Understanding of how and why of astrology

As implausible as this may seem, the idea that mainstream science might one day stumble upon a rational explanation for why and how astrology works is not completely over-the-top.

At least some investigators are beginning to look in the right places.

Speaking at a Cycles and Symbols Conference in San Francisco almost 20 years ago, the late Victor Mansfield, an astrophysicist and author who taught in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Colgate University in New York and authored books that boldly attempted to bridge the divide between science and spirituality, offered his thoughts on where answers to this burning question might lie: in the magical realm of quantum mechanics.

Prof. Mansfield was that rare, brilliant, transitional academic who, in addition to cosmology and astronomy, wrote thoughtful books and lectured on such topics as synchronicity, Jungian psychology, Tibetan Buddhism – and astrology. At the Richard Tarnas-organized Cycles and Symbols Conference, Prof. Mansfield pointed out that the typical argument against astrology from the science side begins with the idea that there are four forces in nature: the gravitational, electromagnetic, strong and weak nuclear forces. Only two of them, gravity and electromagnetic, are long-range forces that act over macroscopic distances. The movements of free charges easily shield electric forces, and magnetic forces decrease with distance even more rapidly than gravity. Ergo, the only force of significance that might account for astrological influences is the gravitational force.

The late Carl Sagan, like Mansfield schooled in astronomy and physics, summarily dispatched this notion by arguing that the gravitational forces of the doctor and nurse are much greater than anything from the planets. “It makes more sense to worry about whether you had a nurse in the fifth house or a doctor in Capricorn,” he quipped.