Random Astrology: Astrology Is More Than Just Your Zodiac Sign (And It's NOT a Religion)

When I first started learning about astrology, I was on a mission to better understand myself. Scratch that. I understood myself pretty well. I was on a mission to understand why I do what I do and feel how I feel.

Astrology wasn't the beginning of my road to self-discovery but it sure was the most enlightening lamppost along the way.

I always find it strange when people say they don't "believe" in astrology - as if it's a religion or a philosophy. Just like I find it strange when people say they don't "believe" in psychology. Just like I find it strange when people say they don't "believe" in evolution or some other scientific discovery. Frankly, not "believing" in something doesn't make the something invalid or untrue. It just means that the knowledge base (or belief system) that you're working with does not include, or conflicts with, what you don't "believe" in.

To me, not "believing" in astrology, psychology or science is the same as not "believing" that 2 + 2 = 4. Maybe the non-believer doesn't know how to count. Maybe the non-believer doesn't know what 2, 4, + or = means. If there's no meaning, then there's no understanding. Without understanding, there's no faith in the meaning. Belief is a tricky, circular bastard.

What made you travel down this line of thought?

Out of curiosity, I was looking up interpretations for a friend's baby on a site that specializes in baby interpretations. The site is one of the first ones that I discovered way back when...so I decided to re-read some interpretations to compare them to my own interpretations of certain placements and came across a familiar one:

Saturn in the ninth house of higher education, philosophy, religion and travel denotes a stable and practical philosophy of life. The placement explains the chief reason that you are probably not one who can easily accept concepts such as astrology. You are highly orthodox in religion, education, and business. You hold to both the letter and spirit of the law. You are very exacting and focused, possessing very strong administrative skills, especially in the fields of religion, education, publishing, or the law. You are likely to be politically conservative. - Source

The 9th house is the area of our horoscopes that describe our beliefs, conclusions and reflections on our experiences of the world. This is my Saturn placement - and parts of the interpretation could not be further from the truth even if it tried harder. Obviously, I'm very taken with astrology. I'm not at all religious, let alone do I hold any "orthodox" religious views. While I do love the law, I'm very much a gray-area type of person when it comes to interpreting and applying the law. As a matter of fact, I get rather frustrated with people who hold on to the letter of the law while disregarding the spirit of the law (see "Les Miserables"). I have a very generous respect for tradition and institutions such as universities, government, marriage, etc., but I also constantly question their purpose or practical usefulness in my life and the lives of others.

Which leads me to my advice to people who are just starting out in astrology: Read "cookbook" interpretations of placements and aspects with extreme caution. Remember that these are general descriptions that don't take into account the rest of a person's birth chart.

Using the above example:

In general, Saturn in the 9th house does indicate a person who fits the above description. However, this description becomes less applicable after taking the rest of the chart into consideration: an active 8th house; the ruler of the 9th house in the 8th house; a heavily-aspected Uranus; Uranus and Saturn co-ruling the 3rd house of communication and thought processing; the rulers of the 3rd house are in the 12th and 9th houses...and more. The 8th house is associated with interests in metaphysics, depth psychology and investigation. An "8th house person" is highly likely to want to understand the motives of people and isn't afraid to dig deep for the answers. Uranus is the rebel planet and is more than willing to follow an unorthodox path. Uranus wants to rock (and maybe even tip over) the boat that traditional Saturn painstakingly built to float upright. Also, Uranus rules astrology.

With these extra chart tidbits, it should become clearer (and easier to "guess") that this particular Saturn-in-9th-house person actually welcomes astrology and naturally questions/challenges the status quo rather than follows a predictable mental route or conventional life philosophy.

Knowing all of these extras is important because the details modify the bigger picture. The more details we have, the more personalized the description gets. (By the way, that belief is reflective of a 9th house Saturn in Virgo in a Jupiter-ruled chart.)

In other words, you are not just your Sun (zodiac/star) sign!!! And you are not just your Moon in ___ , Mercury in ____ , etc. (I now understand why so many advanced astrologers want to tear their hair out at pop culture's over-emphasis on Sun signs when referring to astrology. But I guess everyone's gotta start somewhere. I view Sun sign astrology as the gateway stereotype. lol)

Wrapping up... Before "disbelieving" or writing astrology off because it doesn't seem to accurately describe you, someone or something, ask the following questions:

1.) Who is interpreting?

2.) How much specific information does the interpreter have?

3.) How much of the interpretation is based on theory v. real world application/experience?

4.) What types of biases are coloring the interpretation?

Now that that's out of the way, hey baby...