Horoscopes: Written in the Stars?

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to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, There's Charles W. Chuck Ryant, and Jerry's over here and we're just relaxing here in Studio one A. So this is stuff you should know. Oh, I thought it was astro chat. Yeah, that's what we would call has a great name or horoscope or podcast? I say horror scope. No, you shouldn't say that. No, would you ever want to do a horoscope or astrology podcast? Oh do you mean on its own? Yeah? No, I

would not see that. Well, we were talking about this briefly until I didn't do it this time, But normally, whenever this is a secret Chuck though about to share with everybody. Yeah, if we start to talk and get too involved in the topic before we start recording, usually one of us will be like, stop, stop, this is golden to save it for the podcast. We didn't do that this time. I think we just kind of naturally

just continue conversations. But um, you were saying that you are, and I don't know if you're ready to admit this or not this early in the episode. You're a little incredulous about horoscopes and astrology. Yes, okay, um, I am as well. But I think the difference between us is you're just kind of like, come on. And as I was researching it more and more, I was like, this

is really interesting. I could say here and read about this like all day, and now that it's been brought up, I'm like, I could probably do a skeptical but not with the aim to like destroy it, but just from

a skeptic standpoint podcast on astrology. I think that that would fascinate me personally, and like day maybe, so yeah, I think we we got on that because I was having a hard time wrapping my head around a couple of i'm not gonna say scientific parts but a couple of the science sciency parts of this, and I kept going back to like, who cares, It's not real, So it's hard for me to commit to the learning of it. And and we typically have a thing where it's like,

you know, poo poo people's beliefs. Yeah, we're not really doing that here, but there have been a couple of occasions where we just kind of like, this is there's just no way. One of them was crop circles. Yeah, um, I'm I don't plan on poop pooing this throughout. But I think it's good for us to state our beliefs from the get go, all right, so that we don't mislead anybody who's who does believe in it. Well, here's I did. I had my astrological chart done once. Um

you did. Yeah, I didn't like seek it out and pay for it. My friend's mom is really into this, and she asked me one time, She's like, do you want me to do your chart? And I'm sure? So she did my chart and I remember looking at it and thinking like, wow, a lot of this, you know. It kind of like when you look at your son sign and we'll go ahead and say that's what most like, like when somebody says what sign are you? Yeah, or if you read your daily horoscope, it's it's based on

your sun sign. Um. I would look at things like that, or like my whatever my year is on the Chinese zodiac, can think like, oh wow, I am some of these things. But then I'm like, not about half of those things. So uh, I just think it's interesting. And I think it's interesting as well, but again from a standpoint of where I don't actually believe it's effective or real. But just the thought put into it. And Ed wrote this article the Grabster, and he makes a really good point.

He saying like, even if you don't believe it or not getting your your chart done is interesting in and of itself. I think so sure, And at the very least, it's going to force you to be a little more introspective about yourself than than you normally would be, because you're being presented with basically like here's your personality according to the Cosmos, and it's you can't help but think, what, like, am I introspective? Am I do I set things on fire?

I think anything that can spur self reflection is valuable in some ways. Yes, I think that's where interested. Like I would go to a palm reader just to know what that's like. But I wouldn't leave thinking like, oh boy, my life is set out for me. Yeah, exactly. You know Nancy Reagan, Well we'll get to that, so but spoiler, I am not Nancy Reagan. We we should probably say for those of you who are confused, they're like, how are they pooh pooing this? Like this is the science

of of Niel's deGrasse Tyson and Carl Sagan. I don't understand. We're talking about astrology, not astronomy. Um. So astrology is basically the idea UM that distant objects out on the cosmos, planets, stars, constellations specifically have an influence on our lives and events on the planet. And it's very old. Um. I saw it as far back as five thousand years ago. People

were starting to develop astrological systems. UM. I saw more frequently three thousand years ago with the Babylonians, that Western astrology kind of started to develop. Should we talk about history a little bit? I think I finally figured out my beef with it. Should I hold on to that or should we talk about history first? That's up to you, man, how do you want it to play out? I just don't forget if you hang onto it. All right, I'm gonna write beef at the top of my page. It's

