Anthropology

The oldest historical sources revealing humanity’s belief in astrology originate from the ancient Babylon. In 1853, in the area of ancient Nineveh, today's Iraq, thousands of clay tablets with writings in cuneiform alphabet were found. They reveal a considerable inclination of ancient Babylonians to superstition. Even an accidental water spill was given a mystical significance. The future was foretold in various ways, from inspecting the intestines of sacrificed animals, to reading the stars:

"If in Nisannu the normal sunrise (looks) sprinkled with blood: there will be battles in the country." (Enuma Anu Enlil, line 4; 18th and 16th century BC)

"If Jupiter passes at the head of Venus: Akkad will be conquered with a strong weapon. If Jupiter passes at the shoulder of Venus: Elam will be conquered with a strong weapon. If Jupiter passes at the right of Venus: Guti will be conquered with a strong weapon. If Jupiter passes at the left of Venus: Ammurru will be conquered with a strong weapon." (Enuma Anu Enlil, tablet 63, line 2-5)

"If a king takes part in ceremonies in the month Ayyaru, the result will be good luck." (Shumma Alu, tablet 11)

According a legend, astrology was discovered by Nechepso and Petosiris, before whom the stars revealed themselves and proclaimed the secrets of astrological science. The astrologer Vettius Valens (second century AD) reports that Nechepso himself—pharaoh in the twenty-sixth dynasty, 677-672 BC—described his revelation so:

"It appeared to me, as I prayed the whole night and looked up to the heavens, that the sky opened up and out of the heavens sounded a voice. Then a sky- blue robe, which depicted the night sky, wrapped itself around my body. And thus I experienced the whole immortal order in the movements of the universe." (Wilhelm Spiegelberg, "Eine neue Spur des Astrologen Petosiris." Heidelberg: Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1922, 3rd Abh.)

In ancient times, there was a popular belief introduced by the Greek philosopher Aristotle that the stars are beings with supernatural intelligence which, due to their divine nature, influence life on Earth. Hence the names of the planets and their corresponding pagan divinities - Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, etc.

The greatest divinities in the sky, i.e. the brightest celestial bodies (the Sun, the Moon and the planets) became rulers of different constellations (groups of stars). The supreme pagan divinity – the Sun, became a ruler of Leo constellation, the Moon became a ruler of Cancer, Saturn ruled Capricorn, Mars ruled Aries and Scorpio, Mercury ruled Gemini and Virgo, Jupiter became a ruler of Sagittarius and Pisces, Venus ruled Taurus and Libra, and Saturn ruled Capricorn and Aquarius. Once the new planets were found, Uranus became the ruler of Aquarius, Neptune ruled Pisces, and Pluto ruled Scorpio.

Pagan divinities also became the rulers of weekdays. The Sun became the ruler of Sunday, the Moon the ruler of Monday, Mars ruled Tuesday, Mercury - Wednesday, Jupiter - Thursday, Venus - Friday, and Saturn ruled Saturday. In some languages the names of the days still testify to this ancient belief. For instance, in English, Sunday is the day of the Sun, Monday - the day of the Moon, Saturday - the day of Saturn.

Such a declaration of celestial bodies as divinities naturally collided with Jewish, and later with Christian and Islamic monotheism. While the polytheists attempted to learn their destiny by analyzing the Zodiac signs, the biblical monotheism shifted the responsibility for destiny to people themselves, and conditioned it with their fulfillment of God's moral demands. Observing God's law brought God's blessing, and its violation - damnation. With the intention to remind people of the revelation of God’s law - the Ten Commandments, Moses uttered the words which would cause a long term conflict between astrologers on one side, and the orthodox Judaism and Christianity on the other:

"And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness; And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice; And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone. ... Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire, Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female. ... And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven." (Deuteronomy 4:11-19)

(The concept of worshipping and service to false gods in religion has a deeper meaning than formal worshipping and service. For instance, the Apostle Paul said about gluttons that stomach was their god. Any seeking of satisfaction or an object of reliance is in a sense seeking of god, and therefore believing that the planets as divine personalities influence our spiritual life represents to the religious people a violation of the First Commandment which says: "You shall have no other gods before me.")

