Hows Astrology work?

skeptiform5 · Jul 25, 2010

Just before I start can I make it clear that i am adressing the beleivers of astrology
My Grandmother is a very strong believer in astrology, so my Mother knows a bit about it and 'semi-believes' ,but hows it supposed to work? Is it implanted in my brain at birth? Is it something to do with religion?
Can someone please give me something at least close to an explanation?

ShadowSot · Jul 25, 2010

Magic and unicorn farts.

In serious? One of the versions I've heard states that the gravity of the planets causes the affect.

jimtron · Jul 25, 2010

skeptiform5 said:
Just before I start can I make it clear that i am adressing the beleivers of astrology
My Grandmother is a very strong believer in astrology, so my Mother knows a bit about it and 'semi-believes' ,but hows it supposed to work? Is it implanted in my brain at birth? Is it something to do with religion?
Can someone please give me something at least close to an explanation?

The Wikipedia article on astrology covers the basics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology

Astrologers believe that the movements and positions of celestial bodies either directly influence life on Earth or correspond to events experienced on a human scale.[1] Modern astrologers define astrology as a symbolic language,[2][3][4] an art form, or a form of divination.[5][6] Despite differences in definitions, a common assumption of astrologers is that celestial placements can aid in the interpretation of past and present events, and in the prediction of the future.

eta: what I want to know, is how do !@#$% magnets work?

Hokulele · Jul 25, 2010

skeptiform5 said:
Just before I start can I make it clear that i am adressing the beleivers of astrology
My Grandmother is a very strong believer in astrology, so my Mother knows a bit about it and 'semi-believes' ,but hows it supposed to work? Is it implanted in my brain at birth? Is it something to do with religion?
Can someone please give me something at least close to an explanation?

It works mainly through confirmation bias.

Gord_in_Toronto · Jul 25, 2010

Not very well.

:th:

Akhenaten · Jul 25, 2010

Who's Hows and why do I care about his/her astrology work?

Olowkow · Jul 25, 2010

People just love to be told something about themselves, particularly when it's flattering. Astrology, tea leaves, palm reading. Being the center of attention is the thing. One of my scams for meeting women in college was that I could analyze handwriting and tell them their personality. Of course, it was really cold reading. It was amazing...like moths to a flame.

'

But the OP wanted to know what the believers say about how astrology works. Well, just from my experience with them here on JREF, they tend to avoid this question, claiming they don't know, it just works. But some have claimed the gravity thing, until it is explained that the guy standing next to the baby when it is born exerts a much greater gravitational field than any planet.

Who's Hows and why do I care about his/her astrology work?

No, How's on first. Who's on second.

Zep · Jul 25, 2010

Third base.

To the OP: The question "How does astrology work" is exactly the same as "How do fairies fly". Both are magical and imaginary, and they have the same answer: Magic and unicorn farts.

dasmiller · Jul 25, 2010

Olowkow said:
Well, just from my experience with them here on JREF, they tend to avoid this question, claiming they don't know, it just works. But some have claimed the gravity thing, until it is explained that the guy standing next to the baby when it is born exerts a much greater gravitational field than any planet.

Your experience is more positive than mine. In my experience, when you point out the obvious issues with the gravity thing, they drop it until you're out of earshot, and then go back to it.

SusanB-M1 · Jul 25, 2010

Astrology was the thing I found hardest to prise myself away from. I'd had my personal horoscope done (by an astrologer in London whose name I'd seen in a Horoscope magazine - in about 1960) and a year or so later, he gave me my sons' characters based on their birth charts. I was a good shorthand writer, so took it down, transcribed it and tucked it away in a file, since I had no intention of allowing these to influence their upbringing. Fortunately, I was always sceptical enough to question everything!! The main points of their lives were corroborated by, apparently, the interpretation of their charts. I'm sure he was convinced of the truth of what he was saying. I also have a friend who studied the way to make a chart, 'read' the various angles, conjunctions etc and she certainly seemed to have a knack of reading fairly well the character of an unknown person's chart.

I am completely cured, I hasten to add! Logic, common sense, learning about confirmation bias, cold reading etc etc and, in fact, always being sceptical meant that I never bought into more than the fringes. In fact, this friend I mention has moved further and further away from her belief in astrology the more I point out the logical flaws!

Still and all, the appeal of the possibility of fore-knowledge of events was persistently attractive....

I tried asking people, 'Well, couldn't there be some sort of waves travelling through space which were stronger or weaker when certain planets were in this or that position? But even as I asked the question, I knew it was illogical and sounded sillier each time I thought it.

Dancing David · Jul 25, 2010

We all have doubts and fears, people seek confirmation in strange places.

