So Astrology doesn't work, right?

But the president did take action. He issued an executive order to force insurance companies to reinstate canceled policies. And that action is confused and ill advised. As for the Obamacare mess, it didn't become manifest until those millions of policies were canceled and the website failed. That didn't happen until after I posted. Everything I said in that post has come true.

Bob Marks

The Eclipse chart showed a potential disaster. The effects could have been minimized or maximized by the actions of those in power. Turns out they maximized it, including Obama. Yes, I had been posting about Obamacare's flaws for months, but the disaster could have hit at any time. It could have collapsed in a year or two. Astrology pinpointed the disaster. Did anybody expect Obamacare to fail so soon?

At any rate, I said everything on Oct. 4. I'm willing to let people read what I said and make up their own minds as to its accuracy.

Bob Marks

Ask any astrologer. An eclipse can start having an effect up to a month before it is exact.



But the eclipse also hit the Republicans (whom I also don't like). They got slaughtered the second week of October when Obama didn't back down. Remember? Some in the media said that their defeat would affect them for years.



I posted it because my Astrological forecast came true. Do you know what it is called when someone positive evidence for a view they don't like?



Well it's not bad news for astrology. The forecast came true right on schedule. And it's not bad news for the rest of us either. Better that Obamacare fails early so the damage is minimized.

Bob Marks

One more thing, Bob.  When you post about astrology here, what kind of responses do you expect? 

If that's your idea of a "hit", Bob, then you're easily impressed.
There's always some kind of turmoil going on around the president, and the Obamacare thing has been going on for months. In order for your prediction to have merit at all it would need to be a lot more specific than that.

Like my predictions, for example : )
www.zakmartin.com/visions_of_the_future.html

I don't post for responses. I post what I find interesting.

Bob Marks

Your opinion that it didn't is all in your mind.

Bob

"As for your predictions, anyone can claim after the fact that they predicted something. Where's your evidence that you predicted anything BEFORE it happened?"

I've never made "after the fact" claims for predictions. In fact I've never made any claims at all. I published my predictions every year, and they were reviewed by journalists, usually at the end of the year). Every prediction on that page was published well before the event. The newspapers reviewed them at the end of the period to which they referred (they could hardly review them and assess their accuracy before they did or didn't turn out to be correct). And if you had looked a bit more closely you'd have seen that some of those articles were "ongoing" reviews of my predictions. For example: "I'll leave it to yourselves to decide what to make of this. But a surprising number of the predictions made by Zak Martin at the start of the year in Ad Lib have proved correct..." (Evening Herald). And: "The 'fairytale' marriage of Charles and Diana will begin to unravel in the year ahead. As I said in my previous calendars, I foresee this marriage coming to an early and tragic end." And: "An aura of negativity surrounds the British royal family at present. The rift between Charles and Diana - which I predicted last year - will become more acute in the year ahead, and there will even be the possibility of involvement, by one of the couple, with a third party." (In Dublin)
And: "But if his prediction for Sinn Fein come true we'll all be heading for the boat... he sees Sinn Fein growing in popularity over the coming decades, to become 'a major political force in Irish politics'." This is a before-the-fact review of a prediction that was considered impossible at the time (but turned out to be accurate). And so on. Real predictions, Bob, referring to specific people and events. Not vague mumbo-jumbo about "disruptive forces" or "negative influences" that could be interpreted in a thousand ways.

The poor choices Obama has been making were nothing compare to the furor over "If you like your insurance policy, you can keep it", and terminating the policies of millions of people. Similarly, the decision of Republican House members to send the government over a fiscal cliff backfired so badly that some in the media were claiming that it would take Republicans a decade to recover.

But you're right Fred. If I ever want to provide convincing evidence, I have to be more specific.

Bob Marks

Dear Lily:

Wouldn't it be interesting if they both did it on the same topic? Oh....can I choose?

So that nobody will get bent out of shape -- let's steer away from American politics.

So -- how about this:

They say Queen Elizabeth is ill and may have to retire for health reasons. So, is Charles going to be king?
Supposedly, the majority of British people want him to step aside and let William take the throne.

What's it going to be: Charles or William And at what point will one (or the other) become King?

We don't have a lot of British posters and I don't think any of them would be offended if Zak and Bob give their respective psychic and astrological predictions.

This way, there won't be any arguments.

How's that for a test?

--Debutante
*who thinks Baby George is her personal choice. He's cute!!!

Because I've already done that in my original thread back in October. Now it's Zak's turn.

 

Yes Lily. I'm asking for a discussion.

Bob Marks

Why do I even read your posts? I have to have my head examined. 

