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Astrology for Aliens

12:49 / 27.03.06

This is something me and a friend of mine have been discussing, but I don’t know enough about Astrology to properly talk about the subject. Pretty soon maybe within the next 100 years people are going to start being born in other places not on Earth. How is this going to affect them astrologically? What would someone’s chart look like who was born on Mars or on the Moon. (I know they touched upon this in Stranger in a Strange Land but I don’t really remember it.) What about in space ship traveling great distances or a space station floating around in the asteroid belt?

13:19 / 27.03.06

It's a sort of meaningless question. The whole point of astrology is that it's geocentric anyway ie Earth is taken as the centre of the cosmos.

13:32 / 27.03.06

Perhaps someone will come up with Martiocentric or Lunacentric astrological systems. Could be interesting.

14:23 / 27.03.06

But it would be utterly different as the constellations wouldn't look the same, or even be identifable. The whole point of astrology is that one embraces an archaic description of the world/universe - you see that stars as the Babylonians or ancient Greeks may have seen them, and to a degree enter their magical worldview where the stars and planets affect us. It isn't really a 21st (or 22nd) century pursuit.

I think this line of specualtion is a little fruitless really. Never mind the fact that it rest of the idea that people will one day be born on other planets.

14:49 / 27.03.06

So what's wrong with it being utterly different?

Some of the constellations may change - though I'm not sure how much. It would depend on whether the associated stars are close enough for a one-planet shift in perspective to make a huge difference, wouldn't it? It the stars are very remote, the shift might not be noticeable. Particularly from the moon.

The seasons would be different, procession might occur from a different angle to the magnetic poles. The Earth would become a planet of concern. The geocentric houses and zodiac might need to be modified, or scrapped entirely.

I'm not saying it's a question of shattering importance, but it is fun to think about.

15:24 / 27.03.06

It isn't really a 21st (or 22nd) century pursuit.

Really? I think some people no matter in what century are going to be interested in this stuff. I mean here we are in the 21st century, after the Babylonians or ancient Greeks have been long gone, still looking to the stars in a magical ways, still calling the hotlines, and getting e-horoscopes.

The geocentric houses and zodiac might need to be modified, or scrapped entirely.

And yeah, it might end up a completely different system altogether but it'll still be a form of Astrology.

09:13 / 01.04.06

I wouldn't characterize this as a fruitless pursuit. The premise of astrology is widely misunderstood and while it has been geocentric up to this point, I suspect there's a good reason for that . . .

The major premise of astrology is that there are forces -- or influences -- in the universe that operate on a periodic basis. This has been observed over thousands of years and I have no reason to believe that it is less true today than formerly. Astrologers use the signs, planets and houses as a complex clock to track the waxing and waning of these influences and how they affect persons, events and things that come into being at a specific time and place. The system has been worked out and tested for the Earth because that's all we've had to deal with up to this point.

If we were to move our base of operations to Mars, let us say, it would be necessary to recalibrate the system essentially from scratch, starting with an observation of the influences and then recreating the clock based on the Martian perspective of the galaxy and solar system. I would think that by comparing the manifestation and timing of these universal influences, we could come to a better understanding of what they are and why they affect us the way they do.

21:07 / 01.04.06

If we're just talkin' Mars, the constellations aren't going to look particularly different - picture the change in perspective as the Earth goes 'round the Sun. Even if you were several times further out, the change in angle is miniscule compared to the distance to those constellations.

But, being ON Mars, having to look at the planetary influence of Earth - that's an interesting set of questions.

13:32 / 02.04.06

What is Earth? A libra?

05:55 / 06.04.06

I came here because of the great Thread Summary. To be honest I'm a little disappointed. I was thinking yeh, I feel like I'm from Mars (or someplace other than here) a lot of the time. Maye someone is developing an astrological system for aliens like me

Kiltartan Cross

13:30 / 07.04.06

For what it's worth, the constellations wouldn't be different, not even slightly. The distance between Earth in January and Earth in July (about 200 million miles) can be greater than the distance from Earth to Mars (about 35 million miles at closest approach, although it is usually much further).

Professor Silly

15:35 / 12.04.06

...and from the Martian perspective, Earth would behave much like Venus and Mercury--never straying very far from the sun's location.

An interesting thought: non-terrestrial astrology. As Mars tends to represent the force of an individual--the fight in the water-sac so to speak...would one born on Mars be more or less prone to violence? Or perhaps there would be no statisically significant difference.

...then again, I did just see the movie "Doom"...maybe they'd all look and act like the Rock!