Causation and Correlation in Astrology

I know someone who periodically tells me, as though he is disclosing a secret that will devastate me, that he does not believe in astrology. This is always a funny thing to respond to because to me it is like telling me that you don’t believe in hammers or in WiFi.

Like, are you saying you don’t think it exists? Because I’m sorry to break it to you, but it does exist. Or, are you saying that you are not willing to try it out because you’ve heard it has adverse effects? If that is the meaning, then fair enough, but it does limit your life’s experience. Or, are you saying that you are not willing to devotionally follow an astrologer’s interpretation of your life, setting aside your own life experience and authority, like many religions would expect you to do? Because if that’s the case, then good for you. You should not do that.

Astrology is the study of the correlation between celestial events and earthly events. At its origins, astrology was math, and it is part of how humans developed math and astronomy. It was only when humans moved toward commodification that we started de-valuing the philosophical, psychological, and spiritual components of early math. We started seeing things that have “value” as things we could sell and commodify, and so we de-valued subjective, lived experience and internal processes because more uniformity equals more sales. And, yet, the subjective, lived, internal experience continues to be core to how humans (and, in my view, other animals) actually experience life. Internal experience may not be everything, but it is a lot.

Photo by Joseph Barrientos on Unsplash (picture of a ship’s helm, which looks suspiciously like a zodiac wheel … hmmm.)

In early astrology, the astrologers saw each of us as leading the ship of our lived experience (our “nativity”), from the helm of our ascendants, as our other parts of self work through their dramas. Now, we describe this same thing through Jungian archetypal shadow work or Internal Family Systems Therapy. But, if we can look at our astrological and human design natal charts, we can often gain awareness over our internal parts, especially the parts we might be inclined to ignore, somewhat more quickly than we can in therapy (and, this is no slight to therapy, which is an amazing and crucial service).

In astrology, seeing parts that we would otherwise ignore is about perspective. If you imagine yourself sitting on your ascendant line, at the helm of your ship, and looking toward your descendant line (the cusp of your 7th house in most house systems), some areas of your chart may be out of your normal view (in early astrology, because of early geometry, these were the houses that were not in aspect to the ascendant, so the 2nd, 6th, 8th, (sometimes) 9th, and 12th houses). The same can be true for each planet. When you sit in your Sun energy, for example, what are the spaces that Sun cannot see in your chart? These are spaces that you are less likely to have conscious awareness of as part of your identity.

Below is a chart from today, where I have circled the spaces I’m talking about in red so that you can compare this to your natal chart if you’d like. The ascendant is to the very left of the chart, and the descendant line is to the far right. I circled the 9th house in purple because it is not as commonly considered an invisible house.

In ancient astrology, the invisible houses were considered “bad” houses, but in modern astrology we have a much more nuanced approach to this. If you think about it, without psychology or support systems for our overall health, it makes sense that the ancients would generalize the invisible as bad. Now, we can access supports that make this less true. For example, in my personal chart, almost all of my planets are in “bad” houses, and issues I have struggled with, including health issues, would have killed me in 400 A.D. Now, we have other technologies that have offered me successful supports.

The invisible is often visible now, and astrology is one of the technologies that makes what was previously invisible visible.

Is astrology pseudoscience? I struggle with the designation of astrology as science. Is a hammer science? Is WiFi science? They are more technology than science, and that is true for astrology as well. If you use a hammer on something that requires a screw driver, you may not get the best results. If you use astrology to solve a problem that requires a medical doctor, you likewise will not get the best results. This does not mean the technology has no merit; it means that like all technologies, it does not have universal application.

I have tested out the technology of astrology for around 25 years and found it to be helpful and supportive in ways that other methodologies have not reached. I have tested out human design for less time, maybe around 8 years, and have likewise found it more enlightening than many business coaches and other supports. This is not to say I only use these modalities. I have a medical doctor, a therapist, an acupuncturist, an energy reader, friends, and many other valid supports that are amazing. Just because one support works does not mean you abandon others that also work.

Ultimately, I think with any technology, we run the risk of using it against ourselves. You can use a hammer to build yourself a cage or you can use a hammer to build yourself a house. From the outside, it might not look that different, but from the inside, you know which you are building. In the same way, we can use horoscopes and chart interpretation to tell us what our life is and relinquish all responsibility, or we can use horoscopes and chart interpretation to support us in becoming more of ourselves, while still maintaining our own sovereignty over our lives.

The stars do not decide how you live your life or cause the events you like or dislike in your life any more than the weather decides how you live your life. But, the energies do make a difference in my experience. Understanding the energies of the cosmos can help you relate to both the comfortable and uncomfortable parts of human experience and thereby live a fuller and more conscious life.