The Four Horsemen: Astrology of Atheism
Many people who describe themselves as rational dismiss Astrology as superstition. It is very much in vogue to ridicule Astrology in scientific circles. But these same people who say that all evidence should be examined, never bother to examine astrological evidence. They point to the newspaper Astrology as their evidence. But Astrology is hardly that. These rational men, without much evidence, say that individual differences in human behavior are all due to genes. But the complexity of the human mind is far more than the genetic code. There is very important interplay with the environment, what we can and can't yet measure. Meanwhile, we can use Astrology to describe what people have observed about human nature for millennia, and appreciate this power.
Some of the most ardent advocates for rational thought are atheists. After looking at the astrological charts of some of these outspoken people, I was struck by their astrological similarities. We could say that their astrological charts, not their genes, determined how they thought and behaved. It would certainly be a shock to them to know that superstition (what they call Astrology) has them pegged. They fall neatly into a pattern. The photo below is that of the Four Horsemen of the New Atheism (Hitchens, Dennett, Dawkins and Harris) in 2007.
But, I will digress briefly to the origins of what is modern Western thought. Historically the anthropocentric revolution can be traced back to Rene Descartes who famously said "Cogito ergo sum". This shifted the debate from the revelatory truth of Church doctrine to "of what can I be certain". This had a profound influence on the subsequent development of Western science and philosophy. Even though Descartes thought of himself as a Catholic, his books were forbidden by the Church which recognized them as radical. We could think of Descartes as not a conscious atheist. His remarkable astrological chart is shown below.
Descartes' chart is quite unusual in its emphasis on Aries and Taurus, the signs most representative of the individual self and self in the material world. Descartes wrote extensively on the
duality of the soul (mind) and the body. His Saturn in Virgo indicates a strong desire to organize and follow the rules (of logic). His Neptune is trine his Sun, True Node, Uranus and Pluto and is not in stressful aspect to Mercury. Descartes was not distressed by his faith, dreams or imagination. In fact, he claimed that some of his ideas came in dreams and some from God.
The first of the Four Horsemen, Christopher Hitchens, is probably the most vehement of the four atheists, or as he would label himself, an antitheist. Always outspoken and controversial, when asked what he thought was the "axis of evil" he replied that it was "Christianity, Judaism, Islam - the three leading monotheisms". Hitchens was also a social warrior and his targets included Mother Teresa, Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger and Billy Graham. What would we expect the astrological chart of such a fiery and controversial figure to be? We would expect Fire to be the dominant element, and so it is. Hitchens' noon chart is shown below. The exact birth time is not known so the Ascendant is unknown.
With 6 planets in Aries, Hitchens strongly exemplifies the Aries archetype. The ruling planet of Aries is Mars. According to the British astrologer Roger Elliot: "So Mars is concerned with self-assertion and necessity of looking after one's own needs in order to maintain one's own existence as a separate entity". The conjunction of Sun, Mercury and Mars Elliot described as "giving vent to unpopular opinions, irritable, explosive in mood." Hitchens is an intellectual warrior with a clear mission to fight the irrationality of religion. Aries is the sign of the independent and separate self. As Descartes said, all such an Aries knows comes through himself. To construct God, to justify what he should think and believe, is an affront to such an Aries.
The powerful stellium of 6 Aries planets in Hitchens' chart is opposed by Neptune and the Moon. Mars in Aries is in close opposition to Neptune in Libra. This sets up an internal tension between these planetary principles. Neptune is the planet of imagination, dreams, the intangibles. Anything goes in the Neptunian world. Like a vast ocean it is without boundaries, and logic does not apply. Often great insights come from this unconscious pool. But, it can also harbor illusions, deceptions, and irrationality. With these elements of disharmony in his chart, Hitchens probably felt, more than most people, that irrationality of religion must be fought. In the 2007 session with Dennett, Dawkins and Harris he expressed his wish to keep fighting with the theists in perpetuity.