In The History of Christian Church, we can read why the Christians were very hostile towards astrology in the beginning:

"The Christians did not want to let their fate be determined according to the stars or to expect help from gods by whose names the stars were called at the time." (PGI. Malicki, The History of Christian Church, pg 193)

In The Astrological Lexicon we read:

"In the first centuries after Christ, an alternating duel between Christian belief in salvation and astrology followed; Christianity firstly excluded pagan cults, especially the cults of the Sun and the Moon, in order to suppress them, and then it returned them into its system, although previously modified." (Udo Becker, Lexikon der Astrologie)

In the secondary century AD, the Greek astrologer Claudius Ptolemy, attempting to identify celestial bodies as one of the key external factors in the character formation of individuals and entire populations, stated the then-present character differences between the populace of Northern and Southern Europe:

"Those who live under the more northern parallels, those, I mean, who have the Bears over their heads, since they are far removed from the zodiac and the heat of the sun, are therefore cooled; but because they have a richer share of moisture, which is most nourishing and is not there exhausted by heat, they are white in complexion, straight-haired, tall and well-nourished, and somewhat cold by nature; these too are savage in their habits, because their dwelling places are continually cold. The wintry character of their climate, the size of their plants, and the wildness of their animals are in accord with these qualities." (Claudius Ptolemy, The Tetrabiblos, pg 53)

In the second century AD, Christian writer Tatian criticized astrology for giving people excuse for committing evil acts:

"For, having shown them a plan of the position of the stars, like dice-players, they introduced Fate, a flagrant injustice. For the judge and the judged are made so by Fate; the murderers and the murdered, the wealthy and the needy, are the offspring of the same Fate; and every nativity is regarded as a theatrical entertainment by those beings of whom Homer says,- 'Among the gods Rose laughter irrepressible.' ... Such are the demons; these are they who laid down the doctrine of Fate. ... But we are superior to Fate." (Address to the Greeks; The writings of Tatian and Theophilus, pg 12-13)

Due to the criticism aimed at superstition, paganism and debauchery of the world, early Christian Church became disdained and persecuted by the people. And then there was a compromise. Christianity became a state religion. Nonetheless, masses of pagans acquired only Christian names, whereas they kept astrology along with the other polytheistic customs under a new veil as much as they possibly could. The names of the pagan gods got replaced with the names of the Apostles and Christian saints. Ljubomir Nenadović wrote about the formal transformation of Roman paganism into Christianity:

"When (Rome) realized that it fought Christianity in vain, it turned into a zealous Christian: it cast Jupiter’s statue into the shape of Saint Paul, whom it formerly crucified. It put crosses and statues of the Apostles to the non-Christian obelisks and pillars." (Ljubomir Nenadović, The Complete Works, pg 519)

The dark of the Middle Ages descended, and despite the official opposition of the Church authorities and its occasional repressive measures against the astrology adherents, astrology itself still remained very popular among people. In the seventh century AD, the century of religious superstition, Saint John Damascene tried in vain to use his rational arguments to dissuade people from astrological superstition:

"Indeed, if all our actions depend on the courses of the stars, all we do is done of necessity: and necessity precludes either virtue or vice. But if we possess neither virtue nor vice, we do not deserve praise or punishment, and God, too, will turn out to be unjust, since He gives good things to some and afflicts others. Nay, He will no longer continue to guide or provide for His own creatures, if all things are carried and swept along in the grip of necessity. And the faculty of reason will be superfluous to us: for if we are not masters of any of our actions, deliberation is quite superfluous. Reason, indeed, is granted to us solely that we might take counsel, and hence all reason implies freedom of will." (Paul Haffner, The Mystery of Reason, pg 246, Published by Gracewing Publishing, 2001)

