An Astrology Discussion

So I was reading about astrology and the zodiac signs and was surprised at how accurately each sign described the personalities of my family and friend that I knew the birthday's of.It seems to me that the time of year that you are born in has some affect on how you turn out. What do you think?..any affect at all?Now, I do not think this necessitates that something paranormal is going on. Astrology attributes it to extraterrestrial activity, you know, planets n’stuff. That seems paranormal to me. How could something extraterrestrial affect your personality? Because of its gravity?I think it is caused by something terrestrial. Maybe how your age cycle lines up with the seasonal cycle, or something like that. If the beginning of each of your new age years fall in the winter, you might turn out different than if they fell in the summer. To me, it seems like that could affect someone’s personality.Assuming that the time of year that you are born in has some affect on how you turn out, what do you think causes it? Is there any scientific explanation we could come up with that could explain the phenomenon? Or is the scientific view that there is no affect at all?Also, anyone knowledgeable in the astrological explanation could explain that too.

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So I was reading about astrology and the zodiac signs and was surprised at how accurately each sign described the personalities of my family and friend that I knew the birthday's of.

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Do an experiment. Read out the personality descriptions, except mix up the signs. For example, claim you are describing a Taurus, but actually read out the Virgo. I bet you still get a lot of accurate descriptions.

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Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied. -- Otto von Bismarck

Well, it's like this. When the moon is in the Seventh House, and Jupiter aligns with Mars, then peace will guide the planets and love will steer the stars.I know what you're saying though. I've played with astroloy off and on and its funny how you can make it line up. Especially when you start throwing in high and low aspects, the houses, decanates, rising signs vs sun signs. You can basically find something to make any sign fit any personality.

You Geminis! So gullible you believe in astrology!

I did. It passed the test. It didn't have too much geralities that covered muliple personality types. It had some specifics to each sign that well described the personalities of the people that fit into those categories.Its obvious when the descriptions are vague and can cover many personalities but some of the specific were surprising. Like I said in the OP, it seems to me that the time of year that you are born in has some affect on how you turn out.Now, assuming that it does, is there any scientifically sound explanation for this phenomenon?

I found this to be untrue in the book I was reading from. Don't have it on me right now and forgot the title but I'm aware of what you are talking about. This book seemed convincing in the decription, just not in the causes.

So you don't think it is possible that the time of year that you are born in has some effect on how you turn out?

Check out James Randi's astrology test.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

I skimmed a few on-line horoscopes and didn't find much of a correlation between them and reality.This line seems a propos:

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Cancer people dislike... being pressured to take part in a conversation that they don't understand or don't care about.... link

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So stop pressuring me!

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Done.

Don't get me wrong, I've see plenty of bad astrology. As far as horoscopes, aren't those just predictions?I was reading about personality descriptions. They were surprisingly accurate, and not in the 'so general they'll work for anyone' type of accuracy. They weren't 100% or anything, but there were major differences between the descriptions for each sign and the people that I knew their sign, fit most of the description.They seemed to be a good description of that persons personality. There were specifics and differences between the descritions, so that one person didn't really fit multiple descriptions.I'm convinced that the time of the year you're born in can have an affect on your personality. I'm not convinced that astrology isn't a bunch of bullshit, though.What I wanted to discuss is the how...how can the time of the year you're born in affect your personality?At first I was thinking seasons, but people in the sothern hemisphere experience the opposite season of those in the north. If the astrology personality descriptions worked on a global scale, then this would rule out the seasons as the cause....and might even rule out that it is something terrestrial See, that description is too general. I mean, who does like being pressured to take part in a conversation that they don't understand or don't care about?The book I was reading from was better than that. I wish I had it with me and could scan some pages into this thread.

A horoscope is a view of the hour. It's a graphical representation of the sky for a given date and time at a given location. I used to cast them for our astronomy class' star-gazing outings.I studied astrology for a couple years while in college. I got started mainly to find out why, when asked my sign, my response would cause them to back off cautiously.Astrology, as it was taught in the early 70's, is a kind of theory of personality development and interactions. It is very rich in symbology and elaborate in its internal logic -- as theology is, though astrological theory was much less rigorous in its logic. There are at least 10 components to a personality, as represented by the ten planets (that terminology includes the Sun and Moon), so the popular "daily horoscopes'" efforts are immediately suspect, taking into account on one of ten components (albeit a major one).I came out of the whole experience with an exceptionally strong skepticism of any elaborate system of beliefs based entirely on internal logic (regardless of how elaborate and rigorous) but with no means of objectively testing the conclusions reached through that internal logic. By analogy, it's kind of like navigating by dead reckoning. You use your heading and speed and elapsed time to extrapolate your position, but unless you can get an actual fix on your position (eg, shot the stars, consult the GPS) then you are going to drift off course and the longer you've been doing this the farther off you'll be. This is especially true of systems of belief that make pronouncements about the supernatural.

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So I was reading about astrology and the zodiac signs and was surprised at how accurately each sign described the personalities of my family and friend that I knew the birthday's of.

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That's almost certainly confirmation bias at work.When I ask people who know me who also believe in Astrology to guess my sign, they are never, ever correct. Not even close.The trick to avoid bias is to read the descriptions without knowing what sign they are for, and THEN try to match them up with people without knowing the people's birth months.

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It seems to me that the time of year that you are born in has some affect on how you turn out. What do you think?..any affect at all?

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Highly unlikely.

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Now, I do not think this necessitates that something paranormal is going on. Astrology attributes it to extraterrestrial activity, you know, planets n’stuff. That seems paranormal to me. How could something extraterrestrial affect your personality? Because of its gravity?

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No idea.

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I think it is caused by something terrestrial. Maybe how your age cycle lines up with the seasonal cycle, or something like that. If the beginning of each of your new age years fall in the winter, you might turn out different than if they fell in the summer. To me, it seems like that could affect someone’s personality.

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How?

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Assuming that the time of year that you are born in has some affect on how you turn out, what do you think causes it? Is there any scientific explanation we could come up with that could explain the phenomenon? Or is the scientific view that there is no affect at all?

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Here's a good science-based essay on astrology

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There are at least 10 components to a personality, as represented by the ten planets

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So what happens now that Pluto isn't a planet anymore?

It would seem so but I don't think it was. I don't think being fooled and I was reading it critically. I was aware of confirmation bias. I think it was better than other books I've looked at. It seemed to have more specifics, and better personality descriptions than the generalities of typical astrology. That's a good idea, I'll have to try it. So what would you say if I could predict people's signs by matching descriptions of the signs to the person's personality? Well I was thinking that if your birthday was in the winter every year it might be depressing or something but that wouldn't work because people of the same sign in the southern hemisphere would be having their birthday in the summer every year. Thanks.