Isn’t An Astrological Consultation Directly Related To The Vagueness Of Personality Description And Prediction?

In other words, isn’t astrology merely a matter of the “Barnum Effect?”

An honest and worthy astrologer will admit that exact precision and specificity is outside the jurisdiction of astrology. However, lapsing into all-purpose interpretations that could appeal to any complex individual is not of benefit to anyone.

Moreover, one-size fits all astrology panders into the psychological need of wanting to be “typed” or labeled in much the same way that concrete astrological predictions take away one’s responsibility to react to the inherent unpredictability of life. So, is it true that astrology merely is a smoke and mirrors show that increases its power through mystery, imprecision, and esotericism and not through anything reality-based?

When Isaac Newton was approached by a skeptical Edmund Halley’s about why he was an avid student of astrology, he is reported to have replied, “Sir Halley, I have studied the matter, you have not!” It is really only through study-a study and thorough accounting of astrology’s correspondences in one’s own life, one’s close relations, the biography of famous people, and world culture-that it becomes apparent that astrology is a discipline that is illuminating facets of reality and not merely a sketch of vague universal themes which have no ontic basis.

Astrology can’t be proven in a nice, simple argument or proof. Since astrology purports to be a transcendental mirror of reality, and is not a

“Proving” astrology comes from the synthesis of learning astrology with one’s own life experience.

closed, incomplete set, the arguments of astrology can never be laid out in a simple treatise or book. Astrology can only be “proved” through the interface of a reader or student’s own life experience and intuition synthesizing with a thorough understanding of both the empirical, quantifiable and archetypal, qualitative sides of astrology.

Since not everyone has the time or energy to invest in learning astrology, there is a level of trust that must be invested in seeing a competent astrologer. Thus, it is important to keep the “Barnum Effect” question in mind: “Is what this astrologer telling me truly applicable to what I know of myself and my particular situation or merely vague and as applicable to an anonymous stranger as to me?

Last updated on February 18, 2017 at 5:16 am. Word Count: 373