Astrology

The astrology is a set of beliefs that seeks to understand and predict the fate of individuals, and with that knowledge to predict future events. Involves reaching that knowledge by observing the position and movement of the stars. People who practice astrology claim that the positions of these influence or are correlated with the personality traits of people, important events in their lives, and even their physical characteristics.

In ancient times, astrology concurred with the astronomical (scientific study of the heavens), but both were separating after the Renaissance as a result of rationalism (like the alchemy of chemistry ). The Church also opposed the practice of astrology, through the "bull against astrology" of Pope Urban VIII in 1586 by officially condemning astrology. Followed by a second papal bull in 1631, which condemns astrology and heretical, but allows its use for navigation, agriculture and medicine.

At present, the scientific community considered a pseudoscience or superstition , which cites a lack of astrological predictions statistically significant , while psychology explains a lot of blind faith in astrology as a form of cognitive bias or cognitive bias The scientific consensus , as expressed by the National Science Foundation , believes that belief in astrology is a pseudo-scientific belief.

It is impossible to endorse the declaration of 'Objections to Astrology "because I felt and still feel, that the tone of the statement is authoritative. The issue is not that astrology has its roots in superstition, as the same applies to chemistry, medicine and astronomy. Analyze the psychological motivation of those who believe in this art seems superficial as to its validity is concerned. There was no known mechanism that would track the continental drift, until it was proposed by Alfred Wegener. However, we found that Wegener was right, and that those who challenge his thesis was wrong.

Etymology

The word "astrology" means "study of the stars." Comes from the Greek : αστρολογία (astrology) , of άστρον (ASTRON): 'star' and λόγος (logos) "word, study."

In some astrological texts there is a mistaken etymology (more "esoteric") star 'being', and logy: 'logic'.

History

In antiquity

The origins of astrology are mixed with those of astronomy, as virtually all civilizations have turned to the stars trying to find out the fate of human beings.

Astrology as we know, was born in Babylon more than 5 millennia. It was a mixture of religion, science and beliefs. The science studying the evolution of the stars over time, and detect and determine the
occurrence of certain events. The religious part was trying to determine relationships between cosmic events and earthly events as the fall of kings or outcomes of battles.

The observation of the sky provided great computational tools and databases current astronomy and astrology, of which highlights the current horoscope , which have already been outdated since the stars do move, albeit slowly, over time. Other towns developed their own astrology, and even combined throughout the ancient world held their differences. The Egyptians, for example, improved and included measuring the relative angles and not just collisions.

He then went to Greece and Rome , with a predominance of vocabulary clearly Zoroastrian . In Greece and Egypt began to emerge as pure knowledge of astronomy separating from superstitions. In Rome timidly began to denounce astrology as superstition.

Ptolemy in his Almagest recovers the classical division Zoroastrian giving a precision astronomical division of the sky into 12 sectors. In China, independently, also developed an astrology, similar in some ways to the West and different in many others.

Middle Ages

Astronomers studying an eclipse , painting of 1571 by Antoine Caron .

In its beginnings, Christianity-especially the Fathers of the Church - he realized that astrology contradicted Catholic doctrine, then somehow seemed to contradict the free will . The official position of the Catholic Church was the rejection and condemnation of his followers.

Augustine strongly condemned astrology, it absolved the sinners and attributed the blame to "the Creator and ruler of heaven and the stars." However, despite official condemnations, astrology was preserved for the obscurantism of the Middle Ages and with better luck than the rest of traditions pagan , many of them actually prosecuted on charges of witchcraft . The interesting thing is that many Catholic kings in their courts, they were aided by some astrologer, for decision-making.

Renaissance

From the fourteenth century astrology suffered a setback. Nicolaus Copernicus in his De revolutionibus orbium coelestium proposed that the planets move around the Sun , not around the Earth , as they believed almost all the ancients, including astrologers . Paradoxically, his theory had great resistance from the Catholic Church because it contradicted scripture.

At that time astrology was separated from astronomy. Johannes Kepler said in his writings he did not believe in astrology but it was the normal means of earning a living and get money from kings and nobles. In these difficult times, astronomers needed an excuse for their survival, and used it as a form of art , or a form of clairvoyance .

Modern Era

Astrology survived the Renaissance and the emergence of science adapting. So, astrologers have rejected the theory of four humours , although some remnants remain. As they were discovering new planets in the Solar System , Scorpio, Aquarius and Pisces, was assigned a new regency. Therefore, these

planets, in addition to its current ruler, are co-regents to their first planets. For example, the sign of Pisces was ruled by Jupiter until in 1846 it was discovered Neptune , which became the planet of that sign. Currently Jupiter rules Sagittarius and is co-ruler of Pisces and Neptune, as ruler of the sign.

Western Astrology

According to western astrology, the fate of every human being would be affected largely by the influence of the position of the stars , at the time and place of birth, from which it gets its chart. The movement of the stars mark the fate of individuals and even groups, countries, businesses and others.

Zodiac Signs

The relative position of the sun on the constellations of the zodiac at the time of the birth of a person determines their astrological sign . Zodiac signs are determined by their position on the vernal point ( Point Gamma , which is the 0 degree Aries) or intersection of the ecliptic plane with the plane of Ecuador Celeste, not by its position with respect to the constellations, as is often argued. To read about this subject, go below to "Criticism of astrology."

