IT's Written In The Stars.. It's Nothing New.. It's Been around For Years..

[likewater]

Today I feel like posting Astrology shit.. All kinds of astrological information, The Planets are always lovely to read about and to see.. so if you want You can post some universe shit.. some Lunar moon photo's.. but the main thing today this tread will be all about the Signs.. I haven't posted anything from my scopes.. sooo What do you have to offer.. ??? hug?? what..

Just post it and leave a link..



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Astrology
February 09, 2009 - Newsletter




Stick Together
... and everyone's a winner!
Drama, destiny and new ideas come together to make this an exciting week -- just in time for Valentine's Day! The lunar eclipse of February 9 brings to a dramatic culmination the themes the solar eclipse of January 26. Teamwork is the message as jolly Jupiter and the north node conjunct on February 13. Then mindful Mercury enters Aquarius on February 14, encouraging independent thinking and new ideas.



The Stars This Week by Amanda Owen




Teamwork Moves You Forward

02/09/2009 - 02/15/2009


Drama, destiny and new ideas come together to make this an exciting week. The lunar eclipse of February 9 brings to a dramatic culmination the themes the solar eclipse of January 26. Teamwork is the message as jolly Jupiter and the north node conjunct on February 13. Then mindful Mercury enters Aquarius on February 14, encouraging independent thinking and new ideas.

February 9: Leo lunar eclipse

Few events spell d-r-a-m-a more than an eclipse in Leo! Just as lunar eclipses are quite spectacular visually, astrologically they highlight and underscore an important theme in your life. Leo is a sign of leadership, fun and creativity making this a great time to shine in any of these areas. Look to where the sign Leo is placed in your birth chart for more information. Neptune's placement in this eclipse shows idealism is strengthened, but so is the possibility of disillusionment or scandal. The full moon is a culmination from the new beginnings of the last new moon, which was a solar eclipse in Aquarius on January 26. The full Moon is always an emotional high tide time. In the days following the full Moon but before the next new Moon, get a plan together to maximize what's working or to make changes that will make you feel more comfortable.

February 13: Jupiter conjunct north node

Last December 18, the north node entered group-oriented Aquarius with the message that team-work moves you forward and being too self-focused holds you back. As planets transit through Aquarius, they conjunct and energize this theme. Jupiter is like a magnifying glass; everything gets bigger and more noticeable with Jupiter's energy. You'll hear plenty about the importance of working together this week.

February 14: Mercury enters Aquarius

Mercury turned retrograde in Aquarius last month on January 11. Now direct, Mercury returns to this free-spirited sign bringing a fresh point of view after a needed reassessment. You have original ideas; now is the time to develop them and see just how far you can go with them. If you know which house in your chart Mercury is traveling through, you can apply those ideas to that area of your life. Above all leave old concepts behind. It is time to be future-oriented, inventive and to think outside of the box.

[Terry James]

I'm on the cusp gemini/cancer. am I phucced up?

[geo]

I'm on the cusp of Aries / Taurus.

what does this mean?

[Martin Red]

astrology is a con

[likewater]

I'm on the cusp gemini/cancer. am I phucced up?

You just like to talk to much..Gemini is the communicative sign.. Air.. the electrontic waves.. so they are talkers.. and cancer is sign of feelings and love.. Mother Nature.. is ruled by the moon.. so you get caught up in a lot of personal drama.. Your Gemini selfs trys to control it .. but your Cancer self loves the attention.. You'll be fine.. just stop being so damn nice.. and learn to say NO..


I keep saying that to You Cusp Gemini/Cancer people.. WHy do You still keep doing the same shit.. It's okay.. You'll learn..

[Larissa J.]

I'm a Taurus true to the bone.................

[likewater]

I'm on the cusp of Aries / Taurus.

what does this mean?

SOmetimes You want to Kick that ass but that Taurus in you keeps you in Calm state of mind.. That Mars planet wants to fight the battle and kill a nigga.. But that soft spot.. Taurus.. is to stubborn to let Your Aries get his clothes all messed up in a Aries battle.. You are so much of a lover of everything.. You have to control your Vices.. and say no Once in a while..