Eventually, astrology gained greater support from the authorities of the Western Church. In The Astrological Lexicon we read:

"It is an unquestionable fact that during two thousand long Christian history the relationship between astrology and Christianity was continuously designated by a controversy: the periods of absolute anathematizing kept replacing the periods of a certain admission, when, for instance, even the popes like Nicholas V, Pius II, Sixtus IV, Alexander IV, Julius II, Leo X or Paul II, had their court astrologers." (Udo Becker, Lexikon der Astrologie)

In The Catholic Encyclopedia we read:

"Emperors and popes became votaries of astrology—Charles IV and V, and Popes Sixtus IV, Julius II, Leo X and Paul III. When these rulers lived astrology was, so to say, the regulator of official life; it is a fact characteristic of the age, that at the papal and imperial courts ambassadors were not received in audience until the court astrologer had been consulted. Regiomontanus, the distinguished Bavarian mathematician practised astrology, which from that time on assumed the character of a bread-winning profession, and as such was not beneath the dignity of so lofty an intellect as Kepler. ... Among the zealous patrons of the art were the Medici. Catherine de' Medici made astrology popular in France. She erected an astrological observatory for herself near Paris, and her court astrologer was the celebrated "magician" Michel de Notredame (Nostradamus) who in 1555 published his principal work on astrology—a work still regarded as authoritative among the followers of his art. Another well-known man was Lucas Gauricus the court astrologer of Popes Leo X and Clement VII who published a large number of astrological treatises." (Catholic Encyclopedia, 1907, Volume II, pp 18-25, Article on Astrology)

Pope Sixtus IV is the first Pope who actively exercised astrology. Pope Julius II specified the date of his coronation as per the advice of astrologers. Pope Paul III, who legalized the Jesuit Order, sought advice from astrologers and convened the conclaves according to the horoscope. Pope Leo X formed the Department of Astrology at the University of Rome. Catholic cathedrals were often decorated with astrological symbols. And then, for a while, astrology was almost entirely rejected and forgotten under the influence of the new Age of Enlightenment. It all began with Martin Luther, whose arguments against astrology did not differ much from the early Christian ones:

"God has created and placed the stars in the firmament, to the end they might give light to the kingdoms of the earth, make people glad and joyful in the Lord, and be good signs of years and seasons. But the star-peepers feign that those creatures, of God created, darken and trouble the earth. ... The upright and true Christian religion opposes and confutes all such fables. ... Astrology is framed by the devil, to the end people may be scared from entering into the state of matrimony, and from every divine and human office and calling. ... Lastly, to believe in the stars, or to trust thereon, or to be affrighted thereat, is idolatry, and against the first commandment." (Martin Luther, The Table Talk of Martin Luther, pg 343-344)

The idea of enlightenment appealed to people's common sense to take responsibility for themselves and their lives into their own hands. As such, it naturally collided with the determinism which sprang from the belief that humanity is governed by celestial bodies.

"Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's understanding without guidance from another. This immaturity is self-imposed when its cause lies not in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! [dare to know] "Have courage to use your own understanding!"--that is the motto of enlightenment.

Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why so great a proportion of men, long after nature has released them from alien guidance (natura-liter maiorennes), nonetheless gladly remain in lifelong immaturity, and why it is so easy for others to establish themselves as their guardians. It is so easy to be immature. ... The guardians who have so benevolently taken over the supervision of men have carefully seen to it that the far greatest part of them (including the entire fair sex) regard taking the step to maturity as very dangerous, not to mention difficult. Having first made their domestic livestock dumb, and having carefully made sure that these docile creatures will not take a single step without the go-cart to which they are harnessed, these guardians then show them the danger that threatens them, should they attempt to walk alone. Now this danger is not actually so great, for after falling a few times they would in the end certainly learn to walk; but an example of this kind makes men timid and usually frightens them out of all further attempts. Thus, it is difficult for any individual man to work himself out of the immaturity that has all but become his nature. He has even become fond of this state and for the time being is actually incapable of using his own understanding, for no one has ever allowed him to attempt it. Rules and formulas, those mechanical aids to the rational use, or rather misuse, of his natural gifts, are the shackles of a permanent immaturity." (Immanuel Kant, Konigsberg in Prussia, 30 September 1784; Peter Loptson, Readings on Human Nature, pg 121)