gonna you're gonna carrying yourself to shoot a duck later on. Okay, So it's like memento. I'll come back to that. So his street. Um, we need to go back in the way back machine, the way way back to ancient times, to Babylon. Yeah, when basically people mean we are going back to Babylon, basically when people were like looking around at everything and going on, don't get it. Why is all this stuff happening? Why did the earth just open up and swallow fish mail? Why is it raining? Why

is it not raining? Why are the crops doing well? Are they doing terribly? Yeah? Why why is that sun? Uh? Up half the day and down half the day. Uh So, as humans started to get a little more I don't know about intelligent, but um, inquisitive, inquisitive. I was about to say, answer seeky, but inquisitive is the word for that. As they started to get a little more answer seeky,

they started to make things up. Um that made them feel better about what was going on, right, I mean they they did apply a certain measure of science too, which is where a lot of people who believe in astrology get the idea that it's scientific at some in some way, shape or form, because it does involve the movement, studying and tracking the movement of the planets and the constellations the cosmos. Right, Yeah, And that makes a good point.

Back then, astronomy and astrology were the same thing, right, right, Because you took those observations astronomy and then you you used them to predict or explain the stuff that was going on here on Earth, which we now call astrology, right, but yeah, I don't even know what they called it back then. They called it reality, probably so. But it wasn't just the Babylonians who were doing this, Like all over the planet. Basically every culture that's ever lived had

some sort of astrological system. Yeah, the Aztec and Incas and the mines in South America they had zodiac of twenty symbols, including things like earthquake and ape and rain and um. When they died out they took it with them, like that doesn't have any that didn't seep into modern forms of astrology, like the Babylonians. No Spanish Jesuit was saying, so can you explain your astrological system to an Inca emperor that was being tortured to death? Uh? What else?

The Chinese, of course, they had their own um by a thousand BC, and they had twenty four divisions in a year. Yeah, they had like the most complex one probably of all time. Not surprising. Um, I don't know why that's not surprising. They're complex people. Maybe. Well, when I think of the zodiac, I think of the Western zodiac and then Chinese zodiac. Yeah, me too. And the only thing I knew about Chinese zodiac coming in was what year animal? I was what are you? From the

menu at the Chinese restaurant? That's where I learned it too. Yeah, I'm the dog. Oh, I'm a dragon wolf? Jerry? Are you a cat? She just me out that that was weird. It was her first instant. There is a year the cat? Huh? That al Stewart's song Are you the Year of the fish? Jerry? All right? Jerry's said that she was the ox year of the Ox. But when but when she's called upon to do it? Animals sound? I think it's cute. What

if oxes oxen me out? Maybe an ox that was raised by cats and it imprinted might learn to me out. I think that's what Jerry was saying. This is getting silly. So the horoscope points getting silly. It is is there gas looking in? Uh? One of our events that I don't know about? Um? All right, So back to China. UM twenty four divisions twenty eight part lunar zodiac and then the twelve branches that correspond to the animal, and

then those animals have further subdivisions. Uh, like you could be a fire dog or a water dragon, right, which we'll get to that stuff in a minute too. Yeah. And I didn't know that you could be like an elemental animal. I thought it was just straight up animal. I did not know that either. Yeah. Like, that's one thing about astrology. No matter what system you're looking at, there's like, oh, there's this one layer and then let's add this other layer and another layer in another layer.

That's so fascinates me. It's just the thought that's going into it. What about Babylon though, what do you mean? Well, I mean, ohh that's like the origin of the Western Yeah, and here is where it becomes painfully obvious that astrology can't possibly be correct or real. You know what you're about to say. So our idea of the constellations here in the West came from the ancient Babylonian people and astronomers and astrologers who looked up and they said, oh,

Mars is red, so blog can be read. So Mars is probably associated with war. Right. They just kind of just made that up. They made it up, and that is fundamentally the basis of astrology. Stuff that was made up by the Babylonians can't possibly be true. It's just basically a fact. The other big thing is the Babylonians divided the zodiac into twelve equal parts. But um, according to their own stories, there were thirteen constellations in the zodiac, so they just picked one and left it out. Yes,

which was choose? I like how you said that? I don't know, man, I've never tried to say that out loud. O P h I U C h U S. It's like the hidden zodiac symbol, well, not hidden. They just kind of said, twelve kind of works out better, so let's just leave it out. Yeah. And if the Babylonians prove anything, it's that for thousands of years humans have all has preferred things to be nice and tidy and neat. They don't like it to be messy because if you really look at what they were trying to do, it's

