Our Native Gland

The following is obliquely related to yesterday's post:

If the heart is our human powering pump, the brain a computer, then the glands are keys on a keyboard required for our human machine to function efficiently, but in ways personal to each individual. (I made that up, it's simplistic and quite possibly erroneous academically, but it works for me!)

A book by Frank McGillion, Blinded by Starlight, provided me with cause to hope that some scientists might retain open minds on the subject of astrology. I bought this book in 2006, it was first published in 2002. I would recommend it to anyone who has given up on the idea of an astrological "mechanism", or a theory of cause and effect - something astrologers these days tend to deride.

The book's central thesis is as follows, from Garry Phillipson's review:

"The pineal gland is an important factor in the way we perceive the world and act in it; the pineal produces its effects by secreting melatonin; it has been demonstrated in laboratory conditions that magnetic fields and exposure to light affect the production of melatonin; therefore anything which affects light levels or changes magnetic fields on Earth (which of course includes some celestial phenomena) may be linked to human character and behaviour; if scientists were less blinkered they would pursue research into correlations between celestial and terrestrial influences; the pineal gland is a promising place to start such research, because by examining responses in the pineal to celestial phenomena we could, so to speak, cut out the middleman - avoiding the need to isolate significant behaviour patterns in large groups by going directly to (some of the) causes of that behaviour - light and magnetic fields, and their effects on the pineal...........................

More important than any reservations, the fact that I was left wanting more reflects the fact that this is a book of real intelligence and substance. McGillion claims to have "made an irrefutable link between the positions of at least the traditional planets at the time of our birth and our later development and behaviour." (p.201). Whilst some might want to contest the use of 'irrefutable', he certainly succeeds in suggesting that - within a scientific frame of reference - there is something going on in the relationship between celestial and human affairs. He also provides abundant evidence to sketch the means by which this something may be operating. I think he would acknowledge that it can't yet be clear where an investigation of this work might lead, but the case for pursuing it is clearly established here."

I'm convinced, always have been, that one day proof will be found that there is some kind of "cause and effect" mechanism behind the basic premise of astrology, i.e. that the Sun, Moon, planets and their relative positions in the sky at time of birth, have physical effect on humans (and other creatures). Most astrologers moved away from this type of theory in the face of attack from scientists intent on discrediting astrology. I am not an astrologer, and I am not interested in what skeptic scientists have to say on the matter. I know what I know.

What we feel and think and are is to a great extent determined by the state of our ductless glands and viscera.
~ Aldous Huxley