Wowbagger · Jul 25, 2010

Astrology works through extrapolation of the holistic connectedness of all things. Since every part of the Universe affects every other part of the Universe, we can assume that celestial objects, far away from our own planet Earth, will affect us, in some way. It is not just gravity, but a whole slew of forces working together, to do this. Most can only be indirectly deduced. Much of it is dependent on the timeline, which is why your own birthday is important to know. The trick is in how to extrapolate the data, and harmonize it with your own body, mind and spirit. One method involves infusing a mixture of lemon zest and tea leaves with the numerological components of your birth name, and conning it in the furnace of disco infernos. This will untwine the yellowgoth snorfgaltchen, from the crux of fluent wizardry. Thus, presenting the astrologer with an untarnished view of our modern mentality; especially that which matches the iambic pentameter of feminist verse. Sometimes, wearing special crystals around your neck helps, because it makes you look cool.

Is that clear enough? Any questions, let me know.

aduarte · Jul 25, 2010

Astrology does not work.

This is a list compiled by Grant Edwards on the scientific studies done on astrology:

fuelair · Jul 25, 2010

skeptiform5 said:
Just before I start can I make it clear that i am adressing the beleivers of astrology
My Grandmother is a very strong believer in astrology, so my Mother knows a bit about it and 'semi-believes' ,but hows it supposed to work? Is it implanted in my brain at birth? Is it something to do with religion?
Can someone please give me something at least close to an explanation?

Basically, the asstrologer has to do three things: 1) determine the exact birth date/time of the asstrologee; 2) determine the exact position of the star(s), planets(s), zodiac sign(s) at that time; and (3) reach deep into his/her rectum and pull out a prediction of what will occur for that asstrologee's life.

For those interested in the study of word origins, the word asstrology means "that pulled from a rectum on a random reach in" and asstrologist means "a person who reaches into their rectum to predict the path of another's life".

Tricky · Jul 25, 2010

Back when I believed in astrology, (Yes, I used to be a woo) I came up with the brilliant theory that the celestial bodies subtly influenced the separation of chromosomes during meiosis, preferring some configurations over others. "Therefore", I reasoned, "Astrology works, but it's off by nine months". Of course, if I'd thought a little deeper, I'd have realized that the creation of sperm, and especially ova, happens long before conception. And it has since been pointed out to me that nearby objects exert more gravitational pull (because of their proximity) than the stars. So if you resulted from your mom getting knocked up in the back of a car, your astrological sign is "Buick".

Senex · Jul 25, 2010

Tricky said:
Back when I believed in astrology, (Yes, I used to be a woo) I came up with the brilliant theory that the celestial bodies subtly influenced the separation of chromosomes during meiosis, preferring some configurations over others. "Therefore", I reasoned, "Astrology works, but it's off by nine months". Of course, if I'd thought a little deeper, I'd have realized that the creation of sperm, and especially ova, happens long before conception. And it has since been pointed out to me that nearby objects exert more gravitational pull (because of their proximity) than the stars. So if you resulted from your mom getting knocked up in the back of a car, your astrological sign is "Buick".

Given my own predilections I may have sired children under the "refrigerator" sign.

Learjet · Jul 25, 2010

"The total pull of all the planets combined is 0.017 (of the Moon's gravitational force), not even 2% of the Moon's pull!"

So one would think the elliptical orbit of the Moon as it goes through apogee and perigee would make far greater effect than any of the planets.

Anyway, astrology is a very old "art". They wouldn't have been able to work out the actual gravitational effect of the planets. So how could they possibly predict the future from these effects?

There's so many logic flaws with the whole thing that I don't understand why it still has followers. May as well believe in a flat Earth..

Kuko 4000 · Jul 25, 2010

Learjet said:
"The total pull of all the planets combined is 0.017 (of the Moon's gravitational force), not even 2% of the Moon's pull!"

I've heard something similar to this several times, but never remembered to find the source afterwards, any chance of a good link where this is presented? It's a good little snippet to include in a discussion.

Akhenaten · Jul 25, 2010

Kuko 4000 said:
I've heard something similar to this several times, but never remembered to find the source afterwards, any chance of a good link where this is presented? It's a good little snippet to include in a discussion.

You might wish to add that before 1781, Uranus had no effect at all, Neptune only started influencing things after 1846 and little Pluto wasn't on anyone's chart until 1930.

Senex · Jul 25, 2010

Klingons have been spotted orbiting Uranus.

I never tire of the classics.

Hows Astrology work?

Scholar

Graduate Poster

Illuminator

Deleterious Slab of Damnation

Penultimate Amazing

Heretic Pharaoh

Philosopher

Banned

Just the right amount of cowbell

Incurable Optimist

Penultimate Amazing

The Infinitely Prolonged

New Blood

Banned

Briefly immortal

Philosopher

Thinker

Graduate Poster

Heretic Pharaoh

Philosopher