Astrology Fights Back

Based on a presentation given at

Bath Spa University.

November 2005

© M C Philp 2009

The practice of Astrology is academically unacceptable.

It is considered an outdated residue of a previous superstitious age.

In spite of this negative academic ruling just about

everyone knows their Sun sign.

In 1995 Richard Dawkins, an Aries, at the time Simoni Professor of

Science at Oxford and therefore personally responsible for the

nation’s clarity of perception, was not happy.

He wrote:

„We should take astrology seriously.

No I don‟t mean we should believe in it.

I am talking about fighting it seriously ….‟

Richard Dawkins, “The Real Romance in the Stars”,

The Independent on Sunday, 31 December 1995.

In the 1980s a few hopeful astrologers using scientific methodology

had attempted to prove their subject was worthy of academic

respect. The tests they devised did not take the complexity of

astrology sufficiently into account. They did not understand that

their subject had a great deal in common with meteorology – never

an exact science - a point Claudius Ptolemy made in his

Tetrabiblos.

The exercise was, on the whole, a humiliating failure.

BUT … I happen to know for a fact that astrology works, which is

why, in this presentation, I shall attempt to win the subject some

scientific credence and illustrate, in response to Dawkins, why it

may be worthy of intelligent consideration.

First, lets look at how science itself gets things wrong.

Ptolemy Tetrabiblos, Robbin, F.E. ed., (CAM,MA, Harvard University Press, 1980,

London, William Heinemann Ltd, 1980), Book 1, pp. 15 and 19.

And here is the same bar magnet with

iron filings sprinkled around it

indicating the presence of a previously

invisible field.

Here is an innocent looking bar magnet.

Does it look as if it is influencing its

environment? I don’t think so.

The iron filings allow you to see the influence this little piece of metal

extends beyond its physical boundary.

Scientist call this a force field.

John Maddox was editor of Nature, a prestigious science magazine.

In 1995 he wrote:

„How can one thing tug at another? If Newton submitted his theory of

gravity to a journal today it would certainly be rejected …‟ The Principia Publishable Now? John Maddox. Nature, 3 Aug 1995.

Maddox can’t have read Newton’s Principia, which states:

‟I use the words attraction, impulse, or propensity of any sort towards

a centre…: considering those forces not physically, but

mathematically: wherefore the reader is not to imagine that by these

words I anywhere take upon me to define the kind, or the manner of

any action, the causes or physical reasons thereof, or that I attribute

forces, in a true and physical sense ..‟(My underlining). Definition VII.

Newton knew that describing phenomena that we cannot see or touch is

fraught with difficulties. He is undoubtedly attempting to avoid

misunderstandings by stating his case with firmness and clarity but even

with the editor of an esteemed science magazine he has failed.

Aristarchus of Samos

310-230 BCE ?

Here is another example of ambiguity.

This is Aristarchus of Samos’ idea that

the planets, including Earth (of

course) orbit the Sun. It was a really

neat idea as it explained retrograde

planetary motion so simply.

Unfortunately when Aristarchus came

up with this idea the paradigm was:

the perfect circle is divine. (Johannes

Kepler was not going to annihilate this

erroneous mind-set with his discovery

of elliptical orbits for another one

thousand eight hundred plus years).

As all inspiration conceded to this

erroneous mind-set this model,

incorporating the perfect circle, failed

to make accurate predictions on the

position of the planets which was a

distinct handicap.

Claudius Ptolemy

-180 CE ?

This is Ptolemy's model.

The epicycles performed by a

single planet are pictured here.

The Sun orbited the earth –

obviously –- and the planets rode

on crystal spheres.

Ptolemy’s model worked. It was

mathematically successful.

You could work out from this

model where the planets would

be (sort of) at a particular time.

Aristarchus’ model - the one that

suggested the planets orbit the

Sun - was clearly wrong.

But we know now that Ptolemy’s model was the one that was

wrong so what does this tell us?

It tells us that we can only trust mathematics if we are sure

that we are in possession of ALL of the necessary facts.

Quantum physics and cosmology deal with phenomenon way

beyond present scientific bounds - beyond the point when there

can be acquisition of all of the facts. In these subjects speculation

is the order of the day

When it comes to ambiguity Astrology is not alone, it is one of a

crowd.

Astrologers of the past have thought in terms of planets

‘influencing’ life on Earth (the word ‘influenza’ blames flu on the

planets). So what’s the influence?

