cydonia

I'm not kidding! A co-worker had this huge book about birthdays, and all the signs and other astrology stuff etc. that went with the birthday. She read off the horoscope of her manager, (who drives everyone crazy) and the horoscope basically said that someone born on that day would drive everyone crazy (intentional or un).

So I flipped to mine, and sure enough it was me(mild sarcasm)! I really felt like I was reading something from beyond.

I don't believe in astrology or anything else anymore really, but still it made me wonder if there's a slight chance it's accurate.

Now rip me a new one.

Division By Zero

I read the horoscopes once in a while out of boredom, and they're dead wrong more often than they are kinda-right.

Consider first that no two horoscopes are the same on any given day. If horoscopes have any truth in them, it's kind of odd that the newspaper you read apparently overrides your birth sign.

Secondly, even if every newspaper everywhere made the same predictions, there are only twelve signs in the Zodiac. There are roughly 6 billion people on Earth, so if we divide them up evenly we get 500 million people for each prediction.

That means that on any given day, assuming all horoscopes are identical (which, of course, they aren't)...

1) 500 million people are about to rediscover a long-lost family member,
2) 500 million people are on the verge of great success both at home and work,
3) 500 million people suspect someone is not who they claim to be,
4) 500 million people should consider a career change, and so on.

As for having "a slight chance it's accurate," sure- with numbers like that, or even with the number of people that subscribe to a given newspaper, chances are the prediction will apply to somebody. But if horoscopes are supposed to make accurate predictions, not just random guesses, then 500 million people would be in the same unusual circumstances on the same day or week- which is a little far-fetched. Of course, there are more mundane horoscopes as well ("You will drive somebody crazy today"), which improves the odds a bit, but with something as general as that, I could pull the same prediction out of my ear without ever knowing your birth sign and be just as likely to be right.


How'd I do?

cydonia

I don't know, all this critical thinking sort of takes the magic away.

I used to be addicted to horoscopes, they really seem bunk to me now. But this book, it wasn't just the horoscope for the day, but the type you get that explains in general what type of person you are, your strengths, weaknesses, etc. It was very indepth. I'm sure it's crap, but it felt real.

Still, even though I haven't studied astrology fully, I can't possibly imagine any sort of evidence that could suggest the planets and stars are affecting my personal qualities and desires. But it really seemed accurate.

I basically agree with you, I just wonder if I have closed my mind completely.

Muad'Dib

Here's something to try, if you're interested and kind of social.

Find a book similar to the one your coworker used, and find someone who doesn't know your birthday. Write down three (or five, or ten, etc.) dates--your birthday and however many other random dates you want--and ask your new friend to pick one of the dates from a hat and read the horoscope information for that birthdate to you. It's *possible* that it'll be the entry for your actual birthday, but you won't know for sure, and neither will (s)he. See how well the description fits you, and afterward look at the date.

If you like, you can try this double-blind experiment with several books and several people.

Alternatively, have your partner read ALL the entries for the dates in the hat, and you can try to guess which of them corresponds to your actual birthday.

My experience with horoscope books is that there are actually several different personality descriptions that match me fairly well, and very often the closest match (none of them are ever perfect) is in Scorpio or Pisces even though technically I'm a Cancer. I think any sufficiently introspective person will find familiar aspects in just about any personality description.

Another fun thing to do is read your horoscope at the end of the day and try to figure out what sign you are based on what kind of day you had. Surprisingly, I'm apparently a Cancer much less than 1/12th of the time!

Godless Wonder

I think the best* horoscopes I have seen are Rob Brezny's Free Will Astrology. And I don't believe in Free Will (seriously, I don't) or [the purported accuracy of] astrology.

http://www.freewillastrology.com/

These appear weekly in the Houston Press, and I suspect the "alternative press" publications of other cities.

*best == most creative and entertaining which I have seen, without any attempted measurement of accuracy, which I'm sure is no better than random.

lunachick

www.astro.com

Volker.Doormann

To disbelieve in astrology is as well nonsense as to disbelieve in a language (for example French) or to disbelieve in music (for example Blues).

Astrology is an old science and art, a symbolic language which can tell about the 'signs of time' (see Jesus in NT) - it was called the Queen of science, because it needs a lot of disciplines and experience, not to learn in a few month.

I do astrology now for 40 years. I have put my experience in a software and on the web. The only superstition in relation to astrology is the superstition that astrology is superstition. No one who assert, that astrology is superstition has studied astrology. Because the authorities in Judaism about 500 BCE have seen the power which is connected with the knowledge in astrology they have done a lot of crime to hide their history that includes astrology as a spiritual science. They have exchanged for example the 12 zodiac signs into the 12 sons of Israel and have done many more 'modifications' in the scriptures to hide their true history. The astrological meaning of the planet Jupiter concerning righteous was changed to a guy called 'Melechzedek' (Hebrew: "King of righteous ") etc. This crime, the discredit of this science and astrologers holds until now because of the bias in the 'religious education' of students. Nothing, absolutely nothing is known about the science of astrology by those, who keep on this desinformation.

Best

Volker
(Karma Astrologer)

livius drusus

Astrology isn't a religion, really. It's more of a pseudoscience, like alchemy. I'm therefore moving this thread to S&S.

Just for the record, I have never encoutered a horoscope that was anything but a shot in the dark. The overwhelming majority of them fall so wide of the mark they make the rare hit seem remarkable.

Shadowy Man

I'm really sorry that you feel this way.

Critical thinking has provided far more magic in my life than fantasy ever could.

Arken

Then why did you post this in a forum that would have people critically thinking about your statement?

Have you checked to see how many other horoscopes in the book were accurate to you? I'm guessing quite a few would be.