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Zarathustra's Astrology Thread, or, Where An INTJ (Foolishly) Defends Astrology

chickpea

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I posted my birth chart to some astrology livejournal community in 2006 and saved it in my email. Somebody said this:

You have 3 planets exactly on angles.Shows very intense experience and
activity in life.Specially jupiter conjunct MC and Moon in sagittarius
extremely lucky and brings strong faith and optimism.Uranus-Neptune
square sun shows restlessness and depth.Mercury on desendant shows
mercurial physique and skill.Shallow breathing? asthma?smoker?Saturn
oppose Jupiter shows strong sense of right and wrong,bit judgemental but
larger view of life.Any political ambition?PLuto opposition venus shows
extremity in romance and relationship. Try not to waste excess emotions
in relationships. Performing arts,teaching and entertainment prominent in
chart.Check your mars declination.Mars at 1 degree cancer is very active
or very inactive.Totally wild. Very intense and interesting chart.

Totally wild :smoke:
 
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011235813

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What about people that don't match very well with their sign? I have a temper that can be sparked in the right circumstances (or in times of intense stress) but I don't find much of the Aries that fits very well for me. Adventurous, yes. Impulsive at times but this was more of a problem when I was young. Not ambitious, can lead but really dislike it and drop it at the first opportunity.

What do you think about ill-fitting signs?

People will probably tell you that this can be explained by other aspects of your birth chart. Like Zarathustra said, the sun sign is the canvas the rest of the stuff is painted on, so it's an essential part of the picture but by no means the picture itself.

I feel the same way as you do about my sun sign (Sagittarius) but other people tell me that it actually fits me very well; much better than I seem to grasp. I also have a hard time identifying with my moon sign (Gemini) ... it's actually quite strange to me that I have my sun, moon and rising all in mutable signs. I feel like I should be some sort of extreme P with that combination.
 

Mole

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Defending astrology is not foolish. In fact it is vital we understand astrology, for astrology is our ur-religion, that is, the religion that forms the basis of all other religions.

So to understand the history of religion, we first need to understand astrology, just click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IadXi-_rcEg
 

krypton1te

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I don't believe in horoscopes, but I do believe that there is some kind of truth hidden in astrology. I recognize a lot of consistent patterns in it. To make it fun, I play games when I first meet people. I guess their astrology sign based on the evidence so: hypothesis > data > hypothesis > verification from the other. I've been right 95% of the time.

I usually sneak in ways to find out their birthday and any other useful information. It helps me see their motives/intentions... putting me at advantage to act according to how they moderately function.
 

Zarathustra

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I have been looking for a better version of this talk for some years -- finally found it! (and only 13 views on youtube)

Absolutely recommend watching -- this interview is amazing.

 

Tellenbach

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Once, I read descriptions of every sign and then picked out the ones that were most accurate or fit my personality (I covered up the signs so I didn't know which description went with which sign). There were several that fit me, but the one which was the most accurate was my sign. Could be just a coincidence though. I'm sure someone's done such a similar experiment before, but I'm too lazy to look it up.
 

á´…eparted

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This is a particularly interesting topic to me considering my history with astrology, and subsequent leaving of it behind. In a lot of ways, I am not entirely sure what to make of it, but it's something I'd like to eventually figure out. Though at the moment it is not high on my priority list.

I was raised around astrology. My mother (being very New Age) got into it when I was just a toddler, and actually had my natal chart done when I was just 8 years old. She explained it to me, and I was instantly interested. I was very interested in space as a child, so combined with the mystique of it all it pulled me right in. It wasn't until I was around 14 or so that I began to look into it on my own accord. Not entirely seriously at first but I still found it interesting. Being the nosy person that I am, I started collecting natal charts of my friends and eventually emmassed quite the library of it. When I was around 18 is when I started to look into it more seriously. Always having an interest, and finding the abstract symbolism of it so detailed and labeled it fit my thinking style, that I wanted to really understand it. I found great use of it for a long time, and in some ways obsessed over it.

I know astrology like the back of my hand, and I know it at a very very deep level. Having so much experience with it and exposure I picked it up well. For years I would interpret friends natal charts and solar returns just for fun. Part of me was also trying to convince/justify it to myself and others. It felt like it worked. I mean, my natal chart fits me like a freaking glove. So much so that when I looked into the details (and truly understood it) a few years ago I found it to be mildly alarming. To this day the accuracy of it beats all personality tests I have ever taking for the all encomposing nature of it.

Then something happened. A little over a year ago I began the process of becoming atheist. With it, all of my spiritual beliefs began to evaporate. Yet, I still held onto astrology. While the idea and principal of what governs it; that planets, planetoids, asteroids, etc. position in the sky relative to the earth somehow dictates and tells what our personality and life circumstances will be is complete hogwash in every way. I even felt that long long before I became atheist. That said... I could not deny that it worked. Or, at least seemed to. I considered if this was nothing more than a gigantic example of the forer effect. One that's so nuanced that it's near impossible to notice. In reality, I just didn't want to let astrology go. I felt this kinship with the symbolism. For years (and honestly I still do) I had wanted to get a tattoo of the symbol for pluto on my left sholder because of what it means to me. What I ended up doing, was ordering an astrological report.

