I consulted an astrologer once, who made out my detailed chart, then interpreted it for me, recording the session on tape for my future reference. Probably two-thirds of the interview concerned The Past and Present, the rest concerned The Future. As he said, he'd be more convincing if he was right about the past and present, rather than concentrating on the future. All he had from me was my first name, and the time and date of my birth. These I gave over the phone, and I visited him for the results a week later. He did not have my phone number or any other information which he might have used to 'research' me.

I was astounded. He actually started before I was born, and some of the details I had to check with older family members afterwards. But he was spot on about things like disputes between my parents and location moves and so on. As he progressed through my life, he never missed a beat - telling me about illnesses, surgical procedures (including some dentistry!),family problems, marriage, births of my children (he accurately gave dates for many of these major events), house moves, financial status and any given time, and other significant events.

He then went on to make 'predictions', and although I'm still waiting for some to eventuate, he has proven to be very accurate with those as well.

So I'm convinced there's something in it. However, I don't 'read the stars' in the local paper or magazines. They are far too standardised and ambiguous, are seldom correct, and I fail to see how one-twelfth of the population would have similar experiences on any given day!

I'm a Pisces.

I tend to be not much of a believer in anything that isn't clear, but...

I'm a libra. And EVERYTHING I read about libras fits me to a "T". I also had a very new friend once say to me "you're a libra, aren't you?" and she definitely did NOT know my birthday! I am an uber libra.

no. astrology is a load of...uh, horse hockey? i stopped my self at the last minute. There are many, many reasons that it is bogus, not the least of which that it is based upon an astrological system developed over 2000 years ago, on a sky that has changed radically since then, which even practioners have to do a great deal of fancy footwork to deal with. (ask them about the 13th sign/planet, sometime.)
I used to teach a class called "science and pseudoscience" in which i would give each student an envelope on which i had typed their birthday. Then i had them read silently their "personal horoscope." We rated their horoscope on it's accuracy, and every year, all of my students thought it described them perfectly. Then i had them pass their horoscope to the person next to them--which is when they discovered all the horoscopes were the same. zut alors!
They also did an experiment where they offered passersby 12 different UnLabeled descriptions of the different astrological sign, had them pick one, and then collected the birthday. Less than 10% were able to pick their "correct" sign, which is about what you would expect by chance.

I also showed them how to do "cold readings," which is how psychics tell you what you want to hear. We had James Randi come one year, which was wonderful! he totally charmed them by first pulling all sorts of items out of student's ears, and then telling them their innermost secrets--and showing them just how he tricked them into telling him, so he could tell them back. He also had some great backstage footage of what really goes on at the Jon Edwards show.

i'd be wiling to bet $50 i could give you a really good "psychic" reading, if you want to mail me a check. It's a travesty that police and families are duped by these psychics, since studies have found that there is No evidence that they help at all, and may actually delay crime solving.

This doesn't mean that it can't be fun--but i wouldn't build my life around it. on the other hand, the stuff on the chinese menus....now, i totally am a tiger :)

Here is a link that might be useful: How to cold read (James Randi)

Thanks for the link Bug Girl....an interesting read and that's the way that I take the "crossing over" show....it's basically an insult to my intelligence so it doesn't get long before the channel gets changed....I am more interested in the people that tend to see themselves in profiles of their signs and can look at the person and relate to theirs also....I look at my traits (astrological wise) and see a libra and based on past experiences and it would scare the heck out of me...heh....No offense and nothing personal Carrie....just an example....instead of thinking I am a turd, just say "lucky me!!" LOL

No offense taken, Mike. And just because I am an ultr-libra, it doesn't mean I believe I am that way because of when I was born.

i think we just have brains that see patterns--i don't remember the 10,000 times that i called my sister and she wasn't expecting me, i remember the time i called and she picked up the phone before it rang, and said "i was just thinking of you!"
Everything that i use to be a great fake psychic is about the same stuff i use to be a good student counselor. if you know the way to pull information out of people, you can learn a lot.
astrology can be useful for conversation, just like the "year of" stuff on the chinese astrological system, or the hindu system, or the saint's days. it can help you learn a lot about a person.
I just get upset when i see people calling Cleo and running up a visa bill, instead of seeking professional help, or turning to relatives/friends to talk.
funny how Ms. Cleo didn't see that federal tax evasion lawsuit coming :)

I'm a skeptic. Most descriptions of astrology signs have components that describe me. And all have components that are nothing like me. I had a tarot card reading once that was spot on. But, when I replayed in my mind what the tarot reader had actually said, the details were a little vague.

