Astrology - true/false/what?

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I thought it would be interesting to see how seriously we take astrology.

I have recently tried to join "Friends Reunited" and have got involved in a strange exchange with their customer services.

I found that it is currently impossible to register with them unless you give your zodiac sign.

Personally, I suddenly realised that I no longer find this acceptable. It's probably just me being odd, but I actively do not want to publicise my star sign, as I am utterly uninterested in anyone who would consider my star sign as significant of anything.

Oddly, the "Friends Reunited" agent does not seem to understand my question. They tell me "your zodiac sign is a mandatory field", which I can see. They don't seem to understand that I am asking WHY it is a mandatory field.

Anyway, I thought I'd gather some ammunition, to tell them just what percentage of people they are excluding by their arbitrary policy.

Whilst I'm not sure of anything; I'm sure that astrology is as real as the coins the astrologers collect, predict and flip.

i went to a site that was one of those 'quiz' type links people post here, and they wanted to know a hell of a lot, but I was sort of interested in the quiz, so I just lied. I think it was at 'cupid.com' or some dating site so when they wanted to know my age I said 98, username: ugly old hag.

just make it up if you're that interested in looking up old school buddies.

no need to astrology bash. it can be quite enlightening, the natal and compatability charts are useful. it will only tell you what you already feel instinctively about people, so if you have good instincts you don't need it.

www.astrodienst.com is the best 'free' website

Astrologers claim that everyone is predictably and characteristically unique because of the time (usually to within 1 minute) and place (usually to within a mile) of his birth. If astrology were a real science and/or valid, this would be a reversible process. So if you gave an astrologer your biography and agreed to answer any questions he may have (not indicating place or time of birth) they should be able to tell you when and where you were born. They can’t do this. Even if you only require them to know the time within a month or the location within say 500 miles. They can’t do it. Even thought they claim a much higher necessary accuracy when they “cast a chart.” They can’t do it even if you supply them objective analysis from an psychologist…including a 20 year continuum of MMPI tests.
Why can’t they do it? Because it’s all Bunko. And the vilest feature of astrology is when people believe this rubbish and pre-judge others (and themselves) by what these bunko artists write.
Think about it: Bunko Boy writes a bunch of generalized clap trap about a category of people (a category he’s created) that he doesn’t know and never will know. One of his cult followers internalizes this swill and then sets out to judge everyone he meets by these criteria. This is prejudice by proxy. This is prejudice by hearsay. When they use it they are abusing and prejudging every person they meet.
Finally think about this: HFAs have a hard enough time being understood, they sure don’t need another layer of presupposition to complicate how others perceive them.
That’s my rant and I’m sticking to it!!

I will give astrology this: Some events and trends are roughly cyclic, and therefore you will be right more than half the time for more than half the population if you can produce a set of tables which map the cycles to observable, measurable cycles - such as stars and planets. Indeed, all evidence suggests that many ancient cultures associated planetary cycles with when to plant crops, predict tides and other such very simple, cyclic stuff.

Can the planets predict human fate? Well, let's forget the planets for a moment. They're just acting as a gigantic, multiply-divided clock. That is all they act as. At some given instant in time, the planets are in the same position for everyone. If we are to believe that something is actually being predicted, then a wall clock should be just as good.

But here is where it gets interesting. The clock does eventually reset. The progressions of both planets and stars eventually return to their original position. This means that someone born in the same place, at the same point in the overarching progression, should have an identical birthchart (no matter how precise you insist on place and time to be) and therefore an identical forecast throughout their life - if that's all you're using.

Now, not all astrologers use the same methodologies or indeed on the same premise of what it is they are doing. Some factor in the birthcharts of the person's parents. Others look for harmonics of various orders - some to the third degree, others to the thirtieth, all with different opinions on what is indicated by each.

Nonetheless, the basic premise does not make sense to me. The basic premise of the original concept (cyclic events can be predicted from other similar-length cycles) does make sense, and I believe that many who appear to be highly "intuitive" or have amazingly accurate "gut feelings" about such cyclic events may well be tuned into other cycles that can be used to intuit when things will happen.

good for a laugh

There is no such evidence. At least, none to show any successful prediction, other than the expected coincidental cases - if I predict rain for tommorrow, I'll eventually be right, unless I live in the "Dry Valleys" (Antartica).

Actually, the wall clock is not quite as good. Its battery will run down. On the other hand, the amazingly "accurate" planetary clock is subject to perturbation by comets, and so on. Visits by planetary sized objects from the Oort belt will occur, from time to time, which will mess up the whole business quite a lot.

See above. The planets and stars NEVER return to their original position. Not in 10^9999999 years. Not once. Not even remotely. Not even the sun/moon/earth triplet.

Good point. Essentially, they make it up as they go along.

Fallacies. 1) That there are any cyclic events. 2) That two decoupled, approximately cyclic events should have identical "periods". 3) That intuition will "predict the future", in the sense you are implying. Certainly, if I step off a cliff, my intuition that it will soon hurt is an accurate prediction of the future (unless Superman happens by).

I would agree with Jimi on this one.

Mr. Logic tells me that 'tis hooey.

But, there are some interesting
factors which seem to be predictable,
through a good reading. Ah, not the
day to day crap, but general issues
of personality.

Then again, they MIGHT be worded
in such a way that they are very likely
to have enough 'hits' to work, no matter
who the reading was done for.

i.e. anyone picking a random reading
would get enough out of it, to be satisfied,
and forget the negatives. Doesn't seem that
way, from my subjective standpoint though.
But, I've only seen a couple dozen full readings
done on people that I know.

I once read that about 20% of world leaders are scorpios, and almost 40% of those are married to a pisces.
Also, the majority of couples I know are with signs that are considered 'compatible'; ie. earth & water vs. fire & air.

Don't ask me how it works, but there is something in it.

Just for fun, not to be taken seriously.

According to the charts, my wife and I should be fighting all the time.

Another couple of my acquaintance should not, according to the charts, be permitted in the same room, much less the same marriage - they're both Aries. They're also hopelessly devoted to each other.

Usually, when I'm asked my sign, I reply, "No Parking This Side 6-10 AM 2nd & 4th Wednesdays (City Ord. 45258-67542c)". Then they ask what sign I was born under, and I reply, "L&R #2".

Only once did the questioner actually persist to the point that she asked my birthday...

Good for a laugh. I don't believe in that kind of things.

I think it might be accurate, but i'm not sure.
[GVideo]http://video.google.nl/videoplay?docid=-7052621823482024113&q=astrology+duration%3Along&total=153&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=1[/GVideo]

There is no cause and effect relationship between the constellation Scorpio and my personal life.
Astrology is a vain attempt to place man at the center of a physically center-less universe and
at the same time absolve its believers from responsibility for their choices.

Every once in a while I check out my horoscope just to see what it says. Most of the time it doesn't fit. Especially when they start talking about marriage or jobs, which I don't have. The description of my zodiac sign fits well though.