skeptics

Astrology is not a science

Many people who think of themselves as scientists like to call astrology a “pseudoscience.”  Pseudoscience is defined as “a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method” but some writers go so far as to call some of these fields of study “fake sciences,” meaning they purport to be science but are not.  These theorists claim that because astrology is scientifically incorrect (planets don’t move backward and the Sun doesn’t orbit the earth) it is a fake science.

From what I can remember from high school science, the scientific method […]

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By |2019-08-26T13:46:56-04:00February 25th, 2014|Astrology|4 Comments

Astrology and the Forer Effect

astrology skepticHere is an interesting article about an experiment performed in 1948 by Bertram R. Forer who collected statements from sun sign columns and then presented them to his subjects as though they were personally assessed as part of a personality profile.  Note: “horoscopes” are not sun sign forecasts, the horoscope is the actual map of the sky at a given time – the astrological chart, if you will.

These statements include the following:

You have a need for other people to like and admire you, and yet you tend to be […]

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By |2019-08-26T13:48:08-04:00July 7th, 2010|Astrology, Favorite posts, Sun sign astrology|2 Comments

More on Sun Signs and the Olympics

Astrological Signs

Yesterday we introduced the work of statistician Kenneth Mitchell’s analysis of the correlation of certain astrological signs with sports that correspond to those signs.

Moving on to Taurus – Mitchell learned of a sport called Bull Leaping and from the pictures deduced that Pole Vaulting and gymnasts would have similar skills.  Taurus, of course, is symbolized by the bull.  Mitchell found that those born under the Taurus Sun sign had a 128% greater chance of winning medals in these […]

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By |2019-08-26T13:49:08-04:00August 22nd, 2008|Sports, Sun sign astrology|Comments Off on More on Sun Signs and the Olympics

Astrology: Misunderstood, disrespected

I love finding quirky little articles that “debunk” astrology and posting them here. Like this one:

Think there’s no harm in astrology? Click around and you’ll find cases such as that of Myanmar’s former prime minister, General Ne Win, who decided to issue the nation’s currency in denominations of 45 and 90 and other multiples of nine, a number his astrologer said was his lucky number. The move immediately made citizens poorer […]

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By |2019-08-26T13:49:56-04:00July 24th, 2008|Astrology, Sun sign astrology|Comments Off on Astrology: Misunderstood, disrespected

Chris Brennan on Richard Dawkins

Chris is one of the smartest astrologers around, and he has a great breakdown of four of Dawkins’ arguments against astrology. Here’s just the fourth, but it presents an excellent discussion of the argument between the tropical zodiac (0 degrees of the cardinal signs at the solstice/equinoxes) and the sidereal (adapted to precession):

according to Dawkins, astrology hasn’t changed since the time of Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century ‘despite a shift in the Earth’s rotational axis that has thrown Ptolemy’s zodiac out by 23 degrees.’ [quotation from Dawkins].

The problem with this statement is that in the process of borrowing old […]

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By |2023-11-19T11:08:18-05:00September 16th, 2007|Science|Comments Off on Chris Brennan on Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins and the Astrology of Skeptics

Description=Richard Dawkins Photograph: Jeremy Young 05-12-2006The conversation in the comments thread to the last post inspired me to look at Dawkins’ chart and I confess I am quite fascinated with the strong Neptunian signatures that lie therein: Pisces Moon and Mercury, with Pisces Venus opposite Neptune, two very mystical signatures that counteract the Grand Trine in earth signs, which Twilight says she also possesses and makes a case for a low number of astrologers in this age group (born 1941).

Dawkins also has an unaspected Sun in Aries. Unaspected, or singleton Sun makes […]

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By |2019-08-26T13:46:17-04:00August 14th, 2007|People|Comments Off on Richard Dawkins and the Astrology of Skeptics

Christopher HItchens and Pluto in Sag

Christopher Hitchens has a new book out called “God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything.” While I totally agree with his premise that religion (Sagittarius) has poisoned many things and created more wars than anything else, I am saddened by his obvious need, like so many skeptics, to throw out any sense of wonder in life’s magic for the sake of objectivity and “science.”

In an article last week Hitchens lumps astrology together with other hoaxes of religion:

Astrology is widely considered to be discredited because of certain very obvious objections:

1) It gives people the […]

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By |2020-11-03T13:27:49-05:00May 31st, 2007|Religion|Comments Off on Christopher HItchens and Pluto in Sag

Astrology and Pseudoscience

I’ve been thinking about the classification of astrology as a “pseudoscience” ever since the now well-known study appeared that indicated an “unsettling growth” in the belief in pseudoscience such as astrology and visits by extraterrestrial aliens.

In the first place, the lumping together of astrology with extraterrestrial alien visits is puzzling, but this is likely the result of the media and most scientists believing that sun sign “horoscopes” are astrology, and then horoscopes and alien visits become fodder for tabloid journalism.

Richard Tarnas in his excellent book Cosmos and Psyche writes that as human intelligence has become […]

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By |2022-10-15T13:31:25-04:00March 2nd, 2007|Science|Comments Off on Astrology and Pseudoscience

Astrology and the False Identity

fakeSusan has a post today that reminded me of an experience I had before I was married. She writes:

I know astrology works. I have made mistakes in casting charts that have proved to me that it is valid. When I cast the wrong time, the charts didn’t fit the person, and the timing of events was off. When I corrected the chart, it made more sense and the timing was correct.

I experienced this also with a clients once; I began the reading and the client could not relate to anything that […]

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By |2023-11-19T09:51:20-05:00February 20th, 2007|Astrology in my world|Comments Off on Astrology and the False Identity

Some things just work.

Recently these pages witnessed a dramatic debate over whether astrology could be or had been proven in the now defunct Skeptics Challenge. (I learned my lesson – as revealed by a commentator, skeptics don’t have an open mind but require scientific, not experiential, proof.) At any rate, this appeared in our local newspaper column, the People’s Pharmacy: No Science Behind Soap Remedy.

Sometimes a remedy defies logic. Usually there’s no science to support it either. That’s certainly the case when it comes to putting a bar of soap under the bottom sheet to stop leg cramps or […]

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By |2019-08-26T13:51:14-04:00February 19th, 2007|Astrology, Favorite posts|Comments Off on Some things just work.
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