Can Stars Foretell the
Future?
PART OF being a man is to wonder what will happen tomorrow. Will it be a good day to hunt or invest in a stock, to take a wife or go to war? Will the year ahead be happy, or will there be some disaster — perhaps a fire will sweep through the forest, or an earthquake will send the coastline crumbling into the ocean?
Primitive man "read" the intestines or liver of a slain animal, observed signs in the weather, followed a variety of folk superstitions to foretell the future and avoid trouble.
But then man began to look up from animals, fire and rain, to the stars. And he has continued to look up, even today, when people in cities seldom see the unobstructed heavens.
Blue sky, sun, dark sky, moon, stars and planets, clouds, lightning, thunder: these are the common mystical elements of a pastoral life. In primitive societies, man has found in them objects of worship.
Night has its special mystery. Despite our sophisticated knowledge of astronomy today we still have an emotional reaction to the night sky as we stand silent on a Colorado mountain or an Arizona desert.
Without the knowledge we possess, and without
Page 13
lights to interrupt the darkness, primitive man was conscious of a deeper mystery in the night. This was the time when ghosts of dead men walked about, the time when witches were at work. And above all, night was the time when stars silently followed their tracks through darkened sky, when the moon moved and grew and waned in a pattern all its own.
In their beginnings, astronomy and astrology were superstitious science, or scientific superstition. An astronomer-priest was probably responsible for the massive, mysterious Stonehenge boulders that have stood silent for 3500 years on Salisbury Plain in southern England. And such a priest, or astronomer, probably constructed the elaborate pre-Colombian Nazca sand drawings, with their calendar of the skies, that can be seen from an airplane, etched into the hillsides of southern Peru.
Astrology had its origin almost five thousand years ago in Mesopotamia. From Babylonia and Assyria, the exciting idea that stars foretell, predetermine the future traveled to Egypt, Greece and the East.
More primitive methods of predicting the future continued to be practiced even after astrology became ascendant. But astrology probably won the field because stars, moon, sun and planets could be depended on. Change and decay might be the rule of earthly life; the heavens were different. People who had no idea of the star's distance or size could still appreciate their brightness, their perfect circles of orbit, and their orderly schedules.
Page 14
Babylonians invented the zodiac, an imaginary orbit of fixed stars that occurs in the course of a year. The zodiac was divided into 12 "houses" which detailed the constellations of the stars. According to the astrological system, every house of the zodiac was ruled by a planet, and the sun was considered one of the planets.
The planets have been named for Greek and Roman gods, and are thought to possess individual characteristics similar to those of the gods. Sun, Moon, Jupiter and Venus are favorable to human endeavors; Saturn and Mars are unfavorable; while Mercury is somewhat ambivalent.
The signs of the zodiac (12 constellations) also have characteristics similar to their names. Capricorn (December 22-January 19) is the Goat; Aquarius (January 20-February 18) is the Water-bearer; Pisces (February 19-March 20) is the Fish; Aries (March 21-April 19) is the Ram; Taurus (April 20-May 20) is the Bull; Gemini (May 21-June 21) is The Twins; Cancer, delicately renamed by Carroll Righter, "Moonchildren," (June 22-July 22) is the Crab; Leo (July 23-August 23) is the Lion; Virgo (August 23-September 22) is the Virgin; Libra (September 23-October 23) is the Scales, for weighing; Scorpio (October 24-November 21) is the Scorpion; and Sagittarius (November 22-December 21) is the Archer.
Various stars are included in the astrologers' computations: Sirius, Antaras and Vega are among the more outstanding.
Relative positions of the planets within the house are important. Two planets in a direct radial line, or separated at most by a 10-degree angle,
Page 15
represent a "conjunction." Conjunctions of sun and moon are favorable, and so are various other angles, except for right angles and oppositions (180 degrees).
These represent the basic ingredients of astrology: 12 houses, seven planets, other stars and their relative positions. Additional elements — such as dividing the houses into 10 days — are introduced by the more sophisticated astrologers. Many different combinations of the ingredients are possible.