[Terry James]

You just like to talk to much..Gemini is the communicative sign.. Air.. the electrontic waves.. so they are talkers.. and cancer is sign of feelings and love.. Mother Nature.. is ruled by the moon.. so you get caught up in a lot of personal drama.. Your Gemini selfs trys to control it .. but your Cancer self loves the attention.. You'll be fine.. just stop being so damn nice.. and learn to say NO..


I keep saying that to You Cusp Gemini/Cancer people.. WHy do You still keep doing the same shit.. It's okay.. You'll learn..

Now really?

Can anybody that knows me confirm this?

[likewater]

I'm a Taurus true to the bone.................

You're a Lover..You like to dance, give hugs all the time.. Your writting skills are sharp as hell.. You can whip out a song or poem in a flash.. You hate drama.. but if it calls for the get down in the beat down.. shit You game.. you're more of a Lover of Some shu nuff Lovin.. you can't stand Whiners.. men or women..

[Martin Red]

astrology is a con

.....

['Magic' Juan]

astrology is a con

[likewater]

Now really?

Can anybody that knows me confirm this?

mmmm You want Confirmations,

Go ask those people You keep saying Yes too..

[Martin Red]

You're a Lover..You like to dance, give hugs all the time.. Your writting skills are sharp as hell.. You can whip out a song or poem in a flash.. You hate drama.. but if it calls for the get down in the beat down.. shit You game.. you're more of a Lover of Some shu nuff Lovin.. you can't stand Whiners.. men or women..

bollocks !

[Martin Red]

New Planets

If astrology is valid and scientific, how did it manage to operate for thousands of years without noticing three of our solar system's nine planets? Why did astronomers, using math and science, discover them first? The answer is that astrology is not scientific.

[Terry James]

.....

[Larissa J.]

You're a Lover..You like to dance, give hugs all the time.. Your writting skills are sharp as hell.. You can whip out a song or poem in a flash.. You hate drama.. but if it calls for the get down in the beat down.. shit You game.. you're more of a Lover of Some shu nuff Lovin.. you can't stand Whiners.. men or women..

On point......................

[likewater]

yeah Mon!! de WOman.. was not de truff.. she was fowl..



I am gifted I just read Yo Ass.. and thats all.. I dont use books or graphs.. I just need bornday Info... and thats it.. Come On Magic.. whats Yours buddy??..

[likewater]

bollocks !

They Call Me "Ms Likewater".. WOmen of many talents..

[Martin Red]

There are dangers from astrology besides those associated with spiritism and other occult practices.1 Science writer Lawrence E. Jerome states, "How much physical and psychological damage such false astrological practices and advice cause cannot even be estimated."2 Bart Bok, a former president of the prestigious American Astronomical Society, has observed that, "The study and ready availability of astrological predictions can exert an insidious influence on a person’s personal judgment."3 Indeed, if a billion people trust in the false advice of astrology in some degree, one can hardly hazard a guess at the overall personal cost around the world. Even some astrologers confess that practitioners are liable to the characteristic hazards of the trade. These kinds of hazards do not make for a trusting relationship between astrologer and client but further complicate an already potentially dangerous situation.
Leading astrologer Tracy Marks discusses the following potential problems between the astrologer and his client. A little imagination here will reveal how each one can produce harm to the client:

• the astrologer may experience himself as superior to the client.

• the astrologer may encourage the dependency of his clients.

• the astrologer may give clients what they appear to want rather than what they really need.

• astrologers may pass their own values and ideas under the cloak of astrological authority.

• the astrologers’ "own sense of powerlessness" may lead them to "disempower [their] clients, imparting deterministic [fatalistic attitudes."

• the astrologers’ own fears concerning certain planets and signs may influence their interpretation and "result in [their] imparting pronouncements which could become destructively self-fulfilling prophecies."

• astrologers may speak in astrological jargon the client cannot understand and use mystical language authoritatively to create "the illusion that [they] are imparting high truths, when indeed [they] may be saying little of significance."