Gravity is strong enough to stop us falling off the surface of our

round planet but considered too weak to have a subtler influence.

Earth‟s electromagnetic field. Seymour, P, Astrology; The

Evidence of the Stars (UK, Lennard Publishing, 1988).

Dr Percy Seymour of Plymouth University has suggested that Earth’s

electromagnetic field influences life on Earth and is itself influenced by the solar

wind and other factors in the space-time field.

The Earth is a giant

magnet (remember the

magnet) and its field is

contorted by the Sun’s

electromagnetic field

which is in turn contorted

by the orbital position of

the planets.

The electromagnetic

field, he explains, is

therefore a candidate for

consideration.

A geometric picture of space-time, Hey, T, and Walters, P,

Einstein’s Mirror (UK, Cambridge University Press, 1997), p. 192.

Sir Arthur Eddington suggested we visualise the fabric of space-time in

terms of a stretched rubber sheet with dimples caused by balls of

different weights. This is what we are looking at here. We can imagine a

putting green. Whether the golf ball falls in the hole, circles it, or shoots

off into the rough, depends on the velocity of the ball, the direction of

motion and the contours of the ground. This is a two dimensional, ‘flat’

view, of three dimensional space.

This is a useful analogy when working out trajectories for space

vehicles but it is simplistic. To visualise a space-time field four-

dimensionally – which is how it really is - taking into account up-

down/backwards-forwards/side-to-side and time, all at once, is

difficult, as we have only our subjective experience to call on

safely pinned down by gravity on the two dimensional surface of

our planet.

If we accept (if only as a mind-game) that astrology works then

clues to what is really going on must be looked for in astrology

itself.

By 360 BCE we find Plato recording Timaeus, an Italian Greek - a

student of the great Pythagoras - calling the fixed stars „divine and

eternal animals ever abiding‟ and the moving stars „deities‟,

„subject to deviation ... circling as in dance‟. He laments the

complexity of their perambulations, the juxtapositions, returns,

conjunctions, oppositions and eclipses of the planets … which he

added sends „terror and intimations of the future to those who

cannot calculate their movements‟. … to attempt (he says) to tell

of all this without a visible representation of the heavenly system

would be to labour in vain. Plato, Timaeus, Jowett, B. trans., The Internet Classics Archive,

http/classics.mit.edu/Plato/timaeus.html 1b.text, [hereafter Plato, Timaeus, pp 13-14 of 26.

The heavens wield regulatory power: Watches and clocks still rule our

lives reflecting the circling of heaven as the Earth spins on her axis.

This is why Plato called for ‘an accurate representation of the

heavens’ which resulted, after years of observation, in the construction

of the modern horoscope.

A horoscope - an accurate representation of the heavens - is the

astrologer’s main tool, so let’s look at a horoscope.

Solar Fire v5 (Esoteric Technologies Pty Ltd).

Ascendant

00 Aries

HORIZON

There are two pivotal positions on a horoscope. Point 00 Aries – the point

that decides the starting point of the Zodiac, the map of the heavens upon

which the planets are plotted - and the Ascendant - the point that decides

the starting point of the horoscope placing this map in relation to space-time.

The Ascendant is one end of a line called the Horizon. The horizon marks

the sunrise and sunset position for the particular day and place for which the

horoscope is set.

We often hear non-astrologers who are familiar only with Sun sign

columns say they were born on the cusp of a sign, but astrologers

know that signs have definite boundaries in seconds of arc.

Scientists talk about phase translation points. When water falls to a

specific temperature it freezes. In his book a Guide for the Perpexed

Schumacher writes about what he calls the ‘ontological discontinuity’

between life and death.

Astrologers understand that there is a ‘phase translation’ point or an

‘ontological discontinuity’ at thirty degree intervals around the

circumference of the chart.

Why ?

To answer this question we need to take a closer look at the Zodiac.

Aries

Taurus Gemini

Cancer

Virgo

ScorpioSagittarius

Capricorn

Pisces

Aquarius

Leo

The ZodiacThe Two Zodiacs

Tropical 00 Aries

2009

Sidereal 00 Aries

2009

There are two Zodiacs, a virtual Tropical Zodiac with exact 30 degree

sections called signs, and a Sidereal Zodiac of real stars that make up

the constellations you see in the night sky.

Around four thousand years ago they were aligned but his is no longer

the case.

