Is Astrology Superstition or Science?
Lot of heated debates have been fought over the subject of astrology and its validity. Being a software professional with engineering background, I grew up in an educational environment with “liberal” & scientific temper which had rejected astrology as a superstition. However, as I began to take up courses like psychology as a hobby (prepared case studies ofModi phenomenon and researched on how Vedas had influenced western scientists, science of Yoga etc), I could not help myself but wonder if we are continuously being bombarded with subtle propaganda to suppress & narrow down our thought process into rejecting everything that is related to ancient Indian wisdom in the name of liberalism. i.e It is surprising to find that the so called intellectuals & liberals (who are supposed to be open-minded) are actually becoming conservatives by remaining adamant on rejecting anything that is from ancient Indian wisdom. One such wisdom from ancient India is “Astrology” which in its true form is actually the study of celestial bodies (astronomy) and a part of that study is about the influence of celestial bodies on humans and societies.
Ancient Indian wisdom is a treasure trove of science. In fact, most of the claims made by ancient India (related to astrology, yoga, ayurveda) have been validated by Modern Science today. For example, this physics journal from USA in 1998 was astonished to find that ancient India knew the speed of light, down to the last digit of accuracy!!
Just like how every science/technologies can be derived into different use-cases, astrology (with astronomy as the root) is also derived into different levels of use cases and one of the most popular (rather controversial) application of it is in “predicting a person’s future” (from the perspective of spiritual growth). I had written a short note on this aspect of astrology in facebook few days ago.

In the above note, the statement “when a child comes out of the womb, it is like a fresh photo negative exposed to forces/radiations from several celestial bodies” might sound ridiculous, but that is the essence of Astrology. Celestial bodies (Sun, Moon, Planets, Stars etc) indeed affect humans (individuals, societies, nations), and Science is also slowly acknowledging it. In this article, we shall try to find out what Science says.
Just a few days ago (7th January 2015), a research study by scientists revealed that the radiation pattern of the sun at the time of birth of a person influences the lifespan of that person.
solar_activity_lifespanSource:
http://news.sciencemag.org/sifter/2014/01/solar-activity-at-birth-may-influence-life-span
The radiation patterns of the Sun not only affects at individual level but might affect at society level as well. Extensive studies and historical evidences have shown the correlation between historical activity and moments of maxima of solar activity.
For example, this webpage from National University of Singapore gives more insight into the concepts of maxima-minima of solar activity (sunspots & sunflares) and their effect on humans
sunspots_study
Link to the webpage:
http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/gem-projects/hm/0203-1-02-sunspots/human.html
The following is an abstract of a paper by Dr. Adam Michalec detailing the influence of Sun on historical events.
solar_activity_hisorical_eventsDetailed paper:http://www.oa.uj.edu.pl/A.Michalec/history.html
Carlini Research Institute, based in Canada, is involved in intensive study of the effect of solar activity on human psychology and has been publishing papers depicting the influence of solar activity on our lives.
clarini_solar
Link:
http://www.carliniinstitute.com/how_solar_flares_are_affecing_us
Following is an interesting revelation from a science magazine which claims: “Solar activity affects every single aspect of human life”
solar_activity_affects_humans_2006Full article:
http://english.pravda.ru/science/earth/07-06-2006/81653-solar_activity-0/
A recent study published in the popular science journal NewScientist claims that solar activity affects physical & mental state of humans.
solar_activity_physical_mental_state
Link:
http://www.earthchangesmedia.com/publish/article-9162523562.php
There are hundreds of such research studies & articles from hardcore scientific communities being published frequently these days. The scientific community itself seems to be divided on this topic, with one section of scientists rejecting the observations & results as just “mere co-incidences”, and the rest insisting that such revelations might not be co-incidences afterall, and might need more in-depth study. Maybe science is still evolving and is yet to acknowledge hidden treasures from ancient wisdom. Till then, Astrology might continue to remain as a controversial subject.
This is part 1 of a multi-part series with this part focusing only on the influence of Sun on humans. In the subsequent parts, we shall discuss about the influence of other celestial bodies & the probabilistic theories as well. The purpose of this study is not to prove or conclude anything but only to find out how the Scientific Community is acknowledging some of the claims from ancient Indian wisdom