In this day and age, astrology is lumped in with all the other so-called superstitions and backward, non-scientific belief systems that primitive and unevolved people cling to in order to comfort themselves in the darkness. What has not been acknowledged by the mainstream media (though they feed the superstition with tacky horoscope columns and sun sign predictions in the back pages) is that modern scientific understanding and astrological principles are actually quite compatible.

The concept of implicate order in physics, for example, suggests that an inner archetypal / symbolic meaning can be contained with and connected directly to explicate order, or that which is outwardly manifest and visible. It is not that one causes the other but that both exist and mirror each other in a point for point way.

In astrology, the planets and their movements are symbolically significant; they are reflective, not causal. Just because two things happen at the same time doesn’t mean one thing causes the other. The planetary bodies don’t actually make anything happen. They needn’t apply forces that can be measured with instruments, and the lack of such measurable force is not relevant to whether or not astrology works.

The planets do move in a predictable, patterned way that can be interpreted, using the language of archetype, as symbolically equivalent to the movements of human lives. Millennia of observation by astrologers, the astronomers and social scientists of the day, have shown these patterns to be consistent. Asking, “Why does it work?” is beside the point, for that is the eternal unanswerable. Life is full of mysteries. We can understand how, but why is ever elusive. Why does two plus two always equal four? Why do atoms combine to make molecules? Why does life exist?

Another common misconception is that the backdrop of the constellations in the sky is supposed to be the basis for modern tropical astrology, and that because the background has shifted, astrology is now wrong. People love to point that out the discrepancy caused by the precession of the equinoxes, thinking they’re disproving something.

However, the stars are not the current basis for tropical astrology, though they were the original inspiration for the symbol system we use. Western astrology is earth-based. The beginning points of the cardinal signs are attached to the cardinal points of the year, the solstices and equinoxes. The Sun moves into the symbolic sign Capricorn at the winter solstice, into Aries at the spring equinox, Cancer at the summer solstice and Libra at the fall equinox.

The signs’ meanings are much more tied to the symbolic significance of the seasons than to the star patterns the sun appears to be traveling in front of. For example, Aries, the sign the Sun enters at the spring equinox, signifies the energetic and will-driven bursting forth of life from a dormant state. Capricorn, the sign of winter solstice, represents the bare bones and necessities of physical life.

The misapprehension of most people about this is quite understandable, for the ongoing media blackout around anything that addresses and explains the actual basis for and practice of modern astrology has ensured that virtually none of this is common knowledge.

Astrology is a symbolic language that describes the archetypal world, and it is convenient and effective for explaining and predicting everything from certain social trends on the macro level to the symbolic unfolding and potential actualization of an individual’s evolutionary journey. It has many useful applications, such as deciphering the complicated dynamics of relationships, helping parents to understand and meet their children’s’ true needs, and understanding group and business dynamics.

Astrology can help us to understand the nature of the crises we encounter as part of the business of living and give strategies for coping and meeting the transformational and evolutionary challenges being offered. As a tool for personal and social growth, astrology is unparalleled.

Astrology is not simple or easy to learn, though the basic elements that comprise it are very simple.

Astrology is a language, and the concepts which can explain it can only be described in that language. It is a map, a blueprint, a step-by-step evolutionary instruction manual. Astrology is a system of thought, of understanding the world. Astrology is an art—the whole picture it paints can ultimately only be grasped intuitively, subjectively. And astrology is a science—it is repeatable and provable, although not empirically, for within the logic and framework of astrology (as in quantum physics) there is no such thing as empiricism. The point of view of the astrologer, the observer, changes everything. No two astrologers share exactly the same view of astrology.

Astrology’s only proof is that it works—in the realm in which it exists—subjectively. From the point of view of any human person, given an accurate birth-time and an intuitive and competent astrologer, astrology can be seen to work.

Astrology is the science of the subjective and the art of the arcane.

Astrology is bigger than mind, body and spirit; there are four elements, not three, and the fourth is a biggie. Astrology’s four elements, fire, earth, air and water, correspond to four main divisions of reality: mind, matter, spirit and emotion. All are balanced equally in the whole, though individuals may be biased in favour of certain elements and uncomfortable with certain others.

