“So, what’s your sign?” More than just a corny pickup line,

astrology in various forms, has been with mankind for a very

long time. People from various countries and cultures, have

often looked up to the stars for guidance. Million of people

read their daily horoscopes, though most look at it as a mere

form of entertainment. Other people genuinely take the art of

astrology very seriously and think it is a valid medium with

which to predict a person’s personality, as well as their

immediate future (though most serious astrologers view magazine

horoscopes as just being entertainment).

So where did it all get started? Around 3,500 years ago, the

ancient Babylonians were attempting to correlate events that

happened on earth (e.g. good crop yields, bad diseases) with

things they noticed in the night sky. This was not the first

time that this happened, either. Other ancient cultures, such

as the Mayans and Aztecs, developed their own form of astrology

too. Most of the astrology we see today, though, comes from

India, Europe and China. All of it, though, is either deeply

routed, or deeply influenced by Babylonian astrology.

Early astrologers simply correlated earthly events with

celestial ones. It wasn’t until mathematical astronomy

developed (which allows us to predict the movement of stars and

planets), around 612-539 BC, that astrologers started to

“predict” the future. It was also around this time that the

“twelve” signs of the zodiac, were created. The oldest recorded

horoscope dates back to April 29th 410 B.C. It comes from an old

clay plate that was made for the birth of a Grecian man. The

tablet is very similar to the natal horoscopes given out today.

Even more similar, though, is the vague prediction given about

the person. The parts of the tablet that have still survive,

state:

“…things will be good for you.”

Early Babylonian astrologers were called: Chaldeans. They would

set up shops in cities, and offer their services to passersby.

Interestingly, it wasn’t until they did this in Greece, that

the concept of free will was entered into the equation. Ancient

Greeks viewed these chaldeans as jokes, and their predictions to

be patently false. They refused to believe that the stars

themselves dictated their actions, and that they had no free

will. Because of this, astrologers adopted the belief that the

stars can only show “possible pathways” through life. This

turned out to be a greater boon for the chaldeans and future

astrologers, than it did for the Greeks. Now astrologers had a

viable excuse for why their predictions did not always come

true.

Finally, we come to the most influential man in astrology:

Claudius Ptolemeaus. Also known as Ptolemy, he wrote the book:

Tetrabiblos. In it, Ptolemeaus attempted to consolidate all the

various aspects of astrology at the time, into some sort of

viable standard. Tetrabiblos is generally regarded as the

modern astrological “bible,” from which all western astrology

derives.

Okay, so now we see where it all got started, but what’s with

the surge in popularity? Astrology was on the downturn back in

the 1600’s, as astronomy really took off. It wasn’t until the

relatively recent events of World War I, that astrology really

started to pick up again. So, why is it that in this day and

age, with the knowledge available to most industrial and

post-industrial nations, that astrology is so popular? Could it

actually be a viable means of telling the future, or a person’s

psychology?

So far, that answer is an emphatic NO, from the scientific

community. Despite the fact that one Gallup poll found that an

estimated 50% of Americans believe in astrology, there has been

no scientifically valid evidence to back up this belief. On the

contrary, there are quite a lot of counterexamples for it. In

fact, there are so many counter-examples to the validity of

astrology, that most scientists just dismiss it as a fun

diversion. Still, for the sake of closure, a few such examples

are given below.

For starters, we have the arbitrary nature of astronomical

symbols themselves. All the traditional planets of our solar

system (i.e. none of the recently discovered planetary

candidates), were named after Roman gods. This assignment was

completely arbitrary. There might have been some logic behind

it (Mars is red, war has blood, etc.), but overall there is no

real reason to think that just because Venus was named after

the goddess of love, that it should hold any sway over one’s

relationships. If the “effects” of the planets on people, had

any real relationship to the planets themselves, then Venus

should be the ruler of bad gas, not love.

Other things to consider are the fact that many astrological

terms, are holdovers from a time when the Earth was believed to

be the center of the universe (geocentric). As such, astrologers

still talk about cycles and epicycles. How many times has one

heard an astrologer (or astrology minded individual) say that

“Mars is in retrograde.”

Then there is the fact that Uranus, Neptune and Pluto have only

been discovered within the past 250 years. Many astrologers

assert that astrological techniques have been accurate for

numerous centuries. If planets affect people, then one cannot

discount these three; which is to say nothing of the recently

discovered “10th planet.”

Another nail in the proverbial coffin is the mysterious

omission of the 13th sign of the zodiac: Ophiuchus. This

constellation falls along the ecliptic, and houses the sun

during one month of the year (December). Yet modern astrologers

choose to ignore the “serpent bearer,” in favour of the 12

zodiac symbols. The reason, they cite, is the turbid history of

the constellation. Ophiuchus lies in a spot in the sky, which

once housed multiple constellations. This argument tends to

fall apart, though, when one considers that the ancient Greeks,

as well as “father of modern astrology,” Claudius Ptolemeaus,

both considered Ophiuchus to be a valid constellation. The more

likely scenario seems to be that 12 zodiac symbols fit rather

well with the 12 months in the Gregorian calendar. As such, the

reason for the omission seems to be convenience and aesthetics,

rather than any real problem with the constellation itself.

Two more examples of where astrology fails the test of validity

include twin studies and the affect of precession. With twin

studies, one sees how two people born at the same time and same

place are able to lead lives completely different from each

other, even though their astrological horoscope should work for

both of them. The affect of precession is even more interesting.

As Earth spins through the universe, it “wobbles” along its

axis due to the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun.

This wobble can be compared to the wobble that we see when we

spin a top. Even when the top spins very fast, one can still

see it make a small circle on the area it is spinning. The

Earth does something very similar to this. The geographic North

Pole makes a 23.5◦ arc around, what’s known as, the

ecliptic pole. This precession proceeds at a rate of 1◦

for every 180 years.

Because of this, the placement of the constellations in the

night sky, no longer conforms to their position in the original

tropical zodiac. Every zodiac symbol is now off by 1 month. So

if one is born in the constellation Virgo, they are actually in

the constellation Libra, and so on. There is a separate type of

astrology called: Sidereal Astrology. It does take into

account, the precession of the planet. It does this by

deducting ~24◦ from the constellations. Both versions

still suffer from the fact that the constellations themselves,

are not of equal size, and thus, do not fit neatly into the 12,

30◦ “slices” of the sky, that astrologers have assigned

them to. As such, constellation overlap still occurs.

More examples include the affect of gravity (why worry about

Saturn’s pull, when the moon’s pull is so much stronger!), to

magnetic field affects (modern electronics produce magnetic

fields much more powerful than Earth’s).

Astrology can be a fun and entertaining diversion for many, but

one should always keep in mind that it is for entertainment

purposes only.

"There is hardly an absurdity of the past that cannot be found

flourishing somewhere in the present." - Will Durant