super messy. So, for example, if you are dividing the night sky into twelve, trying to assign a month to each horoscope, you've got constellations slopping over into other um zodiac signs. UM. The the actual movement of the constellations behind the sun UH is way less than a thirty day standard. I think Scorpio is actually in line with the sun for about seven days out of the year, whereas um, one of one of the other ones is

around for like forty five days. I believe. I don't think we even said what that means, though, maybe we're we should we should start from the beginning, should we? We got the history down? Do you want to take a break first? Uh? Yeah, why not. I'll go to check my horsecope and see if it says we should continue. Okay, Well, lucky for us, the horoscope said finished show. It said ask again. Later it said finished show. Take it easy on me, Yeah, he layoff jerks. I had even resolved

to not poo poo astrology. I think the first thing I did was launched into it. Yeah, I'm sorry, astrology. So we should get to the basics of all this, and um, we will this. There's two things that we have to point out. One, we would have to spend years researching astrology to really get everything right. Too, even if we spent years researching astrology, we would still get stuff wrong depending on who you are, because there's a of contradictory things like, for example, I saw that the

moon is a fire sign. Also saw that the moon is associated with water. How is that? Well, I think there's just been so many permutations over the years that it's you know, been kind of mixed together. Okay, so we are going to get things that will contradict your

understanding of astrology, I'm quite sure. But for the most part, I feel like if we're sticking to the basics of it, we can get it fairly right, right, Yeah, I mean the most basic thing is sun sign astrology, which is really just seeing where each planet was when you were born the day you were born. That's the most simplistic way to look at it, right, And when you ask somebody what's your sign? What's your sign? See, okay, I'm cancer.

All that's say is that on the date of our births, the Pisces constellation allegedly was behind the sun as it rose, right, and when I was born, the Cancer constellation was behind the sun when it rose, and the I like to take the sunshine a little brighter when we were born. But probably I can't prove that, no, but you can just make a pretty good assumption. So, um, the way that you do this is you basically take the Sun and the Earth in its orbit around the Sun, which

equals a year. And you draw a line, an arrow even from the Earth and may put it flat, like it flat? I forgot to say that. Uh, And you make it. You draw an arrow from the Earth through the Sun and then out the other side of the Sun. And wherever that arrow is pointing, which is actually what the opposite side of the Sun, opposite to Earth, whatever

constellation that is, that's your sun. Right, Pretty simple stuff. Right, So you can think of the if if you've thought of a circle around each if you looked at it as a circle, each sign would be its own little zone zone exactly. A pizza slice, a pie slice, whatever. If you have a sweet tooth or a salty tooth, you're gonna go with either one of those. What about cake? I guess a cake too. Are you cake or pie both? Mm hmm. What's your favorite cake? I like a good

coconut cream cake or coconut frosting cake. I like, um, it's your favorite pie? Probably cream pie? No, actually that sounds gross. I would say a key a good key lime pie. But what does cheesecake constitute pie? I think you've just opened up a Hornet's nest. Well, I love cheesecake. Basically, I don't really discriminate. I've learned. I recently started trying cherry pie, and I was like, where have you been

my whole life? Why did I ever discriminate against you know, it's just been sitting there in the pie safe, rotting because no one eats cherry pie anymore. Yeah, and then I came along and ate all the rotten cherry pie and loved it all right, what about you cake pie? Oh? I love the good key lime pies like you were saying. But um, I don't eat a lot of either. You know, I don't just keep like cake and pie around the house. And I don't really eat dessert in the restaurants either.

Um so just neither. Probably more cake, just because cakes are the occasion dessert, like people bringing cake for birthdays or whatever. Any any like Public's cake is awesome, their standard cake with cream icing. Yeah, yeah, I never had it. Oh, chuck, I slice. I like a good pecan pie. I eat. I eat the pecan now, But I used to not like the nuts. I would just slice that off because I like the jelly. You'd give rid of the candy pecans yeah, but I don't now because now I'm growing up. Okay,

