Oftentimes when I tell people I am interested in the Zodiac I am greeted with a great deal of skepticism and disbelief. In particular, this past week I had two male friends tell me that I place too much value on "following the stars" instead of taking people at face value. It is true that I do tend to analyze people based on their sign. I try not to be too judgemental since someone's sun sign does not encompass the entirety of that person, but at times I will admit I can be somewhat judgy or even preachy of other people based on their signs.
For me an interest in Astrology is rather a new thing. I remember growing up reading magazines like Seventeen or Cosmo and peeking through the Astrology section in the back just for a quick laugh. In Psychology class when our teacher brought up Astrology as a faux science that many people were mistakenly guided by, I whole heartedly agreed. So what changed?
I am still a very practical person and always will be. However when I began to embrace my spirituality and religion, I realized that the "junk science" of Astrology actually has a very real place in Judaism. It is mentioned several times in Torah (both the oral and written version) and plays a huge role in Kabbalah, the sacred mystical teachings of Judaism.
Needless to say our forefathers did not think Astrology was a junk science. Rabbis like the Rambam, Vilna of Gaon, the Rashba, the Ravid, and many others not only believed in the power and truth of Astrology but they actually wrote about it and spread their knowledge of it to their students to be passed on generationally. It is my opinion that Judaism and Astrology are not two divergent ways of thinking, I believe the two can be reconciled and complement each other in many ways. Historically speaking the Jews have studied the stars and practiced astrology since the time of Abraham and even Adam has been linked to it.
I am not sure where or when the shift in Judaism occured that made Astrology into something that was against Torah. I am sad that most of the resistance from Astrology comes from those who base their entire lives around following a set of religious rules and principles that can't be proven scientifically. Its always been interesting to me that the more religious someone is the more likely they are to reject the teachings of the Zodiac. They usually view it as a sham or as new-age mysticism. Yet the same people who don't believe in the Zodiac, govern their entire lives on the literal interpretation of a book that is thousands of years old. A book that outlines how they worship, eat, treat others, even how they can have sex. A book that actually mentions Astrology and the importance of it, both negative and positive aspects.
To be fair the Torah does speak out against the practice of Astrology in terms of reading the future. This is because as Jews our futures are not controlled by the stars. We are in essence free to choose our paths in life. Meaning that just because I was born on a certain date does not mean I will reach wealth, love or anything else, as Jews we make our own destiny. How do we do this? By bringing ourselves closer to g-d we are able to control our fate and destiny. How do we do this? Well by following the torah and completing mitzvot. By doing good things not only will we become better people inside but we will be rewarded in our next lives.
So what about those Jewish people that are awful and horrible? Judaism contends that those who are doing teshuvah or repenting stand very high in g-ds favor. So even if you have spent your life doing awful and horrible things if you come to g-d and do teshuvah you can change your fate.It is like my favorite lecturer Lori Palatnik said, the Jewish year is not a circle rather it is a spiral. Meaning that sometimes we go up but other times we go down. The point is to keep trying to go up and reach your true potential. By doing this you will be closer to g-d and in essence you yourself will be a more g-dly, spiritual, and better human being.
When g-d gave us the torah we made a pact with him, that we would be different then any other nation. This means that our destinies are not guided by the stars like other nations but rather that we are guided by g-d only whose influence far outwieghs the heavenly bodies.
So how does the Zodiac fit in to all of this? Well to me the Zodiac tells me about the needs, desires, likes and dislikes of people. It paints a quick sketch of them in your mind so that you are prepared and alter your reaction to them. Now this may seem as an unfair statement. Afterall it is not fair to judge others and as I was reminded this week what can result is a confirmation bias. Meaning that if you're looking for something you will find it in some form, thus confirming your suspicions. To this I counter that I take into account the person first before I am even aware of their Zodiac sign. Afterall I am not going up to random people on the street and asking their birthdays it is only with people that I know well who I ask. Even then I excercise caution as to prevent judging someone too harshly for something they can not control or for something that may not play a huge role in their life. As I mentioned in my first entry Astrology is fairly new to me and I am still learning about it all the time. I also realize that there is much more to Astrology then sun signs and there is much more to a person then their Astrological sign. However, there is a lot more to Astrology then a casual observer would see and the more I learn about it from reading books on Kabbalah or listening to various lecturers the more fascinated I become with it.
I think that for many the study of the Zodiac can be a scary thing. Afterall if g-d gave us free will, then why or how can the planets or spiritual bodies affect us? Right now I am still learning about it but with this entry I have tried to share what I have learned thus far. More on this later.....and hopefully a new blog on Sagitarius.
Happy Chanukkah!!
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