Welcome to Tiger's Play Astrology

To kick off my Astrology blog, I would like to first address the most fundamental challenge Astrology faces in the age of Scientism, namely skepticism.  "Astrology?  Do you really believe in that?  You think the planets have something to do with someone’s personality?  Come on…how naive can you be?" 

To be honest, people should be skeptical of Astrology, especially given the way it has been portrayed in the west as a “pseudo-science” and as a form of fortunetelling.  First, Chinese Astrology is not a science by Western definitions, and it is not a pseudo-science.  Chinese Astrology is, by its own definition, a “Mantic Art,” a form of “Divination,” and I will define these terms in the following blogs.  

As long as we compare Chinese Astrology with Western Science from the perspective of “Scientism,” the modern religion which seeks to “prove” through statistical research data, we will always be at a loss; we will be speaking about two different subjects.  Chinese Astrology and Western Science begin with different fundamental assumptions about the universe and about human beings, and so to begin we must, as my astrology teacher used to say, start with start.  In other words, we must define the “view” of Chinese Astrology, its point of departure, and answer the questions—what is the universe? And, what is a human being?  Any discussion of Astrology or science must begin with these questions, and in answering them, the question of skepticism will actually be answered on its own.  How?  This is what I intend to answer in the following blogs, for if you understand the view of Chinese Astrology, then you will understand that is not something to “believe” in.  Believing in Chinese Astrology is akin to saying, “I believe that tomorrow the sun will rise, or that tomorrow I will continue to have skin.”  

My intention as an Astrologer is not to defend Astrology or make it match science, nor is it to apologize because they never will.  Rather my goal is to start over with the subject.  In the blog posts that follow, I will introduce many topics that are fundamental to understanding the view teachings of Chinese Astrology and Astrology in general.  In doing this, I hope to show you how Astrology can be followed as a “wisdom path,” as a way of life.

So, if you are skeptical of Astrology, I ask you to consider the following questions, which I will address in the weeks and months to come.

First—what is Time?  Is there any significance to Time or to sequence?  What is Space?  Where are we?  When are we?  Is time linear, marching toward an ultimate end?  Or is it cyclical and rhythmic?  Are there any observable rhythms in nature?  Is there any significance to these rhythms, such as the seasons?  Do these rhythms form observable patterns?

​These basic questions must precede any discussion of Astrology, which is fundamentally a study of time and space, what we call “macrocosm.”

Second—what is a human being?  Is it important to be a human being?  What is our basic nature?  Are human beings significant?  How does a human being relate to its environment?  How does a human being relate to other beings, human or otherwise?  Where do we come from?  Do we evolve, meaning are human beings linear?  Or do we adapt for better or worse, meaning are we cyclical?  Does human life involve rhythms?  How about patterns?  Where does our behavior come from?  Are we born as tabula rasa, as a “clean slate?”  What is a human body?  Does the human body have rhythms?  How does time affect human beings? 

These kinds of questions must also precede the discussion of Astrology, which is secondarily a study of how time and space affect human beings and how human beings relate to others and to their environment, what we call “microcosm.” 

Once you have considered these questions, you are ready to enter into a discussion about Astrology.  These and similar questions are meant to draw out your conscious and unconscious views about life, for if you begin any conversation without examining your unconscious assumptions you will most likely be talking to yourself, engaging with your own foregone conclusions.  A famous saying goes, “the mind is like a parachute; it works much better when it is open.”