I just eat the jelly man pecan pie, pumpkin pie. Sure, all right, I'm going all in on pie now that I think about it. Okay, pie, wait till you try the public's cake. Then where are we? Oh? Sorry? We were talking about how slices, right, and each of one of those slices one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. Right. Okay, So wherever wherever the Earth, whatever constellation is opposite the Earth on the other side of the sign, that's your

sun sign. And when you were born, that constellation has a bunch of different personality traits and they are basically imbued onto you. You were born under that sign, which means you're going to have those personality traits. That's the

point of what's called the sun sign. That's right. Um. In western astrology there you can subdivide it into three groups mundane astrology, and this is basically what what is your aim uh with these Mundane astrology is examines world events and makes predictions about big things like the economy and war. Uh. Interrogatory astrology. It seeks to make predictions very specific ones or analyzes for for like events or

your life, maybe like for you the individual. Yeah, more like you say, it's like when you when somebody says they'll consult the stars to see what the best course of action is. That's what they're talking about, which seems like it overlaps with uh the last one. I think all three of them could definite. Like, if you're doing like a serious chart to figure out something you you would probably do all three. So what would that be? Natal astrology? Uh? Birth astrology? Yeah, and that's when you

read your daily horoscope. Uh. And that's based on the idea that everything that happens to someone is expressed by the very beginning, like that moment you were born, right, But ironically the moment you're born, not the moment you were conceived. So really that's when the astrology starts, not the moment you were conceived, but the moment you were born. Right.

But the idea, this law of beginning says that the moment you're born, the stars basically make everything in your life predestined and therefore predictable if the person knows how to read the stars correctly. That's the basis of astrology. Yeah, and then what you would come up with these predictions this chart that is your horoscope, that's right, and then uh, there are different um the signs that can be subgrouped into four elements you've heard of, Like I'm a water sign,

your water sign. We're both water signs, how about that? Yeah, so fire sign that would be Aries Leo, Sagittarius uh enthusiasm, action, leadership, open to change. Water signs besides cancer and Pisces who get Scorpio um emotion, sensitivity and compassion. Earth signs Taurus Virgo,

Capricorn practicality and to focus on material goals. And then air signs Jim and I Libra and Aquarius uh Into signifies intellect, and those are the big groupings, the elemental groupings, right, So here we've kind of come up with another layer, right, Yeah, Like since each each sign and on its own has its own qualities like for example, um, the cancer is a very domestic, imaginative, thorough shy, interested in the past and tradition. That's me all over? Is it really all

those things? Yeah? Basically, Um, but the then you lay over the water sign, right that it's a water sign, so that adds to the emotion or the sensitivity or the compassion of it. That the where it really starts to get interesting is the idea that there's a relationship between the element and the sign, and those are with the cardinal fixed or mutable um right, whether or not you're resistant to change, you're able to change, or what's

cardinal just general movement. Cardinal is that it moves right. So so these three things, it's like a whole other layer and and basically um so they had to do with the solsticism that equal an ox is. We should say. There's a couple of kinds of Western astrology. One is sidereal, which follows the movement of the stars, so your birth sign is sidereal astrology. There's another one called tropical that

really just has nothing to do with the stars. It's the idea that around the in the cosmos, the zodiac is fixed and it really has nothing to do with the stars. It has to do with the sun's relative position to the horizon, so it has to do with things like solstices and equinoxes. So when you go into the tropical um type of astrology, that's when the cardinal fixed a mutable comes up. So a cardinal sign right, each element has a cardinal sign, so there's four cardinal signs,

and for example, cancer is the cardinal water sign. Right. Each element also has four fixed signs, so Leo is the fixed fire sign that has to do with like persistence, perseverance, resistance to change. And then lastly, mutable means you're flexible, adaptable, suggestible,

and Gemini is a mutable air sign. There's four different mutable air signs, right, So you put them all together, and what you have is in our interaction between the elements and the signs themselves, so that you have sometimes contradictory stuff, you have things that enhance other things. But it's yet another layer. So now you have three layers deep of interpretations just the signs, and it's up to an astrologer to um ex extract whatever however they want

to read it. Basically like, it makes a point. You can ask a hundred different astrologers to look at your your chart and they might give you a hundred different readings. Yeah, because it's ultimately the astrologers interpretation of the information that's presented by these the signs and whether they're cardinal or fixture, mutable, or what element they are, right, Well, they can also be masculine or feminine, which Ed points out is not