Position of the planets (and stars) in the celestial house on the date of birth is the critical factor that determines one's future. (Some, beginning with Pliny the Elder, have suggested that the day of conception would be more logical).
Astrology is practiced worldwide today.
The late Hu Shih, Chinese philosopher, diplomat, and leader in the movement to make colloquial Chinese respectable, told of how his very existence was the result of an astrological omen.
Hu Shih's maternal grandparents were poor farmers who had a 17-year-old daughter. A neighbor, age 47, wanted their daughter's hand in marriage.
In a way, this was an unexpected request, since most girls at that time were engaged by the time they were 13 or 14. The prospective husband was an official who had traveled extensively, whose wife had died, leaving him with six children.
In the old Chinese calendar, the year, month, date and hour of birth are expressed by a total of eight written characters, and a horoscope is cast by taking these and, in the case of a proposed
Page 16
betrothal, comparing them with the eight characters of the other person.
Accordingly, through an intermediary, the official asked for the eight characters of the girl. These were given, but since the girl's mother was opposed to the match, she gave the wrong characteristics for date and time of birth.
The soothsayer realized that there had been a mistake or deception, so he looked up the correct characters. They matched perfectly with the prospective husband's, and the official and the farmer's daughter were married. Hu Shih was the result of their union.
Astrologers do not merely look to the stars and planets to predict the future; they believe that they cause what will happen in the future. The decisive influence on this earth, including human life, is exerted by the stars.
So the term "a born loser" may be an accurate description, according to this view. Or a born winner.
Not that the future is unchangeable. Bad prophecies may be averted by exercise of the individual's will; if the astrologer's claims are true, his great value is not merely to satisfy curiosity about the future, but to forewarn of impending trouble or even doom, so that diversionary tactics may be employed.
In theory, at least, horoscopes are prepared by believers in the system, using ancient knowledge about the positions of stars and planets in the zodiac.
But two problems at least are unresolved. Astrology has not accepted the Copernican theory;
Page 17
it continues to be based on the faulty idea that stars and sun and planets move around the earth.
Astrologers still see the skies through the eyes of Middle Eastern viewers two thousand years ago.
Since 150 B.C., when the astrological system became crystallized, the zodiac has shifted by an entire house because of a gradual shift in the sun's apparent orbit through the stars. This throws each house's calculations off by one month, a serious defect that would seem to affect the reliability of every horoscope, if you go by the theoretical system.
Another is that people with the same birthday — born at the same time and in generally adjacent geographic areas — should have the same experiences in life if the stars determine those experiences. But except for male Virgos, born on September 14, first date to be drawn in the 1969 draft lottery, this is obviously not so.
But you can't argue with success. And the general view is that astrologers have been successful in foretelling events yet future, some of them highly significant. President John F. Kennedy's assassination, for instance, was predicted by Jeane Dixon. Richard M. Nixon's Presidency, a year and a half before the election and Jacqueline Kennedy's marriage to a non-American on foreign soil: both were foretold by British astrologer Maurice Woodruff.
And there are people at the office who will tell you they never should have left on a trip the day when their car was totaled: "Carroll Righter said
Page 18
events would move rapidly and the best course was to abstain from action."
Many horoscopes, especially those syndicated in newspapers, are similar to the Delphic oracle of ancient Greece. For a fee, questions were answered by a "Pythia" or medium. Answers were subject to various interpretations, and seem to have been purposely obscure. Even today, a "Delphic pronouncement" is a statement that can be taken more than one way.
What about astrologers' goofs, their predictions that fail to materialize?
The California earthquake of April, 1969, was a monumental one. Astrologers warned that a large slice of California — some of them said the whole state — would fall into the Pacific Ocean as a result of a devastating earthquake. People moved away because of their faith in the prediction, and Governor Ronald Reagan had to issue a statement that he'd been planning for some time to take his vacation outside the state during April. What happened during April? Nothing.
