How do you know if astrology is fake?

How do you know if astrology is fake? A question I answered on Quora

You need to define your question

Given that most of us have little or no knowledge of proper astrology, this question is a bit meaningless without further clarification.

In the same way as the question, “How do you know if god exists?” requires one to first define what you mean by the term “god” and/or the assumptions being made about god; so it is with astrology.

In other words you need to define what you mean by “astrology” in this instance.

Is it Western astrology, Vedic astrology or Chinese astrology your question addresses? Is it what passes for astrology that is found in magazines and newspapers? Or is it astrology that astrologers know about, that attend courses and conferences to learn about?

One answer

I will say that proper astrology has been around for thousands of years, while pop astrology, found on some websites and in the papers, has been around since the 1930s. If the former was fake its position would have been exposed by now.

What is fake is the pretence that the latter can call itself astrology. What is fake is the assumption that armchair sceptics and critics of astrology can get away with passing crass judgement on it without having to know an iota about the real stuff.

Associated links:

What are some reasons to believe in astrology?
Christianity and Astrology
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