h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I think that horoscopes are purposely written in vague, general statements so that anything that is currently happening in your life will be able to "fit" the prediction.

I do not believe that the stars control our futures. We influence our own lives by the choices we make and the reactions we have.

Just my thoughts.

I would tend to agree, Whimsygirl, when it comes to horoscopes in the media. They aren't too indepth, one could argue.

However if you have a more indepth horoscope written for you it could have it's benefits. In a purely scientific sort of way actually. I'm thinking that you get a view of yourself that you otherwise might never have considered. And the more angles you see yourself from, the better your idea of yourself will be. Often one gets stuck in a particular view of things, horoscopes might help one to see things differently.
If horoscopes are true or not isn't really all that relevant, I think.

Them are the thoughts of The Lone Deranger.

I must admit I was thinking more about horoscopes in the media--rather than a more lengthy and personalized one. However, while I do think that it is quite important to learn about ourselves from different perspectives, I feel that pschological/personality tests are more accurate than a horoscope.

I guess I'm still not convinced that star positions at the time of your birth etc. really influence the direction of one's life.

I'd be interested to hear more though.

I have read on a number of occasions about how an astrologer got to the bottom of problems in a couple of hours that had taken months or years of therapy to reveal. But then, I'm biased...

Astrology is psychology's older brother, if you like. Your personality can be read from your personal birth chart in short order by an experienced astrologer - what's more, the potentials in a personality can be uncovered as well as the more up-front and obvious aspects. Astrology is really less about prediction (although that is valid) than it is about finding out about oneself and who one really is - and what one really can do rather than the projections from others and the bits that have been suppressed by parental and social conditioning.

Newspaper/magazine columns split the world's population into 12 segments out of convenience. A slightly more accurate way of doing such things would be to do Sun/Moon sign columns - but that means 144 different sections and I can see magazine editors' eyes glazing over even as I write...

Well, Whimsygirl. The psychological tests are made within one particular field of thought. Astrology offers a different set of reference-points. Both have merits and flaws.

AstroLion (it's in the name, isn't it?) is a believer, obviously. I'm open to the fact that the state of the Universe at the time you enter it, must have some influence on what your potential is, but freedom from matter might also be inherent in the human potential. And, you find that astrology is somehow outside the field of social conditioning?

Well, those were more thoughts.

AstroLion is a practioner as well as a believer. Actually it's more knowledge than belief.

'... but freedom from matter might also be inherent in the human potential.'

Ummm, you've got to be matter to be human. Freedom from matter takes you out of humanity - and beyond astrology.

As far as astrology being outside social conditioning is concerned, such conditioning is one of the things that has to be taken into account when interpreting a personal chart. But one has to be fairly brave to go see an astrologer in the first place as social conditioning tends to rubbish such practices - so the conditioning has to be broken (or at least severely bent) in order to take that step.

Being an astrologer tends to make 'normal' people look at one askance, too...

Knowledge is better than belief. And I would like to point out that I'm not 'normal' enough, by far, to look at astrologers askance.

I see your point about social conditioning. Robert Anton Wilson once said that we all are giants raised by pygmees ( - not sure how that is spelled, but I hope it's close enough). My question regarding the social conditioning was more along these lines: I would assume that astrologers talk to each other, and in other ways are influenced by their "trade". Perhaps this creates a social context which favors interpretations of reality in astrological terms? Cultures and social contexts could be seen as prime elements in the makings of "maps of the Real". And thus an astrologers view of reality could also be within a realm of social conditioning.

Yeah, yeah, rather obvious. Well, keep up the good work, AstroLion! (I'm a sagittarius - that probably explains some of the traits of The Lone Deranger.)

So how does one actually create a horoscope?

Well, Whimsygirl, creating a horoscope first means that the astrologer needs the date, place and time of birth for the person's chart. Then, using that information, there's a lot of sums involved in order to make an accurate 'map' of the positions of the planets at the time of birth. That's the basic chart - putting the Sun, Moon and planets in their proper places and sorting out whether there are any connections (aspects) between the planets and, if so, what they are.

That's the technical part. I never have been very good at sums so when computers came along (and the relevant software) I was a happy bunny. Or lion, actually. Erecting a chart now takes seconds instead of hours!

Once you have the chart in front of you it has to be interpreted - that's where all the knowledge from study and experience comes into play. There is a huge amount of information in a Natal chart if one knows where to look for it.

I have spent a little time at classes, and practicing Astrology.
The charts I did for people were, mainly Natal charts (Character)

I had sevweral asking for discression, due to me telling them, someting about themselves they did not wish others to see.

I Do Not know if the words I wrote were pure astrology or someting inside me telling me what to write? Or the subject read someting into the words which I had not intened.

I have not prepaired a chart for several years, and have no intention to do another.