[annie123 (OP)]

R i c h a r d  T a r n a s - Cosmos and Psyche:
Has any professional cosmologist/astronomer read this (his case for astrology) and would give a review? I heard RT interviewed, and given the quality of his other main book- the Passion of the Western Mind  which i read a long time ago and admire, I thought I would at least read this one before dismissing its premise although I don't believe in astrology as we usually hear about it.  I have read 200 pages and my views haven't changed yet, but i wondered if I am being too resistant and whether what he is saying strikes a chord with anyone 'in the field' out there? Seems to me there's a lot of data mining and some statements that he doesn't give any evidence for ... but ...?

[SteveFish]

Astrology is not credible at all. Various studies have been done on astrologers and they differ all over the place on their predictions, and they are rarely correct unless the prediction is so broad that it would fit anybody. More important from a scientific point of view, there is no known way that distant stars and planets can have any effect on humans at birth. Don't bother. Steve

[CliffordK]

I don't know if you would lump psychics and astrologers together.

I had a Psychology Instructor and friend who was also a Magician.

His premise was that if you could replicate what a psychic did with "magic", then he wasn't a psychic at all.  And, as far as I know there wasn't anything that a psychic or a astrologer put forth that a good magician couldn't replicate...  or otherwise explain.

I assume with the newspaper astrology column, you'd be perfectly happy if all the predictions were shuffled.  And, if you read them, you wouldn't know if they were in fact shuffled.

[RD]

More important from a scientific point of view, there is no known way that distant stars and planets can have any effect on humans at birth.

Earth's position in relation to the closest star (the sun) can have an effect, i.e.  seasonal factors which can affect a pregnant mother, (nutrition, exposure to seasonal disease, sunlight exposure), can permanently affect her child, e.g ... http://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=36057.msg335790#msg335790

[SteveFish]

RD, what you say is technically correct, but I assume you know that this has nothing to do with astrology. The other fun thing about astrology is that the 12 sign zodiac was developed around 450 BC and the equinox has precessed about 30 degrees in the last 2,000 years, so the signs are off. I recommend The Skeptics Dictionary for this kind of information and here is the link to the page on astrology.
http://skepdic.com/astrology.html

[Geezer]

I wonder if Richard Tarnas even has a degree in cosmetology?

[CliffordK]

What exactly has changed?

Certainly we've had the procession of equinoxes...  so since about 450BC, we've passed from the Age of Aries to the Age of Pisces, and now into the Age of Aquarius.  However, that may be somewhat different from the zodiac signs attributed to the birth month.

If we label the Zodiac signs with seasons, then one has Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall babies...  And, I could understand potential developmental differences with the seasons involved with both gestation as well as early childhood.

This would mean that Northern and Southern babies should have their zodiac signs flipped, and the equatorial ones might be different still.

There are many things that will affect a child's growth & development including being first-born, last-born, and being "middle children", as well as nutrition of the child and the mother.

I am certainly somewhat skeptical of an overbearing influence of what seems to be very arbitrary Zodiac signs.

[Don_1]

This man may well be a credible astrologer, if it is possible to have credibility within something which has no credibility itself.

Please try to understand, astrology is not in any way, shape or form, a science.

[annie123 (OP)]

I am very aware that astrology is not a science, but cosmology is -and this book is written by a guy who is the head of a cosmology institute which he founded. He does have a Harvard PhD although  not in science. Also,In 2006, Tarnas'  book was awarded the Book of the Year Prize by the Scientific and Medical Network in the UK.[)" Since this group of scientists recognises the book as scientific, even though it branches out into what is loosely labelled and therefore confused with astrology as it is understood via media horoscopes etc. , I thought it was worth a look and just wonderd what people who do cosmology think about it. No one yet who has answered my query has done much more than suggest that I don't know the difference between science and astrology, and don't know what science is per se etc etc.

[RD]

... He does have a Harvard PhD

According to wikipedia ...

He received his Ph.D. from Saybrook Institute in 1976. His thesis was on psychedelic therapy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Tarnas#Biography

Saybrook University, a San Francisco, California based 'distance learning' institution (originally founded in 1971 as the Humanistic Psychology Institute

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saybrook_Institute

[Iluminatis]

There is a 50-50%. Recently I've read an article where was written that 10 scientists tried to prove that this is nothing related to science and that all this thing is a lie. According to  newbielink:https://www.sunsigns.org/ [nonactive] 14 other scientists showed that this is taken from the future and everything happened with a personality in the past in a day, may happen again in next 2-3 years thesame. I would say that this thing is Interesting and at the same time dangerous.

[AustinnEp]

Ghostrider has done some interesting vids, and this is quite scary.
 

His name is well-chosen. The first link looked fake to me - theres nothing fake about the Ghostrider clip.

[syhprum]

Has the orbital rotation time of Jupiter any effect on the sunspot cycle or are the times merely coincidental ?
This is the only way I can see the planets having any influence on mankind.
The time of year when one is born has or used to have an effect on ones chances of survival due to the seasonal availability of food.
   

[Janus]

Has the orbital rotation time of Jupiter any effect on the sunspot cycle or are the times merely coincidental ?

I don't see how it could.  The solar cycle is about 11 yrs, while Jupiter's orbit is 11.8 yrs, or about 12 years to the nearest year. In other words, there is ~ and 8% difference in the length of the the two.
 
Also, what would cause such an influence? the only thing could be gravity, and even then it would have to be tidal forces.
And not just tidal force. for the effect to be tied to Jupiter's orbital period, it would have to be due to variation  the tidal forces as Jupiter goes from perihelion to aphelion.
Mercury is much closer to the Sun, and even though it is much less massive, tidal forces decrease by the cube of the distance.  As a result, Jupiter's average tidal force on the Sun is only ~2.4 times larger than Mercury's.  In addition, Mercury has a much more eccentric orbit and thus the variation of its tidal force compared to the average is much greater.  If you factor all this in, it turns out that the net change in Mercury's tidal force on the Sun during its orbit exceeds that of Jupiter.  And we don't see a 88 day solar cycle.

[Hayseed]

Credible for what?   My mother had an aunt that left the hills, moved to Cleveland, became an astrologer and palm reader.............and became the richest in our families history.

Her work was kept secret from the family til just before she died.  Religious family.

Cracked me up.

[marcus1RM]

Do you really believe that all these horoscopes can help people somehow? Here is a spam.con website I found on the web, which can give you trusted predictions and horoscope news for every zodiac sign. I found awesome predictions for Aquarius sign there, and it helped me a lot in planning the future.