This society is desperately in need of a paradigm shift, and we have one waiting, ready to burst overhead like a cosmic fireworks display. Parts of that truth are being discovered and articulated by various thinkers, scientists, mystics and philosophers, and only the language of astrology has the necessary scope and symmetry to express it.

In his novel Stranger In a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein told of a new system of thought (Martian) that, once learned, resulted in people acquiring powers that seemed magical—the power to appear and disappear at will, for example, and the power to heal and transform their own bodies. However, the concepts that needed to be learned in order to manifest the powers could be expressed only in the Martian language—so in order to gain the powers, one must learn to speak and understand Martian.

Astrology is like Martian in that respect. The whole truth is made up of all the elements and oppositions, all types of approach, interacting together in balance. However, the appropriate language with which to understand the whole truth has not been taken seriously, and (aside from the horoscope columns which everyone loves to read but is embarrassed to admit) is not being learned. Why is that?

It’s partly because astrology has quite a steep learning curve—it’s complicated and difficult and few people have the motivation to learn any subject in that depth on their own momentum without social support. Who would want to learn mathematics if it were not required in school? Only those with a natural aptitude and drive to want to know what only mathematics can teach.

Astrology is not being taught in the schools, quite the contrary. Astrology is thoroughly disparaged by the mainstream and it is quite likely that any teacher who mentions astrology other than derogatorily is likely to receive unpleasant attention from his or her superior. I believe there is a dark and unconscious reason behind the contemptuous dismissal astrology has received from the physical sciences.

There was a famous petition in 1983 which signed by nearly two hundred prominent scientists which stated categorically as a matter of fact that astrology is utter trash, with no value and no basis in reality. This petition was reported at the time in the major media, but the response of astrologer’s was neither mentioned nor allowed.

There was an indignant uprising of astrologers in response who wrote many letters to various media, pointing out that reputable, serious astrologers with a high degree of professionalism and integrity do in fact exist in plenty and pleading to have their point of view be heard. Virtually none of these ever saw the light of day. One group of astrologers contacted many of the scientist signatories asking whether or not they had actually studied the subject before signing in the spirit of scientific inquiry—and none had. Several astrologers offered free readings to any scientist who cared to know more about astrology—none were accepted.

These were scientists, who signed their name en masse to condemn a whole school of thought without bothering to investigate it first, even in a cursory manner. This is very strange behavior for those who practice good science (and I must assume the majority of those who signed were considered to be good scientists).

Such blind adherence to a belief system without prior investigation flies in the face of scientific method. It speaks of a gap in the thought processes of the signers. Such a blind spot, a blot of darkness, a compulsion, in fact, screams Pluto!

And of course, it just so happens that Pluto moved into its home sign, Scorpio, in that same year, 1983. Scorpio represents, among many other things, fear of the mysterious and unknowable and the collective, compulsive denial of that fear along with that which is feared.

Another reason for science’s rejection of astrology is that it cannot be empirically proved. Scientific method when it comes to astrology falls apart. Only personal experience can attest to its validity. The only way that I can see that astrology can be verified is through personal study or consultation with an astrologer, and then, the evidence is undeniable, but it is not objective evidence.

Astrology is full of so-called anecdotal evidence and coincidences and subjective confirmation, but science has so far failed to allow for that part of life to play a role in the whole picture. And this is precisely the value of astrology, for it includes the scientific world-view in the earth and air elements, the physical and intellectual spheres, while it also includes the mystical and emotional in the elements fire and air.

Astrology is inclusive; science is exclusive. It cannot be said that astrology is a science, for scientific method can’t prove it and it does not confine itself to a scientific world-view. Yet I believe it to be a holistic science, in the same family as the holistic science described by Stephan Halpern, James Lovelock, and Lynn Margulis.

This entire universe is a vast, breathing, living, sentient organism, the truth of which assertion cannot be proved but only experienced. Still, it can be experienced, the way the aliveness of our own bodies and our own planet can be experienced, by allowing the experience and letting this living world move through us and include us within its wholeness, by participating in the vast interconnectedness of the cosmos.