Both the Moon and Neptune in Hitchens' chart are in stressful aspect to the Aries stellium and likely to each other. People with such aspects are described as sensitive and impressionable, and they find it hard to get a hold of their feelings. British astrologer Sue Tompkins described this difficulty as "...together with this feeling that one might drown in one's feeling, contribute to this yearning for a safe haven to retreat to." This energy is very Piscean and it often expresses as escape and addiction. Hitchens was a heavy smoker and drinker, indicating that his feelings were very unsettled. He did die due to esophageal cancer which was probably precipitated by alcohol and smoking. As much as Hitchens was masterful in his debates and intellectually very certain of his stance on God, he was not a master of his emotions.
The noon chart for Daniel Dennett is shown below. Again, the Ascendant is not known.
Dennett is another Sun Aries person. His Sun is in close conjunction with Eris, probably indicating that he likes being controversial. He has a strong sense of himself as a separate being. Neptune is in a weak opposition (9 degrees) to the Sun-Eris conjunction, similar to Hitchens' chart. Dennett has an additional Neptunian influence with his Mercury in Pisces. Neptune is the ruler of Pisces. Dennett may be aware of some vague intuitions from the collective unconscious which Neptunian influences bring. Religions have tried to give definition to these vague intuitions, sometimes in very naive terms. Faiths have asked people to believe without thinking. For someone like Dennett such faith does not come easily. His conjunction of Saturn and Uranus in Taurus means that he will question tradition and likely challenge authority. This conjunction, at the tip of a T-square, is the dominant energy in his chart. With this energy being in the Fixed sign of Taurus probably means that Dennett will demand concrete proof before he accepts an idea. With this energy in very close trine to Neptune it will likely transform any beliefs he may have had. Mercury in Dennett's chart is in stressful aspects to Mars and Jupiter which means that he can be quick to criticize and be verbally aggressive. With Mars conjunction Jupiter in Gemini he will challenge others intellectually and attack their beliefs. He voices his irritation with religion with less passion than Hitchens, but it is the dominant concern of his life.
Next, the noon chart for Richard Dawkins is shown below.
Dawkins' chart shows a similarity to that of Dennett. Sun and Eris are in the sign of Aries. Mercury is in Pisces, as is his Moon and Venus. Neptune is opposing Sun, Eris and Venus. Mars is in a stressful semisquare aspect to Mercury in Pisces indicating verbal aggression. Dawkins' Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus are in Earth signs, indicating his preference for what is real and concrete. He spent most of his career studying Biology and Evolution, fields which depend on observable data. The presence of Neptunian planets with their vagueness and illusory qualities are probably experienced as irritations. Dawkins clearly expressed his desire to have religion replaced by rational thinking.
The noon chart of Sam Harris is shown below.
Sam Harris, born 2 decades later than the previous gentlemen, shares with them a strong stellium in Aries and Mercury in Pisces. His Neptune is opposed by Venus and his Mars is in a much weaker semisextile to Neptune. He has a Grand Trine in Water, which indicates a more emotional and intuitive psyche. We would expect his expression of atheism to be more nuanced, and so it is. He explained that he never thought of himself as an atheist "before being inducted to speak as one". Further, he stated: "I was just talking about the problems of religion, the opposition between reason and faith, and science and untestable/unverifiable claims". Harris believes that there is "nothing irrational about seeking the states of mind that lie at the core of many religions. Compassion, awe, devotion, and feelings of oneness are surely among the most valuable experiences a person can have". Harris believes a person can practice spirituality and science, but he excludes religion. Spirituality, he claims, can be understood through Neuroscience and Psychology. In his book "Free Will" Harris writes that Neuroscience "reveals you to be a biochemical puppet". In his work in Neuroscience Harris examined subjects' brains with a fMRI to look for differences in brain's processing of religious and empirical belief. The brains of highly religious people showed more processing in anterior insula, ventral striatum, the anterior cingulate cortex and the posterior medial cortex.
