Post by Lunaria on May 3, 2004 11:08:42 GMT -5
RESPONSES
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Remember, the responses here are personal opinions which everyone is entitled to - feel free to add yours, the next response will go straight to the top.
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John Ball
In one mercurial breath, Jewell Starsinger rebutts her mother's claim that "Geminis are liars". Yet several breaths later, she declares, "...this Gemini was in Hell, sumberged by black demons in primoridal goo with a gun to my head".
Is that second statement literally true? Gemini suns may not be categorical liars, but in this case one has evidenced a casual disregard for the literal import of words.
Cf Geminian President George Bush, whose words had no meaning at all.
John Ball, US, SQNL15A@prodigy.com
7/4/98
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Jewell Starsinger
I am curious. As a Gemini child growing up with a Virgo mother, I learned that "Geminis are liars." She had evidently learned this from some sun sign grocery store book and took my Neptunian proclivities for fantasy as Geminian characteristics. With her psychic abilities, fully intact, she recognized my ruling planet Mercury in a tight square to Pluto. I could always see the worst in her and she knew it. She had no choice but to label me a liar.
The first four decades of my life were spent in the study of psychology, the religion of secular society, since the industrial age taught humans to believe in the body of mass marketing rather than the body of Christ. Sun sign astrology was all we had, and to paraphrase Deborah Houlding, "It was barely believable to most of us."
The newspaper articles stated that a Gemini would be acting "light and superficial for the next few weeks," and yet this Gemini was in hell, submerged by black demons in primordial goo with a gun to my head. (Transiting Pluto was conjoining my natal Moon, South Node, Neptune conjunction.) That incredible lightness of Geminianism was no where to be found. At that point in time the newspaper reports were as meaningless and stupid as "The Gong Show." Too bad it was not as profitable either! This continued mis-identification of causes and effects turned me even farther away from ever considering the validity of something so goofy as astrology.
My fourth decade of life brought me astrology in its fullness. I have had epiphanies related to my training in astrology. I have gone on to pursue other related studies like Kabala, Sacred Geometry and Mythological Symbolism. I rarely read the astrology newspaper columns, but for those who are mildly curious, this may be their only inroad toward higher consciousness. Clients often bring clippings to a reading, specifically asking about the topic raised. We "experts" should not disparage the needs of the uneducated, because only a few will rise to the next level. In the meantime, many more are made familiar with our language in this way.
I bet that every discipline is frustrated by general public ignorance of their particular topic.
Can anyone explain to me the rudimentary mechanics of preparing a sun sign prediction like they do in the funny papers? I have not gone down this road.
What is the methodology used to calculate sun sign astrology? Is the week's prediction forcast from a chart drawn for the ingress of the sun into its new sign? And from what point of view? From Greenwich, or New York or LA? What degree of the sun at what particular part of the cycle (decanate) is the one on which to focus?
Thanks,
Jewell Starsinger jewellstar@earthlink.net
home.earthlink.net/~jewellstar/
6/4/98
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MissnKayla
Well, I must confess that I still read the sun sign astrology columns. Of course, I make it a bit of a complicated affair. First I read Capricorn, my sun sign. Then I read Scorpio, my rising sign. Then, because I have intercepted houses, I also read Sagittarius. Then I consider the degree placement of the planets in my ephemeris to see if what they're saying about that planet really affects me. Then I do the same for my husband and my friends. Hey, it never hurts to get another opinion.
But even with all those convoluted steps taken in considering a popular astrology column, I almost NEVER find anything in them that is ... well, true may be too strong a word, so let's just say applicable ... to my life or my loved ones'. On one occasion my daughter was reading a popular astrology column in her teen magazine and to my horror the "astrologer" had strewn the planets all over the zodiac, completely disregarding their actual transits! (My daughter wrote the magazine, and they thanked her and got a new astrologer.)
And if after working so hard at it, I can't find these columns applicable to my life, how much less the general public, and this IS where most of them learn about astrology, and that IS why the general public tends to regard astrology as a bunch of baloney. And now we have the proliferation (at least in the U.S.) of the 900 numbers, where you can get a "professional" astrologer for $1.95 a minute through an ad on the page next to the sun sign column in the TV guide. Now I will admit that I haven't been curious enough to spend $1.95 a minute to research how good these "professionals" are, but I'm not convinced these sources are going to do anything for astrology's reputation among the masses. But that is all that's there, available to the average citizen -- would Joe Blow even know how or where to find a good, professional astrologer? I doubt it.
As for the great spiritual insights, the very best sun sign astrology columns do contain spiritual insights. If a column says, you will come into money today, and you don't, then you have nothing. But if a column gives a bit of insight into our valuing of material goods, then even if we don't come into money, we have something. And as for the public's desire for spiritual insights, it may be true that "the number of people involved in therapy is infinitesimally small when compared to the general population," but it just could be because the number of people who can AFFORD therapy is pretty small compared to the general population. If Joe Blow on the street could get an in-depth astrological report full of spiritual insights for the price of a magazine, he'd be rolling around in glee! And probably, he'd be a believer. But he has to settle for what he can get. It's all he can afford, perhaps all he can find, so it's all he knows.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Remember, the responses here are personal opinions which everyone is entitled to - feel free to add yours, the next response will go straight to the top.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Ball
In one mercurial breath, Jewell Starsinger rebutts her mother's claim that "Geminis are liars". Yet several breaths later, she declares, "...this Gemini was in Hell, sumberged by black demons in primoridal goo with a gun to my head".
