Choose to believe, or not as you wish!
Ooops! It’s Friday, I must eat fish!

The preface is part of the conclusion in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The closing sentence expresses the futility of these discussions.

What’s the last sentence that he says? I don’t get all the words.

Those that want to believe can’t be swayed.

I often tell people that I am the second worst guitar player I know. On the other hand one of the most talented players is Edward (Eddie) Van Halen, who, though famous for his hard rock style is equally adept in playing blues, classical, and jazz styles.

My birthday is January 26. Eddie’s birthday is also January 26. Some astrology fans will mention the difference in years, (Eddie is 4 years older), but the really die hard believers will claim the difference is due to being born in different places ( I was born near Pittsbugh, PA, and Eddie was born somewhere in Denmark.
No matter what obvious flaw in the superstitious belief there is a conveniently contrived “rule” and explanation that attempts to plug that hole and complicating things until it starts to sound like the rules for Royal Fizzbin from the “Startrek” TV series.

The belivers readily accept this complex mythology when a much more obvious conclusion is that, except for tidal strains which cause variations in the earth’s orbit and some associated weather phenoma, the positions of our neighbors in the solar system don’t influence life on earth and certain can’t be proven to determine the future aptitudes and skill sets of a chile at birth.

A) I know a woman who was born on the exact same morning as me (April 28, 1956, we were even born in the same hospital). We are opposites in most ways.

B) James Randi did a clever experiment where he handed custom written astrology charts to every student in a class and asked them to read them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dp2Zqk8vHw After they were done, he asked them whether their charts were accurate. Almost every student raised his/her hand to say yes. Then, Randi asked the students to exchange the charts with a student next to them. There was a lot of laughing because the students realized that they had been tricked. All of the charts were identical, yet every student thought that the chart was specifically (and accurately) about him/her.

For another Randi twist on astrology, check out this entertaining video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDhxcIaC23k

That’s usually enough to cower the astrology believers. I do think, though, that astrology was a much more discussed belief several decades ago. I rarely hear anyone asking me for my “sign” anymore.

It sometimes still happens, though. See http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/02/13/my-session-with-a-tarot-card-reader-in-atlanta/

Particularly the bit at the end.