• astrologers may "speak in vague, ungrounded generalities."4

Marks observes that even "most professional astrologers are guilty on occasion of at least several of the above inadequacies…."5 In addition, she admits that astrologers may react more to the chart than to the client; may become egotistical; may devalue the client; and can draw hasty conclusions.6

Astrological predictions or advice can cause people to do things they would otherwise never have done, and sometimes this has led to tragedy. Given the right circumstances, a particular chart interpretation and its potentially powerful influence upon a person could even lead to criminal acts. In order to help fulfill or forestall what a person believes is the cosmic influence or destiny upon himself or another. For example, a chart reveals that a company will fail, so the president embezzles funds for his own security; or that a child may be born mentally retarded, so there is an abortion.

German theologian and occult expert Dr. Kurt Koch observes that, "Astrology has been responsible for a number of suicides and murders."7 He cites examples in his books concerning the effects of the suggestive nature of astrology. For example, a woman murdered her own son because an astrologer predicted he would lead a life of mental illness. The shattered mother went to jail, but the astrologer went free.8 Dr. Sherman Kanagy, a physics professor at Purdue University observes, "In ancient times women whose babies were born under the sign of Scorpio would often kill their babies by drowning because of the evil significance."9

Remember that astrologers are: 1) unlicensed and unregulated, 2) require little or no education, 3) can become a "professional" astrologer overnight, 4) are occultists who characteristically reject absolute moral values, and 5) often use their powers over others in a manipulative and authoritarian manner. If the practices of such people force them into demonic collaboration, what kind of answers are clients getting from astrological counseling? In considering the clients of astrologers, we will see additional reasons for concern.

The Clients of Astrologers

What kind of person seeks out an astrologer? We can determine from the statements of astrologers themselves that some and perhaps many clients are those for whom astrology will be most destructive.

Clients lack values. For example, astrological counselor Stephen Arroyo observes, "Many people who request astrological assistance are suffering from a lack of values...."10

Clients are easily duped or deceived. Astrologer Jane Evans observes, "I have known too many people to whom self-deception was second nature."11

Clients are looking for the astrologer to make their decisions for them. This is a problem that is almost universally admitted among astrologers. Some attempt to help such clients become more independent, but others willingly become their "gurus," and enjoy the fact that their client will make no decision without first consulting their "wisdom…."12

It is the ability of astrologers to justify a person’s selfish tendencies that caused Dr. John Warwick Montgomery to give the following warning: "The very elasticity of astrological interpretation is its most dangerous characteristic where people desperately desire a shortcut to self knowledge and solutions to their problems, and where the answers are ambiguous, they inevitably choose according to self-interest. Thus the floodgates are opened to the reinforcement of evil tendencies.... It should not be regarded as strange that astrology has so frequently been used to guide evil farther along the path it has already taken."13

Because astrologers reject any absolute standard of morality, they prefer a "situation ethics" approach where moral decisions are determined largely by the whim and preference of the astrologer or client. Astrologer Alan Oken observes, "No Path is the Truth Path, for in the Absolute there is not Truthfulness or Falsehood, no right and no wrong, no yes and no no."14 Even the Alexandrian astronomer and "father" of astrology, Ptolemy (2nd C.A.D.) confessed, "Many of its practitioners are in it for gain rather than truth or wisdom, and pretend to know more than the facts permit."15 Another astrologer testifies, "The preoccupation with self is really in the interest of evolution.... In modern astrology we seek confirmation of our personal importance."16

Evil Uses

Astrologers admit astrology can be used for either "good" or evil purposes. Leading astrologer Sydney Omarr states, "Astrology is there, to be used for the good—or the evil (Hitler!)."17 Just as there is both black and white witchcraft, one astrology text observes, "There is white and black astrology.…"18 Leading astrologer Nicholas deVore confesses that "astrology has often been used to unworthy ends."19

Adolph Hitler, the ancient Aztecs and their human sacrifices, the modern serial killer known as the Zodiac killer, modern witches and Satanists, have used astrology for evil purposes. All realized that astrology’s power may be used malevolently. For whatever reasons, these people decided to choose evil. This is the point. The astrologer is free to choose. Perhaps the most cunning deception here is when, like Hitler, the astrologer uses his craft for evil while thinking he is using it for the good.

