My research paper on Astrology.

[mychellv]

I am writing a research paper in my english class on Astrology. I need 3 first hand sources to interview i.e. internet, email, face to face, snail mail, etc. I thought this site was pretty cool and was wondering if there was anyone such as an author, teacher, or astrologist who would be willing to give me some greatly needed info. Also anyone else who would like to add their opinions in regards to Astrology and the myths about it would be appreciated. Any experiences, stories, beliefs would be nice. The more the better. Also if you all could add how many believe and do not believe. Thank you.

[clop]

This should be funny.

clop

PS You might like to read this recent thread on this topic.

[Tog]

I think you will find that an overwhelming number of people on this bord regard astrology as a practical joke that has gone on way too long. I think I'm probably a lot more open to the idea or the paranormal than the majority of the people on here. Even then, asgtrology is pretty much a farce. Do a search for James Randi and read up on his challenge. 1 million dolars to anyone that can prove the existence of anything paranormal. The specific rules are set and agreed to by both parties before the tests are done. He has yet to have anyone succeed.

It may be helpful if you state flat out whether your paper will be in support of, or against astrology. If it's against it, you will find a lot of good information here. If it's in favor of it, well... yeah. I'm with Clop on that one.

[gyan prakash singh]

what is astrology?

[TriangleMan]

what is astrology?

The belief that the position of stars and planets can be used to determine the future. It is common for astrologers to look at the position of astronomical objects at the time you were born to make predictions.

I believe astrology is common in India but it is not a science as none of its predictive claims have withstood controlled testing.

[parallaxicality]

Here's my position on astrology:

astrology is not science. It is not pseudoscience. It is a folk religion. Going to see an astrologer is no different from going to a witch doctor or a reader of the book of changes. For thousands of years, people have always gone to the local diviner to get some meaning from their lives, whatever the current authority, religious or secular, may say about it.

[Casus_belli]

This is an Astronomy (please note the spelling) notice board. I suspect a wind up but in answer to your question, No I dont believe in astrology. But Im a Taurus and we're naturally sceptical.

[Mike Holland]

And here I thought it was us Virgos who were sceptical!

But you might read up on the research of Frenchman Michael Gauquelin. He did a massive study of thousands of individuals, and found there was absolutely no evidence for sun-sign astrology or any other sort. But he did find an inexplicable correlation (very weak) between the position of Mars at birth, and success in sport, business, etc. While no fault can be found with his research, no-one has been able to duplicate his results. Many idiots take this correlation as a proof of astrology!

A British astronomer, Percy Seymour, was my best friend at university. He supports Astrology, and has proposed some theories about how it could work, but I think his theories are rubbish. I reviewed one of his books at his request, but have not had any response to my review. I wonder why?

His books are "Astrology. The Evidence of Science", "The Third Level of Reality" and "The Birth of Christ" - nonsense about the star of Bethlehem.

Percy is co-author of "The Nuts and Bolts of Space-Time", all about orreries and other attempts to model the workings of the heavens. He promised to send me a copy, but the book is still with the publishers.

[Unregistered]

Like stereotypes, folk beliefs display a glimmer of truth. In this case, personality types MAY be varigated by birth season, simply because development in pregnancy and infancy may be influenced by diurnal rhythms (day/night ratio.) I believe this is an original thesis, please cite it as Littell's Theory of Astrology in your paper! Chas at littell dot org.

[chrix]

Astrology is a believe based on signature from heaven. I'm an indian Catholic. Religion and astrology plays a vital role.

Astrology could be true but as indian, believe in astrology sometimes decides our life. In indian marriage, the couple will undergo astrology test before they decide whether they are suitable to get married...yes it sounds weird, but trust me, most couples are happily married. Love is one thing but astrology is just for the satisfaction of ones believe. In case they love each other but astrologically they don't fit, then it depends on the couple if they want to go on.

In christian marriage I've never encountered it. I don't know about other religion.

Astrology is written once the person is in the womb of the mother. Believe it or not, many cases found in Asia, astrology determines fate of many lifes and even economy.

Chinease astrology is also very strong. They have a different set of requirement to follow on the movement of celetial objects. Chinease astrology more on animals. They call they year of animal, example person who is born in they year of Dog, Pig, Dragon and stuffs like that. These infirmation can be found anywhere in the internet. as for me I was born in the year of Dog, and trust me most of my yearly astrology prediction almost 60% correct. This does not mean that the person must fully believe in it. We just take astrology as a reference only. Our life is in our hand , the way we make it.

There are also numerical astrology (numerology), this one is very interesting. they tell about yourself by your date of birth. very interesting and mostly is true. The science of astrology can't be understood. believe or not, I just like reading about it.

[JasonM]

Astrology = bad astronomy ;-)

[mtm105]

I believe there are some similarities between people that are born at certain times of the year. Certain attributes, possible. And it could be divided up into segments, Pisces/Aries, True Aries, Aries/Tarus. But that is a stretch. Not saying it has to do with any powers desedended from the planets. Just an Earth thing. Virgos may be who they are due to the fact that they were born prior to Autumn. But then when you get into the tropics, it moots my point.

[Elenwen]

There was a professor who handed out horoscopes based on people's zodiacs. He then asked his class if everyone agreed with their horoscope. Most of the people in the class did. The teacher then had each student switch horoscopes with someone else of a different zodiac sign. The horoscopes were the same.