For Sam Harris the examination of religious belief is subjected to science, not just a rant, like for some atheists. He still disbelieves Astrology, as do most people versed in modern science. The evidence of Astrology is not plainly visible on a fMRI or other current machines. There may be a promise in the Human Connectome Project which is mapping a sort of "network map" of the anatomical and functional connections in the human brain. An image of the complexity of such connections is shown below.
Some of the most ardent advocates for rational thought are atheists. After looking at the astrological charts of some of these outspoken people, I was struck by their astrological similarities. We could say that their astrological charts, not their genes, determined how they thought and behaved. It would certainly be a shock to them to know that superstition (what they call Astrology) has them pegged. They fall neatly into a pattern. The photo below is that of the Four Horsemen of the New Atheism (Hitchens, Dennett, Dawkins and Harris) in 2007.
But, I will digress briefly to the origins of what is modern Western thought. Historically the anthropocentric revolution can be traced back to Rene Descartes who famously said "Cogito ergo sum". This shifted the debate from the revelatory truth of Church doctrine to "of what can I be certain". This had a profound influence on the subsequent development of Western science and philosophy. Even though Descartes thought of himself as a Catholic, his books were forbidden by the Church which recognized them as radical. We could think of Descartes as not a conscious atheist. His remarkable astrological chart is shown below.
Descartes' chart is quite unusual in its emphasis on Aries and Taurus, the signs most representative of the individual self and self in the material world. Descartes wrote extensively on the
duality of the soul (mind) and the body. His Saturn in Virgo indicates a strong desire to organize and follow the rules (of logic). His Neptune is trine his Sun, True Node, Uranus and Pluto and is not in stressful aspect to Mercury. Descartes was not distressed by his faith, dreams or imagination. In fact, he claimed that some of his ideas came in dreams and some from God.
The first of the Four Horsemen, Christopher Hitchens, is probably the most vehement of the four atheists, or as he would label himself, an antitheist. Always outspoken and controversial, when asked what he thought was the "axis of evil" he replied that it was "Christianity, Judaism, Islam - the three leading monotheisms". Hitchens was also a social warrior and his targets included Mother Teresa, Bill Clinton, Henry Kissinger and Billy Graham. What would we expect the astrological chart of such a fiery and controversial figure to be? We would expect Fire to be the dominant element, and so it is. Hitchens' noon chart is shown below. The exact birth time is not known so the Ascendant is unknown.
With 6 planets in Aries, Hitchens strongly exemplifies the Aries archetype. The ruling planet of Aries is Mars. According to the British astrologer Roger Elliot: "So Mars is concerned with self-assertion and necessity of looking after one's own needs in order to maintain one's own existence as a separate entity". The conjunction of Sun, Mercury and Mars Elliot described as "giving vent to unpopular opinions, irritable, explosive in mood." Hitchens is an intellectual warrior with a clear mission to fight the irrationality of religion. Aries is the sign of the independent and separate self. As Descartes said, all such an Aries knows comes through himself. To construct God, to justify what he should think and believe, is an affront to such an Aries.
The powerful stellium of 6 Aries planets in Hitchens' chart is opposed by Neptune and the Moon. Mars in Aries is in close opposition to Neptune in Libra. This sets up an internal tension between these planetary principles. Neptune is the planet of imagination, dreams, the intangibles. Anything goes in the Neptunian world. Like a vast ocean it is without boundaries, and logic does not apply. Often great insights come from this unconscious pool. But, it can also harbor illusions, deceptions, and irrationality. With these elements of disharmony in his chart, Hitchens probably felt, more than most people, that irrationality of religion must be fought. In the 2007 session with Dennett, Dawkins and Harris he expressed his wish to keep fighting with the theists in perpetuity.
Both the Moon and Neptune in Hitchens' chart are in stressful aspect to the Aries stellium and likely to each other. People with such aspects are described as sensitive and impressionable, and they find it hard to get a hold of their feelings. British astrologer Sue Tompkins described this difficulty as "...together with this feeling that one might drown in one's feeling, contribute to this yearning for a safe haven to retreat to." This energy is very Piscean and it often expresses as escape and addiction. Hitchens was a heavy smoker and drinker, indicating that his feelings were very unsettled. He did die due to esophageal cancer which was probably precipitated by alcohol and smoking. As much as Hitchens was masterful in his debates and intellectually very certain of his stance on God, he was not a master of his emotions.