Morality and Sex

In the astrologer’s view, morality is often determined by one’s subjective or "higher" state of consciousness, not by what one believes or does. Obedience to God would be (perhaps) moral for one person and immoral for another. As one guru who endorses astrology states, "I would like to say to you: obedience [to God] is the greatest sin," and "I teach you disobedience.... The devil did a tremendous service to humanity."20 But most astrologers are not very concerned with morality in the first place. In fact, many of them believe that moral judgments themselves are the real evil.21 Their job, as astrologers, is simply to validate the client’s own views, whatever they are.22

One reason astrology is popular is because it permits us to explain our own failures and evils, or whatever we do not like in ourselves, as the fault of the stars. Here is an attractive escape from personal responsibility.23 Astrologers may say that "Saturn did it," or that "the stars weren’t auspicious." Virtually anything can be rationalized, any sin or evil, because "What happens to us is what needs to happen to us."24

But if there is any place in which astrology promotes sin, it is the area of sexual behavior.25 In an era of AIDS and dozens of other sexually transmitted diseases, this is of no small concern.26 Astrologer Jeff Green provides an illustration. Here is the case of a woman who was deeply troubled by her sexual immorality. What did she discover through astrological counseling? She realized that she was free to enjoy sexual affairs without guilt by making them "spiritual," even a divine activity. On what basis? Simply because Pluto was in the eighth house in Leo, the south node was in the seventh house in opposition to Mars, and Pisces was in the second house.27

Astrologers also observe chart indicators for bisexuality, homosexuality, lesbianism, sexual sadism, and transexualism.28 Since such activities are "indicated," perhaps the one who desires to pursue them will have them justified in his own mind. And the one who does not desire them may live in worry or fear over the possibility, perhaps until he gives in to his astrological "destiny." We can only wonder what an impressionable teenager would think if he went to an astrologer and discovered such "indicators" in his chart. What if he or she were confused about sexuality, especially in an age of gross experimentation and so-called sexual enlightenment?

Consider the advice to a client by Maxine Bell, a famous astrologer to Hollywood’s homosexual community: "He didn’t come to me for help, he came to me to find out when his next affair was due. He was just finishing up one [affair] and after two nights of being alone he was desperate, so he wondered what his prospects were for a new affair. I gave him the rundown on when the next affair would be likely. Whenever transiting Mars goes over the fifth house that starts things going."29

Many astrologers believe that homosexuality is as much a part of a person’s "destiny pattern" as their birth or death. Maxine Bell states, "If they were homosexuals as they closed their last life and had no desire to quit or reform, them they come back as a homosexual and they have their own karma they bring with them."30 "I have no wish to change, only to help," says Edith Randall, a celebrated Hollywood astrologer. Her 60,000 astrological readings over the years include "a sizable slice of the homosexual community."31

http://www.ankerberg.com/Articles/new-age/NA0701W1.htm

[Terry James]

You just like to talk to much..Gemini is the communicative sign.. Air.. the electrontic waves.. so they are talkers.. and cancer is sign of feelings and love.. Mother Nature.. is ruled by the moon.. so you get caught up in a lot of personal drama.. Your Gemini selfs trys to control it .. but your Cancer self loves the attention.. You'll be fine.. just stop being so damn nice.. and learn to say NO..


I keep saying that to You Cusp Gemini/Cancer people.. WHy do You still keep doing the same shit.. It's okay.. You'll learn..

Not a talker (somewhat quiet person)
Not drama driven (keep my biz my biz)
Not a attention ho (Im very laid back)
Nice but not a "yes" person

c'mon more!!!! you're on a roll

[likewater]

New Planets

If astrology is valid and scientific, how did it manage to operate for thousands of years without noticing three of our solar system's nine planets? Why did astronomers, using math and science, discover them first? The answer is that astrology is not scientific.

because we were only taught about the 12 that sit in our Galaxy.. they just found something that was there all the time..

