Are horoscopes pure bunk?

The reading of horoscopes is supposedly understanding a group of celestial systems, traditions, and beliefs in which knowledge of the relative positions of celestial bodies and related details is held to be useful in understanding, interpreting, and organizing information about personality, human affairs, and other worldy matters. A practitioner of astrology is called an astrologer, or, less often, an astrologist. Western astrology shares a common ancestry with others around the world as horoscopic systems of astrology, in that all the astrological traditions focus on the creating of an astrological chart or horoscope, a representation of celestial entities, for an event based on the position of the Sun, Moon, other planets and distant stars at the moment of the event. But is all of this really just pure bunk?

As far as we can tell in science, there are only four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, and two forces called the strong and weak forces. The forces of the last two only work (more or less) as a result of the nuclei in atoms and subatomic particles in space. It's hard to see how they could affect us on a macroscopic scale since their strengths weaken so rapidly with distance that it's essentially gone even if you were you're just a few billionths of a meter from the source.

Other than the sun, which provides us with light, heat, electromagnetism and gravitational pull and the moon that causes the tides because of its gravitational pull, the stars and the planets circulating our sun has no effect on events here on the Earth. In fact, the computer that you are using to read this blog has more gravitational effect on you than all the other stars and planets in space. So why then, do astrologers refer to the various stars and planets in space as having an effect on our minds, human relations and events in our lives?

For purposes of illustration, take the most massive star known to astronomers, the Pistol Star, which may have as much as 150 times the mass of the Sun. Take, also, the closest star system to Earth, Alpha Centauri, at a distance of about 4 light-years. (One solar mass is about 2 x 1030 kilograms; one light-year is approximately 9.4 x 1015 meters.) Plug these figures into Newton's law of universal gravitation to determine the gravitational force that a star the size of the Pistol Star at the distance of Alpha Centauri would exert on a 100-kilogram person on Earth.

It yields a result of 1.4 x 10-9 newtons of force, or in other words, about a billionth of a newton. A newton is the force needed to accelerate an object weighing one kilogram one metre per second. By comparison, a 1-kilogram object, such as an apple, at a distance of 1 meter from a person exerts a gravitational force of about 6.7 x 10-9 newtons on that person - about five times as much. Another 100-kilogram person standing one meter from you exerts on you a gravitational force of 6.7 x 10-7 newtons, a hundred times as strong as that of the Pistol Star, which astrologers generously slant to favour their claims of astrology.

Recognizing that gravity is a non-starter as an explanation, most astrologers simply wave their hands about conveniently at undetectable ‘energies’, and deploy extremely garbled understandings of quantum physics, or make naked appeals to magic. In other words, it’s hocus pocus or put more simply, pure bunk.

The Toronto Star, a major newspaper in Canada publishes a daily horoscope column and on October 19, 2007 it wrote;

“Thought for the Day: Bright Jupiter is dominating the western sky after sunset. For many months, it has been in very close proximity to the star Antares of the constellation Scorpius. Jupiter is now leaving the area and won't return for another 12 years.”

I don’t take issue with that aspect of the horoscope. It merely explains where Jupiter is in the sky on the 19th of October. However, I take issue what follows. It says;

“If today is your birthday: Just as a plant won't grow if it is not watered regularly, opportunities won't fulfil their potential unless they are nurtured. Ideal conditions this year will make an important dream grow to fruition.”

It doesn’t matter whether or not it is your birthday on October the 19th. The advice given in the column would apply to everyone.

The newspaper’s horoscope had this to say for the 15th of October 2007;

“Thought for the Day: The crescent moon is waxing toward the first quarter phase of this Thursday. Life is breathing in. Plans are taking shape. Projects are being born. And Mercury is moving backward. Review and retool your strategies.”

Then it said;

“If today is your birthday: Forget the reasons certain much-needed changes seemed impossible. It'll be easy, this year, to maintain a relaxed frame of mind. In so doing, your worries will start to melt away and a friendly sky will help fulfill your true potential.”

Again, more helpful advice was given that everyone should accept and what is happening to the moon and where a planet is located may be of interest to amateur astronomers but these astral bodies certainly don’t have any effect on human beings unless Mercury is heading towards Earth on a collision course.

However, the words, “…a friendly sky will help fulfill your true potential.” is something else. Since what is in space will have no effect on your willingness or ability to fulfill your true potential, or melt away your worries, how can anyone seriously take this garbage as legitimate science?

I remember talking to a friend many years ago who told me that she followed horoscopes faithfully. Her horoscope for the day said, “It is time to find a new friend.” She then ditched the young man she was going out with and looked for a new friend. She married the new friend who turned out to be a hopeless drunk who ruined her life. She subsequently attempted to commit suicide and overdosed on drugs and was in a coma for a week. She became permanently deaf as a result of the overdose.

Those scam artists who are paid money to read horoscopes, prey upon human gullibility, weakness, superstition, desperation, hope, fears, and ignorance and are responsible for a great many of society’s woes. It is about as stupid as following the advice of scam artists who purport to be able to forecast your future by reading tea leaves. It’s about as stupid of taking seriously what you are told about your future by someone who drops chicken bones in front of you and purportedly makes conclusions about your future after studying the way the bones land on the ground.

Whether it be self-proclaimed astrologers, spoon benders, self-professed psychic sleuths, medical quacks, faith healers or prophets of gods, the people who prey upon the gullibility and superstitions of citizens of society all have one thing in common: They don't give a damn about their victims.

If people weren't poorly educated, weren't greedy, and weren't inflicted by religious superstition and willful ignorance, most bunko laws wouldn't need to exist to protect them from these phony soothsayers.

I think the title of such columns should be changed to ‘Astronomical Facts for the Day’ and ‘Thoughts for the Day’.

Here is my thought for the day. “People who pay money to have their horoscopes read should pay money to psychiatrists to have their heads read.”