Is the connection to life on Earth ‘written’ in the stars? The answer that every astronomer will give is a definitive “yes!” The atoms that are the building blocks of our bodies, our surroundings and everything we see were made in the heart of a massive star in the last throes of its life. We are intimately connected to the stars and the universe beyond. As has been said by many, we are made from stardust.
The idea that stars, or more particularly planets, in our Solar System dictate our future, our character, even our love life on a daily basis could seem entirely reasonable. For thousands of years, Royal Courts around the world sought and followed advice based on the approach that became known as astrology. The correlation of some event, for instance, a destructive earthquake, with the presence of Mars in the constellation of Leo, would be considered predictive of another earthquake when, a few years later, the orbits of Earth and Mars would again place it in Leo (as seen from Earth).
The problem is there is no such correlation. More importantly, there is absolutely no cause for Mars to create earthquakes. The light from Mars surely didn’t cause the earthquake and the gravitational attraction of Mars on that piece of Earth is less than someone walking on it. How then can Mars create earthquakes? The answer is clearly, and simply, it cannot and does not. Precisely the same is true for the effects of Mars, or any other celestial body, on us and in our daily lives. Simply put, there is zero predictive power and zero reason that astrology is true. None. If you want to test this ask non-identical twins who have precisely the same astrological chart if all
of their fate, life and loves are the same. They will almost always say their lives are not as similar as they must be if astrology is correct. Even if we forget that there is no reason for astrology to be true, it has no power because the predictive ability is zero. Why use it then?
Perhaps the answer is that it is fun. Or we want to believe the connection to the universe is in some way deep and profound, but different to the one described earlier. Or we just want to know our future — but then don’t we all? The problem is that it can encourage us to make poor decisions, bad choices or random love matches. In this newspaper in February, an article was written advising the readers to know their sign as it is crucial to their life, and to know their potential love match’s astrological sign before moving forward in romance. It’s fun, even cute, but has zero predictive ability to help in romance. We recommend that you choose your partner on compatibility, mutual interests or other more rational approaches. Oh, and of course, use your heart! Such a key part of life is far too important to leave to chance… or to astrology. Good luck, and reach for the stars!