really can't think of in terms of gender. It's more like the concept of yin and yang, which makes a little more sense. But when I look at mine Pisces February twenty to March um mutable water, feminine. Okay, So that's where I am. Emotional, sure, self sacrificing, sometimes, adaptable, sometimes empathetic, almost always religious, not anymore versatile, Yeah, sure,

talkative sometimes you get paid for it. Yeah, and sometimes I'm really quiet though, don't want to talk, you know, but that goes against all astrology often takes on the behaviors of others. I don't know about that. Creative, I hope. Impractical, No, I'm pretty practical, so like but more like half and half maybe would you say half? I feel like you did, or maybe more? Maybe that sounds about right all right, but even still, I mean, that doesn't prove anything, no,

of course not. But it did just get you to think about your self. That's the whole point, right from what I understand. That's how it tells you. So you've got all these different layers to just you're just the sign that you were born under right, But there's even there's even deeper layers to the whole thing, right, that has to do with the movement of the constellations or the movement of the sun. Um. And it also has to do with more than just the sign you were

born under. Like when you sit down and you do an astrological chart, you um, you're you're basically looking at the position of everything that's taken too into account in the cosmos, rather than just where the constellation, what constellations

behind the summer you were born. Well, we're gonna dive even deeper into this stuff after this message break, So Chuck, we're talking about how we've got like the fixed layers, right, and then depending on when you were born, where you're born, there's a lot of stuff to take into account, meaning like literally the minute Yeah, because um, one of the zodiacs, uh, well, the houses when you add this other layer, the houses of the zodiac, which are the same thing as the

zodiac signs, but they're different in this case, they represent the twenty four hour movement of the Earth on its axis. Um. So now you have the added layer of time, yeah, to the to the moment that you were born, um. To to create a genuine like astrology chart. So not only you're taking into account time and your sun sign, but you also want to look around if you're a good astrologer, and say, okay, where was the moon? What

house was the was venus in? And you start to you start to basically go through and find the position of every planet, including the sun in the moon um and all the moon are considered planets as far as astrology goes, right, And then when you put all this stuff together, there's a huge, extremely complex interplay between all these different um components that are all supposed to point to the person that you were born as. Right, this is where I think I should say my beef now,

I think it's a good time for that. My beef is that I couldn't find anywhere. And this is me looking for science where there is none. Is why like the position of the stars and they all affect who you are and uh and and what you're gonna be Like, all right, we'll explain that to me. Does it do that? Oh? Yeah? No, that's what what forces? What scientific forces are behind this

zero that caused this? Like I get what you're saying. People, The stars are aligned and these things are all in a certain place and you're gonna be a certain way, all right, Well, how does it do that? It doesn't. That's where that's my beef. So I mean that's a legitimate beef. Um, there's no how, No, there's not, there's none. I guess I'm not hung up on that fact. I

think I just kind of accepted. And it's almost like coming upon uh and the belief system of another culture and know that, like I don't subscribe to it, but I'm interested in, like what what they believe and how it applies to their life. But that doesn't mean that I believe in it. I'm just I'm just kind of interested in in an academic sense. Yeah, yeah, well you're we're curious people, so I get that. Just get hung up on the fact that it doesn't actually and you'll

you'll be interested in I promise. No. I do think it's interesting. And I used to read my horoscope here and there just for fun, just the same way I look at a fortune cookie. Um, it's just a parlor trick. That to me though, it's not. But I think an astrologer even if they even if they said, fine, you don't believe in it, it's fine. But this is more than a parlor trick, like they're really sitting down and applying this. It takes a tremendous amount of time calculation

um a certain measure of of science. You have to understand astronomy at least because you have to go figure out when someone was born where, what was where? Right? And so when you're sitting down and doing your chart, you were born of Pisces, right, So the Pisces constellation was behind the Sun. But where was Saturn? And why would Saturn matter? Well, Saturn is a melancholy planet. So if Saturn is in a house associated with happiness, um, you might have uh thread of bitter weakness that runs

through your whole life. That might be one interpretation of it. Or you might be happy sometimes and sad sometimes maybe just every person ever sure that I mean, yeah, definitely. And again I'm not explaining how this Porson is saying like this is what an astrologer would would sit down and think, or um, Mars is warlike, Well, if Mars was in UM, I don't know, a house associated with aggressiveness, you might get in a fight your whole life, according

to this astrology chart. So that's just each planet. Right, Let's say that you have Mars in a an aggressive house and you have Saturn in a happy house. How did those interact with each other? How does that getting in fights all the time? Uh, interact with the bitter sweetness that runs through your life. And that's open to interpretation as well. And that's where the astrology I think I was saying astrologist earlier, is that even a word? I think? So, Okay, it doesn't seem it seems like

