(Claim)
Allegation no. 1: Horoscope columns are nonsense!
Allegation no. 2: Astrology is tramology.
Allegation no. 3: Astrologers categorize people into only 12 types.
Allegation no. 4: The reason for astrological effects is unknown. Therefore they cannot be possible.
Allegation no. 5: Dont astrologers take into account that when the sun is in Aries, it isnt actually there?
Allegation no. 6: For instance, the sceptic Randi has made the following test. He gave an astrological interpretation to students which he claimed to be personal to each one. When the students had read it he asked them whether it was accurate. Most said that it certainly was. Then Randi asked them to read each others texts. The surprise was great: all the texts were the same!
Allegation no. 7: What is the relationship of astrology to the Christian Faith?
Allegation no. 8: There is no scientific evidence on astrology.
Allegation no. 9: Why is astrology being criticized?Send your own questions or opinions by e-mail!
No. 1: Horoscope columns are nonsense.
ScepSister: To many astrology is familiar from newspaper horoscope-sections. Almost every paper has some kind of horoscope; weekly, monthly or even covering the whole year. This phenomenon is nevertheless fairly recent, a product of the 20th century. In August 1930 The London Daily Express hired an astrologer to do an astrological profile of the newborn Princess Margaret which surprisingly boosted the sales of the newspaper considerably. Before long other magazines caught on to the commercial possibilities: ASTROLOGY SELLS! From then on - and mostly in the hopes of bigger sales - magazines have favoured different kinds of astrological columns ! And in a general way the horoscope is personal - it says something about >me- and is almost compulsory in many magazines, even if they otherwise mainly deal with world events or the lives of the rich and famous. So horoscope-columns are entertainment more than anything else. Simply Sun-sign astrology (horoscope signs) is so general that it really isnt serious astrology (see no. 3).No. 2: Astrology is tramology.
Scepsister: Tramology is a name coined by the Finnish sceptic Nils Mustelin to (ironically) illustrate astrology and its non-functionality. Tramology postulates that trams and their routes - especially Finnish tram no.3 which travels a round like planets travel across zodiac - have as much effect on peoples personalities as astrologers think the sun, moon and the planets do. ScepSister thinks that the concept of tramology is a clever invention but agrees with astrologer Markku Manninen that in the event that these trams were to run along the same routes for the next few thousand years, a correlation might indeed be established in case we take physical correlation valid in astrology (there are other views, too!). But since tram nr 3 has been circulating the streets of Helsinki for only fifty years ( horse-drawn trams started in Helsinki in 1890, electrical trams in 1900 and tram no. 3 in 1950!!!), there cuold hardly be any correlation between the two! So a new tramological assessment could be made for instance in the year 4998!
However, Scepsister suggests that tramology be substituted with METROLOGY, because then both latitudes and declinations (depending on the reference system) will have been taken into account!No. 3: Astrologers categorize people into only 12 types.
ScepSister: The allegation concerns the so-called Sunsign-astrology i.e. the twelve horoscope-signs. It is thought that for instance all people born between 22.7 - 23.8 are Leos and therefore similar. The allegation is false because astrologers do not think that at all. Every day a million babies are born! The analysis and interpretation is based on the whole chart in which the most important elements besides the Sun are the position of the Moon and the Ascendant. In addition to these a synthesis is made of all the other factors as well.In that way the astrological conceptual system offers a dynamic and heterogenous view of the personality.No. 4: The reason for astrological effects is unknown. Therefore they cannot be possible.
ScepSister: This allegation concerns the the concept of cause and effect. It is thought that since there is no scientific evidence for astrological effects, these effects therefore cannot be studied or examined. In this connection the birth of a child is often mentioned: when a child is born the influence of the midwife etc. has a greater effect than some planet.Still for instance genetics was studied before the discovery of DNA. Or the effects of the force of gravity could be studied even if its secrets were not known. Perhaps one could talk of an analogical causality in connection with for instance the astrological chain of significance: Mars - activity - red, in the concepts of which immediate causality cannot be seen but which could be studied semiotically.No. 5: Dont astrologers take into account that when the sun is in Aries, it isnt actually there?
ScepSister: This is one of the favourite topics of sceptics! This allegation has to do with the so-called precession of the equinoxes. This is a phenomenon caused by the (rotation of the) earths axis resulting in the equinoxes moving about 50" a year. The equinoxes have moved backwards in relation to the zodiac almost a whole sign. If, using this sidereal zodiac (as in Indian astrology), you asked what your (sun)sign is, it would be the one previous to the sign you are used to! However, in modern western astrology another system is used, the so-called tropical zodiac, according to which the beginning of the zodiac is determined by the vernal equinox, which occurs every year around the 21st of March. Aries is considered to start here. This idea was presented as early as 432 BC! In the tropical zodiac the signs are not unequal in length - they are all 30 degrees. In astronomy there are 13 constellations (12 + the Serpentarius/Serpent-holder) And they are all of different sizes. The confusion stems from the fact that there are two different systems. One relates to astronomy and the other to astrology. Astronomy talks about the so-called sidereal zodiac (based on the constellations) and astrology about the tropical zodiac (based on the equinoxes).No. 6: For instance, the sceptic Randi made the following test. He gave an astrological interpretation to students which he claimed to be personal to each one. When the students had read it he asked them whether it was accurate. Most said that it certainly was. Then Randi asked them to read each others texts. The surprise was great: all the texts were the same!
