Can Astrology Be A Substitute For Religion?
By: Cat Neligan
Tags: Ritual, Horoscopes, Religion And Spirituality, Astrology, Religion

I was raised Catholic. That’s my first confession.

I believe in Astrology. That’s my second confession.

Whilst I certainly wouldn’t call myself a Catholic any longer, and I may change my mind about astrology in the future too, I’m writing to argue a case that astrology is an excellent substitute for religion, at least the one that I was born into.

In contemplating this, I’ve found some similarities that astrology and major religions share:

1) They simplify what is complex

Humans are complex, arguably more so than other animal species. We don’t behave in ways that follow logic, we sometimes act against our better interest in unfathomably strange and stupid ways. The bigger our brains grew, the more complex and irrational our behaviours seem to have become.

Trying to manage yourself and others in our tribe in a way that animals do, likely became a bit too much for our ancestors. Instead, through creating something bigger and better than anything else, that everyone could defer to, would have had a lot of advantages.

Having a God or God’s gives us an explanation for this bizarre world. Both the God I grew up knowing (the judgemental father-figure, sitting on a cloud in the sky) and the planetary bodies are equally as effective at serving this purpose. God can tell us how the sky came to be. Mars can tell us where we are most passionate, and how best to harness that energy.

2) They help us understand (and, er, judge) people

People are weird. Like the world we live in, we’re complex creatures and can barely understand ourselves, let alone others. Religion and astrology both simplify matters, giving us a kind of springboard for commonality and some sort of immediate resonance.

For instance, we can decide who to befriend or mate with if we know someone is or isn’t on the side of our God. If my tribe lives by God’s law, and your tribe doesn’t, that gives us something to fight about. If we can convince your tribe to bow down to our creator we can assume we’ll get along much better.

Similarly, if I understand the archetype of Aries, and I know you are one, I can make some quick assumptions about your personality and preferences. Of course there are obvious and serious problems with this level of simple judgement, and I’m not defending it. Religious and astrological practices both can support damaging levels of assumption, but it seems to be an intrinsic aspect of being human: our brains are simplification machines.

3) They give us meaning

In addition, astrology and religion both serve fundamental needs: the need for meaning. This isn’t the same as the need for food and shelter, and I’m not trying to suggest the need for meaning is so biologically-based as those more primal needs. I have an inkling the cat I’m sharing a couch with doesn’t have quite the same need for meaning as you or I do, but we can all agree we need food.

Instead, I prefer to think of this within the framework that Maslow laid out for us: the Hierarchy of Needs. This model places basic needs like food and shelter at the base of a pyramid, and once these needs are met, we’re free to move up until we reach the heady heights of meaning and purpose.

In studying our faith or astrology, we are connecting to something bigger than us, older than us and more powerful than us. It’s the stuff that makes our eyes grow wide, that lifts our hearts and sends chills down the spines of grown men. It’s pretty neat, feeling that level of connection to something that matters to us.

In this way, I can see astrology and religion sitting pretty at the top of this pyramid, on par with each other and equally effective at providing a fulfilment of this higher need.

4) They give us cause for ceremony

A key aspect to major religions as well as smaller, more obscure ones is ceremony, or ritual. In the Catholic faith, observers usually make seven ’sacraments’ or ceremonies throughout various stages of life. Each sacrament has a different purpose: Baptism initiates that person into the Church, Confirmation is intended to confirm and strengthen baptismal grace.

At first glance, I thought I was stumped here. Where does astrology offer an opportunity (or an excuse) for ceremony? Then I realised that I was only stumped because I personally don’t incorporate ceremony into my astrological practice (yet.) That however, does not mean other practicing astrologers don’t. In fact, when researching ‘ceremony in astrology’, I was met with a wide range of means in which people do hold ceremonies in direct tandem with their astrological practice. For some, it’s an integral part of their astrological practice.

If you expand the notion of ritual to include all forms of repeated behavior the purpose of which is to focus the will or consciousness of the practitioner, then astrology contains ritual. It may vary from one astrologer to another, but it is there nonetheless. Just about every astrological practitioner has a procedure for “getting in touch with a chart.”

Astrological Magic uses astrological timing to elect times to hold rituals, and uses ritual to approach, contact, and direct the energies of the signs of the Zodiac and celestial bodies. These ceremonies involve talismans, mirrors, drawing circles, pentagrams and other shapes… everything you might find in a classic book of magic spells.

Other astrologers might check their astrology app daily, and spend some time contemplating the current sky and what that might mean for them and society at large. Others might meet each month around the new Moon, and spend some time in group ceremony to share what their intentions are for the month ahead.