The constellations are groups of a few stars that man has given way to name and locate in the sky and appear to be fixed in the sky. The ecliptic , which is the plane that moves the earth to the sun, is especially important for astrology. Here are the twelve constellations of the "fixed stars." Counterclockwise to clockwise, are:

1. Aries

2. Taurus

3. Gemini

4. Cancer

5. Leo

6. Virgo

7. Libra

8. Scorpio

9. Sagittarius

10. Capricorn

11. Aquarius

12. Pisces

The sizes and shapes of the constellations were fixed by convention, with varied sizes. According to this convention, accepting clearly defined 88 constellations using the star coordinate system.

The astrological chart

Unlike what is commonly thought, astrology is not limited to the psychological definition of the natives of the zodiacal signs. Shows instead a complex structure which include the positions of all the planets, along with the Sun and the Moon, according to the vision we have of them apparently from Earth. From here we see them in line with a zodiac sign, and the astrologer understands, for example, that "the moon is in Pisces" or "your Mercury is in Leo" ... Each of the planets corresponds to an archetype that is related to the sign in which it is located, blending the characteristics of both. Modern astrologers define astrology as a symbolic language .

I mentioned relates to what in astrology is called chart . The formation of this takes into account the other hand, the angles formed by the planets with the Earth at any given time, from one another, and are called "aspects". Finally, the chart has a structure in the houses , which correspond to the division of the surface of our planet into twelve sections, the twelve houses. The brand astrological chart gives way in the astral to the first house, is well known by name, the "bottom up". This is the sign that rises above the horizon at the date and time of our birth.

The ecliptic

The ecliptic is the circular band that defines the plane containing the orbit that the Earth travels around the Sun . Viewed from Earth, the sky is the region that crosses the Sun moves across the sky. Astronomers used as a fundamental plane of reference systems to measure the relative position of astronomical objects, since it remains very stable on the merits of the "fixed stars."

In this coordinate system, the position of a planet is calculated using two numbers, similar to the geographical coordinates

* The ecliptic latitude measures the deviation of the circle the planet in question, and is measured in degrees.

* The ecliptic longitude is determined by measuring counterclockwise to clockwise, the direction from the zero point on the ecliptic. Takes values between 0 and 360.

The zero point on the ecliptic was established using the equinox vernal (meaning 'the spring ') in the hemisphere north-March 21, the day during which the day and night are of equal length all over the planet (the word "equinox" comes from the Latin Aequi noctium , meaning 'equal night'). This point is mathematically defined using the point of intersection between Ecuador and the ecliptic (the plane
formed by the orbit of the Earth). The blue Ecuador is determined by the position of Earth's axis in space. If this axis always remained stable, the vernal equinox on 21 March would be a fixed point in space.

Upon reaching a high development of astronomy in ancient times for the old Hellenistic between 200 BC C. and 200 AD, the vernal equinox in the northern hemisphere was located within the boundaries of the fixed star constellations of Aries and Pisces. The astrologers of the time divided the circle of the ecliptic into twelve equal segments of 30 ° using the zero point as a frame of reference. These segments were given the same names of the constellations of fixed stars that were more or less framed by these areas. It is important to distinguish these segments of 30 ° from the ecliptic (or signs of the zodiac ), the constellation of fixed stars zodiacal background which took its name in the past, and that, unlike the zodiac signs do not correspond plots of the celestial sphere equal.

The precession of the equinoxes

Same as that of a top, the Earth's axis is subjected to a movement of precession . This reflects the fact that Earth does not have perfect spherical symmetry and the combined gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun, mainly. As a result, Earth's axis describes a conical motion around the quasi-fixed pole of the ecliptic. A complete rotation of the Earth's axis around the ecliptic along this cone takes about 26,000 years. As a result, the celestial Ecuador also moved, so that their points of intersection with the ecliptic, the equinoctial points, moving from east to west along the ecliptic circle, ie away from the zodiac normal.

The equinox vernal, which corresponds to the onset of spring in the northern hemisphere, it takes approximately 26,000 years to make one complete revolution around the ecliptic, ie, through the twelve constellations of the zodiac . It takes one-twelfth of this time-about 2160 years, to move each zodiacal sign. In ancient times the vernal equinox was among the signs of Pisces and Aries, and due to precession, currently sits on the border between the constellations Aquarius and Pisces, Aquarius moving slowly. Because the constellations have no boundaries, it is difficult to define exactly when the vernal equinox will move from the constellation of Pisces to the Aquarian, ie when the call start Age of Aquarius. Depending on where you draw the limit, it will occur sometime between 2100 and 2500 d. C.

Western astrology does not use the substance of the stars fixed reference, but which divides the ecliptic into twelve equal segments of 30 degrees each, beginning with the vernal equinox and assigning the names of the ancient zodiacal constellations, starting with Aries. The vernal equinox is the reference point from which measurements are made on the ecliptic and the celestial Ecuador. Because of the precession of the equinoxes, at present, the segment of the Zodiac called Aries lies, in fact, and the constellation of Pisces.

Only in some specific areas such as astrology, mundane astrology that deals with the great changes of time-the relationship between this constellation of fixed stars and the ecliptic is taken into consideration. Thus, referring to the great eras (Pisces, Aquarius, etc.)..

Couples and their zodiac

According to a study by the University of Manchester and against a common belief in astrology, there is no influence of the zodiacal sign of marriage. According to this study no signs of the zodiac combinations between members of a marriage that are more common than other combinations. This would be contrary to the usual astrological belief that for every sign there are other signs are more compatible than others. For this work we made a statistical study on the British census of 2001, representing a population of 10 million marriages.

The Forer effect

The experiment Bertram Forer conducted in 1948, demonstrating that individuals will approve high precision to descriptions of his personality that were allegedly made specifically for them, but in reality are general and vague enough to apply to a broad spectrum of people, has been considered as an explanation for the survival of astrological beliefs.