I've heard that before. Well at anyway, that's where they come into play, yes, with their varying interpretations, but not just the interpretations. They're actually gonna sit down and figure out what was where, what that means according to the astrological tradition, and then the third step is for them to um interpret it for you, you know what I mean. So, I mean there is a tremendous amount of work to it, from what I can tell, for a genuine astrological chart.

Your friend's mom hooked you up when you were yeah, I mean she didn't dash it off in five minutes. I'll tell you that that was math involved and angles and stuff. So the main thing you're getting if you're looking at like a newspaper or if you have if your son up for some sort of internet daily horoscope is it's usually some sort of personality profile, advice on your life. Uh, maybe some sort of um map two for finances you might want to think about, you know,

investing soon. That's where people probably get in trouble. Um. But it's pretty much personal advice stuff, not so much long term future type of thing, not like predicting your future necessarily. Well, they do to the extent of like you'll have a so so day to day. Yeah, yeah, today will be rather unremarkable, yeah, or like a lot

of times it can be. I think it's it's like, you know, today might be a good day to reach out to an old friend, and if you follow that advice, then that's great because your old friend probably would want to hear from you. And then you have lunch with that friend and it goes great, and you might say, we'll see there, my my horoscope said to reach out to an old friend and it went awesome, or if it went really horribly, you'd be like, why are you

punishing these stars? Yeah? Or what if you get killed on the way to the lunch, Like you don't hear those stories. No, but that's the great thing about astrology. It removes personal responsibility from your decisions. That's funny. And I should say also, I wanna, I want to like there are even more layers to the whole thing than what I what I said. I I hope we kind of got the point across that there's layer upon layer

upon layer, and they all interact with one another. But I mean, like in a good astrologer will take into account like whether planet was in retrograde and what that means when you were born, you know, um, or if it's in retrograde right now. Um, there's just so much to it. I think that's what fascinates me. Well, it makes a good point. Uh, if this is a true science, then it should have it should pass the muster of the of repeatable testing, which of course it doesn't know.

Um no, it really really doesn't. But some other people might say, you know what this is, it's beyond science. This is you shouldn't try and quantify in terms of science. This is something that you can't you can't even understand it, right, your beauny s cannot explain this, this outside that realm to something that we don't know and understand. And hey, I'm a science guy, but I'm not foolish enough to think there isn't anything out there that I maybe I

don't know about or we can't prove. It's very healthy. You know, my hat is off to you. You're forty in and you don't even know it. Seriously, that's like, to me, that's the the pinnacle of what a thinking person can aspire to. Well, I think that's when you stop looking, when you think that we you know, we've got it all figured out, you know, especially when you aggressively attack other people who say otherwise. That's if this

conversation is floating your boat. Go list In the Enlightenment episode, that was good. That was a good one. I had a lot to do with that. They have done studies though, on the viability of astrology as far as you know, are are you could do divorce rates UM? Are they compatible or do they comply with um or correlate with

the compatibility of two people? Astrologically speaking, they don't. Yes, you know, they're supposedly interaction amongst the signs where like you know, uh, virgos don't get along with um, Capricorns or something like that. Yeah, and that doesn't hold up through scientific study, and if you cherry pick examples in your life, of course you might think it does. Well. Yeah, that's why a lot of people are like, astrology is right.

It's a selection bias, is what you're encountering. You're ignoring the stuff that disproves it or that suggests that it's not true, and instead just focusing on the amazing facts where it lines up right. Right, that's a selection bias, right, I think, so I need to know more about all the different biases. It's interesting we should say another thing that kind of suggests that astrology is not accurate. The zodiac signs are no longer where they're supposed to be.