Polaris

Vega

North Pole

2009

North

pole

14009

Because of the gravitational pull of

the Sun and Moon the Earth wobbles

on her axis causing the Tropical

Zodiac to move against the

background of the fixed stars of the

Sidereal Zodiac one degree every

seventy two years.

The Tropical Zodiac is seasonally

accurate. It maps Earth’s relationship

to the Sun. When the Sun is in

tropical Aries it is always spring.

The zodiac of the fixed stars - The

Sidereal Zodiac - maps Earth’s

relationship to the Galaxy.

Imagine that this is Earth.

When I was very small I was told that the equator was an imaginary line that ran

around the Earth. I thought they said ‘imaginary lion’ – you can see him here.

The equator divides the Earth into two halves relative to the Poles.

The Horizon on a horoscope divides the Earth into two halves relative to the event.

You can see that the equator is to the North pole what the Horizon (the white line) is

to an event?

The celestial

equator is a great

skirt projected into

space. I have

drawn it with a

boundary but it

actually cuts

through the fabric

of space time,

ostensibly, ad

infinitum.

If you sprinkle iron filings around a

magnet you will see the magnet’s

magnetic field. If there is dust

around a planet we can see the

planet’s celestial equatorial field.

We are all familiar with Saturn’s

rings.

You can see, looking at Saturn,

just how ‘real’ an equatorial field

seems to be.

Saturn’s rings – from the Hubble space telescope.

The Sombrero Galaxy Discovered by Pierre

Mechain in 1781. It is a member of the Virgo

cluster. Diameter thought to be in excess of

135,000 l.y.

The Sombrero Galaxy also

displays a dusty celestial equator

… on a much bigger scale.

Uranus has a ring, and Neptune, and of course the planets in the

solar system orbit on or near the celestial equatorial field of the

Sun.

If we sprinkled dust around Earth she would have a ring too.

Indeed she is fast acquiring a ring. It is made up of satellites in

Geostationary Earth Orbit, GEO.

The Earth’s angle of obliquity – the tilt of her equatorial field

relative to the Sun’s equatorial field - is tilted at an angle of

23.44 degrees.

Fig.1 Fig. 2

Fig. 3

In figure 1 and 2 I have used a yellow line to mark the ecliptic – the Sun’s equatorial field. From

our point of view this is the path of the Sun around Earth. Figure 1 shows the Sun on the Earth’s

equator at midday. The Sun is on the equator at midday only twice a year at the Autumnal and

Vernal Equinoxes. Figure 2 shows the Sun rising over the Horizon on the day of an event.

Astrologers call this the Ascendant. It is analogous to 00 Aries and defines the beginning of the

First House, a house which carries Arian qualities. Point 00 Aries is to the Earth in relation to the

Sidereal Zodiac (the Galaxy), what the Ascendant is to the horoscope in relation to the Tropical

Zodiac (the Solar System). You can think of 00 Aries as ‘Earth’s Ascendant‘ relative to the fixed

stars

In figure 3 I have

drawn a man standing

on the equator at the

vernal equinox

pointing at the Sun.

Because the Earth

spins, he could stand

on any point on the

equator at midday and

the Sun will be directly

over his head.

The point in space

directly behind the

Sun on the Vernal

Equinox is

designated 00 Aries.

Point 00 Aries is presently between the constellation Pisces (where

it has been for the last 2000 years) and the constellation Aquarius.

Everyone knows that it is ‘The Dawning of the Age of Aquarius’.

An astrologer, Ed Gillam, has recently written an article for the

Astrological Journal (Spring 2010) wondering if the star Regulus –

the only bright star on the ecliptic – marks the changeover point

between Cancer (the Moon’s sign), and Leo (the Sun’s sign). The

Sun and Moon – the Lights - are All-Important. Astrology respects

symbols and word Regulus suggests regulation. If Ed is correct then

00 Aries moves into Aquarius sometime between 21st November

and 3rd December 2011.

The relationship between the Sun‟s Celestial Equator

and the Earth‟s Celestial Equator.

The Equinoxes

Solstice Solstice

This is what Earth, orbiting on the Sun’s equatorial field, would look like if we could

look down on it from above. I have taken a major liberty with scale but you get the gist.

The Sun’s celestial equator is pictured in grey. The Earth’s celestial equator is pictured

as white where it lies above the plane of the Sun, dark grey when below.