[Martin Red]

Astrology is neither harmless nor fun, and we should see it as an enemy of truth, says Richard Dawkins, author of 'The Selfish Gene'. Why, he asks, do so many of us indulge in these pre-Copernican dabblings which are nothing short of wicked fraud?

We should take astrology seriously. No, I don't mean we should believe in it. I am talking about fighting it seriously instead of humouring it as a piece of harmless fun. Frivolous tolerance, probably the dominant stance towards astrology among educated people who don't actually believe in it, ran right through a recent article in the Independent on Sunday by Justine Picardie, "Spinning after Patric's Star". As the headline writer put it, "Astrology has never been so popular, or such big business. But when the late, great (sic) Patric Walker (Libra) died, it wasn't just his billion readers - or his income - that attracted his aspirant successors; it was his reputation as the Henry James of horoscope writers, as the man who'd made the trade respectable."

Hardly respectable, but surely something must be going on when even the Independent on Sunday can devote two pages plus a double picture spread to the question of who would inherit the mantle of a dead charlatan. Picardie's attitude to these well-heeled quacks ranges from affection (the Queen Mother's favourite astrologer is "roly poly") to something perilously near respect (Patric Walker is described without irony as "eminent") Respect might indeed be prompted by the wealth of these glitzy con-artists, which is lovingly dwelt upon (Chauffeurs whisk them in white stretch limos to fashionable restaurants where head waiters fawn over them).

The popular scientist David Belamy, who ought to know better and probably does, contributed to Patric Walker's astrology page in Radio Times, writing that he has the "Capricorn caution" over certain things, but mostly he puts his head down and charges like a real goat. Such shallow light-heartedness sets a mood in which questioning astrology's validity is made to seem pedantic Gradgrindery. To ask whether the astrologers themselves believe in it also comes over as a bit long-faced, on the killjoy side. On Picardie's evidence, some are foolish enough to believe anything (One of them met Patric Walker "just before Mercury went retrograde" and immediately recognised him "from a past life"). The roly-poly one sounds a bit more fly and may understand exactly what he's doing, but it is hard to penetrate his high-camp posturing. Mystic Meg by all accounts could be the best of the bunch, an old fashioned crystal-ball toter, showing up the pretensions of the others, which is presumably why they try to disown her.

The serious newspapers seem to be embarking on a self-conscious flirtation with astrology. Until recently they had nothing to do with such tabloid stuff. Then the Sunday Times succumbed and introduced its own astrology column, presumably with the excuse that it was just a bit of a giggle. The others haven't yet stooped so low, but some are acknowledging the pressure in more subtle ways. For the article by Justine Picardie the ostensible excuse was a story about financial success and succession. The same writer, incidentally, has followed it with an article on angels, again humorously open-minded ("There's this thing called going down in spirit"), teetering on the brink of outright respect for the lucrative profession of "angelologist" - one of them is an "eminent". Sorbonne professor of "philosophy" (which turns out to mean the usual "cultural studies" metatwaddle). There's this thing called being so open-minded your brains drop out.

This year-end the Guardian commissioned various individuals to look ahead to the future. Tucked away among some real scientists, historians and philosophers is none other than our roly-poly friend, the "First astrologer to play Nostradamus on TV". Here are his expert views: "On 12 January, Uranus moves into Aquarius and it's the dawning of a new age. It will be altruistic, humanitarian, brotherhood of man. I'm really looking forward to this. The energy (he obviously doesn't understand what this technical term means) will last until November 2008 because Uranus will be eight years in Aquarius and Pluto 13 years in Sagittarius. Thank God I'm Aquarius". And lots more in the same vein, which the Guardian considered fit to print. The Princess of Wales, herself an enthusiast for astrology as one might expect, has "got her Moon in Aquarius" and so has Tony Blair. "Could he do for the country what Di has done for the monarchy?" I have a better question. Why does a decent newspaper hand out free publicity to this phoney? Just a giggle, again? Or is the Guardian bending over backwards not to be elitist?

