Guest guest Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 This is a general message for everyone. I hope you all realize that I'm only trying to help the cause of astrology. I think the main problem with astrology today is the age of astrologers, most of whom are older than 50, and many of us are over 60 or 70. Education has changed drastically in those years since we left school, and this means that standards have also changed a great deal. If we don't have grandchildren in school, we won't be aware of the huge changes that have taken place over the years in education. Today it's almost impossible to find a creative well paying job without a higher degree. Even B.A. or B.S. degrees seem to present very little in the way of opportunity. If we're old enough to be living on a pension or social security, we may have no idea what's going on 'out there.' These days second graders are learning their way around possessive pronouns (it's our's, their's etc.). By second and third grade they are learning pre-algebraic concepts, formulas and equations. They're learning the basics of geometry. In third grade they're learning how to distinguish between physical and chemical changes in matter. Does anyone here remember learning that in elementary school? I don't. We might have been learning the difference between elephants and insects. The bottom line is that today young children are being taught to think and reason in order to prepare them for careers in higher mathematics and science. Our world is changing. Those of us who began our astrology by using log tables to calculate charts now see our horoscopes in an instant on the computer screen. Modern technology came from very bright creative minds (and perhaps not a little from past-life Atlantean recall). Maybe our tech pioneers didn't have the best education, but today in order to find employment in the tech fields, you need the education society says you need. Few can match the mental genius of pioneers in any field. Our children are already way ahead of us. And few young people have an interest in a subject that has seen no discipline or scientific method or mutual cooperation among practitioners. The least we can do is to remain humble and flexible and open to the thought that, " Life, it's been a-changin', and maybe my attitude toward astrology needs to change too. " Otherwise, aren't we simply a Uranian version of the rednecks that still populate the small towns of America? " Me and my family been doin' it this way my whole life, and I don't see no reason to change. " Therese Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 Interesting post Therese that raises a lot of issues. I don't know why young people aren't that keen to become astrologers. Some invariably will since astrology has a transcendent appeal. But probably not as many will take up the baton and run with it. I don't know that it is because of the lack of a scientific discipline. There are a lot of societal forces at work here that one needs to acknowledge. And the whole thing is probably cyclical anyway, right? ;-) Some observers insist that new age type beliefs are not linked to the 60s hippies/boomer cohort and is here to stay. Some of its basic tenets have permeated the culture sufficiently to guarantee its viability in the years to come after the boomers have left the planet. I'm less sure about that, but certainly a lot of the beliefs have been normalized throughout the culture -- environmental awareness, and holistic, alternative healing are a couple of things one could mention. Young people are definitely open to this and other types of non-scientific feel good, generically spiritual endeavours. Chris therese92003 <eastwest wrote: This is a general message for everyone. I hope you all realize that I'm only trying to help the cause of astrology. I think the main problem with astrology today is the age of astrologers, most of whom are older than 50, and many of us are over 60 or 70. Education has changed drastically in those years since we left school, and this means that standards have also changed a great deal. If we don't have grandchildren in school, we won't be aware of the huge changes that have taken place over the years in education. Today it's almost impossible to find a creative well paying job without a higher degree. Even B.A. or B.S. degrees seem to present very little in the way of opportunity. If we're old enough to be living on a pension or social security, we may have no idea what's going on 'out there.' These days second graders are learning their way around possessive pronouns (it's our's, their's etc.). By second and third grade they are learning pre-algebraic concepts, formulas and equations. They're learning the basics of geometry. In third grade they're learning how to distinguish between physical and chemical changes in matter. Does anyone here remember learning that in elementary school? I don't. We might have been learning the difference between elephants and insects. The bottom line is that today young children are being taught to think and reason in order to prepare them for careers in higher mathematics and science. Our world is changing. Those of us who began our astrology by using log tables to calculate charts now see our horoscopes in an instant on the computer screen. Modern technology came from very bright creative minds (and perhaps not a little from past-life Atlantean recall). Maybe our tech pioneers didn't have the best education, but today in order to find employment in the tech fields, you need the education society says you need. Few can match the