by Claus Larsen
The ancients looked at the sky and saw images. Some constellations looked like animals, some looked like people in various situations and some looked like other things that were familiar to them. They told stories of these images in the sky, and a lot of mythology is based on them. The ancients also realized that the Sun passes through certain constellations, and from that we have the Zodiac.
We have seen the Zodiac and it is us
The tenets of Astrology is well-known: When you are a Virgo, you are such and such a person, while you are totally different if you are a Sagittarius. People are neatly divided into 12 groups, each with its own set of personality traits.
This is the well-known sign of Leo. A Leo is described like this:
“The lion is called the King of the Beasts, and astrologers think that this animal is a good symbol to represent the kind of personality which seems to belong to most Leos. If you watch a lion you will see that he is always dignified, proud looking, and relaxed. He seems to know that he is king.”
“Sometimes he also enjoys being lazy and lying around in the sun. All this means that if you are a Leo you probably need plenty of time and opportunity in your life to do the things you want, things that give you joy and allow you to express yourself in a pleasurable way. Leos always like to think big, and do not enjoy things which are too detailed, or too dull. They also like to lead, and don’t like being ordered around.”
Source: Astro.com
So far, so good.
OK, we got it: You are born in a sign that looks like a lion, so you take on some of the characteristics of a lion. A Virgo has definite virginal, pure and clean characteristics, where a Taurus is a bull in a china shop. And so on.
Gotcha.
Are these traits universal? Do they work on other planets? It is a little difficult to get a straight answer from astrologers, but if you follow the logic that stars from far away can (somehow) influence living things here on Earth, then they must also influence other living things on other planets. It has to be this way. I mean: How can a force – be it natural or supernatural – be selective? How does Astrology “know” that it only can work on Earth? Does gravity only work on Earth? Of course it doesn’t.
That doesn’t sound right. So let us accept the premise that if you are born in the lion’s sign, you will get lionesque characteristica, no matter where you are in the Universe.
But wait…
…that’s how Leo looks from Earth. How do the stars that make up the constellation look from outside Earth? Let’s jump into a spaceship and travel a few hundred light-years out in space. This is what we see:
Doesn’t look much like a lion to me. So how can people on other planets in other star systems get lionesque traits if they don’t see a lion in their sky? Why does Earth decide what living beings on other planet systems must be like?
That doesn’t sound right either. In fact, that sounds downright Earth-centric, and that cannot possibly be UPC – Universally Politically Correct. One might ask the contrary question whether we are really influenced by the Zodiacs on other planets. Why shouldn’t we be?
Hm.
Nah. Astrology cannot possibly be universally applicable: The tenets of Astrology must depend on where you are in the Universe. A person from a planet circling another star would not see Leo as a lion. So why would he be a “King of the Beasts”?
Big problem.
Conclusion
Or rather: Confusion. How can constellations influence people on Earth in a certain way, when it is completely arbitrary what stars we find interesting? Why don’t constellations as they are seen from other planet systems influence us? The answer has to be that since it is completely coincidental how we imagine the constellations, a Leo on Earth cannot be influenced by “forces” that emanate from the sky. That would mean that an alien could also be a Leo – or that we here on Earth would be influenced by the signs as seen from the planet of the alien. As well as any other sign from any other planet in the Universe.
OK, this is downright silly: How can we know what we are influenced by? No force can be so selective, and beings on other planets simply don’t see lions in the sky.
Next time you meet an astrologer, ask what sign E.T. is. A Leo, a Spronx or a Zqlot?
