The Spiritual Room Blog

If Astrology Isn’t Science, Then What Is It?

astrology the spiritual show Mar 21, 2023
If Astrology Isn’t Science, Then What Is It? | Blog Post | The Spiritual Room
Written by: Danielle Grant

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Today on The Spiritual Show we were discussing Astrology and how it is in fact NOT based in science.

What do you think?

Do you believe Astrology is rooted in science?

OR

Do you believe Astrology is something else? Something greater?

 

 

Where did Astrology Originate?

Astrology was first discovered around 2,400 years ago by the Babylonians to help them predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles.

But more importantly, Astrology was used as a way to communicate to the devine.

The discoveries were so powerful that it became accepted by political and cultural circles towards their traditional studies such as alchemy, meteorology, and medicine.

Unfortunately by the end of the 17th century Astrology lost its academic standing and became regarded as pseudoscience. Scientific investigation at that time showed that predictions based on these systems are not accurate

After almost 3 centuries of Astrology being dismissed as ‘not real’ because science could not validate its purpose, it made a comeback.

Fast forward to today, the 20th century, Astrology has become popular through the influence of regular mass media products, such as newspaper horoscopes, and most recently, through social media.

What is Astrology?

Astrology is a pseudoscience that claims to divine information about human affairs and terrestrial events by studying the movements and relative positions of celestial object and differs between 3 main regions:

  1. Western*
  2. Hindu (Indian/Vedic Astrology)*
  3. Chinese & East Asia*

Western Astrology

Western astrology is founded on the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies such as the Sun, Moon and planets, which are analysed by their movement through signs of the zodiac (twelve spatial divisions of the ecliptic) and by their aspects (based on geometric angles) relative to one another. They are also considered by their placement in houses (twelve spatial divisions of the sky). Astrology's modern representation in western popular media is usually reduced to sun sign astrology, which considers only the zodiac sign of the Sun at an individual's date of birth, and represents only 1/12 of the total chart.

The horoscope visually expresses the set of relationships for the time and place of the chosen event. These relationships are between the seven 'planets', signifying tendencies such as war and love; the twelve signs of the zodiac; and the twelve houses. Each planet is in a particular sign and a particular house at the chosen time, when observed from the chosen place, creating two kinds of relationship. A third kind is the aspect of each planet to every other planet, where for example two planets 120° apart (in 'trine') are in a harmonious relationship, but two planets 90° apart ('square') are in a conflicted relationship. Together these relationships and their interpretations supposedly form "...the language of the heavens speaking to learned men.”

Along with tarot divination, astrology is one of the core studies of Western esotericism, and as such has influenced systems of magical belief not only among Western esotericists and Hermeticists, but also belief systems such as Wicca that have borrowed from or been influenced by the Western esoteric tradition. Tanya Luhrmann has said that "all magicians know something about astrology," and refers to a table of correspondences in Starhawk's The Spiral Dance, organised by planet, as an example of the astrological lore studied by magicians.

Hindu Astrology (Indian/Vedic Astrology)

Hindu natal astrology originated with Hellenistic astrology by the 3rd century BCE, though incorporating the Hindu lunar mansions. The names of the signs (e.g. Greek 'Krios' for Aries, Hindi 'Kriya'), the planets (e.g. Greek 'Helios' for Sun, astrological Hindi 'Heli'), and astrological terms (e.g. Greek 'apoklima' and 'sunaphe' for declination and planetary conjunction, Hindi 'apoklima' and 'sunapha' respectively) in Varaha Mihira's texts are considered conclusive evidence of a Greek origin for Hindu astrology. The Indian techniques may also have been augmented with some of the Babylonian techniques.

Chinese & East Asian Astrology

Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy (theory of the three harmonies: heaven, earth and man) and uses concepts such as yin and yang, the Five phases, the 10 Celestial stems, the 12 Earthly Branches, and shichen (時辰 a form of timekeeping used for religious purposes). The early use of Chinese astrology was mainly confined to political astrology, the observation of unusual phenomena, identification of portents and the selection of auspicious days for events and decisions.