If you're going by your birth date. For example, I was born into life. If so, I would be a cancer. If you actually follow the constellations, I'm I'm a Gemini. Never knew that. So. Geminis are um concerned with information, highly literate, curious, adaptable, absent minded, love to travel. I am a Gemini. So the reason why is because when astrology was first created them the earth, the constellations were

lined up with where they were originally. As the Earth rotates on its access at wobbles, and over the last couple of thousand years, it's wobbled so that those constellations are no longer where they were when they set them three thousand years ago. So today we have totally different um, totally different signs. What would mind be? Can so you were born in the eyes of March, You're still a Pisces man, I'm sorry that I am uh now I

am now a Gemini because it gotta moved. So let's let's go through because I think a lot of people don't know this, and NASA blogged about it a couple of years ago and really caused a stir um. Jerry still a cat ox, Jerry. Jerry's Birthday's April something right, Jerry's birthday is what's your birthday? Your birthday's Valentine's Day. I didn't know that. Jerry just said her birthday. It's February fourteenth, because we have to edit out any Jerry talk. Right, Jerry,

what are you supposed to be? Normally? You are a Capricorn. You are January twenty, February six As far as NASA is concerned, you're a Capricorn. So it starts, and we should say I don't think we said this, but zodiac officially in the West starts with aries and moves on um. So starting with Capricorn because NASA is like, now we're gonna start with the beginning of the year Capricorn January twentieth to February sixte okay, Aquarius is now February sixteenth

to March eleventh. And you'll notice these aren't necessarily thirty day period. Yeah you were, uh Pisces March eleventh to April eighteenth, Aries April eighteenth to May, taurusts May thirteenth of June twenty one. It's a long one, uh Gemini June one to July twenty that's me now, cancer July twenty August. I used to be a cancer Leo August tenth to September six Virgo September sixteenth of October, Libra October November, Scorpio November twenty three to twenty nine. That's

six days. You've got six days to be a Scorpio. It's kind of neat uh oh fucus. Yeah, that long forgotten November twenty nine to December. That crazy. There's people out there don't even know that they're that signed yeah, or how to pronounce it right? No one does. No one alive knows how to pronounce that. Uh. And then Sagittarius December seventeenth to January. Wow, I don't even know

anything anymore. No, no one does, Chuck. I think this is fascinating stuff that I've been thinking a lot lately about what does shape your personality and what you become in life as far as nature and nurture and some people might throw this in there. I think we should totally do a podcast on birth order. Oh yeah, that's the good ones, super fascinating to me. Or whether, um, whether hearing your name or the vibrations caused by saying your own name throughout your life has an effect on

your personality. You heard that one? Yeah, supposedly the vibrations are the frequency made from hearing and saying your own name throughout your life makes your makes your personality a certain one. Weird, Alan, It's probably not true, but it's interesting. Well, we tease Ronald Reagan earlier. Well, we didn't tease Ronald Reagan did, But we can't talk about astrology without talking a little bit about the Reagan administration because uh in nine uh ron and Nancy were uh out, it's sort

of exposed. Yeah, as is having a astrologer on the payroll to the tune of about how much three grand per what reading a month? Three grand a month? It's not bad. No, this lady was working hard, Joan quickly down under. That's her nickname woman. And it was revealed that she uh wrote up star charts uh and basically detailed even down to the minute, supposedly depending on who

you listen to, what Reagan's schedule should look like. Right, so this lady was definitely doing mundane interrogatory and natal astrology combined to create a chart. Yes, for sure. And chief of staff On Reagan wrote in his memoir um, I mean he I mean, this is is not a matter of debate or anything. No, this is for for real.

But Don Regan wrote in his memoirs and he talked about, um, you know, capturing the public's attention like that was a big deal because it looked like what was going on was going on, which was his schedule was kind of being determined by an astrologist. Like you can't talk to Gorby today. This is a bad day to propose the salt treaty. Wait until you know. No, that's when you

talked to Gorby. And then Don Regan would be told by Nancy, Uh he he should be talking to Gorbion because met with Nancy only met ron once, supposedly, um and and Nancy downplayed it a lot, of course, they all tried to distance well. They said it was more of a hobby. And and she definitely had no impact on decisions. It was really just about scheduling, is what they said, scheduling decisions. But she wrote a book, actually, uh, miss Quigley, in was called this is the most on

the nose book title of all time. It was called what does Jones say? Colin my seven years as White House astrologer to Nancy and Ronald Reagan by me, do you get it? Um? And she said, quote, I was responsible for timing all press conferences, most speeches. The State of the Union addresses the takeoffs and landings of Air Force one. I picked the time of Ronald Reagan's debate with Jimmy Carter and the two debates with Mondale, all extended trips abroad as well as shorter trips and one

