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Originally Posted by Capuchin

But it makes zero sense to me that your life is dictated by the position of the stars.

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This is the popular conception of astrology--that the stars cause things to happen or require people to behave in certain ways or exhibit certain character traits. Even some astrologers still approach the subject from this point of view, but there is another way to do it that I believe is more useful. Here's how I described it in my previous post (emphasis added):

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Originally Posted by ordinaryguy

The usefulness of one's birth chart as a tool for self-exploration depends on the willing choice to treat it as a symbolic mandala that represents the sum of all possible challenges, opportunities, potentials and hazards afforded by this life situation. There is no necessity to make such an analogy, just as there is neither a guarantee nor requirement to manifest any particular one of the possibilities inherent in the lifetime. Hence, the sages say, "The stars inform, they do not compel".

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From this point of view, astrology provides a taxonomy of personality and a vocabulary for describing and analyzing the process of growth, learning and maturation. It becomes a way to think about and become aware of the inner complexities of our psyche and the process that we go through as our life unfolds. There is nothing deterministic or compulsory about it.

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Originally Posted by ordinaryguy

Not strange at all. Sun signs are more often than not a relatively minor indicator of personality. Other features of a birth chart, especially the house positions of planets and relationships between them are usually far more significant.

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Thanks for that explanation, Guy! It makes sense and we've never had a full work up done since neither of us know the time of our births.

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Originally Posted by Capuchin

It's useful in the same way as religion is useful. But it makes zero sense to me that your life is dictated by the position of the stars. Just as it makes no sense to me that there is a guy up there who can do anything he wants to with us.

I'm not deriding it as a useful practice that can give you faith and purpose. I'm just saying that it's rather obviously completely created by the human mind's ability to see patterns where there are none.

From a logical point of view it is useless. From an emotional point of view, it certainly isn't.

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Interesting... Most scientists dismiss religion as there is no real proof that convinces them. I respect that but I always say that it is important to keep an open mind, always as there may be things that science cannot explain or even provide insight. I use the word MAY because there MAY be things or there may not be things...

The important thing is to keep an open mind...

Kind of like what Skell was talking about the red Kangaroo being the largest of them all... I am open minded to that concept but I have not seen one yet so I am partially dismissing them too... LOL Just kidding, that is a rubbish example.

Sometimes there is half truth in something people believe in and the other half is based on sugar coating the truth or adding on things which help drive the belief system. This could be a fact with Astrology in that there is some truth to it and it must have derived from some reliable source but the truth of it gets misshaped in some way and therefore the belief system is driven by this misshaping because it makes the theory of it all more attractive.