Scientific Astrology

Last modified January 16, 1999
© Copyright 1996/7/8/9 Jean-Pierre De Wilde
all rights reserved

Let's start with some definitions by Webster

Astrology
the art of predicting or determining the influence of the planets and stars on human affairs....

Art
the use of imagination to make things of aesthetic significance.

Science
knowledge acquired by careful observation, by deduction of the laws which govern changes and conditions and by testing these deductions by experiment.

I would like here to introduce a new kind of astrology. By new I don't mean improved Astrology but a new kind of Astrology, essentially different from the usual traditional Astrology known as Tropical Astrology. This new Astrology which I will call Scientific-Astrology has little in common with the traditional Astrology, in particular with Tropical Astrology.

Generally, we know about Astrology through Astrologers; they fall in one of two main categories:

The first. He makes a chart, measures all sorts of aspects, mixes in various amounts of imagination and does a reading. I had many of those readings done. These readings are very consistent ... they all are vague, lack details and more importantly are mostly wrong.

The second. He makes the same chart, but then does not really use it. This type of astrologer is more or less psychic and to the extent that these psychic abilities are developed, he will do a good reading. Of course he could have used any piece of paper. The chart he built is more for the benefit of the person he makes a reading for, than it is for himself.

I will not, at this time, analyze the other categories of Astrologers.

A few years ago I had a phone call from a lady in the midwest. We did not know each other, but she needed some information ............ In the course of the conversation, I learned she is an Astrologer and I gave her my data.

Some time later, I received two audio cassettes in the mail, with a short note saying: “This is your reading....”. I listened to it, almost three hours of tape .... and I was fascinated by two facts: first, the extraordinary detail of the reading; second, the accuracy of it. With my scientific education, I immediately recognized that she had something no one else has.

Ironically a day after I received the two cassettes, I also received a Tropical reading from a friend. The contrast could not be more intense and visible. This Tropical reading was again vague but most importantly WRONG.

So, I found out from her the method she used and this is what I call Scientific Astrology.

It is not based on psychic abilities, and it is not an art in the sense defined by Webster. It is a science.

It is developed through the observation of events in human life and finding the corresponding (in time) aspects of people's planets in their charts. Observation of these correspondences establishes "necessary" conditions for these events to occur.

Like any science, the proof of Scientific-Astrology, and therefore Astrology system, lies in its ability to predict.

What makes this Astrology different is the way it searches and analyses aspects.

First. we build a natal chart based on the date, time and place of birth. It contains the position of the planets and angles in relation to each other and to the zodiac.

Tropical Astrology uses the zodiac in the position it occupied 2,500 years ago. It ignores the effect of precession. In contrast, we use the zodiac in its current (that is, current at the time considered in the chart we build) position, also known as the sidereal zodiac. The result, for example, is that being born on September 12, Tropical Astrology considers me to be a Virgo. But in reality, on that date the sun is in Leo.

Second. We also build a "conception" chart. I can immediately imagine the frown on your face. True, I do not and cannot know the time and place a person was physically conceived. For reasons of space, I cannot here explain the reasons this may indeed be the real conception chart. This conception chart is built the same way the natal chart is.

This means we start with two sets of planets and two sets of houses. We call them birth sidereal, bs, and conception sidereal, cs.

As in other Astrology systems, we also do progressions, returns and transits.

Again, due to limited space, I will only state that we only consider aspects which are a multiple of 90 degrees, that is, conjunctions oppositions and squares.

We also use a concept unknown to Tropical Astrology: "lighted aspects vs. unlighted aspects". Aspects involving a light are lighted, the others are not. Lighted aspects correspond to characteristics that are prominent, in the foreground, active in our lives. Those unlighted correspond to characteristics that are in the background, inactive ... maybe considered to be just tendencies.

a) Using the sidereal zodiac makes it possible to clean-up the description of the influences of the signs. Let's make a simple diagram showing the relative position of a couple of signs both in the Tropical and Sidereal Zodiacs.

****************************************************************************
      LIBRA          *           VIRGO          *         LEO              *          TROPICAL
                     *                          *                          *
**********************************************************************************
*          VIRGO           *           LEO            *         CANCER           *    SIDEREAL
*                          *                          *                          *
**********************************************************************************

At this time the two zodiacs overlap only about five degrees. This means that most of the time, characteristics assigned to, for instance, Virgo, actually belong to Leo. This fact is well known to many Tropical Astrologers, but they insist in using this fictitious Zodiac with all sorts of rationalizations known only to themselves. They even went as far as inventing the existence of all sorts of planets no one has ever been able to see.

b) Every event in our life has a corresponding set of aspect in our chart. In general these events are made possible by a progression which defines a time window during which the event can happen, and transits determining the actual moment the event can take place.

c) Having determined an aspect is a necessary condition for an event to occur, then to the extent the condition is also sufficient, the event will happen and the Astrologer can predict this event. For example, clouds are a necessary condition to rain, but not a sufficient one. Being able to predict an event will happen, includes the ability to predict an event will not happen.

d) This Scientific-Astrology, forces us to change our mode of thinking. It does not improve the way we think, it makes it obsolete, and requires a new mode. It seems we must abandon some of our most cherished ideas and concepts such as "good" and "bad", responsibility and also relationships of cause and effect. Sometimes, the cause-effect relationship must be reversed.

Examples.

The lottery.

The habitual way of thinking is this: tickets are sold, then on a certain date established in advance, and using a random method one number is drawn (I say one just for argument sake). This number is called the winning number and the person who bought it becomes the winner.

I propose a different way of seeing this. Tickets are sold to many different people. Among the buyers, some have the aspects needed to win. Let us say for argument sake again, that only one buyer has the needed aspects, while the others do not. These aspects of course can be calculated before the wining number is selected. So, before the drawing, one person has the aspects to win. I propose that the person with the wining aspects is the winner and that this is what determines the wining number.

The elections

In a similar way, I propose that, the candidate with the best wining aspects will win the election. The actual electoral process on Election Day unfolds in such a way as to confirm the winner.

e) What can we do with the prediction?”

Can we avoid “unpleasant” events? This will be completed at a later time.

January 16, 1999

Observation suggests strongly that Astrological influences are necessary but not sufficient to produce any result.  Just like clouds are necessary but not sufficient to produce rain.  Or, for a polygon to be a square it is necessary that its be made of four equal sides, but this is by no means sufficient.