Catholic Church does not accept Astrology

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During thelast nine years I have been exposed, and in fact studied, Astrology, and this has helped me a lot to try to understand my mission in life. I would like to ask why Catholic Church does not accept Astrology, and if it is considered a sin to study it. Thank you very much.

-- Gloria Beauregard (globeau@hotmail.com), October 11, 1999

Answers

Response to Catholic church does not accept Astrology

Every tool of the occult should be left at the feet of Christ. The stars only brought the Magi to Herod, not to Christ. Only after consulting the Scriptures were they lead to Bethlehem. Read Is 47:12-15

Br. Rich S.F.O.

-- Br. Rich S.F.O. (repsfo@prodigy.net), October 11, 1999.


Response to Catholic church does not accept Astrology

Somewhere in my " mental library " I read there have three major book burning in the history of man. China/the near East and western culture in which many astrological manuals were destroyed. Point being what is available to-day for " study " is muchly fragmented.

Was there not somewhere Christ said to not follow the stars???? +Peace+

-- jean bouchard (jeanb@cwk.imag.net), October 12, 1999.


Response to Catholic church does not accept Astrology

Before trying to answer this question, I have to recognize that in no way I consider myself an expert on astrology, I have read something about it, but only to satisfy a personal curiosity. But since the question is put in a catholic forum, I'll try to give my opinion.

First of all in ancient times different peoples looking in awe at the celestial dome considered that the different stars and planets were deities and as such cult was given to them . It was also considered that these divine entities ruled and decided upon human lives and destinies (remember the Illiad?) . Such ideas in different moments in the history of Israel tried to penetrate into the minds of the hebrew people. But the sacred text and the prophets did a wonderful work in dispelling such ideas. The Bible considers all heavenly bodies just mere CREATURES. Read the story of Creation (Gn 1,14 and following, ) See also Job 38,7,; Am 5,8; Ps 33,6; The heavenly bodies are not gods, but servants of the Almighty. We can admire the splendor of the sun (Ps 19,5 ff) , the beauty of the moon ( Cant 6,10) the order of the heavenly revolutions (Sap 7,18 ff) but all this sings the praises and the glory of the only God (Ps 19.2)who determined the "laws of the heavens" (Job 38, 31 ff). So reduced to their condition of mere creatures at the service of the Lord, I don't think they will have an influence on my life and my free decisions.

Second, in personal reflections and meditations I think Astrology has a lot of things to explain, namely how is it that twins, born of the same mother, at the same moment, in the same place , under the same stars lead so different lives: one becomes a doctor, the other one a lawyer, one marries, the other one doesn't, one has children, the other doesn't, and so on and on. Astrology takes into account the planets and heavenly bodies as classified by Ptolomy in the second century, but ignores the asteoroids around the earth, the new comets science has discovered, the new moons around Jupiter (new in the sense that their existence was ignored until recently, etc, etc.

The Gospel speaks of God as a Father who LOVES us and everything in creation. He feeds the birds, He makes the trees and plants grow and give fruit, He dresses the lilies much better than Solomon , He sent His only begotten Son to LOVE, TEACH, AND SAVE US ALL. Jesus is the WAY, THE TRUTH AND LIFE. He is going to be with us until the last days......What need do I have of stars and planets? I prefer to walk in life under the influence , fatherly love and care of the Father in heaven, with the company of Jesus the elder Brother in this community of faith, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, rather than depend on the movements of mere creatures. Certainly I need the heat of the sun, the light of the moon and so on, but they are put in "heaven" for exactly that very purpose by our Heavenly Father. They are following the law established for them by God, but in no place the Bible says that they will rule my life or influence my FREE CHOICES.

Enrique ..

-- ENRIQUE ORTIZ (eaortiz@yahoo.com), October 14, 1999.


