TurquoiseB wrote: > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "hugheshugo" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> The idea that planets can go "retrograde" is all due to the >> ludicrous maths involved in making the earth appear to be >> the centre of the solar system, it really isn't. >> > > It sounds a lot like the math involved in saying > that one's spiritual teacher is "the best," or > that one's spiritual path is "the best." Those > beliefs are based on the person who thinks that > appearing to be at the center of the universe, > too. :-) > > Personally I think that astrology is hogwash, > *except* as tricksterism. That is, some people > whose intuition and "seeing" skills are present > but latent can *trick* themselves into utilizing > their latent ability to "see" by gazing a chart > of the position of the planets. > > And you came to this conclusion by learning astrology and studying hundreds of charts? Or as I suspect this is just your gut reaction and a cracker barrel opinion. :)
Astrology has been around a long time and has stuck to the wall. It will probably be here long after present day "science" has evaporated. Of course I have learned astrology and *have* looked at lots of charts and know there is something to it. It just isn't as precise as a lot of jyotishis would like to believe nor is it as loose as fools like the Amazing Randi believe. Except for the sun and moon I don't think the planets themselves have any effect on our lives. The sun and moon definitely have an effect upon our lives and environment and in fact Indian astrology is primarily lunar based. They recognized the lunar cycles and most Indians use the Panchang to select optimal times for doing things. Astrology using the planets was pretty much the domain of the kings and rulers who had court astrologers in their employ who kept astronomers fed. The common folk couldn't afford it. Here again I think the ancients were using the planets as markers to identify grander cycles such as the 12 year economic cycles which might have something to do with recurring cycles in nature for growing crops. Jupiter takes 12 years to transit the ecliptic so it made an excellent marker. But it isn't that exact either. Some of that has to do with the "apparent" retrograde which is not given much if any credence in Indian astrology but more in western. An astronomer had to know when a planet would be retrograde or his calculations of daily motion would be way off. I am also following an observation with ascendants. First off I find a lot of charts of family and friends depending on the time of day they were born reflect whether they are a night or morning person or somewhere in between. I was born around 2 AM and am definitely a night person. But I find people that were born near or after sunrise often like to rise with the birds something that has always been difficult for me. Ascendants may also be tied to the seasons you enter into from the date you were born. They became marked by the stars on the horizon and hence your rising sign. I have found ascendants very accurate at showing what career tendencies people may have as well as what failures they may have when they go against them. The problem is that many people want to take astrology too seriously or precisely. Jyotish is "the science of light" and planetary periods tend to crossfade from one to the other so there are these junctures between one dasha and the next where the effect will be vague just as there is this area around 5 degrees of a sign or house where the effect gets vague. That's because it is a blend of both dashas or both signs. Astrologers thus labeled these infancy (the first 5 degrees) and old age (the last 5 degrees). But you still get astrologers who think there is a solid line drawn which is ignorance. The bottom line is you use astrology to get a hint at what is in store for the future not an exact roadmap. The hint is an abstraction but far too accurate to be just a guess. You can do this too with intuition if it is well honed. It is also wonderful when for no apparent reason things seem to be going bad which may well be indicated by a bad transit or planetary period because that means it too shall pass and life will return to normal. <snip> > For that matter, that might be the same reason > why *any* technique of Self realization appears > to "work." Self has always been present; all that > the techniques do is trick the seeker into real- > izing what has always been present. > The bottom line of "self realization" is utilizing a technique to quiet the mind so one can ascertain what is really going on. You can't see the Self if the mind is too noisy.
