Smart People Who Believe in Astrology AKA WTF?

I swear that there is something to it, oddly enough. I am exactly like my sign, and my partner is exactly like his.

It’s embarrassing. It’s okay if you check your horoscope for entertainment value, but lots of people will actually refuse to date someone because “our signs aren’t compatible.”

Alrighty then!

This is because most people have limited knowledge of astrology and only know their Sun sign. The astrology they know is called "cookbook astrology" or an incredibly watered down version of the real art and science of it.

There are ancient Babylonian texts from around 1200 B.C. with astrological records and realistically astrology may date back even further. For those willing to study in depth, you could spend lifetimes trying to learn it all and still fall short. It's esoteric, complex. and absolutely mesmerizing the deeper you go.

As much as we know about astrology, there's no doubt some cosmic knowledge has been lost over the centuries and we are unlikely to retrieve all of it. People often think that time always equals progress and since we live in the future we must know more than the people who came before us. We're here now and they are not, so we're smarter. But have you considered that people in the past may have understood things we do not?

TLDR: Astrology is very old, it's endured for centuries and should not be dismissed; you have never studied it so you you're speaking from a place of limited knowledge/understanding. Collectively humanity has lost ancient wisdom and as a result we as individuals are also dumber.

I don’t hold any beliefs in astrology but I don’t think it’s impossible that some traits could be molded by what season you born in, given how important the first few months of life are, described by many as “the fourth trimester” because of how underdeveloped a newborn baby still is. Also climate could have an impact on when and how you were conceived- in the desolate cold of winter when no one ventures out, or at the time of the harvest festivals, right before people are shut in due to bad weather? It’s silly but may not have always been entirely devoid of meaning.

R4 yes that's pretty much the only thing I can theorize as far as astrology goes. Environment DOES play a part in how we behave so the season into which you are born can play a part in your personality, theoretically.

Beyond that, astrology is a lot of bullshit.

name one smart celeb who believes in this shit. nobody....

It's a bunch of hooey.

Well, since they’re so smart…maybe they know something that you do not.

Born stupidity

Astrology had to keep being revised once new planets were discovered, so even on its own batty terms all astrology for most of its existence has been completely wrong. (No doubt some loon will now pop up to explain all this away and loftily say I just don't understand.)

What gets me are smart atheists who believe in astrology. WTF?

R46 Agreed. I believe astrology is really just an early form of psychology: studying behavior.

Maybe sometime along the way, someone figured out that the if you were born at a certain time during the year, you tended to have certain behaviors. Born in a time of plenty when everyone was outdoors and socializing, you tended to be more outgoing/active. Born when harvest was down and it was too cold outside, you tended to be more quiet/introverted.

Amd variations of this idea entwined to create specific zodiac archetypes: born during a cold month (February) but then a few months later everything is warming up and people are congregating - you could be shy but love the social the gatherings going on around you (Pieces).

I definitely see people with the same sign having the some of the same types of behaviors.

I never truly vocally question other people's metaphysical beliefs; but when people talk as if they take astrology seriously, I give them an extremely cold stare.

Ain't nobody got time for that bullshit.

They lack emotional intelligence.

Smart people aren’t necessarily completely committed to empiricism.

We had a candidate discuss astrology during a panel interview. I had to turn off my camera to hide my laughter. We passed on her.

WTF, indeed. I have a co-worker who tried to to reschedule a meeting about three weeks ago, because, and I quote "communication is just so difficult during mercury retrograde". I can't take her seriously anymore.

I used to know people who were really into it and they said each person has about ten or so signs(houses?). The one everyone seems to know about is their sun sign.

I can't remember everyone's birthday, but I can usually remember their star sign and that groups people together in my head so I can register by the date that all the Libran birthdays are coming up, etc.

I fit the Scorpio description perfectly.

I have the same problem with smart people who are Christians. I guess some things just defy rationality

Yeah... dumb motherfuckers

It's fun. Some people talk about it, it doesn't mean they take it seriously.

Also, you must be a Lazy Libra because you seem to think that DL is an inbox for your meandering thoughts.

OP I think the same about any religion, I am most familiar with Christianity but honestly, who can read that book and actually take any of it seriously. Answer is billions of people but not me.

R3, nadi astrology is also very cool (from India).

[quote]I can't remember everyone's birthday, but I can usually remember their star sign and that groups people together in my head so I can register by the date that all the Libran birthdays are coming up, etc.

Same. Sun signs perform a useful function for those of us raised by New Age hippy aunts. I knew the sun sign calendar by third grade and it helps as a mental record keeping tool.

[quote]Environment DOES play a part in how we behave so the season into which you are born can play a part in your personality, theoretically.

That's a reasonable hypothesis in itself, but it doesn't let astrology off the hook. Unless it can explain how a person born into a snowy January in Montreal has the same traits as someone born into a steaming hot January in Brisbane.

A load of shit. Fun but cannot be taken seriously.

I actually can’t think of anyone smart that believes in it. The exception was this guy i was flirting with online a few years ago. He was intelligent, well read, well, smart, and after some time messaging he mentioned something about astrology in passing and i just said “you’re kidding, right”. Well, he wasn’t and boy was I lectured…

I was at a party last week and an old acquaintance, who is educated and went to a prestigious university, was shocked to hear I'm a Cancer-- he always assumed I was Leo (I'm on the cusp and was just hours away from being a Leo). It was like watching someone going through the stages of grief! He was in disbelief because "he doesn't usually like cancers!" I wasn't sure if I had to defend myself or not for something so silly. But I told him my moon and rising are both Leos he was relieved.

Gay men and heterosexual women are completely obsessed with astrology to ridiculous degrees.

No R1. You’re projecting bias in order to fit something you want to believe, because it’s easier than acknowledging that we are all very individually complex, yet ALSO have MANY personality traits in common.

I have two ex-Catholic gay friends who are way WAY into it, and it’s obvious to a lot of us that these men took their former love of all the mental/metaphysical ornateness of Roman Catholicism and transmuted it into a love of astrology.

“The thing about me is I’m SO sensitive to mercury retrograde because Mercury was in my 5th house at birth and I’m a Virgo but a rising Sagittarius and also my moon trines Venus and so….”

That kind of thing. Beyond tiresome but they’re lovely people otherwise.

p.s… I quoted it so well because I got way into it for a year…

… when I was 12.

Full moon, all the psychos are gonna be out! Especially the warewolves!!!

My friend just told me she's gonna go on the rooftop of her building with sage and stone coz of full moon tonight

[quote]I'm a Cancer-- he always assumed I was Leo (I'm on the cusp and was just hours away from being a Leo).

This would be explained away as your sun sign progression. Your sign continues to transit a degree every year and eventually enters the next sign(s), where you have the experiences that build the traits of that sign.

I had hippy aunts who interpreted charts and they had an answer for every criticism, much like Bible thumpers.

Nancy Reagan, a Smith College grad, believed in astrology.

"If you want to talk to me about imaginary things, then I'd far rather talk about hobbits, or even Narnia."

That always shuts 'em up.

They are not smart, they are stupid

I have fun watching astrologers & fortune tellers online.

Neither are EVER to be taken seriously.

Duh!

Starting with the OP and R3, it's plain how far things have fallen here.

"Ummm." versus "Old Things Must Be Right"