Response to Catholic church does not accept Astrology

Why is it, that whenever something that cannot be explained logically, is just dissed? To study astrology with the purpose of foretelling the future or altering your life is wrong. God gave you free choice and a brain for choosing what happens in your life. To be dependant on astrology is to deprive you of the free choices that you have. This is wrong. To continue-- the effect of the full moon makes people act differently. Why? I don't know, but I do know that when I worked in the hospital, it was common knowledge that the emergency room would be packed when the moon was full. Police officers say the same thing about the homicide rate on the nights of the full moon. Also, space is fascinating. I would give anything to be able to travel among the 400 billion galaxies and see what God created. It is not enough to say that I respect the sun for the heat and light that it gives us. What a small-minded thought. God gave us "talents" and we're supposed to use them(the gospel this week). To reach for the stars is a tremendous ambition and I'm only sorry that I won't be around to see it. If God didn't want man to think thoughts and find ways to discover the the beauty and wonder of planets and suns and moons and anything else in space, He would never have given us the ability to do so. I don't think that people should spend their lives creating charts to guide their lives or the lives of others but the thought of being able to go to another star or constellation is mind boggling. If anything, it would make you see how insignificant mankind is in the whole picture of things and maybe make you ever more grateful for the gifts the world gives us. God made not just the earth and sun and our solar system and galaxy--He made all of space (constellations included)--and it is all good. Ellen

-- Ellen K. Hornby (dkh@canada.com), November 14, 1999.

Response to Catholic church does not accept Astrology

What I forgot to say in the first answer is, yes, I do know the difference between astrology and astronomy, before anybody asks me. Also, when man first laid down on the grass and stared up at the sky, he was overcome by curiosity and by the beauty he saw. If that curiosity was fueled by the stories of the constellations, so be it. If those stories made man want to explore space, good. There was a time when the world was thought to be flat--even members of the Catholic church thought it was so and took big exceptions to people who thought otherwise. They were wrong. Ellen

-- Ellen K. Hornby (dkh@canada.com), November 14, 1999.


Response to Catholic church does not accept Astrology

I can see from the dates posted that these posts are very old. I'm not sure if anyone comes to this site anymore or if newer posts will still be accessible but for the sake of TRUTH I need to set the record straight here.

Gloria, I too am a student of Astrology and ALSO a Catholic. There is no "sin" involved and please don't let anyone tell you differently. You know as well as I do that free choice is GOD'S gift to us and that is NOT taken away by Astrology. Making INFORMED choices is not and never has been a sin. If it were, then going to the doctors for blood tests and xrays would be a "sin" too and I know of no one in their right mind who feels like that.

To the rest of you who have posted here...

The fact of the matter is that Astrology is merely a study of the cycles of life. It is no more "heresy" or anything else anyone wants to try to make of it than is the study of the growth of the human body. There is a an undeniable framework through which human beings evolve in their journey from birth to death. Is it "fortune telling" for scientists to tell us that at an approximate age human beings begin to lose bone mass or "shrink"? Is it "fortune telling" if a doctor tells a fair skinned person to be careful in the sun as they might burn easily? Is it "fortune telling" when a doctor tells a pregnant woman that she will be carrying the child for approximately 9 months? No! Of course not. All of those "predictions" if you will are just POSSIBILITIES. They are never put on the table as absolutes. Some human beings look and feel better at age 90 than others do at age 50. Some fair skinned individuals take to the sun more sturdily than do some olive or dark skinned individuals. And, as we all know, some babies are born way before the "usual" 9 months and some even after. So, what does all of that mean? It means that NOTHING is written in stone. No Astrologer worth their salt will try to tell you that it is either. The "stars" do not compel us to do or be ANYTHING that can't be transcended. The point of studying the stars and their influence on us as human beings is not to give up our God given gift of CHOICE, it's to make better and more informed choices. Astrology is a multi-leved and multi-faceted Art/Science. I would not and could not explain it here in a single post. I, as have countless others, have been studying it for years and still have much to learn but the fact remains that it is without a doubt a GIFT from God. All good things are GIFTS from God.

I am an Astrologer. I am a Catholic and above all, I am a human being who walks a Spiritual Path. There is no contridiction in being all of them at the same time. No one and No "thing" could or would ever take me off that Path. It's ignorance of what Astrology is and fear about what knowledge of it would do that keep so many who study it in the closet.