The constellations of the Zodiac of western Asia and Europe were not used; instead the sky is divided into Three Enclosures (三垣 sān yuán), and Twenty-Eight Mansions (二十八宿 èrshíbā xiù) in twelve Ci (十二次). The Chinese zodiac of twelve animal signs is said to represent twelve different types of personality. It is based on cycles of years, lunar months, and two-hour periods of the day (the shichen). The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the Rat, and the cycle proceeds through 11 other animals signs: the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Complex systems of predicting fate and destiny based on one's birthday, birth season, and birth hours, such as ziping and Zi Wei Dou Shu (simplified Chinese: 紫微斗数; traditional Chinese: 紫微斗數; pinyin: zǐwēidǒushù) are still used regularly in modern-day Chinese astrology. They do not rely on direct observations of the stars.

The Korean zodiac is identical to the Chinese one. The Vietnamese zodiac is almost identical to Chinese zodiac except the second animal is the Water Buffalo instead of the Ox, and the fourth animal is the Cat instead of the Rabbit. The Japanese have since 1873 celebrated the beginning of the new year on 1 January as per the Gregorian calendar. The Thai zodiac begins, not at Chinese New Year, but either on the first day of fifth month in the Thai lunar calendar, or during the Songkran festival (now celebrated every 13–15 April), depending on the purpose of the use.

*This information was sourced from Wikipedia

The Energy Force of Astrology

 

We opened with the thought: If Astrology Isn’t Science, Then What Is It?

The purpose of Astrology is beyond any science experiment or thesis.

Astrology is a connection between devine and self, or as we like to say between your higher self and your human self.

Astrology has and will never be rooted in science, it was created prior to science, therefore falls into the electromagnetism category (which yes, is studied within physics)

On this week’s [LIVE]Stream - The Spiritual Show, your host, Danielle Grant was discussing this topic in greater understanding.

Danielle went into great detail explaining how Astrology shows up in your life today, in the past, and in the future. She expanded on the above 3 understandings of Astrology, helping you connect the dots to your sun, moon, and astrological signs.

One of the most profound things we learned in this Spiritual Show episode, was how the awakening to Astrology, is the gateway to deepening your spiritual awakening and ascension.

Applying Astrology To Your Life:

A common question we receive is: How do I apply astrology to my life? A great question indeed and one most are probably avoiding.

How accurate can your horoscope in the paper be? If you must know, very accurate.

In this week’s Spiritual Show, Danielle shared a quick exercise to help you begin to apply Astrology to your life.

#1: Review upcoming Astrology (current month you are in)

#2: Take note of the experiences the astrology is indicating is forthcoming

#3: Review your life and draw parallels to what you are experiencing today and what the current astrological energies are saying

#4: Check back on this astrological update in 6 months and see how accurate the energies and experiences are to what you are realizing in real time.

Be sure to watch the replay of the Spiritual Show to understand this exercise deeper.

What to Pay Attention to When Applying Astrology

Astrology is not some make-belief thing. It is as real as the spiritual being within you.

If you can take time for yourself to develop a monthly habit of learning what the current month's astrology forecast is, you can begin to leverage the energies with great intention.

When you are taking consistent action on the above exercise here are a few things to pay attention to:

#1: How similar is the experience you are in, compared to what the astrological events were forecasting

#2: The emotions you are feeling through the current month. (Remember emotion is energy in motion)

This is an important thing to pay attention to because most often the exact emotion you are feeling, is exactly what astrology is stating to be (hello validation for your ego mind).

#3: Was there any profound feelings or experiences that you had? Was there a point in this astrological system you have awareness around, that allowed your life to shift drastically?

Paying attention to #3 allows you to deepen your subconscious pattern of awareness. When you can begin to identify that you just had a big shift and then bring it back to what the astrology events are stating, you allow your conscious self (higher self) to shift fast.

Looking to learn more?

Watch this weeks Spiritual Show on YouTube.

 

 

Thought to share:

What was your biggest takeaway from this article and The Spiritual Show Episode: If Astrology Isn’t Science, Then What Is It? Let us know in the comments below

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