On a moonless night when the only clouds to be seen are the Magellanic Clouds of the Milky Way, go out to a place far from street light pollution, lie on the grass and gaze out at the stars.1 What are you seeing? Superficially you notice constellations, but a constellation is of no more significance than a patch of curiously shaped damp on the bathroom ceiling. Note, accordingly, how little it means to say something like "Uranus moves into Aquarius". Aquarius is a miscellaneous set of stars all at different distances from us, which have no connection with each other except that they constitute a (meaningless) pattern when seen from a certain (not particularly special) place in the galaxy (here). A constellation is not an entity at all, not the kind of thing that Uranus, or anything else, can sensibly be said to "move into".

The shape of a constellation, moreover, is ephemeral. A million years ago our Homo erectus ancestors gazed out nightly (no light pollution then, unless it came from that species' brilliant innovation, the camp fire) at a set of very different constellations. A million years hence, our descendants will see yet other shapes in the sky, and their astrologer (if our species has not grown up and sent them packing long since) will be fabricating their oracles on the basis of a different zodiac.

A far more rapid astronomical shift is the precession of the equinoxes.2 My birthday (26 March) is listed in the papers as Aries but this is the sun sign which somebody with my birthday would have had when Ptolemy codified all that stuff. Because of the precessional shift of approximately one whole zodiacal sign over the AD era, my sun sign is in fact (if you can call it a fact) Pisces. If astrologers were doing something that had any connection with reality, this presumably ought to make a difference. Since they aren't, it doesn't. Scorpio could go retrograde up Uranus and it wouldn't make any difference.

Actually, of course, only planets can "go retrograde", and even then it is an illusion. As they, and we, orbit the sun, planets will on occasion appear to reverse their direction from our point of view. But these occasions have no significance. From a third planet they would be seen to "go retrograde" at different times. Planets do not really "wander", and certainly not remotely near any constellation, which are the distant backdrops of our viewpoint. Even if "going retrograde" or "moving into Aquarius" were real phenomena, some thing that planets actually do, what influence could they possibly have on human events? A planet is so far away that its gravitational pull on a new-born baby would be swamped by the pull of the doctor's paunch.3

No, we can forget planets going retrograde, and we can forget constellations except as a convenient way of finding our way around. What else are we seeing when we gaze up at the night sky? One thing we are seeing is history. When you look at the great galaxy in Andromeda you are seeing it as it was 2.3 million years ago and Australopithecus stalked the African savannah. You are looking back in time. Shift your gaze a few degrees to the nearest bright star in the constellation of Andromeda and you are seeing Mirach, but much more recently, as it was when Wall Street crashed. The sun, when you see it, is only eight minutes ago. But look through a large telescope at the sombrero Galaxy and you are seeing a trillion suns as they were when your tailed ancestors peered shyly through the canopy and India collided with Asia to raise the Himalayas. A collision on a larger scale, between two galaxies in Stephan's Quintet, is shown to us at a time when on Earth dinosaurs were dawning and the trilobites fresh dead.

Name any year in history and there will be a star up there whose light gives you a glimpse of something happening that very year. Whatever the year of your birth, somewhere up in the night sky you could find your birth star (or stars, for the number is proportional to the third power of your age). Its light enables you to look back and see a thermonuclear glow that heralds your birth. A pleasing conceit, but that is all. Your birth star will not deign to tell anything about your personality, your future or your sexual compatibilities. The stars have larger agendas, in which the preoccupation's of human pettiness do not figure.

Your birth star, of course, is yours for only this year. Next year you must look to another shell of stars, one light year more distant. Think of this expanding bubble as a radius of good news, the news of you birth, broadcast steadily outwards. In the Einsteinian universe in which most physicists now think we live, nothing can in principle travel faster than light. So, if you are 50 years old, you have a personal news sphere of 50 light years radius. Within that sphere it is in principle possible (obviously not in practice) for news of your existence to have permeated. Outside that sphere you might as well not exist - in an Einsteinian sense you do not exist. Older people have larger existence spheres than younger people, but nobody's existence sphere extends to more than a tiny fraction of the universe. The birth of Jesus may seem an ancient and momentous event to us. But the news of it is actually so recent that, even in the most theoretically ideal circumstances, it could in principle have been proclaimed to less than one 200-million-millionth of the stars in the universe. Many, if not most, of the stars out there will be orbited by planets. The numbers are so vast that probably some of them have life forms, some have evolved intelligence and technology. Yet the distance and times that separate us are so great that thousands of life forms could independently evolve and go extinct without it being possible for any to know of the existence of any other. The real universe has mystery enough to need no help from obscurantist hucksters.

