The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind. -- William James

Tonight, the Scorpio Mars will not stop until I get this topic out of my system. Remember, Mars is the urge to assert and act, and when it is in Scorpio, trust me, it is definitely persistent. In this case, I cannot help but oblige but I promise not to write anything heavy loaded, just something light and fluffy~~~

Till now, I hope that I have managed to put enough emphasis in addressing some of the misconceptions that people carry towards astrology. Contrary to popular belief, astrology is not to be solely used for the purpose of future prediction aka the horoscopes, but instead should be adopted as a tool to assist us with understanding the personality roadmap.

A few people have wondered why I suddenly became interested in astrology. Well, what has motivated me is precisely the desire in seeking the why. Astrology appears no different from any other studies such as psychology or science: to help with identifying the underlying pattern or behaviour that seems to be at work. 

Some of you may not be comfortable with me suggesting that astrology is comparable to science, so let me explain myself further.

We have all learnt that in order to draw a conclusion for any scientific experiment, the process involved in formulating a hypothesis and performing necessary field studies or observations is not unfamiliar. But quite often, observations are the result of subjective human sensory impressions, therefore acknowledgedly, the observer effect can be a problem encountered in the field of scientific research. It essentially describes that the act of observation may alter the outcome of a phenomenon than if it is unobserved. Different biases can also occur during any experimentation that consequently do not give rise to total objective conclusions. These biases include, to name a couple, confirmation bias, which is "we see what we expect to see" and pathological science, which is "we see what we want to see".

Similarly, astrology is also a subjective experience. We assign intrinsic meanings to the different planets and houses and signs, and then derive interpretations based on their locations and the interactions resulting from various planetary alignments. Even though astrology is an ancient study widely used in the ancient world of Babylon, Greece and Egypt, it has certainly evolved and modernised through the continual effort of gathering empirical evidence and our increased awareness of the universe. These information are then assimilated and reinterpreted by astrologers in their dealings or evaluations of their clients. Based on the experience, knowledge and orientation of an individual astrologer, for the same client, you can expect different output and interpretation. 

It is not reasonable therefore to expect astrology to be 100% accurate, and neither should we get too disappointed when it fails to do so. We may need to accept that this is perhaps inherent and underlying in all studies: it is in the eyes of the beholder. As explained perfectly by Einstein that we live in a universe which is limited by time and space.

However, I am also constantly reminded that we may never reach a why. In this book that I read recently written by Richard Idemon, it is mentioned that we can go in circles and perpetually asking why like the merry go round, but that doesn't help us. 

We learn to piece things together thinking they must be interconnected somehow. What if things just happen randomly and they don't really happen for a reason? This would be perplexing for some of us but reassuring for others.  :)

So there! That is my little give-back to the astrology community. 

Now I have got you all somewhat more interested (hopefully) in astrology, I will begin the next series of topics using real people's charts (yes, famous people!) for illustrations. Delving into the deep end is often the best way to learn, and then we can watch astrology gradually unfolds the working of itself.

NOTE: By the way, if you are still unsatisfied with the reason why I got into astrology, so to speak astrologically, Uranus (symbolising new ideas, inventions, technology, independence, other things, etc etc, and astrology) is right now transiting over and making a strong aspect to my Sun (identity, ego, drive, etc, etc). Aha!! No wonder then right? :P