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are dangers from astrology besides those associated with spiritism and
other occult practices.1 Science writer Lawrence E. Jerome states,
"How much physical and psychological damage such false
astrological practices and advice cause cannot even be
estimated."2 Bart Bok, a former president of the prestigious
American Astronomical Society, has observed that, "The study and
ready availability of astrological predictions can exert an insidious
influence on a person’s personal judgment."3 Indeed, if a
billion people trust in the false advice of astrology in some degree,
one can hardly hazard a guess at the overall personal cost around the
world. Even some astrologers confess that practitioners are liable to
the characteristic hazards of the trade. These kinds of hazards do not
make for a trusting relationship between astrologer and client but
further complicate an already potentially dangerous situation.
Leading astrologer Tracy Marks discusses the
following potential problems between the astrologer and his client. A
little imagination here will reveal how each one can produce harm to
the client:
• the astrologer may experience himself as
superior to the client.
• the astrologer may encourage the dependency of
his clients.
• the astrologer may give clients what they
appear to want rather than what they really need.
• astrologers may pass their own values and
ideas under the cloak of astrological authority.
• the astrologers’ "own sense of
powerlessness" may lead them to "disempower [their]
clients, imparting deterministic [fatalistic attitudes."
• the astrologers’ own fears concerning
certain planets and signs may influence their interpretation and
"result in [their] imparting pronouncements which could become
destructively self-fulfilling prophecies."
• astrologers may speak in astrological jargon
the client cannot understand and use mystical language
authoritatively to create "the illusion that [they] are
imparting high truths, when indeed [they] may be saying little of
significance."
• astrologers may
"speak in vague, ungrounded generalities."4
Marks observes that even "most
professional astrologers are guilty on occasion of at least several of
the above inadequacies…."5 In addition, she admits that
astrologers may react more to the chart than to the client; may become
egotistical; may devalue the client; and can draw hasty conclusions.6
Astrological predictions or advice can cause people
to do things they would otherwise never have done, and sometimes this
has led to tragedy. Given the right circumstances, a particular chart
interpretation and its potentially powerful influence upon a person
could even lead to criminal acts. In order to help fulfill or
forestall what a person believes is the cosmic influence or destiny
upon himself or another. For example, a chart reveals that a company
will fail, so the president embezzles funds for his own security; or
that a child may be born mentally retarded, so there is an abortion.
German theologian and occult expert Dr.
Kurt Koch observes that, "Astrology has been responsible for a
number of suicides and murders."7 He cites examples in his books
concerning the effects of the suggestive nature of astrology. For
example, a woman murdered her own son because an astrologer predicted
he would lead a life of mental illness. The shattered mother went to
jail, but the astrologer went free.8 Dr. Sherman Kanagy, a physics
professor at Purdue University observes, "In ancient times women
whose babies were born under the sign of Scorpio would often kill
their babies by drowning because of the evil significance."9
Remember that astrologers are: 1) unlicensed and
unregulated, 2) require little or no education, 3) can become a
"professional" astrologer overnight, 4) are occultists who
characteristically reject absolute moral values, and 5) often use
their powers over others in a manipulative and authoritarian manner.
If the practices of such people force them into demonic collaboration,
what kind of answers are clients getting from astrological counseling?
In considering the clients of astrologers, we will see additional
reasons for concern.
The Clients of Astrologers
What kind of person seeks out an astrologer? We can
determine from the statements of astrologers themselves that some and
perhaps many clients are those for whom astrology will be most
destructive.
Clients lack values. For
example, astrological counselor Stephen Arroyo observes, "Many
people who request astrological assistance are suffering from a lack
of values...."10
Clients are easily duped or deceived.