If one is a Catholic, which by the way means "UNIVERSAL", than one is also to believe that God is the Creator of EVERYTHING! That INCLUDES the "stars". To think that we as human beings are the only creations that have an effect on one another or interact with one another is in reality the height of UNSPIRITUALITY.

In Spirit, we are ONE, and accepting that the stars are part of all of that ONENESS is true Spirituality because it sublimates the ego and honors ALL of God's Creations.

I leave the above for the contemplation of those who might travel by that they might be ~Enlightened~ by them, feel the TRUTH of them, and know that they are spoken ONLY...

With and In..

Love & Light~*

-- Chiarisca De La Luna (moonlady33@hotmail.com), May 14, 2001.


Response to Catholic church does not accept Astrology

Jmj

I'm sorry, Chiarisca, but someone has misled you.
You stated, "I am an Astrologer. I am a Catholic and above all, I am a human being who walks a Spiritual Path. There is no contradiction in being all of them at the same time."
You can be all of those things at the same time ... except an astrologer. The use of divination of all kinds, including astrology, is forbidden by the First Commandment. Every time a person practices astrology in a serious manner, he/she commits a mortal sin (objectively speaking).

The following statement, taken from the new (1992) Catechism of the Catholic Church, contains authentic 2,000-year-old Christian doctrine to which you MUST give your humble assent if you wish to remain a faithful, practicing Catholic:

"2115 God can reveal the future to his prophets or to other saints. Still, a sound Christian attitude consists in putting oneself confidently into the hands of Providence for whatever concerns the future, and giving up all unhealthy curiosity about it. Improvidence, however, can constitute a lack of responsibility.

"2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.

2117 All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one's service and have a supernatural power over others - even if this were for the sake of restoring their health - are gravely contrary to the virtue of religion. These practices are even more to be condemned when accompanied by the intention of harming someone, or when they have recourse to the intervention of demons. Wearing charms is also reprehensible. Spiritism often implies divination or magical practices; the Church for her part warns the faithful against it. Recourse to so-called traditional cures does not justify either the invocation of evil powers or the exploitation of another's credulity."

Dear Chiarisca, the time has come for you to make one of the most important choices in your life. Please pray and then choose wisely, casting away all influence of the occult from your life permanently.

I will be praying for you. May God bless you.
John

-- (jgecik@desc.dla.mil), May 15, 2001.


Response to Catholic church does not accept Astrology

Dear Chiara,
I often meditate on the Lord's Prayer, because it is a flash picture of Jesus Christ's own mind in time. No other words say as much about our place and our needs in life as His prayer to Our eternal Father. He begins it in very formal, Hebraic address:

Our Father who art in heaven-- Immediately, a reference to the firmament, as God's own home. (Even though Christ spoke in an anachronistic manner, as Second Person in the Godhead, nothing of heaven can be mysterious to Him) He names heaven; and knows God is in ''heaven'', as man knows it.

In the third subsequent part of the prayer, Jesus prays: Thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Meditiation shows me that Christ well understood the infinite perfection of God's Will-- which controls even the stars. His Will is DONE, in heaven!

I wouldn't want it to seem I'm dispensing with the other conclusions we can draw from the Lord's Prayer. They would take up space here, however. I just wish to place a ''zodiac'' in context (that is--OUT OF context) with Christ's description of heaven. Heaven is where God simply rules; His Will is done. Only a passing glance at the enormity of space is enough to disquiet us. Awesome and infinite POWER can't describe His Divine Will! And Jesus displays it to humanity in a simple phrase within the Lord's Prayer!

A study of the heavens by human effort is so banal and empty as to be a joke. Like the ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' in the obituary notices this week. To cast horoscopes with any true knowledge of the universe is simply impossible. It is a work of Divine scope and we aren't divine. Astrologers ought to be reminded, the presumption of ''watching the stars'' for clues to some future event is a form of trespassing.

To believe in these projections is to trivialize God's realm, which is all Creation. Better for Christians to respect Jesus' words-- ''Thy Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.'' Without trying to investigate that Will.

-- eugene c. chavez (chavezec@pacbell.net), May 15, 2001.


Response to Catholic church does not accept Astrology



-- (_@_._), May 15, 2001.

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