So much for astrology.

[parallaxicality]

Bertram R. Forer. It was a "personality test" that he had assembled from horoscopes.

This is what the personality test said:

"You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic."

[Neverfly]

Bertram R. Forer. It was a "personality test" that he had assembled from horoscopes.

This is what the personality test said:

"You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be critical of yourself. While you have some personality weaknesses you are generally able to compensate for them. You have considerable unused capacity that you have not turned to your advantage. Disciplined and self-controlled on the outside, you tend to be worrisome and insecure on the inside. At times you have serious doubts as to whether you have made the right decision or done the right thing. You prefer a certain amount of change and variety and become dissatisfied when hemmed in by restrictions and limitations. You also pride yourself as an independent thinker; and do not accept others' statements without satisfactory proof. But you have found it unwise to be too frank in revealing yourself to others. At times you are extroverted, affable, and sociable, while at other times you are introverted, wary, and reserved. Some of your aspirations tend to be rather unrealistic."

Huh weird.

My class did the same thing. We all emphatically agreed to what the descriptive said (or horrorscope) but were amazed to learn that all the papers said the same thing after exchanging papers with each other.

But it didn't say all this stuff...
It only said, "You suck! But your darned Good Lookin'!"

[larsonreever]

astrology is common in India and in usa also. i myself a vedic astrologer although here i have used my pen name, but my name is master deepak ji I think I'm probably a lot more open to the idea or the paranormal than the majority of the people on here.It is common for astrologers to look at the position of astronomical objects at the time you were born to make predictions.

[larsonreever]

Do a search for James Randi and read up on his challenge. 1 million dolars to anyone that can prove the existence of anything paranormal.

[swampyankee]

Astrology can be "predictive," but only in that it may change the behavior of the surrounding people: if a horoscope is cast for the second son of a noble family that says he'll be a great soldier, they'll have him read books about strategy and tactics, while if the horoscope says he's destined for the priesthood and a red hat, he'll get books by Origen and St. Augustine.

[Strange]

Do a search for James Randi and read up on his challenge. 1 million dolars to anyone that can prove the existence of anything paranormal.

Based on your previous post, why aren't you a millionaire? Presumably because astrology is nonsense and you are wasting your time playing at being an astrologer.

[01101001]

Do a search for James Randi and read up on his challenge. 1 million dolars to anyone that can prove the existence of anything paranormal.

Know:

JREF: The James Randi Educational Foundation's Million Dollar Challenge

The James Randi Educational Foundation's Million Dollar Challenge has been terminated.

JREF Status (2015 September 1)

Effective immediately, JREF will no longer accept applications directly from people claiming to have a paranormal power. Previously available Application Forms shall not be used and will be rejected without any review of the contents. We anticipate providing minimum required protocols for the preliminary test early next year. No one should make any effort to pursue the Challenge until those minimum required protocols are issued. The only exception is that any established psychic may contact JREF via email to be tested directly (preferably with an independent, third party TV crew.)

[WaxRubiks]

Larsonreever's post are copies of earlier posts. Probably a spambot.

[WaxRubiks]

I think you will find that an overwhelming number of people on this bord regard astrology as a practical joke that has gone on way too long. I think I'm probably a lot more open to the idea or the paranormal than the majority of the people on here. Even then, asgtrology is pretty much a farce. Do a search for James Randi and read up on his challenge. 1 million dolars to anyone that can prove the existence of anything paranormal. The specific rules are set and agreed to by both parties before the tests are done. He has yet to have anyone succeed.

It may be helpful if you state flat out whether your paper will be in support of, or against astrology. If it's against it, you will find a lo3t of good information here. If it's in favor of it, well... yeah. I'm with Clop on that one.

........

[PetersCreek]

Larsonreever's post are copies of earlier posts. Probably a spambot.

Yet there is no report of this in the mod zone, which is the appropriate way to point such things out. In-thread comments are not.

[DaveC426913]

Astrology can be "predictive," but only in that it may change the behavior of the surrounding people: if a horoscope is cast for the second son of a noble family that says he'll be a great soldier, they'll have him read books about strategy and tactics, while if the horoscope says he's destined for the priesthood and a red hat, he'll get books by Origen and St. Augustine.

That is not 'predictive'; that is 'manipulative'.

"I predict that, sometime during his wake, poor Uncle Bob's picture will fall off the wall."
:goes over and knocks picture off wall:
"I am a seer."

I think predictive must have some implicit proviso that it doesn't interfere to bring the results about.

[DaveC426913]

As to the OP:

Sorry. Firmly in the 'Astrology is woo' camp.

[BigDon]

Hang on people.

This person is asking for help on a paper for an English class. It's on Astrology. You can't know Astrology without Astronomy. As a matter of fact, Astronomy is the child of Astrology as much as Chemistry is the child of Alchemy and physics is the child of philosophy.

All the negative comments are for crap! Everybody putting a little negativity is individually innocent but collectively messed up! For all you know this is a junior high schooler and is just looking for help. This is not how a newbie should be treated on a science forum!

[LookingSkyward]

note - the OP was from 2006, by a member who hasn't been around since 2006...

[Swift]

OK, we're done.

larsonreever, if you are not a spammer, and wish to present a serious argument in support of astrology, please start your own thread in the Against The Mainstream sub-forum.