And so, the Age of Enlightenment began. Anything that could not stand the criticism of sound reason was rejected as superstition. In the first edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica we read:

"ASTROLOGY, a conjectural science, which teaches to judge of the effects and influences of the stars, and to foretel future events by the situation and different aspects of the heavenly bodies. This science has long ago become a just subject of contempt and ridicule." (Entry on "Astrology", Encyclopaedia Britannica, first edition, 1771)

The astrologers themselves admit:

“By the end of the 17^th century astrology vanished.” (Ninoslav Šafarić, Mundane Astrology, pg 8)

"Then astrology fell into a decline with the Age of Enlightenment, the major European universities stopped teaching astrology, and by 1700, very few people were interested in the subject. In the late 1700s, however, interest in astrology in the West began to resurface, with a small but dedicated following." (Nina Gryphon, http://gryphonastrology.com/blog/a-short-history-of-astrology-and-astrology-faq/)

Although astrology was not prohibited in any repressive ways, it lost its popularity alongside other superstitions. The belief that people alone are responsible for their own actions was in conflict with the belief that someone else beside themselves might be blamed for their fate.

French enlightener Voltaire wrote:

"Superstition is to religion what astrology is to astronomy the mad daughter of a wise mother. These daughters have too long dominated the earth." (Joseph McCabe, Selected Works of Voltaire, pg 110)

It was believed that enlightenment would uproot any kind of superstition, that truth would unmask any delusion, and that justice would overpower any form of injustice. The new Age of humankind brought optimism that spread throughout the world.

Enlightener Dositej Obradović (1742 – 1811) at that time sang:

“Here comes the age jolly and golden,

When the meals are not forbidden!*

Evangelical liberty will reign,

Throwing the yoke off of all the men!

Oh, golden age! Oh, times so sweet

Of love that makes all our hearts beat!"

(Dositej Obradović, Letter to Haralampous, pg. 1-2)

Side by side with him, Ljubomir Nenadović, sang about his vision of the new mankind:

“Enlightenment is bright like a ray of light

There is no night anywhere in sight.

Foolishness is down, truth now wears the crown.

Toppled are the idols of all human pains,

Now I see one throne wherefrom justice reigns.”

(Ljubomir Nenadović, The Complete Works, pg. 181)

However, the blessings of the New Age, even though they made life easier, in time became the temptation of human hedonism. The reformer John Wesley (1703-1791) wrote:

"We ought not to forbid people to be diligent and frugal**: we must exhort all Christians, to gain all they can, and to save all they can: that is, in effect, to grow rich ! What way then (I ask again) can we take that our money may not sink us to the nethermost hell? There is one way, and there is no other under heaven. If those who gain all they can, and save all they can, will likewise give all they can." (John Wesley, The Works of the Rev. John Wesley, pg 150)

For diligence and prudence were natural products of an enlightened spirit of a New Age person. However, by stating that such a spirit naturally lead to wealth, Wesley concluded that increasing the wealth also leads people into the temptation of selfishness and pride. That is why he warned the people of his time:

"Lay out nothing to gratify the pride of life, to gain the admiration or praise of men. ´So long as thou dost well unto thyself, men will speak good of thee.´ So long as thou art ´clothed in purple and fine linen, and farest sumptuously every day," no doubt many will applaud thy elegance of taste, thy generosity and hospitality. But do not buy their applause so dear. Rather be content with the honour that cometh from God." (John Wesley, The Use of Money, Sermon 50)

* Dositej refers to superstitious abstinence from food on certain days of the week.