I’m not advocating for ritual for the sake of it; quite the opposite. I believe imbuing day to day life with a greater sense of focussed intention, like one can direct through ritual and ceremony, can greatly benefit my life. Observing the phases of the Moon and intentionally choosing to get quiet and spend some time journalling at each New and Full Moon, is one simple practice that has helped me be more reflective and get great clarity I otherwise might not have.

Plus, it’s kind of fun.

Why astrology beats religion

We’ve looked at the similarities and differences between astrology and major religions; now for why I believe astrology beats religion, hands down:

1) Less rules, less guilt

I inherited a specific type of guilt because of the faith I was born into. Underneath every decision I made, a feeling pervaded of some unseen force watching and judging. One thing I haven’t experienced in the practice of astrology is any form of existential guilt. I don’t have any sense that Mars is judging me for how I treat my neighbour. I don’t think Jupiter gives a monkey’s whether or not I feel envy or lust.

The ‘rules’ of astrology feel far less personal than the practices of major religions. In some ways, astrology could be seen as encouraging the very opposite: we get a ‘go sign’ for salty words because Mercury is making a certain aspect to another planet. Astrology, in this way, could be seen as encouraging a lack of responsibility for our actions. Freeing, yes. For the good of humankind? Debatable.

That said, the belief that our fate is to a greater or lesser extent determined by a larger force, it can help us adopt a more compassionate, forgiving attitude to others. When I learn that someone has a certain ‘difficult’ aspect in their chart, I might drop my judgement that they should just change to suit my needs: I can accept their differences with much greater ease because ‘it’s written in the stars…’

2) Greater Self-Knowledge

Whilst religions tend to be great at helping us judge others, and astrology can do that too… the reason I developed an interest in astrology in the first place (and why most do) is because it tells us about ourselves. Of course, the birth chart, a chart that describes the sky the moment you were born, doesn’t lay your entire personality and soul out in front of you. You need to work for it, learn a lot and interpret it in a way that is meaningful to you.

In this way, astrology for me is deeply personal. It can help us reveal parts of us we were previously trying to hide, both from others and from ourselves. It highlights our strengths that we had overlooked, and gives us clues as to how to work with our own nature. Where religion (at least the one I was born into) will tell you how you ought to be, astrology lets you decide who you choose to be: and it all goes.

Whether or not astrology is ‘real’ or ‘true’, I see a genuine value in these periods of reflection you can have with your birth chart.

3) It’s Adaptable

Let’s say you’re already a follower of a particular religion. Do you have to give up your God to be an astrologer? Heck no. At one point, astrology lived side-by-side with religions of the day.

“Into the seventeenth century, the ancient planet gods remain in the beliefs of most people. They are responsible for good and bad harvests, for war and peace, for sickness and recovery — and that holds also within the Christian churches. Here the heavenly bodies are understood as the instruments of god… Without controversy, popes, kings, and rulers consult astrology in religio-political questions. Jewish and Christian theologians, as well, concern themselves with it in theory and practice; in Germany Phillip Melanchthon, who translates and edits Claudius Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos, stands out among them. One of the most outstanding [Christian] astrologers in England is William Lilly (1602–1682)”

Source

Others in the Christian faith will argue that astrology has no place in their practice, as acknowledging the planets as deities with the power to cause events here on Earth goes against the commandment ‘Thou shalt have no other Gods before me.’

If this troubles someone, you could remember that according to the Bible, God also created the heavenly bodies. In this way, they could be seen as simply servants, playing out his will. In any case, nothing in the practice of astrology asks you to believe one thing and one thing only: practitioners are free to pick their preferred Zodiac, house system, which planets they pay attention to and so on. There’s room for everyone in astrology.

In short, I’m clearly convinced that astrology fulfils some fundamental hole that was left in me after I stopped believing in the particular flavour of God that Catholicism presented me with. Astrology offers me a true sense of connection to a larger whole, a meaningful route to incorporate ritual into my daily life in the way that I choose, and a link to a worldwide community of excellent fellow astrologers and astrology enthusiasts.

Am I recommending that everyone leave their faiths in favour of the study of the sky? Not at all. I would like to see people looking beyond their star sign column in the newspaper, and considering dipping their toes into what astrology can really offer. I’m pretty sure no one ever blew up a building or started a war because of a difference in house systems (though many astrologers have likely come close…) Astrology seems a much safer, wholesome system to look to in times of spiritual crisis… or just a rainy Tuesday afternoon.

Listen to the Seeker and the Skeptic argue over astrology here >>