Astrology

the Zodiac, Horoscopes and Planetary Alignment

Starry Starry Night

The paranormal belief that's been the most common over the millenia has been that of astrology. All parts of the world have had their own form of astrology. China developed its own astrology and constellations, as did the Egyptian and Aztec empires and the ancient Hindus. Astrology's heyday was in ancient Mesopotamia. No matter which of their many gods they believed in, the people of ancient Babylon believed in the power of star and planetary alignments, the zodiac and phases, to dictate what was to be. Of course, they knew next to nothing about the stars themselves or the outer space the stars were in. They had no idea how much energy came out of a star, nor the huge amounts of hydrogen and helium inside, nor about collapsed stars. They had no idea that stars they saw as being in a constellation were sometimes further from each other than they were from us. They knew that there were more stars than they could count, but they had no concept of how many stars there were and how vast outer space really was. (Even in the computer age, we still can't grasp it all.) And they had only a few hints that the supposed star movements they saw were really due to the spinning of the earth from which they watched. Not even in their dreams did they envision how incredibly fast the stars were really moving.

Not In the Stars

But astrology is not really about the stars; it is about us here on earth. The ancients created it, using their feeble knowledge, because they hoped to explain and predict human behavior and the course of human events through something they knew was bigger than themselves. The ancient astrologers knew some of the big truths about our inner selves and about things spiritual. Many of them had at least heard of the idea of a single god who was vaster than all the stars put together, and a few even thought such a god existed. Astrologers were among the most intelligent people of their time. The trouble is, these astrologers looked to the wrong source. They looked to those little points of light in the night darkness, devised zodiac patterns to 'read' the lights, in order to see some sort of fate in the stars, which could then get the blame for the lack of light in their darkened earthly lives or their lack of real power over their way of living. Through astrology, they could look to something other than God, something that could help them keep up a false front so they wouldn't have to do anything real about their situation. That's why the Prophets spoke as they did about it. God would sometimes use peoples' beliefs to drag them in the right direction -- think here of the magi following a star and seeking the Christ child. But even that was done to lead people away from trusting stars and toward trusting a child who is God-with-us.

Horoscope? Or Real Hope?

People of today know much more about the stars, but many people still do not understand how little that has to do with the world which we are responsible for. Thus, our daily newspapers rarely cover Christ, but always have the day's horoscopes and astrological signs. It's said to be for a multitude that design their day around horoscope readings, or for Aries women who want to know if a Taurus is romantically compatible for them. The truth is much more mundane. Only about a fifth of those who have some belief in astrology actually act on it, and even most of those only occasionally do. (The modern-day split between belief and action is not at all limited to churches.) For most people, horoscopes are just a way of greasing the conversation, light chatter that they hope will lead them to more meaningful talk.

God calls on us to take responsibility for our lives and not blame a fickle fate hidden among the stars and planets.

Wise Men on Astrology

"This is the excellent foppery of the world : that when we are sick in fortune -- often the surfeits of our own behaviour -- we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars, as if we were villains on necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence."
---- William Shakespeare; spoken by Edmond in *King Lear*, act 1 scene 2.

"To do good or evil is in our power; it is not decided by the stars."
---- Methodius

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