Is your future in the stars?

By Susan Brinkmann
CS&T Correspondent

“Congratulations, Miss Leo.” reads the typical horoscope in the local paper. “You’re one step closer to a bright sunshiney existence and miles away from the unproductive habits of your past. It’s a good day to look in the mirror and flash yourself a great big smile — then reach around and give yourself a nice pat on the back.”

Horoscopes. They all sound alike, could apply to anyone, and are published in more than 2,500  newspapers across the United States. A 2003 Harris Poll of 2,201 adults found that 31 percent of Americans believe in astrology and are willing to spend up to $200 million a year on personal horoscope material.  

Aside from the fact that the Catechism of the Catholic Church expressly forbids the reading of horoscopes, most people are completely unaware of just how bogus a science is the astrology upon which horoscopes are based.
“The simple truth is that science denies astrology any basis in fact,” writes Father Mitch Pacwa, S.J., the author of “Catholics and the New Age,” who was once a serious practitioner of astrology. 

“The main principle of astrology is: ‘As above, so below.’ Any event in the heavens affects earthly existence,” Father Pacwa writes. “Astrologers believe they discovered some of the laws that explain how the world and human personalities work. For a fee, they will apply their knowledge to help you discover your personality and your future as part of the one, whole world.” 

Astrologers believe that the location of planets in relation to the constellations of the zodiac have a particular kind of influence on each person at the moment of their birth. By studying the stars and planets associated with a person’s birth date, they believe they can predict the events likely to occur in a person’s life based upon the movement of the stars and planets. 

“The basis for explaining the nature of these planetary influences rests on ancient pagan beliefs from Babylon and Greece that gods inhabit, control and move the planets,” Father Pacwa writes. “The personal characteristics of each god — Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn — determine the kind of influence its planet has on a person.” 

Notice that this ancient system was based on only the five planets known to exist at that time. Did anything change when Uranus, Neptune and Pluto were discovered?  

No, says Father Pacwa. These previously unknown planets “are considered to have unknown influences,” he writes. “This lack of knowledge lets each astrologer make up his or her own interpretation of these planetary influences. As my Bahai astrology teachers often said, ‘Where there is confusion, there is possibility.’” 

He goes on to explain that the actual zodiac is an imaginary circle following the belt [ecliptic] of the earth’s annual trip around the sun. “Astrologers artificially divided it into 12 equal sections of 30 degrees each.”

However, according to astronomers, the constellations are not equally distributed in 12 equal sections of 30 degrees each. The actual degrees of the constellations range anywhere from Scorpio, at 7.0, to Pisces at 37.5.  

“This unevenness means the month ascribed to each ‘sun sign’ in newspaper columns does not correspond to the easily verified scientific data about the real amount of time the sun lies within the constellations,” Father Pacwa writes. "This, too, is a bogus element in astrology.”

And, according to astronomers, because the actual belt of the zodiac has altered its former relationship to the earth by about 36 degrees west, “Everyone’s astrological sign is different from the claims of the newspapers and books,” Father Pacwa writes.  

“This means that everyone needs to change the astrological sign under which he or she was born. Whatever date the newspaper gives for your sign, move it back one whole sign, because that, in fact, is your real sign.”

If you still need convincing of the false nature of astrology, consider a few of the scientific studies done by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific that have determined horoscopes to be a complete fraud.

One of the studies, conducted by the French statistician Michel Gauquelin, sent the horoscope for one of the worst mass murderers in French history to 150 unsuspecting people who were asked how well it fit them. “Ninety-four percent of the subjects said they recognized themselves in the description,” the Society reported.   

Other studies have found that out of more than 3,000 specific predictions, only about 10 percent proved true. “If the stars lead astrologers to incorrect predictions nine times out of 10,” the site concludes, “they hardly seem like reliable guides for decisions of life and affairs of state.” 

But most of us don’t really take the zodiac seriously. Reading horoscopes is just  harmless fun, right? 

Not according to Pope John Paul II, who urged Catholics to put their trust in God’s providence rather than in the dubious readings of star-gazers. In a Sept. 6, 1998 Angelus address he said: 

“If we want to give good direction to our life, we must learn to discern its plan, by reading the mysterious ‘road signs’ God puts in our daily history. For this purpose neither horoscopes nor fortune-telling is useful. What is needed is prayer, authentic prayer, which should always accompany a life decision made in conformity with God’s law.”

Even reading horoscopes for a kick is a bad idea, writes Bishop Donald W. Montrose of Stockton, California. “Even though millions of people follow horoscopes with greater or lesser interest, this is still a type of fortune-telling,” he wrote in a pastoral letter titled, “Spiritual Warfare: The Occult Has Demonic Influence.” 

“Even if you say you do not believe in horoscopes, and only read your own for fun, you should abandon this practice. The daily horoscope can easily influence us from time to time. It is a way in which we open ourselves to the occult,” the bishop said.

The Catechism specifically mentions the use of horoscopes as a form of divination that must be rejected along with “recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to ‘unveil’ the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone” [CCC2116]. 

Contact Susan Brinkmann at fiat723@aol.com or (215) 965-4615.