Astrologer Jane Evans observes, "I have known too many people
to whom self-deception was second nature."11
Clients are looking for the astrologer
to make their decisions for
them. This is a
problem that is almost universally admitted among astrologers. Some
attempt to help such clients become more independent, but others
willingly become their "gurus," and enjoy the fact that
their client will make no decision without first consulting their
"wisdom…."12
It is the ability of astrologers to
justify a person’s selfish tendencies that caused Dr. John Warwick
Montgomery to give the following warning: "The very elasticity of
astrological interpretation is its most dangerous characteristic where
people desperately desire a shortcut to self knowledge and solutions
to their problems, and where the answers are ambiguous, they
inevitably choose according to self-interest. Thus the floodgates are
opened to the reinforcement of evil tendencies.... It should not be
regarded as strange that astrology has so frequently been used to
guide evil farther along the path it has already taken."13
Because astrologers reject any absolute
standard of morality, they prefer a "situation ethics"
approach where moral decisions are determined largely by the whim and
preference of the astrologer or client. Astrologer Alan Oken observes,
"No Path is the Truth Path, for in the Absolute there is not
Truthfulness or Falsehood, no right and no wrong, no yes and no
no."14 Even the Alexandrian astronomer and "father" of
astrology, Ptolemy (2nd C.A.D.) confessed, "Many of its
practitioners are in it for gain rather than truth or wisdom, and
pretend to know more than the facts permit."15 Another astrologer
testifies, "The preoccupation with self is really in the interest
of evolution.... In modern astrology we seek confirmation of our
personal importance."16
Evil Uses
Astrologers admit astrology can be used
for either "good" or evil purposes. Leading astrologer
Sydney Omarr states, "Astrology is there, to be used for the
good—or the evil (Hitler!)."17 Just as there is both black and
white witchcraft, one astrology text observes, "There is white
and black astrology.…"18 Leading astrologer Nicholas deVore
confesses that "astrology has often been used to unworthy
ends."19
Adolph Hitler, the ancient Aztecs and their human
sacrifices, the modern serial killer known as the Zodiac killer,
modern witches and Satanists, have used astrology for evil purposes.
All realized that astrology’s power may be used malevolently. For
whatever reasons, these people decided to choose evil. This is the
point. The astrologer is free to choose. Perhaps the most cunning
deception here is when, like Hitler, the astrologer uses his craft for
evil while thinking he is using it for the good.
Morality and Sex
In the astrologer’s view,
morality is often determined by one’s subjective or
"higher" state of consciousness, not by what one believes or
does. Obedience to God would be (perhaps) moral for one person and
immoral for another. As one guru who endorses astrology states,
"I would like to say to you: obedience [to God] is the greatest
sin," and "I teach you disobedience.... The devil did a
tremendous service to humanity."20 But most astrologers are not
very concerned with morality in the first place. In fact, many of them
believe that moral judgments themselves are the real evil.21 Their
job, as astrologers, is simply to validate the client’s own views,
whatever they are.22
One reason astrology is popular is
because it permits us to explain our own failures and evils, or
whatever we do not like in ourselves, as the fault of the stars. Here
is an attractive escape from personal responsibility.23 Astrologers
may say that "Saturn did it," or that "the stars
weren’t auspicious." Virtually anything can be rationalized,
any sin or evil, because "What happens to us is what needs to
happen to us."24
But if there is any place in which
astrology promotes sin, it is the area of sexual behavior.25 In an era
of AIDS and dozens of other sexually transmitted diseases, this is of
no small concern.26 Astrologer Jeff Green provides an illustration.
Here is the case of a woman who was deeply troubled by her sexual
immorality. What did she discover through astrological counseling? She
realized that she was free to enjoy sexual affairs without guilt by
making them "spiritual," even a divine activity. On what
basis? Simply because Pluto was in the eighth house in Leo, the south
node was in the seventh house in opposition to Mars, and Pisces was in
the second house.27
Astrologers also observe chart
indicators for bisexuality, homosexuality, lesbianism, sexual sadism,
and transexualism.28 Since such activities are "indicated,"
perhaps the one who desires to pursue them will have them justified in
his own mind. And the one who does not desire them may live in worry
or fear over the possibility, perhaps until he gives in to his
astrological "destiny." We can only wonder what an
impressionable teenager would think if he went to an astrologer and
discovered such "indicators" in his chart. What if he or she
were confused about sexuality, especially in an age of gross
experimentation and so-called sexual enlightenment?