The noon chart for Daniel Dennett is shown below. Again, the Ascendant is not known.
Dennett is another Sun Aries person. His Sun is in close conjunction with Eris, probably indicating that he likes being controversial. He has a strong sense of himself as a separate being. Neptune is in a weak opposition (9 degrees) to the Sun-Eris conjunction, similar to Hitchens' chart. Dennett has an additional Neptunian influence with his Mercury in Pisces. Neptune is the ruler of Pisces. Dennett may be aware of some vague intuitions from the collective unconscious which Neptunian influences bring. Religions have tried to give definition to these vague intuitions, sometimes in very naive terms. Faiths have asked people to believe without thinking. For someone like Dennett such faith does not come easily. His conjunction of Saturn and Uranus in Taurus means that he will question tradition and likely challenge authority. This conjunction, at the tip of a T-square, is the dominant energy in his chart. With this energy being in the Fixed sign of Taurus probably means that Dennett will demand concrete proof before he accepts an idea. With this energy in very close trine to Neptune it will likely transform any beliefs he may have had. Mercury in Dennett's chart is in stressful aspects to Mars and Jupiter which means that he can be quick to criticize and be verbally aggressive. With Mars conjunction Jupiter in Gemini he will challenge others intellectually and attack their beliefs. He voices his irritation with religion with less passion than Hitchens, but it is the dominant concern of his life.
Next, the noon chart for Richard Dawkins is shown below.
Dawkins' chart shows a similarity to that of Dennett. Sun and Eris are in the sign of Aries. Mercury is in Pisces, as is his Moon and Venus. Neptune is opposing Sun, Eris and Venus. Mars is in a stressful semisquare aspect to Mercury in Pisces indicating verbal aggression. Dawkins' Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and Uranus are in Earth signs, indicating his preference for what is real and concrete. He spent most of his career studying Biology and Evolution, fields which depend on observable data. The presence of Neptunian planets with their vagueness and illusory qualities are probably experienced as irritations. Dawkins clearly expressed his desire to have religion replaced by rational thinking.
The noon chart of Sam Harris is shown below.
Sam Harris, born 2 decades later than the previous gentlemen, shares with them a strong stellium in Aries and Mercury in Pisces. His Neptune is opposed by Venus and his Mars is in a much weaker semisextile to Neptune. He has a Grand Trine in Water, which indicates a more emotional and intuitive psyche. We would expect his expression of atheism to be more nuanced, and so it is. He explained that he never thought of himself as an atheist "before being inducted to speak as one". Further, he stated: "I was just talking about the problems of religion, the opposition between reason and faith, and science and untestable/unverifiable claims". Harris believes that there is "nothing irrational about seeking the states of mind that lie at the core of many religions. Compassion, awe, devotion, and feelings of oneness are surely among the most valuable experiences a person can have". Harris believes a person can practice spirituality and science, but he excludes religion. Spirituality, he claims, can be understood through Neuroscience and Psychology. In his book "Free Will" Harris writes that Neuroscience "reveals you to be a biochemical puppet". In his work in Neuroscience Harris examined subjects' brains with a fMRI to look for differences in brain's processing of religious and empirical belief. The brains of highly religious people showed more processing in anterior insula, ventral striatum, the anterior cingulate cortex and the posterior medial cortex.
For Sam Harris the examination of religious belief is subjected to science, not just a rant, like for some atheists. He still disbelieves Astrology, as do most people versed in modern science. The evidence of Astrology is not plainly visible on a fMRI or other current machines. There may be a promise in the Human Connectome Project which is mapping a sort of "network map" of the anatomical and functional connections in the human brain. An image of the complexity of such connections is shown below.
