Astrology in modern times
In countries such as India, astrology manages to retain here and there its position among the sciences. Its continued legitimacy is demonstrated by the fact that some Indian universities offer advanced degrees in astrology. Indians regularly consult astrologers for birth charts, wedding dates and times, business transactions, when to move into a new house, and other major events.
In the West, however, Newtonian physics and Enlightenment rationalism largely eradicated the widespread belief in astrology, yet Western astrology is far from dead, as demonstrated by the strong popular following it gained in the 1960s. There were even attempts to reestablish a firm theoretical basis for it, notably by the French psychologist Michel Gauquelin in his The Scientific Basis of Astrology (1964), though with results that are at best inconclusive. The divisions of the year governed by the 12 zodiacal signs (which are derived from Hellenistic astrology) as depicted in newspapers, manuals, and almanacs continue to be the basis of popular belief or, at the very least, provide entertainment.
Astrologers have tried to incorporate the planets discovered since the Renaissance—Neptune, Uranus, and, for a time, Pluto— into the general astrological scheme and to find some sort of statistical relation between planetary positions and human lives. None of these attempts appears to be at all convincing to skeptics and other critics of astrology, however, and no serious explanation seems to exist regarding the alleged spheres of influence of the planets, the alleged nature of their influences, or the manner in which they operate.
“Very often it seems as though astrology were only an authoritarian cloak while the matter itself is strongly reminiscent of a mental health column written for the trade in limited self-awareness and paternal support. The column attempts to satisfy the longings of people who are thoroughly convinced that others (or some unknown agency) ought to know more about themselves and what they should do than they can decide for themselves.” —Theodor W. Adorno, “The Stars Down to Earth” (1974).
Despite these criticisms and others like them, astrology continues to attract people from all walks of life—from the casual followers who read their horoscopes in the daily newspaper to those who have their star charts drafted by professional astrologers. As cultural critic Theodor W. Adorno observes in his close reading of the astrology section in the Los Angeles Times in “The Stars Down to Earth” (1974), newspaper astrology columns partake of certain forms of rhetorical strategy and popular psychology geared toward addressing readers’ anxieties in contemporary culture. In short, even though it is regarded by many as devoid of intellectual or scientific value, astrology in its modern and historical forms remains of great interest to scholars and a wide spectrum of the general public.