Ask an Astrologer: What is this pseudo-science called ‘astrology’?

Last year I came clean to a friend, admitting that I had hung my shingle out and was — dare I say it? — practicing astrology.

“Oh,” she responded, perhaps not quite sure what to make of this confession. After all, we had met in a conservative corporate environment where we collaborated on projects firmly rooted on earth rather than in the mysterious realm of the stars.

“So, you tell people about their personalities?” she continued.

“Well, sure, I can delineate some personality traits, but that’s not really what astrology is,” I explained.

As I found myself delivering a lengthy monologue concerning astrology’s archetypal and predictive potentials, the trouble soon became seeing the forest for the trees.

An uncomfortable silence descended over our pastries where, in a moment of evangelizing zeal, I offered to peek at her natal chart if furnished an accurate birth date, time and location — one that I’m still waiting on.

This got me thinking, what is astrology? And how do you describe it to astro-agnostics. I distinguish this category of individual from the astro-skeptics or the astro-critics — those who have decidedly made their minds up about astrology.

The skeptics and the critics are those who, to varying degrees, seek platforms to attack what they view as astrology’s less-than empirical basis. Astro-agnostics, on the other hand, aren’t really…