Among the contents of a box of second-hand astrology books I bought on E-bay years ago was a slim, large format soft cover volume, published in 1951 by the American Federation of Astrologers: The 360 Degrees of the Zodiac by Adriano Carelli. I wasn't blown away by the content, or the author's style, as he puts each of the 360 degrees of the zodiac under a microscope, but I did like one of the lengthy footnotes at page 9. It enumerates and calculates the enormous variety of combinations available from which a natal chart can be composed. So, being mathematically challenged myself, as well as too lazy to copy-type it all, I scanned it. (Please click on images to enlarge).
It's not surprising, is it, that attempts to either validate, or discredit, astrology prove so very difficult?
It's not surprising, is it, that attempts to either validate, or discredit, astrology prove so very difficult?
9 comments:
Yes...gazillions of variables in astrology. Asteroids compound the combinations into infinity, as do the fixed stars, if considered in a natal chart!
The average person doesn't consider combinations or statistics. An example that I like to use in order to stress the fact is the ordinary deck of playing cards. How many ways can an ordinary deck be arranged? It's called "52!" or "fifty-two factorial". The answer is 8.066 X 10^67 or 8,066 followed by 64 more zeroes!!!
8 followed by 67 zeroes is also the number of possible solitaire games!
http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/keep-asking/how-many-different-games-of-solitaire-are-possible-and-what-is-the-chance-of-winning-any-one-of-them/
mike ~ My head spins at the thought of it! It proves one thing, doesn't it? That we are, truly, each unique - there can never be another me or you or anybody.
That's a good analogy - the pack of cards - and it could explain my amazement as to how my husband can play solitaire on his computer again and again, and never feel bored with it.
Mind you, I'd be bored after a single game, even if the zeroes in possible number of games were to encircle the globe more times than our mathematics can cope with. :-)
Too right! And, of course, there are multifarious variables, like house systems, tropical vs sidereal, and so on.
No wonder I sometimes think there's wisdom in the 'angles only' school.
Double Virgo/Mercury in Libra cj Pallas/Gem MC, Jupiter cj Uranus me wishes we could just program the lot into some super computer - hey! maybe that's what the universe is for ;P
Sabina:
"Physicists May Have Evidence Universe Is A Computer Simulation"
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/10/11/physicists-may-have-evide_n_1957777.html
"Do we live in a computer simulation? UW researchers say idea can be tested"
http://www.washington.edu/news/2012/12/10/do-we-live-in-a-computer-simulation-uw-researchers-say-idea-can-be-tested/
Sabina~ But then the "angles only" route can involve more than I originally thought, or even wanted to know! ;-)
http://yinyangastrologer.com/astrology-2/the-%E2%80%98auxiliary%E2%80%99-angles-not-just-helpers-in-the-horoscope/
Re the universe:
“Philosophy is written in this grand book --
I mean the universe --
Which stands continually open to our gaze.
But it cannot be understood
Unless one first learns to comprehend the language
And interpret the characters in which it is written.
It is written in the language of mathematics,
And its characters are triangles, circles, and other geometric figures,
Without which it is humanly impossible to understand a single word of it.”
~ Galileo Galilei, Il Saggiatore (1623)
Twilight ~ Whenever some amazing astrological coincidence happens, my husband (the skeptic) likes to ask about odds. Now I can refer him to this post- thanks!
Seeing as how the book was published in 1951, I was kind of surprised to read the author's mention of Lilith and some of the lesser-used astrological points, bodies, etc.
Wish I'd known about fixed stars, asteroids, and most especially, *Lilith*, back in the 70's when my own informal study of astrology began. With BM Lilith exactly opposite my Sun (plus all of the other Liliths exactly conjunct something), I think it would've helped me to better understand my own unique strengths and challenges.
LB ~ Glad to be of service! :-)
It isn't clear which Lilith he referred to - I suspect it wasn't Black Moon Lilith (Moon's apogee), or the asteroid, but a hypothetical second moon of Earth
Wiki:
Lilith is the name given to a hypothetical second moon of Earth, about the same mass as the Earth's Moon, proposed by astrologer Walter Gornold (Sepharial) in 1918. Gornold took the name Lilith from medieval Jewish legend, where she is described as the first wife of Adam. Gornold claimed that Lilith was the same second moon that scientist Georg Waltemath claimed to have discovered at the turn of the century. Gornold also claimed to have seen Waltemath's moon and opined that it was dark enough to have escaped visual detection. However, Georg Waltemath's proposed natural satellites had already been discredited by two Austrian astronomers at the turn of the century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_objects_proposed_in_religion,_astrology,_ufology_and_pseudoscience
There was all manner of odd stuff going on around early 1900s, late 1800s - part of Theosophy, I bet that's when astrologers picked up some extra pieces such as this to add to their puzzle.
Really inteersting. It should be read and thought by the ones who want to invalidate astrology or consider easy to make an astrological analysis.
ex-Chomp ~ Indeed! While it is possible to draw out some worthwhile interpretations without a lot of the multiplicity of possibilities included, what we'd come up with would be an outline sketch at best - which is what I like myself, as it happens. There are other multiplicities unrelated to astrology which have to be factored in, such as ethnicity, background, education, genetics....and on and on.
It's an impossible jungle! ;-)
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