - Earth Sign - Gemini (The Twins)
May 21-June 20 - Air Sign - Cancer (The Crab)
June 21-July 22 - Water Sign - Leo (The Lion)
July 23-August 22 - Fire Sign - Virgo (The Virgin)
August 23-September 22 - Earth Sign - Libra (The Lady of Justice)
September 23-October 22 - Air Sign - Scorpio (The Scorpion)
October 23-November 21 - Water Sign - Sagittarius (The Centaur)
November 22-December 21 - Fire Sign - Capricorn (The Goat)
December 22-January 19 - Earth Sign - Aquarius (The Water Bearer)
January 20-February 18 - Air Sign - Pisces (The Fish)
February 19-March 20 - Water Sign
Born on the Cusp?
If you were born within a few days of the Start/End of your sign, you are considered to be "on the cusp" of both signs. This means your predominant traits are those of your Sun Sign, but that you will also likely have various characteristics and/or influences of the other sign closest to yours.
