Astrology.

[Platapus]

When I call a psychic hotline, why do they ask me for my credit card number. That should be the first test they do.

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Platapus

When I call a psychic hotline, why do they ask me for my credit card number. That should be the first test they do.

Ya, mon, where da hell you bin? Call me now for your free readin'. The cards never lie!

[Betonov]

Too bad none of you speak Serb.
There's this guy in Serbia, a psycic hotline and people ask him to cure their problems and luift curses and he just makes a fool of them.
One time this poor fellow called his chickens are dying and he told him to go to the kitchen and break an egg on his head and a moment later a loud crack of an egg braking was heard trough the line.
He's been sued a dozen times but he's still making money of it.

[Red Devil]

why are people so gullible? There must be at leats 50 million of them here in the UK. Some people even think soaps are REAL!!!

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Red Devil

why are people so gullible? There must be at leats 50 million of them here in the UK. Some people even think soaps are REAL!!!

Wishful thinking?....a wired in desire to believe in something bigger?....vulnerable to suggestion moments?...perhaps reality is too mundane? It's hard to say. Psychics, UFOs, Bigfoot, ghost hunters, spoon-benders..all this rubbish just recycles and recycles generation after generation despite the fact that none of it ever pans out to a feasible scientific conclusion. I find it amusing that we seem to go through an impending "End of the World" event every few years. When the moment passes and we're all still here, it seems to have no effect on certain people breathlessly lining up for the next apocalyptic claptrap prediction.

[Bilge_Rat]

burn the witch...

people dropped out of organised religion, but replaced it with Astrology instead...go figure...

[Sailor Steve]

Originally Posted by Red Devil

Some people even think soaps are REAL!!!

I remember an incident long ago here in the US. The stars of a certain soap opera were doing an autograph signing, when the actress who played a particularly nasty character was approached by a fan who started demanding to know why she was so mean to the fan's favorite characters. It took more than a bit of "I'm not her! I just play her on television!" to get the woman calmed down.

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by Betonov

Too bad none of you speak Serb.
There's this guy in Serbia, a psycic hotline and people ask him to cure their problems and luift curses and he just makes a fool of them.
One time this poor fellow called his chickens are dying and he told him to go to the kitchen and break an egg on his head and a moment later a loud crack of an egg braking was heard trough the line.
He's been sued a dozen times but he's still making money of it.

Too funny. His cheesy headgear and robes remind me of Johnny Carson doing his Carnac the Magnificent psychic spoof.

[Betonov]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

Too funny. His cheesy headgear and robes remind me of Johnny Carson doing his Carnac the Magnificent physic spoof.

He might have used Johnny as inspiration.

Just went to youtube for some Milan Tarot and one woman called her daughter can't find a boyfriend and he told her to draw hearts with ketchup on the floor of every room in her house.

[Pisces]

Clearly by the amount of ridicule in this thread I can safely say that n̶̶̶o̶̶̶n̶̶̶e̶̶̶ ̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶k̶n̶o̶w̶ most of you don't know of what you speak or how an astrologer comes to their findings.

[EDIT]Judging by the poll results I was guilty of generalizing. Apologies.


Have you tried to learn and do it yourself (sincerely!!!!)?

Have you tried to understand how an astrological chart is made?

Have you tried to understand how planetary/sun/moon positioning are translated to words.

Have you figured out it is not about the stationary distant specs of light in the sky, but it is actually about the wandering ones near by? Which includes the single near star, and our moon.

Have you figured out that it is about the angular (relative) positioning along the orbit of the sun-earth system, and so the relative placing in the flow of the seasons? Not the placement between the arbitrary grouping of the stars.

If you ever did get a reading of your character by a astrologer, did you supply him/her your true date, time and location of birth details? Or are you only judging based on telling your sun-sign. Then it wasn't YOU that he/she was explaining.

If you learned what it takes to make a astrological statement, how much of your '6th sense' did you really need? Or was it more of a matter of mixing symbolical meanings according to a structured system.

With that out of the way,...

I'm not happy with the last poll-option. I do not feel happy with considering myself being 'a believer'. I am rational and scientific enough to be inclined to say that I cannot explain how it works. Gravity doesn't make sense, or even other far weaker field theories known to physics. But hey, we didn't know what made that apple fall from the tree some 5 centuries ago either. So what do we know now! Assuming we now know everything about the universe is being ignorant.

My experience of the last (about) 25 years, where I gave it the benefit of doubt and not the ease of ridicule or ignorance, showed me that the positions of planets/sun/moon... even the positioning of the meridian and rising angle ... at the time of my birth can time and explain my life events with sometimes uncanny precision. In time as well as meaning. This being important life phases, yearly developments from exact sun return, and even timing of remarkable moments in daily experiences as both real planets/sun/moon and birth positions pass through the meridian and rising/setting angles. And I'm not even talking yet about the attractions/detractions felt between people showing in their planetary/sun/moon positions. The trouble with the latter is that for some people you often don't know their birth details to check.

