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bloodyrosemccoyTrying to find a book on the history of astrology and its influences on the world, which isn’t hard to find. The tricky part is finding an author who doesn’t feel the need to constantly insist that astrology is TRUE DAMMIT. Bit surprising, really—I’d have expected it to be impartial, but the last author waxed strongly poetic about how empty astronomy is without astrology, and how astrology gives lives meaning and connects us to the greater universe in a tangible way, and other such bullshit.
Thing is, as an anthropology nerd, I find astrology fascinating. Not for its objective truth; one can be interested in urban legends, or religions, or fairy tales, without thinking they’re actual truths. No, I like to see what a complex mythology like that says about the people who made it up, and how a human-generated system influences how humans actually behave. It doesn’t matter if the position of Jupiter actually affects a person’s life*; what matters is that the person behaves as if it does.
I kinda wish I could find a book that sees the difference.
And yes, this is more research for writing. I’m trying to add some more mythology into the OGYAFE culture, and they just can’t get enough of their stars. If nothing else, it gives me some good place names to work with.
*It says you should spend the rest of the week face-down in the mud.
Thing is, as an anthropology nerd, I find astrology fascinating. Not for its objective truth; one can be interested in urban legends, or religions, or fairy tales, without thinking they’re actual truths. No, I like to see what a complex mythology like that says about the people who made it up, and how a human-generated system influences how humans actually behave. It doesn’t matter if the position of Jupiter actually affects a person’s life*; what matters is that the person behaves as if it does.
I kinda wish I could find a book that sees the difference.
And yes, this is more research for writing. I’m trying to add some more mythology into the OGYAFE culture, and they just can’t get enough of their stars. If nothing else, it gives me some good place names to work with.
*It says you should spend the rest of the week face-down in the mud.
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Date: 2011-10-24 05:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-24 06:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-24 07:45 pm (UTC)But it's cool that our oceans came from space, and that we can tell what part of space they came from by science.
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Date: 2011-10-24 07:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-24 07:58 pm (UTC)Actually, one thing I like about being a scientist is reading papers. And understanding them.
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Date: 2011-10-24 06:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-24 06:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-24 06:06 pm (UTC)http://www.billyandcharlie.com/planets/
Eade, J. C. The Forgotten Sky: A Guide to Astrology in English Literature. Oxford [Oxfordshire]: Clarendon Press; New York: Oxford University Press, 1984.
North, John David. Chaucer's Universe. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988.
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.asp
http://omacl.org/
http://www.the-orb.net/
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Date: 2011-10-24 06:25 pm (UTC)I'm also looking for non-Western astrology--Eastern, Aztec, Native American, African, stuff like that.
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Date: 2011-10-24 08:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-25 03:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-10-24 09:04 pm (UTC)