Astrology

How would you define astrology? According to Thorwald Dethlefsen, “Astrology is not a belief in the influence of the heavenly bodies, but rather a system of illustrating reality.”

Astrology in reality means many things to many people from different walks of life. A scientist or the so called modernist would consider astrology to be just another complicated branch of science.  For some it is an art, a skill or even a religion; a psychological or spiritual practice. In fact, it is said that astrology can be applied to anything with a definite birth time and place.  Yes even your pet cat can have its future predicted; as long as you know the time and place it was born.  Kind of overwhelming isn’t it??

That’s exactly why astrology is looked upon with a mixed bag of emotions. People don’t know what to believe.  Then again it’s the human nature. Man has always questioned things that don’t have a definite explanation.  If someone were to tell you the exact date and time that you were going to die, by not knowing anything about you or your lifestyle, using just your time and place of birth wouldn’t that scare you out of your wits?? Although you might think that the guy is out of his mind to tell you that you are going to die, somewhere deep down you always wonder is he right?? Then your mind tells you that all that the man was doing was getting his money’s worth.  Typical homo sapient attitude.  Don’t believe something that you don’t know is true. 

So what really is astrology?

Ask most people this question and you are most likely to come up with the answer “something to do with the stars, planets and the way they are positioned”.  Is that all what astrology is about?

Astrology is not only the influence of heavenly bodies, be it stars, planets or the sun. It is a symbolic system for illustrating and describing reality.  It tells us how we experience ourselves and the world, and not how the planets influence us.  Planets and stars, astrologists claim are used to symbolize certain characteristics or things.