the science of astrology.

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i know this will be received with a groan from a lot of you but please try to have an open mind! astrology is one of the oldest "sciences" in the world and it deserves respect! i am sceptical about the subject myself as i have come across evidence that seems to discredit it, as well as evidence that supports it.

one of the most popular misconceptions about astrology is that it claims to be able to predict a person's future based solely on their sun sign- this obviously isn't true as there are more than twelve outcomes to peoples' lives. real astrology is far more complex than that, it is believed that a person's future is determined by the exact position of all the planets in the solar system (not including earth- although this effects which sign the sun appears to occupy), the moon and other factors.

when i was growing up (before i knew about AS) i wondered if astrology held the secret to my difficulties:

my sun sign is aries- aries people are thought to be impulsive and honest.
my moon sign is taurus- taurus people are thought to be self-centered and resistant to change.
my rising sign is scorpio- scorpio people are thought to be emotionally distant and obsessive.

from this brief description of my birthchart it is easy to see why i considered astrology as an possible explanation for my behavioural problems. another feature of my birthchart is that it is deficient in "air" signs (each sign is ruled by one of the four elements. air is the element of communication and spontaneity).

recently, i read a book called rising signs by sasha fenton. one part, that i found particularly interesting, was her observation of people with scorpio in their birthchart. she claims that this sign is "frequently involved with handicaps of one kind or another" (this includes parents and siblings born with scorpio in their charts). in my experience (regarding AS), this seems to be true. as i said previously, my rising sign is scorpio, my father (who also has AS) is a scorpio, one other aspie i know is a scorpio, another aspie i know has a parent who is a scorpio and another aspie i know has a brother who is a scorpio. infact, this covers ALL the aspies i've ever known. so, the point of this thread is to find out if any wp members have similar circumstances.

there is also a book that examines the birthcharts of people with mental / behavioural disorders in depth that is called signs of mental illness by mitchell e. gibson which covers conditions such as major depression, schizophrenia and ADHD.

Sorry to be such a kill-joy about "science," but...it is my understanding that since the astrological chart and its implications were developed in the middle ages (when what we call astronomy and astrology were one field of study), due to the shifting of the universe and the imprecise measurements and projections of the original astrologers, the "houses" have actually shifted over one. Thus, based on the original charting and personality descriptions, people born today misidentify the house they are born in.

On the other hand, my mother (and if either of my parents had an aspie like qualities, it was her) was a Scorpio. I am a Cancerian and used to wonder if my "moodiness" (meltdowns) and need for precision in some matters wasn't related to that sign.

Erm... I saw an episode of the Guiness book of World Records on TV once where they had a man put 20 live scorpians in his mouth at one time... does that count?

Honestly, I wanna know where the "WTF" option is on the poll...

Oh yeah, and someone who can do maths should go and work out the probability of someone with two parents and an average of one and a half siblings having themselves or at least one relative a Scorpio... I mean really... that's pretty high probability, no?

Oh yeah, and a question: what month are Scorpios born in? *mysterious look on face*

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astrology has been studied for millenia, not just since the middle ages.

i know an astrologer with AS, who says that there's an aspect of mercury (can i remember which one? can i buffalo ) which is common to everyone with AS he's asked. i'll have to ask him which one...

i have neptune in scorpio, but then everyone around my age does.

astrology works for me - i use it as part of the jigsaw which makes up a person, when i'm trying to work people out.

This is what I had discovered for my self about astrology,
for one, there are over 10 planets in our solar system that we now know of, instead of the 9 we use to know of,
this would have changes to the old charts and new ones.
secondly, it seems that if you was to change the label on most modern charts to any other sign then read outcome, hey! it sounds like it could fit you too!
people want to see and find things that add reason and order to their lives, that everything is not just random, so when they look back in history and say hey look this happened when this happened in my life, and this happened in history at this time with this given star/planet in this sign, it must be a sign! lets make a book of signs!
people look for things and make them fit, so I would not put much stalk in what the stars have to say.

I do believe the planets add some stress's to our body's and planet that we live on, we may not be able to feel it but its there, its a gravitational thing.

but as to weather it affects our daily lives?, I doubt it.

but it is a fun thing to do with friends and family, its can be a good social thing with imaginative explorations of random thoughts and topics.

By the way, I am a cancer with my moon in cancer and my rising sign in Leo.

one of the best books i've ever read on astrology is mythastrology by r. kaldera. the author goes through the meaning of every planet in every zodiac sign and relates it to a god/dess myth from various cultures. this really helps you to understand the meaning of each planet combined with each sign.

but the best part is the section on uranus. uranus is the planet of ideas, inventions, discoveries, reform and change (and the element of air) and the author provides lots of examples of scientific developments that were made during the time that uranus was occupying each sign. for example:

uranus in scorpio* - the x-ray, the steam engine (water and air), the first american book on psychiatry, the fall of napoleon, goethe's faust, the first writings of freud, spiritualism and the discovery of radioactivity.

*scorpio represents the psyche, destruction, the after-life, secrets and the element of water.

Im a Leo. Im nothing like a Leo.

I was born in November 1964, which would make me a Scorpio. Also, my Mother was a Scorpio, again born in November (different year though). However, I am somewhat sceptical about the efficacy of Astrology to predict anything much, or to say anything beyond the most trite of generalities about any given person, but then I know very little about it.

One thing I would pick up on though, is that given a choice of just 12 signs, it is reasonable to estimate that there is actually quite a high chance of a parent or a sibling, or even oneself, being of a given star sign. This would account even for the fact that it is unlikely that population births are evenly distributed across the 12 alotted 'houses'.

I do remember reading a book about a supposed '13th Sign', that of Ariadne, the sign of the Spider. I didn't really understand it and I am not even sure how it could be 'worked into' the framework, but it too, was supposed to be a 'special' sign for some reason or other.

/me shrugs

the misconception about astrology is that everyone fits into 12 categories. not so. there are squizillions of permutations. 12 sun signs, ditto moon signs, ditto all the planets, making 12 pemutations for 11 in total (i imagine either 12! or 11!, would be in there somewhere, for the mathematicians). added to that, there are the twelve houses, and then all the possible combinations of possible aspects between planets.

so, if your sun is is capricorn, you have 12 choices for where your moon is, for each of those choices, 12 for your mercury, etc., etc. for each of those choices, there are 12 houses to consider. the aspects vary, and that's where a lot of the individuality comes in. i can't be arsed doing the maths, but that's a big number.

as to why it happens (if it does), i have no idea. all i know is that i have successfully worked with people, found out about them, and even found out things they never told me, because i did a birthchart for them (each one takes me a full day, by the way).

if it doesn't suit you, fine. works for me. oh, and i never read horoscopes.

/me does a handsignal.

Yes i know that is isnt just horoscopes and there is lots of factors, the sun, moon venus etc but as i say i think it is a waste of time and still a generalisation. I dont believe it works for you either, just that you see what you want to see.

LOL

tell you what, eamonn - next time you're reading my mind, let me know what you've found out, will you? - i'd pay to find out what on earth's going on in there, sometimes.