Nobody really knows how astrology works. And while a definitive work
such as The Astrology File by Gunther Sachs now stands tall for every
skeptic to challenge the truth of statistics in favor of astrological
correlations, people will continue to believe what they want to
believe. As such, astrology is as scientific as any uncertain science
that exists today, or it can be said that astrology is as workable as
any acceptable science today. It really is up to every individual to
decide for himself. And if you're not sure how to make that decision,
this article can help.

Today, I still don't believe astrology works. Just as I do not
believe medical surgery is capable of saving every life.

There are various ways the mechanics may be explained. But in doing
so, does not make that explanation the sole authority as to how the
mechanics truly work. For a while, a certain explanation may appeal
to the general sense, and may be largely accepted. But how long was
it that society at large accepted the appealing idea that the world
was flat? Or that it was ridiculous for metal to fly in the air?

Today, I don't believe astrology works, but I know some part of it
has been proven by my own hands and keen sight of observation, that
the correlations are beyond chance. At the same time, I would also
say that there are still grey areas in astrology whereby I am not
convinced of some of the theories propounded. Not convinced by
experience, and not intellectual or philosophical debate.

If a belief system is personal, then the way out is experience. It
has to be an experiential affirmation to make astrology part of your
arsenal to use, or one of the numerous things for you to personally
reject in life. I do not possess the whole answer myself, but I do concur with some of the following ideas:

1. The stars do not compel but they impel

Very much like an individual who doesn't smoke. He might not begin
with the urge, and he might find himself strong in resisting the
temptation to start smoking. But after due time, when always
surrounded by a people who incessantly smoke, the resistance can
diminish, and new urges may build up. Not by coaxing of the
surrounding people, but by the steady acceptance of the habituations
of the surroundings. Before long, there is a strong tendency that
that individual might take up smoking; even if he insists he's just
an occasional smoker (that is how most begin). And subsequently, even
if he does not take it up, he might just contract a secondary cancer;
getting the effects of a surrounding cause of which he believes he is
not a part of, or that it shouldn't have affected him in the first
place.

2. The stars do not cause; they co-relate

If the stars were taken as causes, then we shouldn't stop with the
stars. We are constantly bathed in a myriad spectrum of energy
forces; terrestrial, extraterrestrial, near and far. The movements of
the elements surrounding us here would easily make for personality
shifts. Never mind about distant planets. There is a greater
likelihood that their depictions of motion imply similar movements
within our own collective unconscious that in turn might urge us to
move in specific directions for the various experiences we gain.
Minus the semantics of course, this would be causal enough to the
causal theorist.

3. The collective unconscious is a field of past energies that
continues to snowball into a collective reality

An ancient illuminati developed the model by which an unevolved race
could use it to their decision-making advantage. Then somewhere along
the way, a great number of people inserted a tremendous amount of
belief into the model, and then moved it down the ages with a
non-questioning tradition of practice. That made the forces take on
an intelligence of its own, in turn giving feedback into that which
is believed in. That which was once an idea, evolved into a governing
reality. Thus, a practitioner will find that the principles of Feng
Shui might not apply to him, but the applications of Vasthu Shastra
might; and vice versa, whereas both make use of subjective symbology,
albeit culturally different.

4. Astrology works for those caught in its field

Everything that has gone down history with its momentum, gathering
its own life force, eventually creates an intelligent field of its
own. Once caught in this field, based on blueprint affinities, such
individuals tend to get deeper into its core, until its suggestions
become a realworld structure to its denizens. This works both ways.
Either an individual peeks into the astrology field from a parametric
and cautious location and eventually allows himself to get sucked
deeper its core, or the intelligence that is the astrology field
reaches out in an ever enlarging boundary to embrace new denizens
into its core without consensus or with a sufficiently minute
permission for immersion to occur. Either way, the individual and the
field both share some structure of similarity so as to suggest
affinity with one another.

5. The planets affect us by cosmic bombardment of energies

If this is wholly true, then it shouldn't really be a major problem
because we would then have recourse in our own geologic sciences. It
might be advanced enough to guide us as to how we may counter
undesirable cosmic rays to prevent undue pain, or to enhance them
with some high-technology appliance in order to boost them for better
life experiences. Very much like the movements of the moon around the
earth, causing our ocean tides. Affecting the major oceans, the lunar
movements likewise affect the motions of the water that makes 7/8th
of our human system, impacting upon our very biochemistry, a
substance that predominates our very brain, affecting our very
psychology of the moment. But is that biology, psychology, or
cosmogony?

6. The planets do not cause, but they describe the quality of the
character that coincides with the quality of the time that the entity
was born

Character makes destiny. The starts in this instance do not cause the
kind of character to be born as such. Instead, the stars depicted at
that time, show the qualities of that time, and for that personality
to be born at that time, one may glean the probable expressions and
directions into which that personality in all probability will grow
into. And as character produces preferences, develop aptitude and
predilections, then character produces destiny; something that can be
calculated as projections of personality. Cause or co-incidence, this
idea tells us that it is calculable. It stands to reason that the
father of modern day psychology, Carl Jung himself, studied more than
three thousand horoscopes by the time he died. When asked why he did
it, he simply said that people came to him for second opinions, and
for him, he uses astrology for second opinions.

Intellectual discussions are never as gratifying as a personal
hands-on experiment. Don't let yourself be taken in by the rationale
and logic hype. Make your own statements based on your own
experiences. Then decide with your own conclusions or
semi-conclusions. With that, you can at least become some kind of
authority to the extent that you have committed yourself to the
exploration of truth.