We can’t see celestial equators but we know from looking at Saturn’s rings and the

planets orbiting the Sun that they are there, just as we could see the invisible field

when we sprinkled iron filings around the magnet.

I want you to note that at

the equinoxes the two

fields are running right

through the centre of the

Sun and Earth. The pink

line. From the point of

view of the space-time

scenario, this is what

makes this position so

special.

At no other times do the

crossing of the two fields

pass through the Sun and

the Earth.

The electromagnetic spectrum propagates in waves. We hear sound

waves, see light waves, feel infra red waves. There are other waves, radio

waves, X rays, nuclear waves and cosmic waves, for example, that we

can only pick up with special equipment. The room you are in is packed

with waves. Einstein predicted gravity waves which have been observed

indirectly by pulsar astronomers. Jocelyn Bell Burnell. New Scientist, 14

May 2005, p39.

This is a picture of water waves passing through two slits. The merging of

waves creates an interference pattern.

Brian R. Greene, The

Elegant Universe;

Superstrings, Hidden

Dimensions and the Quest

for the Ultimate Theory

(UK, Jonathan Cape,

1999), pp 100-1.

The lower diagram shows light passing through two slits. You can see an

interference pattern here too. This is the experiment that told scientists

that light propagates in waves.

Intermingling waves make complex patterns. First think of the ripples

caused by a pebble thrown into a still pond. Then think what happens

when a handful of pebbles are thrown into the pond. If you photograph

the pattern you can interpret the ripples and recreate exactly where each

pebble landed on the water.

This is how to make a Hologram

A hologram is ‘an advanced form of

photography that allows an image

to be recorded in three

dimensions’. Wikipedia

Light waves

Laser beam

Beam splitter

Mirror Interference

pattern

captured on a

photographic

plate Viewer

Reconstituted

image

The holographic plate records an interference pattern. (interesting?)

The images you see in Star Wars are volumetric displays. This quote

is from the internet.

‘A volumetric display device is a graphical display device that forms

a visual representation of an object in three physical dimensions as

opposed to the planar image of traditional screens that simulate depth

through a number of different visual effects. One definition offered by

pioneers in the field is that volumetric displays create 3-D imagery via

the emission, scattering, or relaying of illumination from well-defined

regions in (x,y,z) space.

The image can be reconstituted in a medium that need not be

tangible such as a gas.‟

I want you to remember this.

N

S

The Earth‟s

Celestial Equator

The Solar System

Saturn

Here, to remind you, we

are back with celestial

equatorial fields.

I have drawn Earth’s

field in blue and the

Sun’s in orange.

And here is Saturn’s –

lovely isn’t it?

00 Aries

equinox

solstice

And here you see Earth’s and

the Sun’s fields at the equinox

when the two fields cross

through both bodies of mass

(the pink line).

At the solstice you can see that

the interference of the two fields

only passes through Earth.

HYPOTHESIS. In the 1990s,

while pondering wave

patterns, holograms, and

celestial equators I came up

with this and included it in the

book I was writing at the time.

I imagined these circles as

either gravitational or light

waves but most probably

gravitational as celestial

equatorial fields are

gravitational anomalies.

Electromagnet waves are no

good. As we saw earlier, they

are too easily distorted.

You can see that the waves

along the interference line

(drawn here in black)

harmonise at the equinoxes

but cross at the solstices.

… And this is interesting … If you

look at my original diagram on the

Notes Page of PowerPoint you

will observe a beautiful

interference pattern appears.

This is a photograph of the

previous diagram.

Perhaps this interference is

caused by the organisation of

the pixels in a computer

monitor?

I want you to remember this too.

I WONDERED…

Might shifting interference patterns, as Earth

orbits the Sun, account for phase translation

points between the signs of the Zodiac?

AND .. if these patterns are suggesting a

holographic reality – we need to discover a

medium upon which the hologram can be

projected?

Well, what about this?

Craig Hogan, director of Fermilab, has been pondering the

anomaly that has turned up in experiment GEO600 set up in

Germany to search for gravity waves. (New Scientist, Jan 17 09 p 24).

The equipment had to be unusually sensitive so the technicians

expected problems. They worked hard to remove unwanted noise

caused by passing clouds, distant traffic, anything that could cause

the slightest interference but they were stuck with a random

sideways jitter.

It seemed the experiment was a failure.

Not so says Hogan.

