Recently I had the opportunity to participate in an entertaining discussion with representatives of sciences similar in name, but fundamentally different in content. It was attended by lovers of modern astronomy and astrology - two currents that have been sworn enemies to each other for several centuries. Each of the participants in the discussion vied with each other to prove that his point of view is true and that astronomers or astrologers know about the stars better than their opponents. Of course, for representatives of academic science, such statements are ridiculous - after all, how can Galileo Galilei and Pavel Globa be put on a par? But still, there is something in astrology that makes people believe in astrological forecasts for many centuries and find confirmation of their truth in real life every day.
Why do people believe the horoscopes of astrologers?
Belief in the existence of a secret side of the universe that is inaccessible to human understanding has accompanied man since ancient times. Starting from the ancient mystical cults of making rain and ending with the modern rites of the consecration of spaceships, people believed and still believe in the presence of otherworldly forces that could have a much greater influence on their lives than they themselves. And even in our century, when enlightenment, it would seem, has reached its apogee, the irrational component of human nature has not gone anywhere.
The advent of astrology came at a time when people knew absolutely nothing about the stars and space. The moon, stars and the sun appeared in the minds of people as spiritualized objects, endowed with incredible power. This is not surprising, because the life of a person directly depends on the heavenly bodies, then and now, therefore, their enormous importance in the minds of people is difficult to overestimate. But ancient people associated with the heavenly bodies not only direct events, such as the onset of day and night, but also mystical ones. Therefore, the first astrologers quickly realized that the Sun and the Moon can be used to justify not only the seasons or the weather, but also the fate of an entire state or its ruler.
The first such omens, based on the nature of the movement of heavenly bodies, began to appear in ancient Mesopotamia. Even then, they were in great demand, because, along with pseudoscientific predictions, ancient astrologers possessed very real knowledge and the laws of motion of the Sun, Moon and stars. They could predict eclipses with high accuracy, which often shocked the largest rulers of antiquity, knew about the parades of the planets and much more. And since some of the predictions of astrologers did come true (which, in principle, is still happening), the belief in the supernatural and the truth of their knowledge grew stronger every day.
Astrological forecast in the 21st century
Promotional video:
Over time, the Sun and the stars began to predict not only the fate of empires or emperors, but also ordinary mortals. In the conditions of a lack of scientific knowledge and an actual lack of education, fortune-tellers and astrologers in the Middle Ages became incredibly popular. That there is only Michelle Nostradamus, who, on the wave of astrological "hype", was able to become one of the most influential people of his era. Despite the fact that most of the predictions of Nostradamus did not come true, as soon as he hit the mark at least once, not only ordinary people, but also representatives of royal houses were ready to fall to their knees in front of him.
So little by little, astrology has survived to this day. It has evolved a lot and today includes many sections. According to the Sun, Moon, stars and date of birth, modern astrologers are ready to predict everything for you: from compatibility in marriage to a good moment of conversation with your boss. And despite the fact that in the twentieth century. there was a total revolution in the natural sciences, the demand for horoscopes of astrologers has not gone anywhere, just as the irrational component of human consciousness has not gone anywhere. In addition, like hundreds of years ago, some of the predictions of astrologers sometimes still hit the mark, causing a mystical awe even among the most inveterate skeptics.
Modern astronomy about horoscopes
The vast majority of scientific communities and foundations consider astrology to be a reference pseudoscience. From the point of view of modern astronomy, none of the astrological approaches has even minimal grounds for being considered true, since it is refuted by banal practice. Scientists have repeatedly tried to statistically check the truth of the predictions of astrologers and it turned out that in more than 90% of cases they turned out to be incorrect. In one of the experiments, researchers at the University of Michigan put data on 3000 married couples into a computer, compared them with signs of the zodiac and dates of birth. It turned out that astrological dogmas about compatibility do not coincide in 99% of cases. Moreover, about a third of all couples lived a happy married life and did not even suspect that they were categorically incompatible from an astrological point of view.
Author: Alexey Shilov