Can astrology predict times of depression?

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EXACTLY!

Consider the following story (based on several real-life events)

...

I work in a storefront that features "Psychic Counselling". Sally wants to sell her house. She is offering a thousand-dollar commission to anyone who can provide a buyer for her house. Sam is a potential buyer.

Sam comes in to my store. He asks for a Tarot reading. I use my "special" (marked) deck. The first card is the Hanged Man (inverted) represent a life in suspension. The second card is the Two of Pentacles, representing change. The third card is Temperance, representing reformation and renewal.

I tell Sam that the cards say he is being indecisive about an important life-changing decision that will greatly benefit him if he goes through with it.

(Do you see where this is going? )

Sam tells me that he is dithering over whether or not to buy a house. He asks what might happen if he gives up and stays where he is (a two-bedroom apartment in a nice part of town).

The next card is Death (inverted), representing stagnation. I tell him that if he does nothing, his life will likely remain the same until he dies. Sam then asks what happens if he buys the house.

The next card is the Ace of Cups, representing the power of love. I tell Sam that home ownership implies responsibility, commitment, and the willingness to settle down; and that such a person will likely attract the attention of someone who is looking for those exact qualities ... perhaps a "special" someone ...

Sam ponders this for a moment. Then he smiles and thanks me. After he leaves, I call Sally and tell her that I had just finished talking to Sam. As we're talking, Sam walks into her office and announces that he will buy the house.

Sally sells her house to Sam, and I get my commission. A year later, Sam marries his girlfriend. A year after that, they have their first of three children.

...

This story is typical of what goes on behind the scenes of "Psychic Counselling" - the client is nudged toward a certain course of action, and the "psychic" benefits from it, either by repeated counseling sessions with the same person or a one-time lump-sum payoff. Note that at no time did the psychic actually tell Sam what to do; but only guided him toward a decision that was mutually beneficial.

Just replace the Tarot reading with an astrology reading, and it's easy to see why people in Big Finance may give due consideration to the most popular media-based horoscopes ... or how one person in Big Finance may partner with a local astrologer to nudge customers her way ... and it's all legal!

Last edited by Fnord on 08 Jan 2016, 7:56 pm, edited 3 times in total.

^^^ you seem to know your tarot deck well enough, maybe you could make a good parlor game out of it?

I've given up on "psychic" tomfoolery. The temptation to control others is too great, and it is too easy for the "psychic" to begin to believe that he or she really is a "psychic" - eventually, if you stay in the game long enough, you do something really stupid that lands you in trouble with the law.

Even as a parlor game, someone always ends up believing that you are the real deal, and the more you deny it, the stronger their belief grows.

I'd rather DM an AD&D game; it's less of a power trip.

It seems beliefs are only bad for the one who has them.

Yet another true fact!

Now, expand my little story further, and replace the "psychic" with a priest, rabbi, imam, or other religious leader, and replace the Tarot reading with a religious ceremony and voilà! You've just described how Big Religion controls the masses for its own gain.

"Zeus spoke to me and said that your virgin daughter is destined to be my wife. He could be persuaded to change his mind if you donate a golden calf to his temple ..."

It's fun every now and again to read my horoscope out of the local newspaper, but it's just that: for fun - nothing to take seriously.

Astrology can't predict anything with absolute certainty, and anything it does predict is entirely coincidental.

it did somehow manage to predict that I'd be:
*single life-long-
*tall and slender/frail-
*accident-prone/flighty
*pale-skinned and "horsey-faced"-
*that I would have worked in a hospital-
*that I would have social difficulties.

That's impressive ,did you go to a western astrologer or eastern ?

^Confirmation bias, in action.

it was a 1990 "by the numbers" job by me casting my chart using a table of houses and midnight ephemeris, then charting the planetary aspects by location and looking up the definitions and how they colored the personality expression of the sign-in-house/s covered by the aspect. could not afford a professional astrologer.

Thanks for answering,
thats interesting

prego