Why is astrology a negative thing for some people?

Why is astrology a negative thing for some people? A question I answered on Quora

Well it has to be said that even gardening is “a negative thing for some people” so why should astrology be any different?

I think when you cut through the noise of different opinions and beliefs about astrology – mostly uninformed or ill-informed – what gets people really hot under the collar about astrology is the idea that astrology (supposedly) compromises our freedoms.

I’m talking about freedom to make our own choices, to have freewill and not be told this or that will happen to us.*

Astrology, or more appropriately, the planets are said to influence our lives in ways that we have no control over. This is what all astrologers are supposed to believe according to sceptics. Astrology is supposed to be all about prediction and to them it stands or falls on this basis.

Not how astrologers see it

This is not how Western natal astrology is perceived to work by modern astrologers.

If we go back far enough, into the old astrology, it was the case that the seven planets were believed to influence our lives. We believed in gods back then. The planets were treated as gods and named after gods. And with gods came power, the power to decide upon a person’s fate – which would be mirrored in their astrological makeup.

It should go without saying that in those days astrologers were important figures and worked only for people in power.

Today, within modern Western astrology, how it works is seen as holistic and acausal. There is a correlation between what is above with what is below. In other words the planets, in their cycles, are symbolical markers. They don’t influence or cause a blessed thing – they don’t have to for astrology to work. I argue the glue that holds it together is Time. What the birth-chart represents is energy and resonance.

Like it or not, whatever freedoms we hold dear to us, we all live in time and we need to learn to work with time. Astrology helps us to do that, actually to become more rounded, emancipated and awake human beings.

I hope this helps answer your question.
If interested to learn more, take a look at Discover Proper Astrology by me in Kindle books or get the PDF version here.

* Okay some people might like being told. It seems a lot of people who follow their “stars” do like it that way. I’m not one of them I hasten to add, nor would I recommend anyone to get caught up such a shallow misrepresentation of the subject.

Associated links:

How do you know if astrology is fake?
Can anyone read astrology natal charts?
What are some reasons to believe in astrology?