Carl Sagan famously wrote in his 1995 The Demon-Haunted World that an obese obstetrician standing next to a delivering mother exerts more gravitational force on the newborn than the entire planet of Jupiter. Stars even further afield exert noticeably less. Therefore, astrology is just so much hooey.

In the view of the Catholic Church, astrology is not only worthless — it is indeed sinful and dangerous because it tries to “circumvent” and usurp God who alone determines our fate. Aside from this, astrology is also anti-science and worthless as a means of understanding the universe and ourselves. The following are some reasons why you should avoid astrology:

1.  There are four such fundamental forces in the universe: Gravity, Electromagnetism, Strong Nuclear Force and Weak Nuclear Force. These fours forces function by sending out carrier particles that contain carry information between particles and tell them how to behave. Which of these forces govern astrology and why hasn’t it been detected and tested? As a side note, why do astrologers almost inevitably point out “karma” as yet another, apparently, non-competing force in the universe that similarly can’t be measured or identified? Why is no astrologer even interested in perusing this pertinent scientific question? Here’s why: Astrology isn’t a science.

2.  Where were the astrologers on Sept. 10, 2001? Didn’t they have an inkling of what was about to befall America? How about the COVID-19 Pandemic? The April 18, 1983, U.S. Marine barracks attack in Beirut? There are millions of horrific things happening every day around the world. Where is the proof that astrologists had been aware of any of them? I think it’s a legitimate and reasonable request for a tiny number of these supposedly accurate predictions to have been documented before the event in question.

3.  Are we really expected to believe that all 2,977 deaths at the 9/11 World Trade Center attack all had the same astrological reading? It’s a reasonable assumption that the dead presented all 12 zodiac signs. If they all listed some bad consequence for that day, astrologers would be crowing about it even to this day.

4.  If astrology can offer us such profound and arcane knowledge, why are predictions worded so arbitrarily, vaguely and clumsily? Further, why won’t astrologers simply admit when they are wrong, like actual scientists do?

5.  Astrology can’t be very important if one doesn’t need academic training to make an assessment or reading. And if one doesn’t need academic training to understand it, why do professionals make so many errors? Why can’t they explain themselves better? Why also do they insist it’s a science?

6.  Why aren’t there any non-for-profit astrological organizations offering free readings to the poor? Surely astrologists think what they offer is very valuable and can help the underprivileged. So why aren’t they running around poor neighborhoods helping people? Instead, astrologers charge exorbitant fees despite their numerous mistakes and strained retconning of mistakes.

7.  Why are astrologers often get so irascible when asked to talk about their training, education and methodology?

8.  If astrology has any validity as a science, why don’t they all agree as to their methodology and assessments and predictions? Physicists all can come to the same conclusion when analyzing gravity, inertia and time dilation. Why not astrology?

9.  If astrology is a science, why aren’t there departments of astrology at all of our universities?

10.  If astrology is accurate, how come governments, businesses, weather agencies and stock markets don’t employ astrologers? Nancy Reagan did have a penchant for astrology but there’s little evidence that Ronny took this nonsense seriously.

11.  Astrologists can’t point out any new research in the past 3,000 years. A science with the scientific research is a misnamed endeavor. Instead, astrology is based on pagan fear and superstitions and decidedly notscience.

12.  There’s a basic logical disconnect in astrology theory. If my horoscope says that I will have a very bad day due to having a conflict with another individual, it seems that it would follow that the other people with whom I’m fighting would similarly have the same proscription in his horoscopic prediction. If this were true, why is there no hard evidence for this?

13.  If astrology is accurate, why aren’t astrologers rich? They can easily profit from this science in the same way that their clients employ them. But, perhaps, astrologers are “forbidden” to use their gifts for their own selfish gain. But, if this was true, why don’t they alight to another astrologer for their “wisdom?”

14.  Why are astrologists and other scam-artist charlatans indistinguishable in their methodologies? Why so much mumbo-jumbo and so little straight talk and proof positive?

15.  If it’s a legitimate profession, why isn’t “astrologer” listed in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Occupational Outlook Handbook (published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics)?

16.  Astrology never has explained why twins born in the same minute of the same day don’t have similar occurrences when live separately.

17.  If astrology is an accurate science, why isn’t there a grassroots movement among astrologers to rehabilitate the field’s reputation and show how “scientific” it is? After all, inquiring and suspicious minds want to know.

18.  If astrology is a legitimate science, why is it that astrologers often also claim to be psychics, mediums, palmists, runemasters, witches, satanists, crystal healers, scryers and so on? That’s a bit odd by anyone’s standard. Legitimate surgeons who have completed 16 years of study and training in a legitimate medical school don’t also become so-called “psychic healers” pretending to cure incurable diseases by using sleight-of-hand. However, we usually find lifelong criminals who never finished high school who regularly become astrologers.

The scientific method is a procedure that has characterized natural science since Francis Bacon articulated it in the 16th century after many centuries of Catholic involvement in the development of the sciences. (See here, here and here.)

Bacon explained that science consists of the systematic observation, measurement and experiment, and the formulation, testing and modification of hypotheses. Criticism, debate and logical reasoning is the backbone of the scientific method. Any field of study that shields itself from critics such as astrology, alchemy, “gender theory,” “Marxist dialectic,” ufology, cryptobiology and tarot divination are decidedly not science.

Astrology is not a science, and consulting astrologers is a sin. Don’t do it.