** In the enlightened New Age Europe prudence was not a result of stinginess (as was the case in the Catholicism of Central Europe); it was due to a lack of interest to waste money on various pleasures, which was considered a sin during those days.

"We've even lost our convictions about the purpose of human existence. ... In the past, it was assumed in many countries that man's main function in the world - over and above making a living - was to serve God, by carrying out his purposes as revealed by religion ... Much the same was true in America in the Colonial period. Children never had any idea that life was for their fulfillment. They were constantly exhorted to overcome their base natures in order to grow up to be pleasing in God's eyes ... In America very few children are raised to believe that their principal destiny is to serve their family, country and God ... However, I think that more of our children would grow up happier and more stable if they were acquiring a conviction, all through childhood, that the most important and the most fulfilling thing that human beings can do is to serve humanity in some fashion and live by their ideals.

There are enormous, frightening problems in our country and in the world. Through our reliance on initiative and materialism we have accomplished technological miracles. But as our physical needs are met it becomes embarrassingly evident that we have made no progress in human relations, in spiritual serenity or in world security. Our rates of divorce, suicide and crime are among the highest in the world ... We have an overwhelming supply of the most powerful weapons the world has even known. Yet we are in imminent danger of annihilation, with no solution remotely in sight and no sense of security. Because of our power we are interfering arrogantly in the affairs of other nations and arousing world-wide resentment ... Our only realistic hope as I see it is to bring up our children with a feeling that they are in this world not for their own satisfaction but primarily to serve others." (Benjamin Spock, Baby and Child Care, pg 12, 18-19)

The meaning of human life, which was in the Age of Enlightenment directed towards the welfare of other people and the progress of the entire humanity, soon became redirected towards selfish exploits. The rational examination of our own motives and actions therefore ceased to be desirable. Unveiling of superstitions and delusions soon became rude, and the question of good and evil all the more relative. A need was formed to shift the responsibility of people away from themselves, and towards life conditions and external influences, which led to the revival of interest in astrology, parapsychology and Eastern religions in the middle of the 19th century. Referring to the new interest of the people in astrology, astrologers wrote: “150 to 180 years ago it started to wake again, at the beginning of the 20th century it revived” (Ninoslav Šafarić, Mundane Astrology, pg 8).

The true resurrection of astrology occurred during the Great Depression after World War I. Nowadays, a daily newspaper or a TV program without astrological comments is unimaginable. That is why we dedicate this book to the concept of astrology.

THE ASTROLOGICAL PHENOMENON BETWEEN SCIENCE AND SUPERSTITION

Contemporary astrologers nowadays do not attempt to justify the cause-and-effect connection between planetary positions and human behavior by the will of gods, but scientific explanations: “Man is 70% made of water, so it makes sense that the Moon affects him as much as it affects ebbs and tides!” (Maja Lončarić, Astrology – Stars Talk)

It is true that some of our life activities are influenced by proper positions of certain celestial bodies. For instance, we wake up every morning in a distinct correlation with the emergence of the Sun in the horizon. Nevertheless, we do not get up from our sleep due to the position of the Sun, but because we have rested, and the position of the Sun in the sky only synchronizes the waking cycle. If the blinds are shut and we are not aware that the day has come, our waking will be the consequence of our inner biological clock and our body’s need for sleep. If such a close and large celestial body as the Sun cannot affect the synchronization of our biological processes in any other way except when it is visible, what can we say about the influence of other significantly smaller and more distant celestial bodies?!

Scientist Drago I. Dragović calculated the difference between the strength of the gravitational field of a nearby Coca-Cola vending machine affecting a child at the moment of birth, and that of the biggest planet in the solar system- Jupiter (which is 1300 times bigger than the Earth, has 320 times larger mass than our planet, and is approximately 43 light-minutes away from us). The effect on the child by the gravitational field of the Coca-Cola vending machine out-strengthened Jupiter’s by about 3 times, so it is meaningless to claim that Jupiter can affect and determine the child’s fate to a greater extent than various objects in the child’s surroundings. Some astrologers will say that it is not the strength of the gravitational field that counts, but the angle in relation to the Earth. But then, what should we say about the influence of all those numerous celestial bodies that we cannot see from the Earth due to their long distance, and whose influences in this case surely do exist?!

