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Harassed by the Wild Dogs of Doubt

By

Robert Gover, USA

It seems that astrology has always been harassed by the yipping and yapping wild
dogs of doubt. There are ancient records of Babylonian astrologers being punished for
inaccuracies. And in our time, scientists and other rational people denigrate astrology,
while some astrologers defend themselves by proclaiming, Astrology is an Art, not a
Science.
This is further complicated by how different Western astrology is from Hindu
astrology and how different both of those systems are from the astrology developed in China
and by the ancient Maya. How can so many different paradigms of our celestial
environment be reconciled? Why is the Chinese map of the celestial environment so
different from the Western, Hindu and Maya? All those ancient stargazers saw the same
skywhy did they map it so differently?
Despite these different paradigms, astrology IS scientific according to the universal
definition of science: "Knowledge attained through study or practice," or "knowledge
covering general truths of the operation of general laws. The strange and fascinating events
in the celestial surround we find ourselves in have been and are perceived in a variety of
ways, and with a variety of expectations as to what will be found.
The problem with including astrology under the heading of Science is that it can be
neither proven nor disproven using the modern scientific method.
We are, in effect, facing a mystery beyond our ken as we try to reconcile seeing is
believing with we find what we believe is there to be found. In other words, we find
what we look for. We do not look for what we cannot imagine is there to be found.
And our expectations influence what we find. Thats true of both science and astrology.
Scientifically, this is verified by the experimenter effect in Quantum Physics, whereby it
is scientifically proven that the experimenters expectations tend to move and shape
subatomic particles.
This supports the astrological belief that we live in an interconnected universe. But because
conventional science cannot prove the universal principles of astrologynor disprove
themconventional scientists regard astrology as superstition or delusion.
The scientific method requires experimental results be verified by duplication. If you
throw a stone up, it will always come down, proving gravity. But astrology deals with a
reality far beyond earthly gravity.
Astrological cycles repeat but in an ever-changing celestial context. We can ascertain that
people born with a certain aspectVenus conjunct Jupiter in the 2nd house, sayare likely to
be born rich, become rich, or make and spend an extraordinary amount of money during
their lives, depending on other aspects to the Venus-Jupiter conjunct and also the economic
social class each is born into. An heiress will have a different relationship with wealth than
an orphan.
Here is another unscientific anomaly:
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Each Full Moon occurs in a unique environment, with the other planets arranged differently
by longitude and latitude, in relationship to each other and in relationship to the Precession
of the Equinoxes, the movement of our solar system within the vast celestial environment
beyond. If, say, a New Moon occurs in a water sign conjunct Mars, floods are likely. This
doesnt mean that floods are likely under the next Full Moon, which will occur in another
sign, not conjunct Mars, and with the other bodies of the Solar System also making different
aspects to the lunation.
Full Moons are legendary for stimulating high tides and peaks of emotional activities.
Police stations become extraordinarily busy under Full Moons negatively aspected. People
who experience a Full Moon which negatively aspects certain natal positions are likely to
undergo emotional epiphanies. But this full-moon effect cannot be duplicated by scientific
experiment because it never repeats within the same celestial context. It is aspected
differently every time it occurs, which means it cannot duplicate the same earthly effects as
any previous lunation. The same TYPES of events, yes. But exactly the same events?
Never. History repeats but does not duplicate.
Since the modern scientific method demands verifiable duplication, astrology can be
neither proven nor disproven scientifically.
Yet there are abundant records showing humans around the world have been studying
the stars for many millennia, and finding consistent meaning in certain celestial patterns. If
there was nothing to astrology, why would so many humans persist in studying it, searching
for meanings? Is it possible that as modern astro-scientists continues to probe the vast sky,
science, too, will become less certain of its previous certainties? Is it possible that one day
modern astronomy and ancient astrology will coincide?
Before the rise of the monotheistic religionsJudaism, Islam and Christianitypeople
described the angular effects of the heavenly bodies in myths about the gods and goddesses.
In virtually every pantheistic religion, the gods were named for the visible planets (or the
visible planets named for the gods) and the noticeable effects of planetary angles described
the relationship of the gods and goddesses. The Roman Mercury is the Hindu Vishnu, the
Native American Coyote, the Polynesian Maui, the West African Legba, and so forth
around the world. In one culture, one quality of the Mercury god might be emphasized while
in another culture, another quality of this same god/planet might be seen as more
fascinating.
This is further complicated by the observed fact that Mercurys effects partake of whatever
other celestial body is aspecting it at any given moment. Mercurys effects becomes
masculine when conjunct Mars, and feminine when conjunct Venus. Still, the lore about
Mercury is so alike around the world that its impossible to mistake it for any other
planet/deity.
Which brings us to another reason astrology cannot be scientificatedthe
mythologies about the deities are told in legends, in many different languages, with different
emphases on the various qualities of each. Modern science, on the other hand, has developed
a common terminology which transcends languages. In the nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, German was considered the language of science, and German scientists relied on
Greek and Latin prefixes and suffixes to create a more universally recognized terminology.