mental genius of pioneers in any field. Our children are already way ahead of us. And few young people have an interest in a subject that has seen no discipline or scientific method or mutual cooperation among practitioners. The least we can do is to remain humble and flexible and open to the thought that, " Life, it's been a-changin', and maybe my attitude toward astrology needs to change too. " Otherwise, aren't we simply a Uranian version of the rednecks that still populate the small towns of America? " Me and my family been doin' it this way my whole life, and I don't see no reason to change. " Therese " How can Pluto be in Sagittarius when it's so close to Antares? " ----- Post message: Subscribe: - Un: - List owner: -owner Shortcut URL to this page: / Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 I'm currently doing an on-line discussion and teaching project on a popular Internet site that has an astrology sub-forum. There are some 20 or 30 participants who have posted their astrological data and who participate in the list activities. We are exploring the planets and how to work with them; the Moon in phase relationship to the Sun, how to interpret Venus relative to the Sun, a lot of things that are not commonly found in books. The group is really capivated by these various explorations but, as a general rule, they have some common issues to deal with. While they come from a variety of career backgrounds and age groups, they most seem to have great difficulty grasping what I had always seen as " simple concepts. " For example, understanding what an opening square is versus a closing square, how to calculate the degree of distance one planet is ahead of another planet, simple things of this nature. Another group expouses a 13-sign zodiac and can quote all kinds of mythology and ideas but cannot explain how many degrees each of the " new and revised " signs will have when divided among 360 degrees and how the subject of degrees or rulerships or aspects will be defined within this improved zodiac, nor does this person truly understand the difference between signs, tropical and sidereal zodiacs or constellation star-patterns and/or houses -- it is all mixed up for this person. And there are a number of " followers " that just love this mumbo jumbo or " astro-babble " even though nobody can deliniate a chart or offer helpful advice. What I'm trying to bottom-line here is that there are a number of people with various areas of deep knowledge but who also do not want to take the time, make the effort, and truly get their mind around the subject of astrology before they start pontificating about it. While we who are older, I'm 69 years of age, have had to learn logs and lots of various methodologies that seem to have faded from serious astrology over the decades, we do know the basics behind computer generated charts and data. It seems that few want to take the time to learn the basics these days. I'm not sure who is going to do the research in another 20 years. Is it our " age " that tells us that the new breed is shallow, careless, not very detailed in their work, etc. Like others we all know, I can initially glance at a chart and talk about it in depth all at the same moment. None/few of the new age astrological students seem to know the difference between a sign and a house -- indeed, they treat them the same. I sincerely hope to find a single good student -- no luck so far. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted March 10, 2006 Report Share Posted March 10, 2006 At 06:44 PM 3/9/06 -0800, Chris wrote: >>Interesting post Therese that raises a lot of issues. >> >>I don't know why young people aren't that keen to become astrologers. Some invariably will since astrology has a transcendent appeal. But probably not as many will take up the baton and run with it. I don't know that it is because of the lack of a scientific discipline... You know, Chris, the new physics is very close to the ancient spiritual teachings of India. Science is approaching spirituality. It may be that astrology fits in there somewhere, a wedding of science, nature and spirit. But that's going to be very far cry from today's astrology which still emphasizes the philosophy and world outlook of Rudhyar and Liz Greene. A while ago on the YoungAstro forum someone pointed out that it was often difficult to make sense of Liz Greene's writings and the way she put words together. >> There are a lot of societal forces at work here that one needs to acknowledge. And the whole thing is probably cyclical anyway, right? ;-) If you put it that way.... >>Young people are definitely open to this and other types of non- scientific feel good, generically spiritual endeavours. I believe the final answer will be a union of the best in science and the uniqueness of spiritual experience. It's like Sri Yukteswar says in Autobiography of a Yogi: Astrology is too vast a subject to be understood except by men of great wisdom. I certainly don't have that 'great wisdom,' and I don't know anyone who does. But there's always hope for the future! But I do think we're missing the boat and making the development of astrology much more difficult by refusing to work together in mutual cooperation. As it stands now astrologers exist as individual islands in the astrological universe. Living on our own little islands plus being out of step with society isn't going to get us very far, and I don't think it's going to help astrology progress either. Therese Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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