Even if it was possible for the astrological factor to affect the formation of personal traits via some mystical force, then it would influence the child even before his birth, not only at the moment of birth. The constellations constantly change above out heads, not just throughout the year, but every day and every night, due to Earth’s rotation around its own axis.

How can it not leave a trace on the fetus during the first nine months (which is more than 23 million seconds), and do it at the very first second after birth?!

Their reminiscence of the shapes of Sagittarius, Taurus, Leo, Pisces etc. is up to an individual interpreter's imagination and has nothing to do with their objective location in the sky; not even a two-dimensional one, let alone their actual three-dimensional position in the universe. Astrologers believe that the contours of creatures or things they see in the constellations incite adequate characters in people who were born at the time these contours were present in the sky. For instance, if someone was born in the constellation which reminds an astrologer of Libra, the astrologer then comes to the conclusion that the person will tend to measure and scale, and if they were born under the Zodiac sign of Capricorn, their character will resemble the stereotype people usually relate to goats. Let us note how the famous astrologer Linda Goodman in her bestseller "Linda Goodman's Sun Signs" correlates the appearance of a fish with the looks and character of those born under the sign of Pisces: "When you meet Pisces people, look first at their feet. They'll be quite noticeably small and dainty (including the men's), or else they'll be huge and spread out like a tired washerwoman's. Pisces eyes are liquid, heavy-lidded, and full of strange lights. Frequently, but not always, they're slightly protruding, bulbous and extremely compelling. The lungs are not strong, and weak toes and ankles may result from March births. The fish seem to have fallen arches and metatarsal injuries or superbly strong and supple feet. When life dumps him with a splash-a real belly-smacker-into a stagnant river of dismal failure and hopeless conditions, instead of leaping out of the murky danger, he's more inclined to hide behind his pale green illusions which keep him from making practical decisions." (Linda Goodman, Sun Signs, pg 500, 501, 504)

We can see how astrology is based on (the lack of) scientific knowledge thousands of years old, when people did not know that stars and planets only seemingly move around the Earth, that the distance of celestial bodies from the Earth (and thus their potential influence) differs, when they were not familiar with genetics and heritage, so they believed that the physical appearance of the constellations in the sky determined the physical appearance of the persons born under this constellation.

Any external influence which would incite an organism to act differently from what is purposeful to its existential needs would jeopardize the survival of the organism, which means that such organisms, susceptible to external influences determining their behavior, would be “flawed“, with jeopardized entity. Such organisms would not come into existence by means of the mechanisms of natural selection and evolution (because they do not have evolutionary advantage in the struggle for survival), nor would God create them as such (for it would be unfair if our rational personality was governed by some irrational celestial body).

There is one more remnant from the past in contemporary astrology. Although an average astrologer seeks scientific explanations of the astrological phenomenon, they still interpret the effect of the astrological factor in a manner suitable to the ancient belief that the planets actually are divine personalities which affect people's character and behavior.

In astrological literature we read:

"One of the most surprising things about astrology is the way in which all kinds of detail can be obtained about people and things which one would expect to be quite beyond the province of the horoscope. ... It is not only possible but easy to determine from a birth map intimate details about the lives and affairs of the marriage partner´s family, friends, and dependents with astonishing accuracy." (Vivian E. Robson, Astrology and Sex, pg 140)

In order to show the supposed foretelling power of astrological science, Vivian Robson provides a very grotesque example, such as: "The fifth house would furnish any details that might be required about a cat owned by the daughter of a charwoman employed by the wife´s sister-in-law!" (Ibid, pg 143)

For instance, while speaking of the influence of the astrological factor when it comes to meeting a potential spouse, astrologer Vivian Robson claims:

"Thus if the significator is in the tenth, the meeting will take place through business or at the office; if in the eleventh, through friends; and if in the third, on a journey, and so on." (Ibid, pg 140)

Such an influence on events on Earth can be made by a reasonable being only, not by the effect of the natural laws!

