Above is a photo taken by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. It is a pulsar, a rapidly spinning neutron star. It is creating tremendous energies which are shown in the photo as red having the lowest energy and blue the most powerful X-rays. What caught people’s fancy was it looked like a giant spooky hand.
I read an article in my local newspaper about astrology. I don’t recall seeing astrology mentioned in a “news” newspaper outside of the typical daily horoscope in the classified section. Do you ever check out those daily horoscopes? Anyone who understands anything about astrology knows these little snippets don’t even begin to approximate a genuine horoscope.
Here is the article about astrology, which is actually pretty interesting. The Chicago Sun-Times has a new Astrologer! Yippee! Reading this made me ponder the nature of astrology:
I have mixed feelings about astrology. I am a firm believer in free will. I lean towards an existential view of life rather than ideas of destiny. The concept that the stars have a role in governing our lives does not ring true with me.
On the other hand, the universe is a strange place. To quote Shakespeare, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
How can we make sense of astrology? From the bit I know, the most interesting concept linked to astrology are astral tides. The idea behind astral tides suggests an astral realm co-exists with the physical world but is invisible to the five senses. This astral dimension is connected to consciousness; in fact the only way to have knowledge of the astral level is through consciousness. Supposedly this astral world has its own natural ebb and flow in relationship to the earth, sun and moon. These astral tides have an influence on our collective consciousness albeit unknowingly. Astrology is the attempt to measure and understand these tides and their influence on mankind. Through millennium it is assumed measurements of the astral tides were perfected. That is the theory.
I don’t know. Astrology sounds like a metaphor for trying to explain the true mysteries of existence. Ancient man looked into the sky and recognized the stars had profound significance. They didn’t realize how reality far exceeded their imagination. Who guessed outside of view existed more galaxies then we have stars in our own Milky Way?
Astrology was a reflection of man’s awe at the cosmos, and an early attempt to comprehend it. Astrology eventually became the science of astronomy. I see something ironic here. We are all made from the remnants of exploded stars. But where did the stars come from? Where did the Big Bang come from? As modern cosmology probes into the deepest mysteries of the universe, the more cosmology is approaching mysticism, if nobody will admit it. The instincts of ancient man may prove accurate…that there are more things in heaven and earth then we have dreamt of.