Astrology

Horoscopes, the Zodiac, and Planetary Alignment

Spiritual Resources > the Paranormal > astrology and horoscopes (> translate it into your own language)

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. The Chinese developed their 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 their horoscope system, star and planetary alignments, the Moon, the zodiac and its phases, to dictate what was to be. Those who could read the signs in the stars could make predictions about the course of future events. The Babylonians held astrology in such high esteem that they held their astrologers to be their nation's very wisest people. Of course, the astrologers knew next to nothing about the stars themselves or the 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 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 ancient astrologers created horoscopes, 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. While they knew little about outer space, the ancient astrologers knew some of the big truths about our inner selves and about things spiritual. A few 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 of those may even have 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, and then devised zodiac patterns to 'read' the lights, and created horoscopes based on months or seasons, in order to see some sign of their 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 for their fortunes, 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 about astrology. God sometimes uses peoples' existing beliefs to drag them in the right direction - think here of the magi following a star and seeking the Christ child. But even those moments were done to lead people away from where they were (that is, 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, star charts, or astrological signs. Fortune-tellers add it into their mix of other tricks to ply their craft. 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 sixth 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. That's pretty weak grounds for breeding a hope to live by, or even a hope to build love on.

God calls on us to take responsibility for our lives and not blame a fickle fate drawn from 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; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting upon. An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition on the charge of a star!"
---- 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."
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"Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy: the mad daughter of a wise mother."
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