Is that second statement literally true? Gemini suns may not be categorical liars, but in this case one has evidenced a casual disregard for the literal import of words.
Cf Geminian President George Bush, whose words had no meaning at all.
John Ball, US, SQNL15A@prodigy.com
7/4/98
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jewell Starsinger
I am curious. As a Gemini child growing up with a Virgo mother, I learned that "Geminis are liars." She had evidently learned this from some sun sign grocery store book and took my Neptunian proclivities for fantasy as Geminian characteristics. With her psychic abilities, fully intact, she recognized my ruling planet Mercury in a tight square to Pluto. I could always see the worst in her and she knew it. She had no choice but to label me a liar.
The first four decades of my life were spent in the study of psychology, the religion of secular society, since the industrial age taught humans to believe in the body of mass marketing rather than the body of Christ. Sun sign astrology was all we had, and to paraphrase Deborah Houlding, "It was barely believable to most of us."
The newspaper articles stated that a Gemini would be acting "light and superficial for the next few weeks," and yet this Gemini was in hell, submerged by black demons in primordial goo with a gun to my head. (Transiting Pluto was conjoining my natal Moon, South Node, Neptune conjunction.) That incredible lightness of Geminianism was no where to be found. At that point in time the newspaper reports were as meaningless and stupid as "The Gong Show." Too bad it was not as profitable either! This continued mis-identification of causes and effects turned me even farther away from ever considering the validity of something so goofy as astrology.
My fourth decade of life brought me astrology in its fullness. I have had epiphanies related to my training in astrology. I have gone on to pursue other related studies like Kabala, Sacred Geometry and Mythological Symbolism. I rarely read the astrology newspaper columns, but for those who are mildly curious, this may be their only inroad toward higher consciousness. Clients often bring clippings to a reading, specifically asking about the topic raised. We "experts" should not disparage the needs of the uneducated, because only a few will rise to the next level. In the meantime, many more are made familiar with our language in this way.
I bet that every discipline is frustrated by general public ignorance of their particular topic.
Can anyone explain to me the rudimentary mechanics of preparing a sun sign prediction like they do in the funny papers? I have not gone down this road.
What is the methodology used to calculate sun sign astrology? Is the week's prediction forcast from a chart drawn for the ingress of the sun into its new sign? And from what point of view? From Greenwich, or New York or LA? What degree of the sun at what particular part of the cycle (decanate) is the one on which to focus?
Thanks,
Jewell Starsinger jewellstar@earthlink.net
home.earthlink.net/~jewellstar/
6/4/98
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MissnKayla
Well, I must confess that I still read the sun sign astrology columns. Of course, I make it a bit of a complicated affair. First I read Capricorn, my sun sign. Then I read Scorpio, my rising sign. Then, because I have intercepted houses, I also read Sagittarius. Then I consider the degree placement of the planets in my ephemeris to see if what they're saying about that planet really affects me. Then I do the same for my husband and my friends. Hey, it never hurts to get another opinion.
But even with all those convoluted steps taken in considering a popular astrology column, I almost NEVER find anything in them that is ... well, true may be too strong a word, so let's just say applicable ... to my life or my loved ones'. On one occasion my daughter was reading a popular astrology column in her teen magazine and to my horror the "astrologer" had strewn the planets all over the zodiac, completely disregarding their actual transits! (My daughter wrote the magazine, and they thanked her and got a new astrologer.)
And if after working so hard at it, I can't find these columns applicable to my life, how much less the general public, and this IS where most of them learn about astrology, and that IS why the general public tends to regard astrology as a bunch of baloney. And now we have the proliferation (at least in the U.S.) of the 900 numbers, where you can get a "professional" astrologer for $1.95 a minute through an ad on the page next to the sun sign column in the TV guide. Now I will admit that I haven't been curious enough to spend $1.95 a minute to research how good these "professionals" are, but I'm not convinced these sources are going to do anything for astrology's reputation among the masses. But that is all that's there, available to the average citizen -- would Joe Blow even know how or where to find a good, professional astrologer? I doubt it.
As for the great spiritual insights, the very best sun sign astrology columns do contain spiritual insights. If a column says, you will come into money today, and you don't, then you have nothing. But if a column gives a bit of insight into our valuing of material goods, then even if we don't come into money, we have something. And as for the public's desire for spiritual insights, it may be true that "the number of people involved in therapy is infinitesimally small when compared to the general population," but it just could be because the number of people who can AFFORD therapy is pretty small compared to the general population. If Joe Blow on the street could get an in-depth astrological report full of spiritual insights for the price of a magazine, he'd be rolling around in glee! And probably, he'd be a believer. But he has to settle for what he can get. It's all he can afford, perhaps all he can find, so it's all he knows.