The location of the Sun ‘in’ a particular constellation at the time of birth determines the star sign. To put it another way, each of the Zodiacal constellations will be concealed ‘behind’ the Sun at some point during the year as the Earth revolves around the Sun in its orbit.
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What are the three most important indications in my life?
Your Sun sign, Moon sign, and rising sign, also known as ascending sign, are the three most important placements in your birth chart. Your Sun sign is the foundation of your personality and who you are as a person. Your Moon sign represents your emotional side and who you are when you’re alone. Finally, your rising sign is the first impression others have of you and how you appear on the outside.
What is your ascension?
Your rising or ascendant is the sign that was ascending on the eastern horizon at the moment of your birth. It refers to the image you project out into the world, or the mask you wear, and it provides insight into your abilities, talents, and strategies for navigating life. If you’ve ever felt like people don’t recognize you as your sun sign right away, it’s because they’re probably noticing your rising.
Is it true that many believe in astrology?
Christine Smallwood’s fascinating piece, “Astrology in the Age of Uncertainty:
According to a 2017 Pew Research Center poll, nearly thirty percent of Americans believe in astrology, a level of acceptance that hasn’t been seen since the 1970s. The shift began with the introduction of the personal computer, accelerated with the Internet, and has reached new heights through social media.
It’s not just that you hear it; it’s who’s saying it: people who aren’t kooks or climate-change deniers, who see no conflict between using astrology and believing in science.
I ran a short Google search and discovered the following Pew report from October 2018:
The religious breakdown surprised me the most.I had a vague sense of mainline Protestants as being the sensible people, but they believe in astrology at the same rate as the general population.But, hey, they’re normal Americans (on average), so they have normal American beliefs.Also surprising is that only 3% of atheists believe in astrology.I suppose this makes sense, but it seemed plausible to me for someone to not believe in astrology.
Brian Wansink has been compared to an astrologer who can make astute observations about the world based on a combination of persuasiveness and qualitative understanding, and then attributes his success to tarot cards or tea leaves rather than a more practical ability to synthesize ideas and tell good stories.
But does Brian Wansink believe in astrology? What about Marc Hauser, Ed Wegman, Susan Fiske, and the rest of the crowd who call their critics “second-string, replication police, methodological terrorists, Stasi, and so on?”
I doubt they believe in astrology, because it represents a competing belief system: it’s an industry that, in some ways, is an alternative to rah-rah Ted-talk science.I wouldn’t be surprised if prominent ESP researchers believe in astrology, but I also get the impression that mainstream junk-science promoters in academia and the news media don’t like to talk about ESP, because those research methods are uncomfortably close to their own.They don’t
The larger point, however, is not astrology belief in and of itself, but the mental state that allows people to believe in something so contrary to our scientific understanding of the world (OK, I apologize to the 29 percent of you who are not with me on this one.You can return to the fold when I go back to posting on statistical graphics, model checking, Bayesian computation, Jamaican beef patties, etc.)
It’s not that astrology couldn’t be true a priori: just like with embodied cognition, beauty and sex ratio, ovulation and voting, air rage, ages ending in 9, and all the other Psychological Science / PNAS classics, we can come up with reasonable theories under which astrology is real and spectacularit’s just that after years of careful study, nothing much has come up.And the possible theories out there aren’t really that convincing: they’
Anyway, if 30% of Americans are willing to believe this, it’s no surprise that a significant number of influential American psychology professors will have the kind of attitude toward scientific theory and evidence that leads to strong belief in weak theories supported by no good evidence.Indeed, not just support for specific weak theories, but support for the general principle that we should be nice if we disagree (although, oddly enough, maybe not for astrology itself).
P.S.In defense of the survey respondents (but not of the psychology professors who support ideas like the “critical positivity ratio,” which makes astrology look positively sane in comparison), belief in astrology (or, for that matter, belief in heaven, gravity, or the square-cube law) is essentially costless. Why not believe, or disbelieve, these things?
Belief or disbelief in evolution, climate change, or implicit bias, on the other hand, has the potential to have social or political consequences. Some beliefs are purely personal, while others have more direct policy implications.
I have less patience for prominent academic and media figures who aggressively support junk science by not only expressing their belief in speculative theories supported by no real data, but also attacking those who point out these emperors’ nudity. Furthermore, even a hypothetical tolerant, open-minded supporter of junk sciencethe type of person who might believe in critical positivity ratio but actively support the publication of criticisms of that workcan still cause some harm by contaminating scientific journals and the news media with bad science, and by promoting sloppy work that takes up space that could be used for more careful research.
You know how they say science corrects itself, but only because people are willing to correct themselves?
Gresham’s law is also true, but only because people are willing to distribute counterfeit bills or money they suspect is counterfeit while keeping their mouths shut until they can get rid of their wads of worthless stock.
P.P.S.Just to be clear:I don’t believe astrology is a waste of time, and it’s possible that Marc Hauser was onto something real, even while fabricating data (according to the United States government, as quoted on Wikipedia), and the critical positivity ratio and ovulation and voting and all the rest. . . Who knows, all of these could be true! I don’t want to suppress any of these claims; I want to publish them all, along with all the criticism.My problem with junk science promoters isn’t just that they promote science that I and others consider to be junk; they can also be wrong! However, they consistently avoid, suppress, and fight legitimate open criticism.
P.P.P.S.Of course, the problem of junk science is not limited to psychology.To the extent that professors of political science, economics, sociology, and history are strong believers in astrology or spoon bending or whatever (that is, belief in “scientific paranormalism as describing some true thing about the natural world, not just a “anthropological recognition that paranormal beliefs are something that can affect the world b
Again, I’m not attempting to shut down studies into astrology, embodied cognition, ESP, beauty-and-sex-ratio, endless soup bowls, spoon bending, Bible Code, air anger, ovulation and voting, subliminal smiley faces, and so on.
The point of this post is that, given that a sizable portion of the population is willing to believe in scientific-sounding theories that aren’t backed by any strong scientific theory or evidence, it should come as no surprise that many professional scientists share this attitude. The consequences are especially pronounced in psychology, which is a field where theories can be hazy and where there is a long tradition of belief and action. Of course, there is a lot of excellent work being done in the field of psychology. You’ll have to work with what you’ve got.
What does the Bible have to say about the zodiac signs?
I believe that God created astrology as a tool for us to better understand ourselves and to use as a spiritual tool. Numerous biblical verses, in my opinion, support astrology. As a Christian, I try to remember what Jesus said. “There shall be signs in the sun, moon, and stars,” Christ said in Luke 21:25, referring to the importance of astrology. He discusses the importance of astrology with his disciples, as well as how it can be used as a sign of his return. Why would Jesus tell us this important information if we are not supposed to interpret the energies of the planets and signs, and if he was truly against it? Just as the three wise men knew Jesus would be born under the star in the sky that led them to him lying in the manger, Jesus warned us that when he returns, there will be signs in the sky.
Do the signs of the zodiac have any significance?
It is the individuals, not the zodiac sign, who are responsible for developing connections, according to a Quora writer. All 12 zodiac signs have a positive sign associated with them, but you can’t predict all of a person’s traits or character just by looking at their horoscopes. It is said that couples with similar spiritual feelings are more likely to connect, whereas couples with incompatible zodiac signs are more likely to split up. This isn’t always the case, though.