BEING RATIONAL

Having read humanists, atheists and common & garden skeptics banging on about rationalism and astrology (see Sunday's post) I dug around in my archive files for this, from July 2007, on a similar topic.

"To paraphrase an old Buck Owens song "All we have to do is act rationally". I try to - most of the time, but when reading other blogs, particularly on new age subjects, and even sometimes on astrology, I feel that what I call my rationality somehow gets in the way. Even so, I can't change my mental wiring - nor can any of us.

One of my favourite astrologers of the past, C.E.O. Carter, has this to say about rationalism in his Encyclopedia of Psychological Astrology

"Rationalism is usually the result of a prominent and strong Saturnian influence and of the earthy element, which both tend of make the native fully alive to the logic of facts and the actualities of existence. From a more mental standpoint the same is true of Mercury and his signs. In the horoscopes of rationalists it is probable that the watery signs will rarely be to the fore, although Scorpio sometimes inclines to materialism.If the influences are for the most part good, we may look for open-mindedness; if they are adverse, and especially if the fixed signs are involved, we may look for bigotry."

In my own chart Mercury in Capricorn, with Saturn in Aries semi-sextile Uranus in Taurus probably describes my awkward rationality. My mind wishes to be logical, especially with Sun in Aquarius. Aquarius's modern ruler, Uranus is in earthy Taurus semi-sextile Aquarius's traditional ruler Saturn, in Aries. In addition My Aquarian Sun is semi-sextile Jupiter in imaginative Pisces, not known for its logic.

The semi-sextile is a peculiar aspect to get to grips with. It occurs when planets lie at the same (or closely similar) degrees of signs nextdoor to each other. Two quite dissimilar signs and elements with a close chart connection, producing something in one's life which is always a kind of anomaly. That's how I see it anyway.

In my own case the anomaly is my unshaken belief that there's "something going on" in astrology, yet some scepticism remains, driven by rationality. I find it difficult, nay impossible, to accept certain parts of astrological doctrine. Watery elements in my chart - Jupiter in Pisces (at midheaven natally), Mars in Scorpio, and Cancer ascendant probably serve to widen and aggravate the split in my approach to these matters.

Acceptance is the answer. What we can't change, we live with and hopefully enjoy, whilst trying to accept gracefully that others are doing the same."

Do rationality and astrology mix? I say they can, given the right approach and a mind open enough to see serious failings in both camps, but failings which completely negate neither one.

Words of wisdom from Mahatma Gandhi:

“Rationalists are admirable beings, rationalism is a hideous monster when it claims for itself omnipotence. Attribution of omnipotence to reason is as bad a piece of idolatry as is worship of stock and stone believing it to be God. I plead not for the suppression of reason, but for a due recognition of that in us which sanctifies reason.”

Being Rational

To paraphrase an old Buck Owens song "All we have to do is act rationally". I try to - most of the time, but when reading other blogs, particularly on new age subjects, and even sometimes on astrology, I feel that what I call my rationality somehow gets in the way. Even so, I can't change my mental wiring - nor can any of us.

One of my favourite astrologers of the past, C.E.O. Carter, has this to say about rationalism in his Encyclopedia of Psychological Astrology

"Rationalism is usually the result of a prominent and strong Saturnian influence and of the earthy element, which both tend of make the native fully alive to the logic of facts and the actualities of existence. From a more mental standpoint the same is true of Mercury and his signs. In the horoscopes of rationalists it is probable that the watery signs will rarely be to the fore, although Scorpio sometimes inclines to materialism.If the influences are for the most part good, we may look for open-mindedness; if they are adverse, and especially if the fixed signs are involved, we may look for bigotry."

In my own chart Mercury in Capricorn, with Saturn in Aries semi-sextile Uranus in Taurus probably describes my awkward rationality. My mind wishes to be logical, especially with Sun in Aquarius. Aquarius's modern ruler, Uranus is in earthy Taurus semi-sextile Aquarius's traditional ruler Saturn, in Aries. In addition My Aquarian Sun is semi-sextile Jupiter in imaginative Pisces, not known for its logic.

The semi-sextile is a peculiar aspect to get to grips with. It occurs when planets lie at the same (or closely similar) degrees of signs nextdoor to each other. Two quite dissimilar signs and elements with a close chart connection, producing something in one's life which is always a kind of anomaly. That's how I see it anyway.

In my own case the anomaly is my unshaken belief that there's "something going on" in astrology, yet some scepticism remains, driven by rationality. I find it difficult, nay impossible, to accept certain parts of astrological doctrine. Watery elements in my chart - Jupiter in Pisces (at midheaven natally), Mars in Scorpio, and Cancer ascendant probably serve to widen and aggravate the split in my approach to these matters.

Acceptance is the answer. What we can't change, we live with and hopefully enjoy, whilst trying to accept gracefully that others are doing the same.

This definition of the word "rational" from The Ludwig von Mises Institute is interesting

"Rational. Arrived at by the use of the peculiarly human mental processes by which man strives to connect his ideas as consciously, coherently and purposively as possible in order to plan the attainment of ends sought. In view of the human fallibility in selecting the best possible reasoning for attaining the ends sought, there is no implication as to the correctness or incorrectness of the reasoning. Consequently, all conscious human actions whether or not appropriate for the ends sought, are rational."

So, there we are. We are all rational, but in different ways.