Why Astrology Is Science: Five Good Reasons

Why Astrology is Science:

Five Good Reasons

Tapan Das, PhD. P.Eng.

iUniverse, Inc.

New York Bloomington

Copyright © 2009. Tapan Das, PhD. P.Eng.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Cover design by Tapas Das

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ISBN: 978-1-4401-3371-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4401-3372-5 (ebook)

ISBN: 978-1-4401-3373-2 (hc)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2009927275

Printed in the United States of America

iUniverse rev. date: 5/18/2009

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1

Basics of Astrology

Chapter 2

History of Astrology

Chapter 3

Astrology is Based on

Statistical Analysis

Chapter 4

Astrology is Social Science

Chapter 5

Astrology is Linked with Alternative Medicine

Chapter 6

Astrology is Explained by Cosmic

Energy and Biofield

Chapter 7

The Basis of Astrology is Similar to Quantum Mechanics

Chapter 8

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Planet Attributes in Zodiacs

Appendix 2: Planet Attributes in Houses

Bibliography

Glossary

This book is dedicated to my parents,

Sristi Dhor Das

and

Sushama Das

Acknowledgments

I have been interested in astrology since I was a boy because of my family background. But as I grew older and started studying science and engineering, I was becoming increasingly concerned with the way this ancient science was being presented and practiced. However being extremely busy in my working life, I could not afford to spend any time in pursuing my interest in astrology. After my retirement from full-time work, I devoted all my time in researching in astrology, astronomy, cosmology, biofield, and alternative medicine to establish a solid scientific explanation for astrology. I spent such long hours at home and libraries to pursue my work, that my wife Samira was wondering whether I had really retired from full-time work. However, she understood my passion and encouraged me to pursue it. I am extremely grateful to Samira for her understanding and encouragement. I am thankful to my son Tapas for providing the book cover design, few diagrams, and helpful suggestions I am also thankful to my daughter Neeta for encouraging me to write the book. Finally, I am thankful to the editorial staff of iUniverse for editing my manuscript.

Preface

The purpose of this book is to explain astrology as science—social science. The scientific community considers astrology as a pseudoscience or superstition, which astrologers vehemently challenge. But when the astrologers are asked to name the branch of science to which astrology belongs, they cannot offer a definite answer.

Astrology started as a subject intimately connected to astronomy. The history of astrology is similar to the history of astronomy. The two subjects parted company after Nicolaus Copernicus postulated that the Sun—not Earth—is the center of the solar system. But astrology continued with the belief that Earth is the focus of the solar system and the universe. According to astrology, the planets and celestial objects indicate the course of human life on Earth.

This book gives five good scientific reasons why astrology is a science and explains each reason in detail—I have researched this subject for five years. I earned a master’s degree and a doctorate degree in electronic engineering and have worked in the field for thirty-five years. My interest in astrology, however, is strong, and I am disappointed that astrology is seen as a pseudoscience by the scientific community. After retiring from my job, I devoted all my time to research on astrology, with the sole intention of explaining astrology on scientific basis. I have published six articles on this topic in the International Society of Astrology Research (ISAR) and Research in Astrology with Media in Science (RAMS), and Journal of the Mindshift Institute.

This book is targeted for three groups of readers: the scientific community, the astrology community, and the general public.

A full chapter is devoted to each good reason, and each reason is explained using scientific data, collected from the work of experts in the field, and then making logical conclusions for the reason. A brief background of astrology is given for the benefit of the scientific community and general public.

The general public may be interested in astrology because it predicts the future. One asks an astrologer a specific question about one’s future, and the astrologer gives a specific answer to that question. After reading this book, the reader will understand that astrology can explain the past and present and outline the future, but it cannot answer a specific question. Astrologers predict how the stars and planets will indicate the positive or negative aspects of a person’s life. If proper actions are taken by the individual, then favorable results can be achieved and unfavorable conditions can be avoided.

After reading this book, the scientific community will begin to see astrology in a new perspective. Astrology is based on the statistical analysis of data of the positions of stars and planets in the sky at a certain time, coincident with the characters of people born at that time and the events at Earth at that time. Astrology analysis results are not certainty but probability. There is no definite answer to a specific question; the answer is based on probability.

Social science studies the way in which economics, education, culture, religion, political system, etc., are related to the social life of individuals and human groups. The study involves intense statistical analysis to conclude results. Astrology studies the relationship between the celestial objects and human life. Thus, astrology is another branch of social science, extending the area of social science to celestial objects, using statistical analysis. Astrology is not competing with astronomy or physics or any other branch of natural science or mathematical science.

For astrologers, this book provides a new directive. Astrologers should avoid providing answers to any specific future-related question; instead, they should predict the future as favorable or unfavorable conditions for their clients; how the positions of the stars and planets in the charts of the clients indicate conditions of wealth or poverty, joy or sorrow, conflict or amity, and danger or peace. With this kind of prediction, clients can take appropriate action to achieve success and avoid any downfall. Astrologers should also share their knowledge and experience, hence constantly improving and modifying the subject of astrology. Astrologers, psychologists, and alternative medicine practitioners should share their knowledge for mutual benefit.

To my knowledge, there is no such book currently published that places astrology as a social science with fully explained good reasons.

