Myths and Misconceptions: Astrology
Today we’re examining an idea that has been a mainstay in pop culture for a long time. And by a long time, we mean millennia. The idea that the stars have some sort of mysterious influence on human affairs predates modern science, going back to an era before we understood how the weather worked, what caused earthquakes, and why the seasons perpetually changed.
Astrology is often confused with the science of astronomy not only because of the similarity in names, but because from a distance they appear to address ideas of the same substance. Let’s start with the similarities: both use terminology like zodiac, retrograde, conjunction, solstice, and ecliptic to describe celestial observations. In fact there is a substantial historical overlap, as astrology came about long before the science of astronomy.
What is astrology? We begin to run into problems immediately when we look for even a mere definition, as it seems no two “astrologers” can even agree on just exactly what it is they’re doing. Is it predicting the future? Interpreting events? Celestial psychology? All of these claims are made by individual practitioners of astrology, and yet there appears to be no unanimous consensus after nearly four millennia on precisely what’s going on. Broadly speaking, astrology can be described as a baseless belief that the heavens yield an unseen influence over human affairs and terrestrial events.
At one point, several thousand years ago, this actually made a lot of sense. Without modern science and methods to describe the world around us, it was conceivably valid to make a guess that the stars and planets might somehow have something to do with unpredictable events on Earth. The planets seemingly moved at different speeds, and before we understand that they were just rocky orbs revolving around a star, like us, their motions were perplexing. It seemed they might just be the “cause” to explain the random “effects” on Earth.
It wasn’t until relatively recently in the course of human history that in the 17th century science began to acquire the means and motives to challenge these ancient ideas. Fast forward to today and we can look at the heavens through the lens of science, quite literally, and see that the universe is so much more interesting than our primitive imaginations could have even fabricated.
In short, astrology is a belief, astronomy is a science. We’re just scratching the surface of this, if you’d like to learn more you can register for our live program this Sunday, called Your Cosmos: Astrology History and Myths. Head over to the Events page to learn more!
To see more, check out Dr. Becky’s explanation:
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