day excursions. End quote yeah, um, so yes. The leader of the Free World arguably the most powerful American president in recent memory, had his schedule determined by an astrologer. So weird, I got a couple more things, all right, what you got? So? Um, Apparently Americans around the time of Reagan had hit like, basically a low in believing

in astrology. They were They did a poll after that that news came out, and they found that American belief overall in astrology um was a twelve percent, which is down from this is an eight eight, which is down from ten years before, which makes total sense, like coming off of the the hippie age and the goofy seven sign into the very like kind of cynical late eighties. Uh, it aligns perfectly right the star. So somebody forgot to

send Nancy and Ron that memo. So in two thousand and four, another poll found that it had gone back up to no idea why. And then another poll I saw that asked something different rather than do you believe in astrology, asked, um, would you say that astrology is quote not at all scientific? In two thousand four, sixty six percent of Americans said at two was not scientific. So basically they don't believe in astrology. And then in two um percent said that, so apparently belief in astrology

is still on the increase. Interesting, even more interesting, in China of the public says they don't believe in astrology compared to about here. And then lastly, I have one more story ready, and there's actually a blog post you can go recalled the Genius Mural at St. John's. Okay, yeah, it's from years back, but I just came across the story is amazing. There's this place called St. John's Anglican Church.

It's in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia and um. It was built in seventeen fifty four and it was built with a mural on the ceiling of the night sky with gilded stars. And they were remodeling the church and they wanted to redo the mural right recreated exactly as it had been. But they realized they didn't have any dead on photographs of it, so they had to kind of like figure

out what to do. So they hired an astronomer and he started poking around into it and he realized that the mural, which had been constructed in seventeen fifty four, was the exact scene of the night sky over Lunenburg on December one which is in the Christian tradition is the night Christ was born. Somebody in seventeen fifty four accurately calculated what the sky had looked like fifty four years before on December and turned it into a mural.

Isn't that amazing? I love that story. That's astrology and what's the name of that story, The Genius Genius Mural at St. John's. Thanks man, Are you got anything else? Nope? I could talk about this all day. Are you sure I think we did right by it. If you want to know more about astrology, go read Joan Quigley's book. And since I said Joan quickly, it's time for listener, ma'il.

I'm gonna call this Star Wars Action figure and neared, Hey, guys, love the show like to I can say, like all the other fans, is definitely my favorite thing to listen to. My transplant to Texas from Tennessee, and I always get excited when I can make that long drive back home and binge on your interesting material just listen to Action figures and was thrilled to hear you talk about Star Wars action figures. I'm one of those Star Wars guys.

You mentioned that read away too much of the fan fiction and new way too many characters, uh, too many of the character names. I wanted to share a fact I thought was interesting about the Kinner toys and two of the Bounty Hunter characters seen in an Empire Strikes Back. Kinner went originally packaging the characters mislabeled for Loam probably not even pronouncing that right. Uh for the number four dash l O M originally the droid and zook Us z u c k Uss originally the bug looking guy,

and switch their names. How somebody got fired for that? Do you believe it? The name stuck into and you can see on newer packaging of the Hasbro toys that their names have been switched back. I always thought it was interesting and interesting. Mishap. Thanks for all you guys do, and I've learned so much and it's love referencing your show every chance I get. Sincerely, Harrison for Adam West No ps, sadly I'm not him. Wow, I agreat would

that be man? That that nice email Adam that was full of drama, suspense facts and I could do my nerd voice man, which I completely stole from him. I just want to make that clear, claiming it at your own right to homage to Conan yep. Uh well, Adam, thank you. That was a great one. If you want to get in touch with us, like Adam did, you can join us on Facebook, dot com, slash Stuff you Should Know. You can hang out with Chuck too at

Charles W. Chuck Bryant at Facebook. You can hang out with me on Twitter, Josh Underscore, UM Underscore, Clark uh and you can also hang up with us at s y SK podcast. Send us an email to uh stuff Podcast, how stuff Works dot com and has always joined us at Home on the web, Stuff you Should Know dot com For more on this and thousands of other topics, is it how Stuff Works dot com