ScepSister: This is an interesting test, but one thing was overlooked. Randi wanted to prove the astrological interpretation to be overly general, he pointed to paragraphs where it was stated for instance: AYou have occasionally encountered difficulties in your life@ and other equally general statements. Of course, there may exist interpretations like that (for instance computer-analyses are often on a very general level), but in the test the analysis itself was NOT questioned, i.e. how it had been structured. In other words Randi assumed that an astrological interpretation is usually like that. ScepSister feels that the fact that the students all agreed simply shows that it really had been made to fit everybody, had been generalised. In addition it was only one page long. ScepSister feels that this test did not measure the validity of astrology although it did test other interesting things.No. 7: What is the relationship of astrology to Christianity?
ScepSister: The question is extremely interesting. The Star of Bethlehem is known to most people, and the fact that it was found by wise men from the east who were held to be astrologers. So what happened to astrology after the beginnings of Christianity? Tamsyn Barton (1994: Ancient Astrology, Routledge) claims that astrology was trampled underfoot by the politics connected with Christianity. As the christian faith became more general around 300 AD the rulers forbade other prophecies except those of the christian god. In other words one could no longer study the future of the ruler by means of astrology because this was a threat to the ones in power. Some time later astrology became punishable by law. Constantine decreed a law in 357 AD in which astrology was to be abolished for ever. This law however, was not followed to the letter, and the practice of astrology continued even within the Church.For instance, even many of the Popes in the 15th and 16th centuries took a positive view of astrology and some even practiced it themselves. To find a propitious day for erecting the cornerstones of churches, the position of the planets were taken into account and some Men of the Church had astrological advisors. In 1997 Terhi Pursiainen who did her Doctoral Thesis on Sigfrid Forsius, a priest from Helsinki (at the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries) also points to his interest in astrology. According to Forsius, fortune-telling and other misuses of astrology did not invalidate its proper use, it could also be understood as a kind of divine hint to man, how one could best use ones own resources - and the stars did not compel, man always had free will.ScepSister feels that the subject is very important and she also continues her own research.
No. 8: There is no scientific evidence on astrology.
ScepSister: The research on astrology is reviewed in these books and magazines among others:
Elwell,D. 1999: Cosmic Loom. Urania
Cornelius, G. 1994: The Moment of Astrology. Origins in Divination. Arkana Contemporary Astrology
Dean, G. 1997: Recent Advances in Natal Astrology - A Critical Review 1900- 1976.
Correlation - Journal of Research into Astrology
Gauquelin, M. : Cosmic Influences on Human behaviour.
Gauquelin, M. : Written in the Stars.
Seymour, P. 1988: Astrology. The Evidence of Science.
Ertel S. &. Irving K.:The Tenacious Mars Effect. 1996The conceptual system of astrology is dynamic and complex which makes it very demanding to devise research criteria. For instance it is very difficult to carry out statistical research criteria since one factor in the chart can appear in many forms. A qualitative research could bring additional clarity into the analysis of this problem. When so-called sceptics often point to the deficiency or inconsistency in the tests its usually a question of quantitative tests. However ScepSister is in favour of qualitative research as well, where for instance biographical research could be used in, say, analysing transits.
Doing research is also very expensive and to carry out large projects without sponsoring is often impossible and so it is done more amateurishly. Where astrology is concerned there also seems to be a kind of vicious circle - research is demanded but no-one wants to fund it! As an example, ScepSister applied for funds from Suomen Kulttuurirahasto (The Finnish Cultural Fund?) to carry out her research on astrology as among other things an expression of cultural codes but did not - as expected - receive it. ScepSister has also heard of similar experiences among her colleagues. The University does not in general encourage this kind of research which became apparent also in connection with the Masters thesis done by Outi Lillqvist at the Faculty of Psychology. But given the great interest in astrology, ScepSister thinks its important that research is done - and from different points of departure.
Of the statistical studies made, usually the one concerning the so-called Mars-effect is mentioned. This was perceived by Michel Gauquelin using tens of thousands of charts as a basis for his research.The basic idea of the Mars-effect is that Gauquelin noticed that in the charts of top-notch sportsmen the position of Mars very often occurred in certain positions (on the so-called angles) a statistically significant number of times.This phenomenon is not as prominent in the charts of us ordinary people.
This test has been repeated several times, but it has also been somewhat sabotaged! Three american sceptics wanted to prove the test to be false. Initially they did get a result that totally differed from Gauquelins and already proclaimed astrology to be humbug, when it was discovered that one of them, Paul Kurtz - who by the way is the founder and chairman of the American sceptics association CSICOP - had tampered with the results! When this came out it caused indignation among the so-called real sceptics, and some of them resigned from the organization in protest. In the Finnish scepticist-discussions this episode has not been acknowledged at all (by Nils Mustelin in his >The Return of the Devils Advocate 1997 for instance) and this worries ScepSister...
No. 9: Why is astrology being criticized?
ScepSister: It surprises ScepSister that the sceptics knowledge of astrology has proved to be so slight. The same sceptical beliefs are reiterated time and again as if they were new. ScepSister has come to the conclusion that these sceptical beliefs have some other function than the argumentation of astrology. Perhaps its a case of maintaining the coherence of their inner world view. Of course it is true that in order to participate in the discussion the sceptics have to have something concrete to add to the discourse. The Precession, The Serpent and the Barnum-effect are just such things.These beliefs however do not have much to do with astrology, so their argumentation-value is thus somewhere else. ScepSister thinks it is just this - the maintaining of coherence.Copyright Ottimista Oy 2000