Consider the advice to a client by
Maxine Bell, a famous astrologer to Hollywood’s homosexual
community: "He didn’t come to me for help, he came to me to
find out when his next affair was due. He was just finishing up one
[affair] and after two nights of being alone he was desperate, so he
wondered what his prospects were for a new affair. I gave him the
rundown on when the next affair would be likely. Whenever transiting
Mars goes over the fifth house that starts things going."29
Many astrologers believe that
homosexuality is as much a part of a person’s "destiny
pattern" as their birth or death. Maxine Bell states, "If
they were homosexuals as they closed their last life and had no desire
to quit or reform, them they come back as a homosexual and they have
their own karma they bring with them."30 "I have no wish to
change, only to help," says Edith Randall, a celebrated Hollywood
astrologer. Her 60,000 astrological readings over the years include
"a sizable slice of the homosexual community."31
Notes:
1. John Ankerberg, John Weldon, The Coming Darkness: Confronting
Occult Deception, Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 1993.
2. Lawrence E. Jerome, Astrology Disproved, Buffalo, NYL:
Prometheus Books 1977, p. 212.
3. Los Angeles Times, September 14, 1975, p. 1.
4. Tracy Marks, The Art of Chart Interpretation, Sebastopol,
CA: CRCS Publications, 1986, pp. 151-53.
5. Ibid.
6. Ibid., pp. 155-61.
7. Kurt Koch, Satan’s Devices, Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel
Publishers, 1978, p. 20.
8. Kurt Koch, Between Christ and Satan, Grand Rapids, MI:
Kregel Publishers, 1962, pp. 11-12.
9. Sherman P. Kanagy II, and Kenneth D. Boa, Astrology—Scientific,
Philosophical and Religious Issues, ms., 1986, p. 108.
10. Stephen Arroyo, Astrology, Karma and Transformation: The
Inner Dimensions of the Birth Chart, Davis, CA: CRCS Publications,
1978, p. 246.
11. Jane A. Evans, Twelve Doors to the Soul: Astrology of the
Inner Self, Wheaton, IL: Quest/Theosophical Publishing House,
1983, p. 200.
12. Robert A. Morey, Horoscopes and the Christian,
Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House, 1981, p. 47; Liz Green and Howard
Sasportas, The Development of the Personality (Seminars in
Psychological Astrology, Volume 1), York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser,
1988, p. XI.
13. John Warwick Montgomery, Principalities and Powers: The
World of the Occult, Minneapolis, MN: Bethany Fellowship, 1973, p.
118.
14. Alan Oken, Astrology: Evolution and Revolution—a Path to
Higher Consciousness Through Astrology, New York: Bantam, 1976, p.
85.
15. Kanagy and Boa, Astrology, p. 85.
16. Mae R. Wilson-Ludlam, Interpret Your Rays Using Astrology,
Tempe, AZ: American Federation of Astrologers, 1986, pp. 5-6.
17. Sydney Omarr, My World of Astrology, Hollywood, CA:
Wilshire Book Company, 1968, p. 23.
18. Alice A. Bailey, Esoteric Astrology, New York: Lucis
Publishing, 1975, p. 638.
19. Nicholas deVore, Encyclopedia of Astrology, Totowa, NJ:
Littlefield Adams & Co., 1976, p. VIII.
20. Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, The Rajneesh Bible, vol. 1,
Rajneeshpuram, OR: Rajneesh Foundation International, 1985, pp. 368,
372, 276.
21. Joan McEvers, ed., Spiritual, Metaphysical and New Trends in
Modern Astrology, St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1988, pp.
53, 70.
22. Jeff Green, Pluto: The Evolutionary Journey of the Soul,
Vol. 1, St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1988, p. 3; Tracy Marks,
The Art of Chart Interpretation, p. 145.
23. Robert Eisler, The Royal Art of Astrology, London:
Herbert Joseph, Ltd., 1946, p. 127; Keith Thomas, Religion and the
Decline of Magic, New York: Charles Schribner’s Sons, 1971, pp.
329-30.
24. Dane Rudhyar, The Practice of Astrology: Book 1, New
York: ASI Publishers, 1977, p. 99.
25. Jane A. Evans, Twelve Doors to the Soul, p. 170.
26. John Ankerberg, John Weldon, The Myth of Safe Sex,
Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1994.
27. Jeff Green, Pluto, pp. 146-47.
28.Alan Oken, Astrology, 64-75; Wim van Dam, Astrology
and Homosexuality, York Beach, ME: Samuel Weiser, 1985.
29. Jess Stearn, A Time for Astrology, New York: Signet,
1972, pp. 213-14.
30. Ibid., p. 210.
31. Ibid., p. 215.
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