Recovering ‘rejected’ knowledge: explaining the epistemological strategies of contemporary astrologers
Creators: name: Klawikowski, Konrad
Publisher: name: The University of Edinburgh
Year: 2024
Subjects: ‘rejected’ knowledge
epistemological strategies
contemporary astrologers
astrology
Karl Popper
astrology in the contemporary United Kingdom
astrological chart construction
divinatory practices in traditional societies
astrological truth
applied knowledge

description: This PhD is positioned within a new wave of studies in which astrology is treated as a cultural object and practice in and of itself. Previously, astrology has been conceived of as a pseudoscience according to philosophers of science such as Karl Popper. Alternatively, its appeal was seen as the result of psychological ‘tricks’ like cold-reading and similar effects. In contrast, drawing on qualitative data derived from one-to-one interviews with practising astrologers in the United Kingdom, I provide a holistic explanation of how practitioners conceive of the content of astrological knowledge, how it is produced and legitimated, and how it is used. I argue that astrology, with its highly individualised styles of practice, its decentralised, non-institutional structure, and its long history, provides a rich case-study into how ‘rejected’ ways of knowing operate in and around more dominant epistemological frameworks. To this end, in Chapter One, I introduce astrology in the contemporary United Kingdom by describing astrological chart construction, analysing the socio-demographics of practitioners, and exploring how my informants began their astrological practice. In Chapter Two, I analyse prior literature on astrology and discuss astrology epistemologically in relation to selected divinatory practices in traditional societies. In Chapter Three, I give substance to the body of textbooks that astrologers utilise whilst learning and practising astrology. I render this literature as a ‘dynamic body of knowledge’ that astrologers draw from and add to as they work. In Chapter Four, I argue that astrology is a symbolic language that, within the consultative setting between practitioner and client, is dialogic in nature, aimed at producing practical narratives to advise, guide, and transform the client’s perspective. In Chapters Five and Six, I analyse the claims of practitioners that there is little epistemic hierarchy between astrologers and clients within their consultations. Instead, I argue that astrologers utilise various strategies to flatten out the inherent hierarchy between expert and lay knowledge. This allows cohesion with the ostensible lack of hierarchy in the wider ‘holistic milieu’ that astrologers and their clients typically operate within. In Chapter Seven, I analyse the subjective facets of astrology, by which I mean the individual astrologer’s intuitive and creative leaps. This is contrasted with the objective facet, by which I mean the mathematics behind chart construction and the astronomy that astrology relies upon. Then I analyse the role of theory, that is communally-agreed meanings and modes of interpretation, versus the role of experiment, as astrologers test the efficacy of their techniques. I conclude that astrologers display ‘omen-mindedness’, which is described as a proclivity to search for meaning in events. This disposition is coupled with astrologers’ use of a rudimentary experimental method to gauge the efficacy of astrological techniques in a reflexive project aimed at refining the utility of their practice. Finally, in Chapter Eight, I analyse the ubiquitous question of ‘astrological truth’: that is, whether or not astrologers produce accurate knowledge. I argue that, while astrologers’ focus is not exclusively on predictive accuracy, this capacity remains a vital component of a successful consultation. As such it allows astrological knowledge to be practical, that is to provide what I call ‘applied knowledge’. In conclusion, I emphasise the practical utility of astrology in everyday lives, produced via a dialogic and symbolic exploration between astrologer and client that straddles both rational and intuitive ways of knowing. I argue that astrology is used to produce knowledge that is applied to the transformation of the client’s self-understanding and relationship with others, the understanding and reframing of their past and present circumstances (often with a view to the future), and the navigation of ongoing crises. I conclude that this epistemic ‘straddling’ and its practical application in the day-to-day lives of its users is what makes the contemporary practice of astrology worthy of study.