Scientific truth is too beautiful to be sacrificed for the sake of light entertainment or money. Astrology is an aesthetic affront. It cheapens astronomy, like using Beethoven for commercial jingles. By existing law neither Beethoven nor nature can sue, but perhaps existing law could be changed. If the methods of Astrologers were really shown to be valid it would be a fact of signal importance for science. Under such circumstances astrology should be taken seriously indeed. But if - as all indications agree - there is not a smidgen of validity in any of the things that astrologers so profitably do, this, too, should be taken seriously and not indulgently trivialised. We should learn to see the debauching of science for profit as a crime.

I must make the usual defence against a charge of scientific arrogance. How do I know that there is no truth in astrology? Well, of course I don't know. I can't prove that there is nothing in horoscopes, any more than I can prove that there is nothing in the (rather more plausible) theory that chewing gum causes mad cow disease. There just isn't any evidence in favour (of either theory), and no reason why we should expect there to be evidence. It isn't as though it would be difficult to find evidence for astrology, if there were any to be had. It wouldn't take anything like that blissful cartoon in which a newsreader announces: "In a major breakthrough for the science of astrology, all people born under Scorpio were yesterday run over by egg lorries."4 A statistical tendency, however slight, for people's personalities to be predictable from their birthdays, over and above the expected difference between winter and summer babies, would be a promising start.

For us to take a hypothesis seriously, it should ideally be supported by at least a little bit of evidence. If this is too much to ask, there should be some suggestion of a reason why it might be worth bothering to look for evidence. Graphology, as a means of reading personalities, is not supported by evidence either, but here the possibility that it might work is not hopelessly implausible a priori. The brain is the seat of the personality and the brain controls handwriting, so it is not in principle unlikely that style of handwriting might betray personality. It seems almost a pity that no good evidence has been forthcoming. But astrology has nothing going for it at all, neither evidence nor any inkling of a rationale which might prompt us to look for evidence. Astrology not only demeans astronomy, shrivelling and cheapening the universe with its pre Copernican dabblings. It is also an insult to the science of psychology and the richness of human personality. I am talking about the facile and potentially damaging way in which astrologers divide humans into 12 categories. Scorpios are cheerful, outgoing types, Leos with their methodical personalities go well with Libra's (or whatever it is). My wife, Lalla Ward, recalls an occasion when a more than usually brainless hanger-on approached the director of the film they were working on with a "Gee, Mr Preminger, what sign are you?" and received the immortal rebuff, "I am a do-not-disturb sign." We love an opportunity to pigeonhole each other but we should resist the temptation. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Does your body shape betray an endomorphic, a mesomorphic or an ectomorphic personality? "The ectomorph is much more of an introvert and more shrewd and calculating".

Personality is a real phenomenon and psychologists (real, scientific psychologists, not Freudians or Jungians) have had some success in developing mathematical models to handle many dimensions of personality variation. The initially large number of dimensions can be mathematically collapsed into fewer dimensions with measurable, and for some purposes conscionable, loss in predictive power. These fewer derived dimensions sometimes correspond to the dimensions that we intuitively think we recognise - aggressiveness, obstinacy, affectionateness and so on. Summarising an individual's personality as a point in multidimensional space is a serviceable approximation whose limitations can be measured and are known. It is a far cry from any mutually exclusive categorisation, certainly far from the preposterous fiction of astrology's 12 dumpbins. It is based upon genuinely relevant data about people themselves, not their birthdays. The psychologist's multidimensional scaling can be useful in deciding whether a person is suited to a particular career, or a couple to each other. The astrologer's 12 pigeonholes are, if nothing worse, a costly and irrelevant distraction. Lonely hearts advertisers frequently insert astrological references alongside relevant information such as musical tastes or sporting interests, and may even insist that the partner they are looking for must be, for instance, Taurus. Think of what this means. The whole point of advertising in such columns is to increase the catchment area for meeting sexual partners (and indeed the circle provided by the workplace and by friends of friends is meagre and needs enriching). It is nothing short of ludicrous then to go out of your way to divide the available number of potential partners by twelve. Lonely people, whose life might be transformed by a longed for compatible friendship, are deliberately encouraged, by their reading of astrological quacks in the newspapers, wantonly and pointlessly to throw away 11/12ths of the available population. This is not just silly, it is damaging, and the quacks concerned deserve our censure as strongly as their deluded victims deserve our pity.