Deb, I honestly don't care about anyone using horoscopes by Astrologers to decide what to do about their lives. The thing is, Bob knows this is a skeptic board and folks here will question astrology and his vague predictions are not helping at all. Why does he bother? Who is he trying to convince and why? And so what? If he earns a living by Astrology and he has clients who are happy, then isn't that enough?

No, it's not enough for him, because he insists on only using astrology here to diss the politics he dosn't like. In that case, why does he think he's immune from criticism and questions? He expects to just post and that's the end of it? That's really insulting to the rest of us. There is something really wrong with that kind of thinking.

There are beliefs that I have that I knoiw for sure would be attacked here. Why don't I present them here? Because I don't need verification as Bob seems to haveto have about his beliefs. I'm confident in myself. Apprenttly Bob is not. Except he wants to use it to try and  bring forth his politics. 

Deb, you have beliefs and you do present them on the board. But you do it as honestly as your own view of what life is all about. When someone disagrees with you, you don''t try and convince people that you are right and they are wrong, because you have confidence in yourself. When Bob has to argue, it's shows that he isn't. Otherwise, it would be 'nough said. But it's never enough for him; he has to be right and only if everyone affirms him as to what he says. Very sad, really. 

Dear Lily:

This is going to be a little long -- but bear with me -- there's a point at the end.

I understand where you're coming from. I do know that I had my chart done when I was in my twenties and it was very specific and very, very, accurate. Even so, there was a reason I never decided to make a study of the subject. Astrology is very mathematical and presumably deals with "natural" forces.

Okay...on some level I can easily imagine such a scenario because I remember reading somewhere that the gravitational pull of the moon affects the earth's tides. Okay, if I buy that -- then I guess I could postulate another force (perhaps unknown at the present time) caused by planetary bodies that might affect people. Whether it can be precisely charted to a person's birth time -- well, I only know that my chart was accurate.

Still, the reason I personally never dabbled beyond an initial chart was because to me, it was too "scientific" as opposed to something I'd consider "spiritual". Oddly, I imagine a true scientist would be shocked by my assessment because he would consider it anything but scientific! However, for my purpose --which, basically consists of a single question -- "what is my place in all that there is" -- I didn't feel that it struck a chord of personal meaning within myself beyond a point. Other people may feel differently.

There is, I have noted, a genuine pitfall to any kind of metaphysical study. There is always the possibility of getting caught up in the process to the exclusion of a deeper meaning. For me, I define the "deeper meaning" as God.

I think I told you that my Reiki practitioner also does something called access bars. These work phenomenally well -- far more quickly than Reiki. However, and this is a BIG however -- it "feels" empty compared to Reiki. To me, this is an important distinction. It's as if you sacrifice a sense of "communion" with a deeper reality for "speedy" results. And I wonder if things which come too easily have value in the long run. For that reason, I've taken a temporary respite from the access bars and have begun doing more Reiki (only on myself).

Even so, there's the same problem if you're not careful -- getting caught up in the process. It occurred to me the other day that I do a lot of Reiki and meditation. But, I have been neglecting my prayer life since these things entered my life. Is this bad? I'm not sure. But it bothers me when I think how easily I drifted into it and apparently did not even take note of it until last week.

In any event, the search for personal meaning in life can take a person down many paths. Often I get things that make absolutely no sense to me. And yet, they must have some value, or else they wouldn't be "there". For example, I was doing some Reiki this morning and I heard a voice say, "human race". Just that -- nothing more. That's an example of why this metaphysical stuff is so hard to pin down. You get bits and pieces here and there and in the final analysis, it comes down to personal meaning.

I do know that just prior to hearing this -- I was considering whether Reiki utilized only for self-healing would be considered "selfish" in God's eyes. Is such a concentrated effort on "self" proper? And yet, I know I wouldn't want to do Reiki for anyone else after that one experience. So, to make it "right" in my own eyes, I was considering doing a general kind of Reiki out to the world at large -- just send it out to go where it will. Perhaps, the term "human race" was meant as a possible focal point for me to consider. I really don't know.

The thing is -- I am sure that astrology has some personal meaning to Bob. Perhaps, he sees the beauty of mathematics in it in a way that I can't. Perhaps, Astrology is "spiritual" to him. With all the arguing that goes on around here pro and con -- I don't believe Bob ever said exactly how and why he was drawn to the study of astrology and what part of him it fills. That's the word I'm looking for -- "filled" as in becoming complete.

I wouldn't presume to intrude upon Bob's privacy and ask him what astrology means to him. Means in a personal sense, as opposed to a practiced craft. But I'm sure that "unknown factor" is what makes him such an ardent advocate of the subject.

Am I making any sense? It's 2:31AM my time and I really ought to go to sleep...

--Debutante