According to Hogan

…‟quantum effects will cause space-time to convulse wildly on the tiniest scales. At this magnification, the fabric of space time becomes grainy and is ultimately made of tiny units rather like pixels …‟

(Marcus Chown, All the world’s a hologram, New Scientist, Jan 17 09 p 24).

Ah Ha! Did he just mention pixels???

He goes on to suggest, the jitter is holographic noise, the result of

the graininess upon which the virtual reality that is life is

projected?

OK … we can think about this.

So … are astrologers interpreting holographic projections and

does the interference at cardinal points account for the importance

of these points on a horoscope which is in actuality an accurate

space-time representation of the heavens?

If so, what about the other 8 phase translation points

between signs?

I could find nothing specific to account for these and yet

astrologers are convinced that they exist.

Lagrange Points

Earth’s Orbit

Then, in March 2009, I

learnt about Lagrange

points.

Lagrange points are stable

points on the Earth’s orbit

where the gravity of the

Sun and the gravity of the

Earth cancel each other

out. I went into the internet

to see what more I could

learn and I discovered

Lagrange points occur 60

degrees either side of the

Earth on her orbital path. …

Ah Ha! again …

60 degrees!

Lagrange Points

equinox

solstice

equinox

solstice

The Sun‟s gravitational waves

The Earth‟s gravitational waves

On April 5th 09 I drew up

this diagram. It shows the

position of Lagrange points

4 and 5 relative to the

cardinal positions on the

Earth/Sun orbit. Each

cardinal position has 2

points which adds up to

twelve at 30 degree

intervals.

Check it out.

This diagram is not to scale.

So here we have a representation of an astrologer’s space-time map

…But …

.. while I am impressed with the equinoctial and solstice

interference patterns the Lagrangian points are problematical.

When our planet passes through the four fixed points on her orbit it

is reasonable to expect something significant occurs.

The Lagrangian points, while certainly gravitationally significant,

although fixed relative to Earth orbit with Earth, and, are therefore

not fixed relative to the cardinal points. 00 Gemini and 00 Aquarius

are only relevant when the Earth is at 00 Aries. 00 Taurus and 00

Virgo only relevant when the Earth is at 00 Cancer, etc.

Hmmm. We are going to have to think about this for some time.

If you are interested be my guest.

Night sky

Looking at the night sky what do we see?

Do we see the geometry of Einstein‟s space-time

field, or the electromagnetic field, or the significant

phase translation points that astrologers say divide

the signs of the Zodiac?

No, We see the complex splatter of a myriad suns.

blogs.yogajournal.com

What can we conclude from this?

The invisible electromagnetic/gravitational field is apprehended by

scientists through the careful observation (with the help of modern

technology) of influences on matter and described using mathematics.

The invisible signs of the Tropical Zodiac are apprehended by

astrologers through the observation of psychological and sociological

patterns and described using symbolism, metaphor, analogy and myth.

Both astrophysicists and astrologers are interpreting an invisible

space-time abstraction.

Our experience of life feels ‘real’, but what is really ‘real’?

It could be anything – it could be a virtual reality program.

Astrologers don’t know what is really ‘real’ but astrologers can take

comfort in the fact that scientist’s don’t know either.

Cast you mind back to Newton’s Principia.

„The reader is not to imagine by these words I anywhere take upon

me to define the kind, or the manner of any action, the causes or

physical reason thereof, of that I attribute forces, in a true and

physical sense‟.

Aristarchus of Samos had the brilliant idea that the planets went around

the Sun. This was in 300 BCE. But they didn’t know then about elliptical

orbits so the mathematics did not add up - this is one reason why Ptolemy

ditched the Sun centred solar system theory and put his money on

epicycles.

Mathematicians love to think their subject can explain everything

accurately - and they are surely right – but only if they have ALL the

information which at this moment in time is a very unlikely possibility.

Can you see that scientists like Richard Dawkins, who’s attack against

astrology began this presentation, scientists who think they know it all, are

talking through their hats and what is worse aggressively attempting to

annihilate an ancient information system that aligned with science might

take us into a new era of deeper understanding?

Chrissy Philp 2009

P.S. Actually, I really like some of Dawkin’s ideas –

I just know that over this he really has got it very wrong.

Probably a paradigm problem. Perhaps the one that says:

Astrology is (definitely) a pseudo science,

(so don’t bother to check it out for yourself.)

See Wiki and Collins English Dictionary.

Update 2010. Scientists are becoming insecure in their 20th Century conviction that

science will soon answer all questions. This gives me hope.