Why is there some degree of truth to astrology?

[friend]

You look up your horoscope and you see some truth. It's about the same on all other websites. How did they come up with this stuff? Surely they didn't make it extremely vague?

[Irisha]

Making horoscopes astrologists take into account not only the position of the Sun in a Sign of Zodiac, but very many other things as well:

The positions of the Moon, Marz, Venus, Mercury, Saturn, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, Chiron, Prozerpina, Selena (White Moon), Lilith (Black Moon), Lunar Nodes (Rahu and Ketu) which are in different Signs of Zodiac due to the time of birth of a person. (The coordinates of the Planets can be found in special charts, they are called "Ephemerides"). All Planets have their special meanings.

Then they calculate aspects (the angles) between these planets, and their mutual relationships to each other. (for ex., 120 degree, a trine, gives positive energy, and 90 degrees, a square, may cause obstacles; 180 degrees aspect is called an opposition, 72 degrees is an aspect of creativity, etc.)

Then they calculate the Houses of the Horoscope (using special charts as well), the place of birth is important. And analyse the positions of the Planets and Signs in the corresponding Houses. The Ascendent - the rising Sign adds to the characteristics of a person (their appearance and personality).

Taking together all these (and many other) factors gives us the whole picture. We all are born with different 'prints' which the Universe leaves on our bodies and souls depending on the cosmic weather of the moment. Every other moment the picture in the sky is changing, and the new positions of the planets influence us, i.e. influence the positions of our planets which they occupied at the time we were born.

The Horoscopes which you can read in the newspaper or on the site are really very vague because they take into account only the position of the Sun in a Sign of Zodiac. They speak about characteristic features of the Sun in Leo, or in Acquarius, etc. They calculate the picture in the sky for a given period of time (for a week, for ex.), and analyse the relations the Sun in Leo (that is of a person who was born with the Sun in Leo, or in other Signs ) will have with Planets during this period.

[Mato Kinze]

There is SOME measure of Truth in ALL things.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

[Johnny Soporno]

Every evening several years I would unwind at the end of my day by looking at that day's horoscopes in my local newspaper. By reading through all of them, and selecting the one (or sometimes two) which were closest to the day I had had, I was able to determine when I was actually born (having never trusted my mother's word for it).

After two years, I began to realize I had been born on no fewer that 29 days, and I could safely be described as a Virgo on the cusp of Aquarius. OR I could be a Taurus, or perhaps I was a Hyundai?

Sorry, couldn't hold myself back when I read the topic of this thread .

As Mato pointed out, it would be MORE unlikely if astrology were NEVER correct, than for it to be correct once-in-a-while (as by random chance).

Johnny Soporno
Parapsychotic Instigator

[Nimue]

You didn't believe her? Why's that???
When I was a kid I wanted to believe I was actually an alien and that one day a flying saucer would come take me back home, despite the astonishing similarity I have with my parents and them being very affectionate. Growing up, I walked it off. Geez.

Originally Posted by Mato Kinze

There is SOME measure of Truth in ALL things.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Exactly!
My dad's working in magazines, and they usually have whoever finishes his/her job first to write the horoscopes. I've seen newspapers/magazines of the same day writing opposite things.

The next step is when they actually try to make the random stuff they write look believable. It's based on a technique called "cold reading", where you say things that easily apply to everyone. Or things said in a way that you can't accuse the "astrologer" of being wrong. Also, there are lots of people who WANT the predictions to be wrong, so it gets easier.

The people who seriously study the stars may be another story or not, I never paid much thought on them.

[Irisha]

Astrology works. Maybe I failed to explain it how (in my previous message) - then I am sorry about that. I'll repeat : to be able to make a prediction means to analyse a lot of things about the horoscope. If it is done not by professionals but by the people who 'have finished his/her work first' then sure it can hardly be done well. The horoscopes in the magazines are made taking into account ONLY THE SOLAR SIGN of you. So, if you are a Leo because you have the Sun in Leo - they analyse the stars for a Leo as a Solar Sign. They cannot know in what Signs of Zodiak you have your Moon, Mercury, and other planets. Different Leos have other planets in different Signs, only their Sun is in Leo. And the same is true for other Solar Signs. That's why the so-called horoscopes in the Magazines are so vague. They are made just for fun.

[curiouslyrandom]

Astrology has been around for hundreds of years. To be a proper astrologer involves an understanding of math, among other things. As a field of study, it actually predates astronomy.

Horoscopes in newspapers and magazines are generally NOT written by astrologers, but by people paid to fill pages. There are exceptions, but the majority are just fluff.

This site is quite reputable, free, and fun to examine.

[Lava]

I really can't tell why most of you thinks astrology is just a big bull****.. Ok, I agree that the daily, weekly and monthly horoscope don't have many sense - especially the ones on the various web-sites and in newspapers, but the year horoscope does (of course if it is made especially for the person who requested it).
For me personally had been made a natal chart: a birth chart, also called natal chart, shows the positions of the stars at your time of birth in the place you were born in.
And I can tell you that I was astound how every single sentence in the 21 page report was true. It tells you A LOT about your character and this doubtlessly helped me to understand myself better.
Just to clarify: I only ''believe'' (it's kind of a weird way to say it without apostrophes, it's not like we are talking about God) in this special made horoscopes.
Also that kind of horoscope does not predict anything. It just tells/warns you of some situations where thanks to your character you could make a big mistake, the choice is all yours, nobody can change that (therefore the qote from A Knight's Tale: ''Change your stars and live a better life than I have.'')...