There are some stupid people out there, and they should be pitied not exploited. On a famous occasion a few years ago a newspaper hack, who had drawn the short straw and been told to make up the day's astrological advice, relieved his boredom by writing under one star sign the following portentous lines: "All the sorrows of yesteryear are as nothing compared to what will befall you today." He was fired after the switchboard was jammed with panic-stricken readers, pathetic testimony to the simple trust people can place in astrology.

The American conjuror James Randi recounts in his book Flim Flam how as a young man he briefly got the astrology job on a Montreal newspaper, making up the horoscopes under the name Zo-ran. His method was to cut out the forecasts from old astrology magazines, shuffle them in a hat, distribute them at random among the 12 zodiacal signs and print the results. This was very successful of course (because all astrology works on the "Barnum principle" of saying things so vague and general that all readers think it applies to them.) He describes how he overheard in a cafe a pair of office workers eagerly scanning Zo-ran's column in the paper. "They squealed with delight on seeing their future so well laid out, and in response to my query said that Zo-ran had been 'right smack on' last week. I did not identify myself as Zo-ran... Reaction in the mail to the column had been quite interesting, too, and sufficient for me to decide that many people will accept and rationalise almost any pronouncement made by someone they believe to be an authority with mystic powers. At this point, Zo-ran hung up his scissors, put away the paste pot, and went out of business.""

My case is that Randi was morally right to hang up his scissors, that serious newspapers should never give named astrologers the oxygen of publicity, that astrology is neither harmless nor fun, and that we should fight it seriously as an enemy of truth. We have a Trade Descriptions Act which protects us from manufacturers making false claims for their products. The law has not so far been invoked in defence of simple, scientific truth. Why not? Astrologers provide as good a test case as could be desired. They make claims to forecast the future, and they take payment for this, as well as for professional advice to individuals on important decisions. A pharmaceuticals manufacturer who marketed a birth-control pill that had not the slightest demonstrable effect upon fertility would be prosecuted under the Trade Descriptions Act, and sued by trusting customers who found themselves pregnant. If astrologers cannot be sued by individuals misadvised, say, into taking disastrous business decisions, why at least are they not prosecuted for false representation under the Trade Descriptions Act and driven out of business? Why, actually, are professional astrologers not jailed for fraud?


http://www.simonyi.ox.ac.uk/dawkins/...in_stars.shtml

[likewater]

Not a talker (somewhat quiet person)
Not drama driven (keep my biz my biz)
Not a attention ho (Im very laid back)
Nice but not a "yes" person

c'mon more!!!! you're on a roll

the reason you're not what I said is because You hold it down with Taurus.. if someone came in the room and you will start talking.. A Gemini is not hungry for attention, nor is a Taurus, they are very laid back people.. You will talk if it comes to that..

[cleodine velvet jackson]

You're a Lover..You like to dance, give hugs all the time.. Your writting skills are sharp as hell.. You can whip out a song or poem in a flash.. You hate drama.. but if it calls for the get down in the beat down.. shit You game.. you're more of a Lover of Some shu nuff Lovin.. you can't stand Whiners.. men or women..

That sounds like me, plus there's so much more.

From what people have told me over the years, I'm Taurus to the bone.

Folks walk up to me and immediately ask if I'm Taurus. Go figure.

[cleodine velvet jackson]

I'm a Taurus true to the bone.................

Miss Larissa J., the 14th is such a wonderful day.

Trust me, I know.