On October 20, 1968, Jeane Dixon's syndicated column had to be hastily withdrawn from newspapers in which it would have appeared. Reason: Mrs. Dixon had written, "I still stand on my New Year's prediction and see no marriage for Jackie in the near future." That turned out to be the day of Jacqueline Kennedy's wedding to Aristotle Onassis.
British astrologer Maurice Woodruff claims 75 percent accuracy for his predictions. Like Jeane Dixon and Carroll Righter, he makes a lot of money. But it's by being paid to foretell the future
Page 19
of others, not by making investments in the light of the future for himself. Among his failures are the birth of a male child to Frank and Mia Sinatra — a year before they were divorced without any children; an overnight end to the Vietnam War was in April, 1969 (Mrs. Dixon had already predicted peace in 1965; and the marriage of Lynda Bird Johnson to actor George Hamilton.
Astrology has become big business in the United States — how big nobody knows, although an estimated ten thousand Americans make their living by foretelling the future. This turn of events has occurred in the past 25 years; during World War II it was considered an oddity and an indication of his pagan beliefs that Adolf Hitler had an astrologer whom he consulted about personal matters and his conduct of the Third Reich.
In such a competitive business, perhaps we should expect spectacular failures as people try to outdo each other in getting public attention.
These failures do not automatically disprove the possibility of seeing into the world beyond, as various psychics and mediums are quick to remind us. But they must be considered in evaluating the reliability of predictions.
December 1, 1969, was a date of great significance to millions of young American men and their families: the first draft lottery was held that night.
In view of the astrologers' claims to know the future, it is interesting to note their predictions that day for men drawn first (to be called up almost immediately or immediately after their deferments end), and for those drawn last (who
Page 20
will probably never be called, but be completely exempt from the draft). Remember that for the first group, the news was the worst possible; for the latter, the very best.
Here are excerpts from three astrology columns that day.
First drawn in the lottery (bad news), Virgos, born September 14: Jeane Dixon, Chicago Tribune: "You are close to your best today in material affairs if you will listen to the urging of your intuitive powers." Carroll Righter, Chicago Daily News: "Make plans for self-improvement in the near future." Ceean, Chicago Sun Times: "You may be faced with unexpected competition, but you can handle it just fine."
Last drawn (hooray!), Geminis, born June 7: Jeane Dixon: "Tonight hold a simple gathering of friends with different viewpoints." Carroll Righter: "Take it easy in the evening." Ceean: "Those around you are in an exuberant mood but it doesn't rub off on you."
The basic idea on which astrology is based — that the stars have a decisive influence on human affairs — has been rejected by serious scientists.
In 1949, the German Astronomical Society, one of the most respected in the world, dismissed astrology as a mixture of superstition, quackery and big business, adding that even those astrological circles which have rejected the stupidities of fairground astrology, and which consider themselves purely scientific associations, have never provided evidence of their scientific methods and results.
An American commission, under the chairmanship
Page 21
of the astronomer Bart J. Box of Harvard University, after having declared its readiness to test all cases submitted to them by astrologers, concluded that not a single one of the influences attributed to the stars by so-called serious astrologers could be demonstrated. Similar conclusions were reached by a Belgian committee, set up in 1949 by the Rector of Ghent University (Comite Belge pour l'investigation scientifique des phenomenes reputes paranomaux), which consisted of 30 reputable scientists belonging to various fields.
Finally, according to the evidence of the American Society for Psychological Research (1940), "There is no evidence that astrology has any value whatever in revealing the past, the present or the future fate of any human being, and there is not the slightest reason for believing that social events can be predicted by astrology. Similar pronouncements have also been published by UNESCO and by many teachers, writers and scientists." (Richard Lewinsohn, Prophets and Prediction).
That sort of unanimous scientific opinion should settle the matter once and for all for most thinking people, perhaps, but it doesn't. Who ever said that astrology was scientific in the first place? It's metaphysical, parapsychological, religious even. Or so astrologers answer. So it cannot be proved or disproved by telescopes and mathematics.
