Samples of Astrologer’s Ignorance
- During my visit to USA in November 1993, I as a sportslover asked the Vedic astrologers whether they had the horoscope of the famous woman tennis player, Monica Seles, who had been stabbed in Germany in a tournament.
“Who is Monica Seles?” most of them asked me.
In USA emphasis is laid on counselling, not predictions which appeared strange to me because an astrologer who cannot predict can never be a good counsellor. An astrologer should be able to see what is going to happen in future and against the background of that knowledge only his counselling can have substance and utility. At least the client comes to the astrologer with that expectation. I was made to listen to some cassettes of the so-called readings given by America’s Vedic astrologers. It was not astrology of Hindus at all. It is a mixture of psychology predominantly with some jargon of Hindu astrology in it.
- During my second visit to USA in June 1994 I asked them what was happening to President Clinton’s Health Bill since during my earlier visit, while giving world predictions, I had hinted at difficulties for him. No astrologer could help me. Later a doctor told me what was happening. How can such astrologers do mundane astrology?
The astrologer must become more and more aware of the sociology of times and contemporary history to be able to do astrology well otherwise he will utter only platitudes of psychology, with which he can escape for sometime and with some people only. In short, the astrologer must be better informed and, endeavour not to fall in the category of modern neo-illiterates.
- I face similar difficulty when questions about marriage and relationships are asked because I am not married. Relationships or dating as in the .west was my big area of ignorance till some American women explained it to me.
Since eighty percent questions people in the west ask are about relationships, rarely marriage, which seems to have become a less popular social institution there, I felt that the question must be viewed under three heads.
First, the astrologers must know the traditions of the society concerned.
Second, the attitudes towards marriage and relationships must be known to the astrologer.
Thirdly, there must be some knowledge of the stability of such institutions, be it marriage or relationships.
Finally, one must know the societal changes taking place.