It was 50$ after a discount, so rather expensive. Nevertheless, what it was was important; it's computer generated. An 18 page report too. I wanted to see the accuracy of it under this much detail. It eliminated the human element (and source of error that's near impossible to see through) that comes from someone interpreting and listening to feedback. I ordered it and it was emailed to me seconds later. I was astounded. For what it was; nothing more than a computer generated report based off my natal chart, was shockingly accurate. FAR more than one would expect based off satistics. It was not 100% accurate, but the bulk of it was very on point, and some of it was absolutely dead on, to the point where my jaw dropped. There's no way this is the forer effect at work. It's too nuanced. I told my mother about this, and convientely, she got one for herself to, and she sent me a copy. That is her. It fit her just as well as mine fit me. Two for two. Despite the small sample size, it sort of justified astrology for me. I would have loved to get these reports for several dozen people and see what I could gather from it all, but alas that's a lot of money.

Yet, I still let it go. With my new found prospective on atheism (I'm a scientist working on a PhD, this was inevitable), it just didn't seem right to hold onto. The basis of what astrology is, has no ground to stand on. It seems to work very well for me. However, studies find there to be little to no corralation (even though the studies are quite crude from what I have seen and miss the point of it all), and it just doesn't stand to scientific inquiry. It's subjected to the same rigors of logic that religion is, and does not get a special pass. Further, I had to ask myself an important question; is it worth believing in? After a lot of reflection, I came to the conclusion: no.

For all of the wonder and splendor that astrology gave me. For how justifying it felt. It gave me very little (if any) benefit beyond that. The biggest thing it gave me was a nifty label I could wear (cause I love labels a lot). Outside of that, it caused me stress. "Oh shit mercury in retrograde is coming up... oh shit jupiter is about to cross my yod...". I worried about all kinds of things that I had no control over. The amount of anxiety it managed to produce was rather high in hindsight. Further, in some cases it gave me the illusion of control over things I have no control over, which I see as borderline dangerous. Ultimately, its utility as something of help was found to be rather low, and if anything making things worse. So, despite the fact that there does indeed seem to be something to this. There really does. It's something best left alone for me. I don't gain anything from it that's truly beneficial to me that would offset the negatives. I have serious doubts science will ever be able to back up or support this, and until that day comes I will leave it be. It's nice to come back to for sentimental purposes (such as now), and I still enjoy talking about my natal chart to those who are interested since it defines me so well, but that's it.

So ultimately, there seems to be something to astrology. It can't be explained, but I can not deny I have had a number of things in my life show that it holds weight in some areas. However, it can't be proven in science, and the basis of it is hogwash. As a scientist, I can't in good conscious put stock into it, other than a curious novelty (much like I view MBTI). It also ultimately brought me more stress than anything. So, I have left it behind, and only come back to it now and again for a few brief moments of fun.
 

Kierva

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my mom told me i was conceived on her birthday.

i have no particular fondness for march though. i like my own birth month better (december).

My mother also had a little fun time when she got me. /cringe/
 
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011235813

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My mother also had a little fun time when she got me. /cringe/

lol i don't think any woman giving birth would object to some of that, but yeah, it's better not to have to hear about it from your parents, maybe. :laugh:
 

Evo

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I have been looking for a better version of this talk for some years -- finally found it! (and only 13 views on youtube)

Absolutely recommend watching -- this interview is amazing.


Interesting.

I think about 40 minutes in he had expressed a more concrete way of looking at it.

I think it's more believable when he uses words like "archetype" and "tendency." I like that.


Anyways I think it's pretty undeniable that the cosmos has some type of influence over us. Not to say that I'm sold on the complete accuracy of astrology and all its specifics. But I find the denial of the possibility of some kind of correspondence, to be absurd.
 

Zarathustra

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Anyways I think it's pretty undeniable that the cosmos has some type of influence over us. Not to say that I'm sold on the complete accuracy of astrology and all its specifics. But I find the denial of the possibility of some kind of correspondence, to be absurd.

Have you ever studied your own natal chart?

That, imo, if you are genuinely open to it, is where the rubber really hits the road.
 

Evo

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Have you ever studied your own natal chart?

That, imo, if you are genuinely open to it, is where the rubber really hits the road.

I have. It fits, for me.

The only thing is, it started to get complicated when I was trying to understand the big picture. I needed more context on things like houses and all the vocabulary, so i had to put the books down until I can get a little more energy invested in learning it.

What I was referring to, was more along the lines of how the "daily horoscopes" can be primitive, so to speak. That's why I like that word "tendency." And unfortunately these are one of the things about astrology that the general public is exposed to. So I can see why others can be skeptical.
 

Kierva

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lol i don't think any woman giving birth would object to some of that, but yeah, it's better not to have to hear about it from your parents, maybe. :laugh:

Like you, I was born in December.

I didn't think to join the two until someone else mentioned it.

I couldn't sleep for days after that.
 
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011235813

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Like you, I was born in December.

I didn't think to join the two until someone else mentioned it.

I couldn't sleep for days after that.

Hey, at least we have the best sign in the whole motherfucking zodiac. :happy2:
 
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