Mastodawn

actually getting into astrology fucking sucks because you realize that 99.99% of the time when you see other people talk about astrology they have absolutely no idea what they're talking about. and whenever you try to talk about astrology it's like you're sending out free pizza coupons to the 99.99% convention

(thread. it's a rant)

#astrology #infodump

let me elaborate on that. you've heard of horoscopes, right? well, those aren't astrology. not in any way that matters. see, astrology is a several thousand year old spiritual practice. it is *absurdly* in depth, and you can spend years upon years studying it and still barely have a grasp of individual astrological practices. horoscopes are pretty much the 'guy in cave sees shadows and thinks that's the real world' thing - astrology made so simple that it can be self-contained in a single post.

the funny thing is that the more you get into actual astrology, the more you realize that the people shitting on astrology are right. because they're shitting on horoscopes. and horoscopes are fucking dumb as hell!

ignoring every other usage of astrology, birth charts take into factor every planet in the solar system. some astrologers take into account some meteors. traditionally, certain stars were looked at as well. you are not a gemini, leo, or whatever else. you just have a gemini / leo sun

but even then, saying "you have a gemini / leo sun" is in and of itself a half-truth at best. because nobody has *just* a gemini / leo sun. that's not a thing. every sun placement is defined by a number of characteristics. one of the most important ones is the house that planets are in, which is... kind of like a second set of signs, whose alignment relative to your chart is determined by the exact hour of your birth. you could have the sun front and center in the first house of self...

or hidden away in the 12th house of hidden enemies and general insecurity. or in the 7th house of relationships. and that would all massively change how that sun operates, because the sun represents identity and ego and whatnot, and so someone whose sense of self is front and center in the first house will be a lot more individualistic than somebody whose sun is in the seventh house, indicating that they identify themselves more through the relationships they have.

and that's not the only factor! see, every sign has a planetary ruler. take aries, for instance. aries' ruler is mars. planets also can be more or less powerful based on the sign they're in - mars does not do well in the diplomatic libra, for instance. so if you have an aries sun, but its ruler is stuck in libra, that colors the expression of that aries sun. aries isn't going to be able to find its usual brazenness and unbridled enthusiasm, because its source of power is weakened.

so when somebody says "i'm an aries sun" - that's useless. is that sun rejoicing (in a house it prefers) in the 9th house? is that sun hidden away in the 12th house? is it in the career focused 10th house? is its ruler weakened?

and how about its relationships to other planets? because that's also a thing in astrology! planets can be in harmonious relationships, contentuous ones, or conjunct, which represents a melding of two planets' energies.

that sun in aries, for instance, might come with a lot of baggage if it's stuck opposing multiple planets in libra, especially if one of those planets is saturn, which is exalted in libra.

which is all to say that there are an absurd amount of factors at play when one looks at a birth chart, and almost *none* of those are reflected in horoscopes.

(and while we're at it, cusps aren't a thing. stop that. first / last degree placements within a sign can be significant, but cusps are not a thing.)

worse, if you *did* want to look at a singular placement for someone's birthchart... traditional astrology actually does have an option for you. and it is a much, much better one than the sun sign. you remember the houses? the first house is your ascending sign. that, in and of itself, is already a more significant placement than one's sun sign. but the ruler of that sign? *that's* the money shot - referred to as the chart ruler. if you're a libra sun, your ruler is venus, and you're venusian.

so *why* did we settle on the sun sign?

because remembering the exact hour of your birth is a hell of a lot harder than the month (give or take a few days) you were born in. and that's what horoscopes boil down to - convenience. you don't want people to have to think, or study, or whatever else. you want people to open up their newspaper, read a few sentences, and feel like they're tapping into Secret Knowledge. horoscopes turn a spiritual practice into a platitude generator.

also: people who discriminate based on one's "sign" are genuinely the most wretched morons on the planet. like you don't even understand the thing you're using to discriminate against people with. if you do this you are dumb as hell. sun sign - sun sign compatibility isn't even close to a comprehensive indicator for relationships.

speaking of which, did you know that's a thing? there's two methods - composite charts are like the median of two charts, while synastries overlay them.

but i mean, that is kind of the problem with astrology. astrology is not accessible. astrology was my special interest for years and i even got good enough to do paid birth chart readings for people. but i was still only an intermediate, and as soon as i dipped my toes into other practices (e.g. astrocartography - the astrology of places - or the aforementioned synastry / composite charts) i was back to being a complete novice.

the fact of the matter is that if you're reading this, you very likely will never be able to seriously engage with astrology on your own. you could, if you wanted to, but do you want to spend years learning to do so? i doubt it. it's just not worth it for most people. which is why people like myself (not to toot my own horn, since again, i am / was only an intermediate) exist - we put the time in so that other people don't have to.

*does* everything have to be accessible? *should* you be able to engage with everything without any significant investment from yourself? should everything exist in simplified forms that make them easy to market?

i think it's okay for astrology to be something that you have to do a little work for. if you're curious, you can figure out your birth time, maybe get your big three and your chart ruler, and that'll be enough for most people. it's too complex for a newspaper column. but that's fine.

like, has society actually benefited from the most annoying people on the internet going "oh my god, that's *so* gemini" constantly? has that benefited *anybody*?

it sucks because the bastardization of astrology has led to a bunch of people who don't realize that horoscopes aren't astrology but want to interact with deeper astrology, and so every astrology space is filled with people who constantly need to be reminded that houses aren't the same thing as signs and a number of other equally banal misconceptions. it wouldn't even be a problem if horoscopes were willing to be their own thing, but they don't want to be horoscopes, they want to be astrology.

this isn't really a people problem so much as it is a marketing problem. because astrology is marketed as entertainment, and is constantly sold to people as entertainment. which is very frustrating for those of us for whom it's a serious spiritual practice!

like, if you were to make astrology (well, y'know, "astrology") something that people had to seek out instead of something constantly thrust into their faces, that'd probably instantly dispel most of these issues.

ultimately astrology was never meant as a system to make snap judgements about people, and if you're using it as that, you probably suck and are annoying. i'm sorry. astrology exists as a system of very in depth analysis, and any attempt to simplify it is just going to be very, very annoying for everyone but the simplifier. charts are something you can spent hours pouring over. they're not individual placements you can look at and go "uh oh, SCORPIO ALERT!!!!!!!"

seriously though please stop fucking calling people geminis and leos and whatever else. that's not a thing. you're not a sign. you have certain planets, in certain signs, in your chart.

unless you've looked and they have like almost every placement in taurus i guess in which case, barring extenuating circumstances (e.g. venus being debilitated) i guess they can be a taurus. it's close enough. i guess.

anyway, for the record, i have a virgo sun conjunct virgo mercury in my first house - hence mercury is my chart ruler - trine (synergistic aspect) my domineering scorpio mars, so if you've ever wondered why i'm such a venomous, longwinded bitch, bob's your uncle.

(but i like to think my libra venus helps balance me out a little and contributes to me, at the very least, feeling obligated to try and be fair in how i deal with people.)

@fuckfetish any recommendations for someone that thought this was an interesting post to read a bit more?

Rusty Shackleford May 21

I studied astrology a long time ago. People love to mix up astrology, constellations, and horoscopes.

Example: Ophiuchus and the precession of the equinoxes (also referred to as precession of the stars)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ophiuchus#Zodiac

Ophiuchus - Wikipedia

@rusty__shackleford yeah, the whole ophiuchus thing is another massive pain in the ass, lol

Rusty Shackleford May 21

*Chuckles

A great time for everyone