Have you researched astrology yourself? By that, I mean to ask if you could please explain the shortcomings of this belief system?

Yes and yes. I’ll quote my post on astronomy vs astrology below, not only because the two get mixed up quite a bit, but because they have very close origins and a long history with one another.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines astronomy as “the science of objects and matter beyond the Earth’s atmosphere”, and astrology as “divination based upon the supposed influence of the stars upon human events”. Now let’s break this down below, not too much, but enough for you to see, through pure language, how obvious the difference is. 

Astronomy: “The science”[also defined as “an area of knowledge that is an object of study”, or “knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained through the scientific method”. Scientific method is, to put very simply, “finding and stating a problem, the collection of facts through observation and experiment, and the making and testing of ideas that need to be proven right or wrong.”] “of objects and matter beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.”  So, to generally state, astronomy is a science based off of facts and findings, that are continually tested until proven true or false, concerning very real and solid objects and matter within the universe outside of our own planet. 

Astrology: “Divination” [defined as “the art or practice of using omens or magic powers to foretell the future”] “based upon the supposed” [with supposed defined as “mistakenly believed”] “influence of the stars upon human events.” Which is very simply stated as practicing with superstitious and immensely exaggerated “magic” and/or “omens” to make generalized, and baseless, predictions for universally microscopic humans depending on our perceived position[s] of the [annual and daily] stars, constellations, and “heavenly bodies” of our night skies/celestial sphere.

In comparison, on one hand you have a science concerning the stars, and other celestial bodies, outside of Earth’s own atmosphere and how they exist and coexist within their respected “systems”. On the other hand you have an “art”, of sorts, based upon superstitious and fallible predictions of individual human lives that are assumably determined by the stars and planets in relation to their positions within our skies. 

In ancient times astrology was so commonplace during the beginnings of astronomy that astronomers and astrologers were usually one in the same, and “well versed” in both subjects and practices. Although nowadays, thanks to the continuous advancements of  the science world and our growing knowledge of the universe, astrology may seem a bit silly and childish, but it’s quite easy to understand, when looking into the origins of astronomy, why astrology was originally so popular and quickly accepted by our ancestors. 

The sun and moon in our sky clearly influence our lives in many ways, from determining seasons to causing the tides, as well as determining the daily amount daylight and darkness. The lunar phases even happen to coincide with many biological cycles, such as crops. Of course, when looking into the night sky, our ancestors observed the planets alongside the plethora of stars, including our own, and to them it seemed reasonable to assume they influenced our lives in just as many ways, if not more. Unbeknownst to them, their initial assumptions were correct, aside from positions of stars and planets directly effecting the social/personal aspects of human life, and would remain undiscovered for many years until our understanding of our solar system, and astronomy itself, evolved on many levels. 

Now we recognize the ideas of things like energy and gravity that explain the influences of our Sun and Moon, which also prove, with modern science, that the other planets are too far from us astronomically to have any significant infleunce on our own planet, or anything biological including ourselves and our lives. The data is shown below via this post here:

ON THE GRAVITATIONAL EFFECTS OF THE PLANETS, FROM NASA’S WEBSITE:

Here is a table of tidal forces of the Sun, Moon, and Planets. With the Sun’s tidal force equal to 1.00, the following values are given in Thompson (1981):

• Moon: 2.21
• Sun: 1.00
• Venus: 0.000113
• Jupiter: 0.0000131
• Mars: 0.0000023
• Mercury: 0.0000007
• Saturn: 0.0000005
• Uranus: 0.000000001
• Neptune: 0.000000002
• Pluto: 0.0000000000001

ON THE MAGNETIC EFFECTS OF THE PLANETS, FROM WIKIPEDIA:

Others have proposed conventional causal agents such as electro-magnetism within an intricate web of planetary fields and resonances in the solar system. Scientists dismiss magnetism as an implausible explanation, since the magnetic field of a large but distant planet such as Jupiter is far smaller than that produced by ordinary household appliances.

Astrology has fallen by the wayside and has become a children’s topic compared to modern scientific endeavours and achievements. With the constant testing and re-testing associated with true science, astrology fails to meet the constantly-questioning requirements of scientific thinking and skepticism. 

While it’s roots are easily understandable, considering the limited resources our ancestors had access to, you can now hopefully see why scientists, teachers, and science enthusiasts alike get upset when one mistakes astronomy for astrology and vice versa. With the ever advancing evolution of science, particularly astronomy, astrology became known as a “pseudo-science” of laughable proportions due to it’s archaic basis that did not evolve respectably over the course of history through solid scientific methods. Now that you know the difference, I hope you continue to improve your own personal methods of scientific thinking, questioning, and skepticism, as well as straying from taking pseudo-sciences such as astrology as seriously as many people mistakenly still do. 

That simply restate, astrology is based off of an ancient pseudo-science that holds no water in modern-day science. As Carl said, “There are two ways to view the stars, as we might wish them to be, or as they really are.” The pseudo-science of astrology is no more accurate than fortune tellers, mood rings, card readers, magic eight balls, or even the red, cellophane “magic” fish. I honestly hope none of my readers put much importance on such a non-reliable belief and practice as astrology, because then you would be doing yourself and your personal life-knowledge a disservice by not exercising scientific thinking and logic.  

I hope this answers your question, if it didn’t, my ask is always open to further the discussion!