Introduction

That we can now think of no mechanism for astrology is relevant but unconvincing. No mechanism was known, for example, for continental drift when it was proposed by Wegener. Nevertheless, we see that Wegener was right, and those who objected on the grounds of unavailable mechanism were wrong.

—Carl Sagan

Is astrology a science? Astrology and astronomy are historically one and the same discipline, but they gradually started separating in the seventeenth century and were completely separated by the eighteenth century. Astronomy and its subfields, astrophysics and cosmology, attempt to understand the formation, function, and physics of the planets, stars, and galaxies of the universe. Astrology, on the other hand, studies and correlates the impact of celestial events on human life and earthly events.

Astrology made its strongest upswing in popularity in all of history in the early 1930s, when British astrologer R. H. Naylor created the first daily newspaper horoscope column. Soon, every newspaper had such a column, and every town had several practicing astrologers.

In spite of the attempt of a knock-out blow to astrology by the scientific community, the popularity of astrology is ever increasing. The well-publicized anti-astrology statement in the Humanist magazine of September 1975, signed by 186 scientists, including nineteen Nobel Laureates, had little effect on the popularity of astrology. The paradoxical result is that the heyday of astrology was not during the benighted Middle Ages, when the average person was sunk deep in ignorance and superstition and kept there by illiteracy and the rarity of books. Rather, the popularity of astrology is ever increasing now, when most citizens presumably know the basic facts of astronomy from space-probe photos in the daily newspapers and on TV that show that the other planets are more or less similar to Earth and not mystical god-fires in the sky. At the present time, at least 90 percent of all Americans under age thirty are said to know their Sun sign. How many people know their blood type? Or the name of the Secretary of State? Or Newton’s three laws of motion?

Physics and cosmology, so far, have dealt with inanimate objects. These branches of science consider that matter and human body consist of molecules, atoms, and subatomic particles. In the twentieth century, we saw an exponential advancement of science, engineering, and technology with the invention of automobiles, television, telephones, cell phones, the Internet, airplanes, satellites, etc. People were bombarded with technology gadgets. Man landed on the Moon. We send space missions to explore the universe, but still, science has not addressed the life force in humans, animals, and plants.

Albert Einstein was once asked by a friend, Do you believe that absolutely everything can be expressed scientifically?

Yes, it would be possible, he replied, but it would make no sense. It would be description without meaning—as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation in wave pressure.

—Ronald W. Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times

There is a subtle energy in the music that creates the melody and tune in music. This energy is unknown to science. There is an energy force in humans, animals, and plants. This energy force was called prana or chi in ancient culture; this is the energy force that makes the difference between a dead body and a living person. With all available scientific techniques and gadgets, scientists will never be able to bring back life into a dead body. Scientists are not able to create the energy force called prana or chi. Scientists now should focus on researching the area of life energy force: its function, attributes, origin, and compositions.

Medical science mainly concentrates on the body, body parts, and organs. Diseases that caused pandemics and mass death can now be cured by antibiotics and vaccines. Physicians perform surgical operations that were never thought possible in an earlier age. However, medical science is still unaware of life energy flowing through the body and does not consider the unison of body, mind, and life energy that works in balanced harmony to keep a healthy body and mind.

Astrology could play a major role in the study of the human mind. Carl Jung’s famous quote about astrology is as follows:

Obviously astrology has much to offer psychology, but what the latter can offer its elder sister is less evident. So far as I judge, it would seem to me advantageous for astrology to take the existence of psychology into account, above all the psychology of the personality and of the unconscious.

People sometimes ask astrologers if they are going to make lots of money, enjoy good health, become famous, or have a glamorous love affair—they want specific answers to specific questions:

• Am I getting a promotion this year?

• Is my daughter getting married this year?

• Is my son going to pass his exam?

• Will my stocks go up?

• Are we going on a cruise?

• Am I going to have a son?

These are all specific, material questions. Astrology and one’s horoscope illuminate the path of a person’s life, showing the outline of the future. Astrology never indicates that this cannot be done or you are completely of luck. Rather, it shows our strengths and weaknesses, what can be done, and how and when.

Stars incline, but they do not compel.

—Horoscopes, Your Daily Future and Fortune.

Greenwich, England

Stars and planets each have a different influence on our lives, depending on their position in their signs and heavenly houses. The energy from them causes us to be bright or dull, hasty or slow, calm or nervous. They bring conditions of joy or sorrow, conflict or peace, anger or calm. All these cosmic forces shape our thoughts, which in turn direct our actions.

If we are warned that we are prone to rash actions due to the influence of certain planets, then we can hold a check on our emotion and avoid rash action and catastrophic results. If we know that the position of the planets give a favorable condition, then we can take advantage of it by proper action. This is how astrology can help us without giving specific answers to specific questions.

This book gives five good reasons why astrology is science:

1. Astrology is based on statistical analysis.

2. Astrology is social science.

3. Astrology is linked with alternative medicine.

4. Astrology is explained by cosmic energy and biofield.

5. The basis of astrology is similar to quantum mechanics.

I have carried out intense research for the last five years to develop these reasons, spending countless hours in the library, studying and collecting the scientific work of experts in these areas. I have published some of my work in three journals, as mentioned in the preface. All five reasons are