A third hurdle astrology has when trying to become accepted by modern science is the
uncertainty involved in deciphering astrological charts. Modern scientists prize certainty. A
scientific law is reliable, or else its not a scientific law. In contrast, reading an astrological
chart is complex and fraught with a lot of uncertainty.
If we see that Mars will transit an entitys natal Sun, square transiting Uranus, the strong
likelihood is that this person will suffer an accident
6 or some kind of unexpected violence.
Under such a combination of transits, I was being extremely cautious and even
congratulating myself on getting through this dangerous period without mishap when my
car was hit from behind by a truck. Sometimes we dont have accidentsaccidents have
us.
There is a very insightful article about this: Astrology and the Anatomy of Doubt by
Garry Phillipson. Heres a sample quote:
Astrology is, first and foremost, a study of meaning. We study patterns in the world, not
for their own sake but because we read meaning in these patterns. We do not observe
patterns in the sky or in our friends just for the sake of striking off random entries in an
infinite catalogueAstrologers note patterns because we believe that what we observe has
meaningand this works in both directions: above to below, below to aboveIf Saturn
squares Mars in the world above, I expect this to mean something in the world below; if Jim
can't hold down a job for more than two weeks, I expect to see this facet of the world below
mirrored meaningfully in the world abovethrough Jims chart. Given that this general
principlepatterns hold meaningIs so integral to astrology, it seems strange that
astrologers take so little interest in what is (I suggest) the most obvious pattern in astrology
itself: that astrology is always shadowed by doubt.
Science, too, is shadowed by doubt, as one hypothesis replaces another in the ongoing
quest for knowledge. But basically, science presents knowledge that is believed to be natural
law and cannot be disproven. By contrast, astrology presents meanings based on
astrological theories (planetary patterns and angles) which are often part of such a complex
overall celestial pattern, they appear to work most of the time, but not always.
For instance, we may find in a chart such a combination of hard angles qualified by
trines and sextiles that it is virtually impossible to say which will dominate in the subjects
life. This brings us to free will and an ancient truth: we are not caught in an iron cage of
predetermined fate. We have free will. Some people use their knowledge of history and their
intelligence to be better prepared for winters or monsoons, times of economic stress and
times of economic opportunity.
It is often the person with the most squares and oppositions who becomes the most
successful. My mentor described this as the mashed potato syndrome, meaning that a
person whose nativity is dominated by nice easy trines and sextiles tends to be mashed
potatoes. Unchallenged, the person does not develop the character and self-discipline
needed to succeed.
This brings us to the fact that our solar system is surrounded by a universe of celestial
bodies which we cannot factor into our ordinary readings because there are so many, and
they are so various and in ever-dynamic motion. Its enough for us to read the relationships
of the planets in our own little solar system, even while we acknowledge that our solar
system is, in turn, subject to unknown influences from beyond our Zodiac.
For doubters and distracters of astrology, there are also the various astrological
techniques of reading charts. In predicting the stock market, for instance, Louise McWhirter
developed a technique back in the 1920s based on the Moons North Node, which worked
reliably to tell her when stocks would rise or fallexcept when the North Nodes reliability
was disrupted by angles from planets, especially Saturn and Uranus. Conversely, one can
reliably predict long-range stock market moves by the angles of Saturn and Uranus, except
when they are disrupted by the Nodes, or by Neptune or Pluto.
How can it be, the science-minded may ask, that different interpretive techniques result in
the same predictions? The answer is that there are so many different ways to read Gods
newsletter, celestial patterns.
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 Scientific rationalism seeks clear yes-or-no cause-effect relationships. Such simplicity
is not possible in astrologyyet astrologers arrive at basically the same prediction by a
variety of astrological techniques.
Even among astrologers there is often hot debate over which system of chart
interpretation works best, and which does not work at all. There are astrologers who believe
there is a correct way of chart reading, and all other ways should be discarded. Students of
astrology, these purists believe, should be taught the correct way, and tests should be
givenyou either pass or fail, according to your grasp of this single correct way to the
exclusion of all others.
This attempt to scientificate astrology, it seems to me, is doomed because of the
vastness and complexity of our subject. Garry Phillipson cites an ancient Indian legend to
make this point:
A group of pundits are arguing about the world: Is it finite or infinite? Is the soul
something separate from the body? A wise man, hearing of this, compares the pundits to a
group of blind men. These men, blind from birth, were ordered by a rajah to discover what
an elephant is like. So they were assembled around an elephant. One man grasped a foot, one
the trunk, one a tusk, one an ear, and so on. The rajah asked them: "Well, what is an
elephant like?" Each began describing the part of the elephant he was holding: "It's like the
trunk of a tree" "No, it's like a plough-share," etc. The blind men began contradicting one
another more and more forcefully "No, an elephant's not like that at all!" and
eventually came to blows. All because each believed that what he had hold of was all that
there was to know.
The surrounding universe is to us as the elephant is to the blind men of the Hindu myth.
We humans prefer to live in our familiar bubbles of limited knowledge rather than face the
vast mysteries that surround us.
That astrology has always been harassed by the wild dogs is doubt does not deter us in
our quest for more and more accurate knowledge of the seemingly infinite and ever-
changing celestial environment we live in.

Robert Gover, USA

Guest Editor