Although astrologers call upon science, i.e. how the Moon influences high and low tides, at the same time they interpret the influence of celestial bodies in such a way that in no way corresponds to the capability and the workings of the gravitational field.

It is crystal clear that we cannot affect human character by any gravitational or magnetic field, let alone determine the moment of making acquaintance with that special someone, or the success of one's future. Such a manner of assigning human qualities to celestial bodies is a remnant from the ancient times, when it was believed that planets and stars are Pagan divinities who possess characteristics of personality and power to influence events on Earth.

By definition, superstitions are beliefs in events which are predetermined by specific actions without a logical cause-and-effect connection between the actions and future events. As it is not possible to explain a cause-and-effect connection between planetary positions at the moment of birth and a person’s character, it is obvious that astrology is a variant of superstition.

Naturally, every person carries responsibility on their conscience to reasonably question the meaning of their views and actions. As such, acceptance of belief in astrology, magic rituals and who knows what kinds of superstitions would definitely stand as some sort of an attack on their own reason and conscience.

We surely need to have a strong motive to counteract our own conscience and voice of reason. Not even the medieval church repression of astrologers or the arguments of contemporary scientific discoveries were able to remove astrology from people's conscience, because people have a need for astrology.

We have a strong need to explain our actions in such a manner which will excuse us from our own responsibility, and shift it to some other sphere that does not require giving up the wrong principles in our lives.

However, as a conscientious and responsible person will refuse to seek safety in a system whose explanations are contrary to commonsense logic, it is just as unreasonable to expect someone to counteract their own senses and conscience to negate the experience of the phenomenon they encountered.

Even though the attempts of scientific explanations of the astrological phenomenon, given by the astrologers themselves, cannot sooth the conscience of reasonable people, the fact remains that “there is something in it”, i.e. that there is an extraordinary overlap between the traits of a Zodiac sign and the traits of a person born under the sign in certain cases. The purpose of our research and deliberation will be an attempt to explain why and when the astrological phenomenon seemingly functions.

Astrologers recognize diverse types of people and justify their existence by different positions of planets and stars in the sky. We will explain that differences between people have quite concrete (mostly adaptive) reasons, among which there is no room for the astrological factor, nor would it make sense that the forming of our personality traits was affected by any other factor beside our existential needs and the needs of our sphere of influence.

By means of psychological analysis we will explain that the psychological types among people adequate to certain Zodiac signs really do exist, but that they occur regardless of the sign a person is born under. That is why we will use the term psychological type of Aries, Taurus, Gemini, etc. which may correspond to many individuals, even though they were not born under that sign or ascendant at all. Many readers will be aware that their psyche and physical appearance make them correspond to some other astrological sign other than that the one they belong to by birth.

In our anthropological analysis we will explain the reasons why there are differences between the psychological types and thus the differences between the Zodiac signs themselves. We will show that astrologers themselves, based on their own experiences, provide evidence that the psychological types corresponding to Zodiac signs have no source in the position of stars in the sky, but in the genetic heritage and accidental or deliberate birth of a certain psychological and anthropological type under the corresponding Zodiac sign.

In our religious analysis we will explain why astrologers still interpret the influence of the astrological factor as they did in ancient times, when they were convinced that planets are divine characters.

We will remind ourselves of the fact that we are beings responsible for our own actions and that our freedom is in the hands of our free mind and will.

This analysis will convey a strong message of enlightenment to experienced astrologers, with the purpose of clearing their experience of the superstitious trust in stars and determinism, and helping them become capable psychologists and anthropologists instead.