Thursday, November 05, 2009

Peddling Fear

Originally this post was a bad-tempered rant, but it sat in draft form for 24 hours, giving me time to reconsider a few hard words I'd written about a well-known astrologer and his predictions for next year. I've toned it down.

In my view, astrologers ought be above scaring the s..t out of their readers. How on earth can it be useful, or ethical, to present doomy predictions based on what is, after all, an imperfect tool: astrology. Astrology is imperfect, especially for the purposes of prediction. If a passing reader can name any exact predictions of world or national events from the past which proved accurate, I'll be happy to eat my words.

The best that astrologers can honestly aim for is a vague forecast of what the general atmosphere of any given period of time might be, based on cycles; based on the passage of time, marked by the movement of the Sun, Moon and planets. Their movements track time in the way the hands on a clock track time. I'm beginning to suspect that the planets themselves, like the hands on a clock, are not "it". Time and its unknown properties, waves and cycles are "it", with the movement of the planets being our only available reference points.

Perhaps the next few years will bring us to an important point in time cycles, to the crest or trough of a "wave" of sorts, when events will prove, with hindsight, to have been highly significant. Details beyond that, presented by astrologers or anyone else, are guesses at best, and to my mind ought to be labelled as such. Assumptions as to whether events will prove negative or positive in effect cannot possibly known with any certainty. Comparing what happened "the last time" such and such a planetary formation occurred seems to me to be unhelpful. We are now part of a different cycle on the spiral of time. Things are different in every conceivable way from how they were "then" - whichever "then" is chosen.

I believe that astrology needs to be kept alive, pending a time when science, physics, and human knowledge catch up, and help to clarify the shadowy traditions bequeathed to us by astrologers of centuries past. I have a feeling this will happen. One day an unsuspecting physicist will utter those words..."That's funny!"

Astrology needs to be kept alive, but not by fear and pessimism - by love. Fear is a virus, it spreads and mutates, and unhealthily infects the collective mindset. Astrologers ought to keep this in mind.

7 comments:

Diane L said...

This bugs the heck out of me too. One reason I no longer do predictive astrology except in the most general terms is to avoid getting caught up in the "sky is falling" mentality.

Good post, Twilight!

p.s. like what you have done with your profile photo . . . :-)

Wisewebwoman said...

Being of the more logical persuasion, T, I find these predictions completely Chicken Littlish. If there is disaster it is entirely of our own making and can easily be predicted by scientific conclusion.
Love your new pic
And love that I'm on high speed after a 5 month drought of dialup...
XO
WWW

Anonymous said...

Hi Twilight!
Stopping by your awesome blog....can't help but wonder who you're talking about with the doom predictions. But I respect your integrity not to say, too.
Best to you,
Molly

Molly Hall said...

Guess I posted under my other 'handle.' It's me, from over at About.com, stopping in to say hello. I'm very grateful for the link, by the way, on your blogroll.
I'm not always logical in my approach to astrology, but am striving for more of that blend of the two, intuition and rational thinking. So I very much appreciate the lofty view from an Aquarian on this topic.
Best,
Molly

Twilight said...

Neith - Hi there! Oh, I feel relieved that the first comment wasn't a brickbat! LOL! Glad you feel as I do. Thanks!

Re photo - I played around with Photofiltre (free graphics software) just trying for something different. :-) Your new one is a very nice portrait by the way!

Twilight said...

WWW ~~~ They are "sky falling" stuff, for sure, but some sensitive souls take them very seriously. That's what worries me.
A person who is already a tad under the weather or depressed can be deeply affected reading such stuff.

Ah, high speed! So now you can watch videos! :-)
Good for you!

Twilight said...

Molly aka SheLives
Hi Molly ~~~ The astrologer whose article prompted this post isn't anyone with a blog. He's not alone in his doom and gloom predictions though, I've seen others. His was the last straw and it got me steaming.

LOL... "lofty" Aquarius ? Moi?
Lefty is more like it.
:-)