Some will come with proof that astrology doesn't exist because it cannot be proven by science or statistical means. I absolutely agree that it cannot be proven. Unfortunately this seems to be the nature of the beast. Each one of us has a unique pattern of planetary/sun/moon positions, with an even more unique placement between the angles of the horizon. It is the combination or mix of these multitude of influences that form the unique ways in which we are all very different (even if born on the same day, or in same town), and how this results in the multitude of different experiences in our lives. It is hard to find statistical significance among this enormous amount of noise. I wish it was un-true, but astrology is vague by nature. It will never be a precise science.

Besides, that (scientific) approach is missing out on halve of our perception of reality, imho. It favours the objective perception and common experiences, yet it ignores the personal or subjective meaning. So thereby it destroys it's own evidence to the contrary. You can't neglect 'meaning'. If you do that, then you'll never get to that Holy Grail called a theory of Everything.

I consider Astrology to be a method of learning the weather report of life. What can I expect in the near future? Or what fell upon my head some years ago and made me weep from tears of anguish or joy? At least in the symbolical sense, not a precise specific concrete meaning. When it comes, you'll start to recognise it from the general meaning. As it not be a very clearly defined predictable event. It might also come as an internal experience, known only to you.

Mostly you won't know when exactly the next rain cloud drops on your head either, even with hundred of meteorological reports. (unless you have a personal weather radar... doubt it) And it might still vanish or appear out of thin air on occasion. So not very different from astrological predictions.

TL/DR: Less ridicule by the gut and show of ignorance. Learn, and take the time to make itself show it's validity. Not your own assumptions!

[Wolferz]

Why so serious?
We here at scoff at everything with equal abandon.

Personally, I trust my sixth sense more than I do astrology. It's never failed me unless I ignored it. Astrology not so much.
Opening your minds eye with psychedelics also aids in gaining a better awareness of the universe around us.

[mapuc]

@ Pisces

As I wrote in a former post I had an aunt who was really into this Astrology-
She made her own "forecast"

Remember once when I was visiting my cousin and I told him and his mom that I was about to start on course

About two days later she invited my to afternoon coffee and there she showed me some papers with lots of drawings-something about 12 houses and the 12 signs. She had made a "forecast" about the course I was about to start-if it would be a success or not.

Every time something was about to happen in the family she made a "forecast"- E.g married-after birth, new house, etc etc.

It was somehow her that made me go reading about this thing.

If people want to believe then they shall have the freedom to believe.

Markus

[Red Devil]

Look Pisces, both of you. It is impossible to find a persons future in a star that is several billion light years away, so far away it cannot see our sun as anothing but a dim point of light. You are also seeing these cstars as they were in the distnat past, light tavels so slowly in the past. You cannot see any point of light in the sky that is in the future. The future is the undiscovered country, where have I heard that before I wonder. I can change the future by simply walking out of the door tonight and not coming back. I can sell my car, which I have no intention of doing and gettin' a wreck and crashing. The future has not happened, nor will it until I finish typing, oh and see, nothing changed whist I was typing.

Believe what you will but its like religion, a stupid myth.

[mapuc]

Originally Posted by Red Devil

Look Pisces, both of you. It is impossible to find a persons future in a star that is several billion light years away, so far away it cannot see our sun as anothing but a dim point of light. You are also seeing these cstars as they were in the distnat past, light tavels so slowly in the past. You cannot see any point of light in the sky that is in the future. The future is the undiscovered country, where have I heard that before I wonder. I can change the future by simply walking out of the door tonight and not coming back. I can sell my car, which I have no intention of doing and gettin' a wreck and crashing. The future has not happened, nor will it until I finish typing, oh and see, nothing changed whist I was typing.

Believe what you will but its like religion, a stupid myth.

I for once do not believe in this - I just say if a person believe in astrology-this person should have the freedom to do so.

Markus

[Red Devil]

Agreed, the same as religion, but dont foist it on me. BUT, I still say its impossible to tell the future from stars billions of years away who have never heard of Earth, or humans. This began with fake shamen trying to justify their existence, just as people became priests for power and laziness.. By the laws of averages a person can read their 'horoscope' written by a fake in a newspaper, and get paid for it, and in 365 horoscopes, 6 might be true. And people say wow! its true, forgetting about the 359 wrong ones.

I read my tea leaves tonight, it said that Manchester United FC will finish in the top 3 next season The fact that they probablly will is overlooked in the astrological scheme of things. If its so good, give me next weeks lottery numbers BEFORE they are drawn. MY crystal ball tells me: 1.5.10.13.15.25 and 32