So, astrology, feng shui, numerology, and other such stuff are fun to dabble in, but not particularly believable to me.

LOL about the Miss Cleo line, Bug Girl...and right on the money...I had a friend that her daughter ran up a HUGE phone bill talking to Cleo. Bottom line is that we just need to figure all these things out for ourselves and that paying someone to tell us what we want to hear isn't the answer.
I had forgotton about numerology, Puddlejumper...another one that I delved in a bit when I was a teenager..anyone ever read up and try to chart biorythym?...that's another flashback.

My beloved Cleo was taken off the air waves - what a shame - I depended on her so often - trouble is, she couldn't guess my credit card number, so I only got to have my future foretold for one minute each time! LOL Just kidding, folks.

As for horoscope evaluations, I agree that it is an unexplained pseudoscience,and therefore can't be proved or disproved. I can, however, tell you that I am an Aries through and through. I have read a number of books on the Aries traits and they are dead-on where I am concerned.

I am 100% all the bad traits they write about Aries, and 100% all the good traits. I have quite a few Aries friends and find them to match their profiles to the letter.

The profile for an Aries is: "Who works from morn to set of sun? Who never likes to be out done? Whose walk is almost like a run? - ARIES - these all describe my personality exactly.

My positive traits include: forceful, risk-taker, adventurous, enterprising, courageous, direct, energetic, freedom-loving and self-assertive (I am all of these).

My negative traits include: selfish, unsubtle, impulsive, quick-tempered, impatient, argumentitive and agressive (I hate to admit I am all of these).

My element is FIRE, my color is RED, my metal is IRON, and the two signs for relationships is another Aries and Leo.

I relate to these in that I am firy, look best in the color red, rule my world with an iron fist, and my current "flame" is a Leo. I am not saying being an Aries is easy, but is SURE is fun, and I make no apologies -- I 'yam what I yam'!

I love reading of my various friends' astrological signs and comparing their 'sign' descriptions with the traits I see in them - it's quite amazing to me that for the most part they match quite closely.

As for me, I believe astrology has merit.

I think they have merit in making an "initial" judgement of a personality....not the whole enchilada...but on the other hand, I think that someone that belives it to an extreme and makes no exceptions can destine a relationship to failure from the start....an example was a lady that I dated a few years back....she had in her mind that she was a scorpio and I was a Leo and therefore it would never work....lo and behold it didn't (she had it it her mid that it wouldn't work from the start and was able to prove it to her own self satisfaction)...where does psychologically using it as an excuse, come into to not giving it a chance in the first place come into effect?...negative attitude based on astrological signs from the start is doomed, IMO.

I went out on a first date last night with another Libra. We laughed that while neither of us believes in astrology, we share all those stereotypical libra habits.

Ironic, isn't it! LOL It may be a matter of mind over unproven theory, but it works for me, too - whatever it takes, I always say - we need all the 'logic' we can muster to be in the dating realm. I may not be a great success with men, but they seem to hang around for a l-o-n-g time - I must be doing something right! LOL

Sooooo, is the general consensus of this forum that astrology has some merit or is it just a bunch of horse-hockie? As for me and my house, we believe it is both an informative and fun pseudoscience, well worth consideration.

After dating my first Aries ever, and seeing your description above, I'd have to say that it does indeed carry merit with me in an informative way.

After a second date Friday night (and the third scheduled for Thursday) with the Libra, and a phone conversation, emails and an IM since then, we keep coming back to the fact that we're both Libras. We do seem to be on the same page about all those stereotypical libra characteristics.

my first love was a water sign. I am fire. Water quenches fire.

and...ahem. I was Cleo for awhile. I told callers to watch the clock and hang up in 3 minutes. The company was not impressed with my work.

"pick a number" (an amazing # of people choose 13) " in numerology, all numbers are reduced to a single digit. I am cutting the cards 4 (13 = 1 + 3 = 4) times. dealing the top three cards shows me the past, present, and future" and then I would read the cards.

jc

Tell us more, JC - how interesting!