As the historian François Furet showed in 1978, since the French revolution and the advent of human and citizen rights inaugurate the secularization of moral conscience and the dissolution of private and social life in the public domain (see today the control of the State at all levels of existence individual from the birth of the child: health and hospitals, education and schools, heritage and banks…,), we can wonder if the State would not also benefit from managing and controlling astrology which relates to the mental representations that the person has of themselves and those around them, since it first provides information - or should - on the psyche, on the balance of the “drives” specific to each person, on the energy of desires, and on intimate perception. that astrology is a reliable discipline, capable of presenting indications of quantifiable and reproducible results, usable by officers of public thought. Which is far from being the case, and makes astrology an essentially elusive knowledge. Hence the relative freedom and autonomy of astrologers, who still live in a no-man’s land of thought exempt from the cultural controls that affect other areas. Astrology is a pleasurable activity that escapes state control. The question I keep asking myself is: To what extent is this freedom desirable? Astrology has today entered a feudal phase: everywhere small local lords, rebellious condottieres, rebels to any common design. No authority central. But the professional astrologer who withdraws, with his bibles and his idols, into the alcove of the consulting room, fearing that part of his freedom will be taken away, is he not playing into the hands of the charlatans?
Hence the paradox of associations of practitioners, statutes and elaborate codes of ethics: Who will define the skills of an astrologer, and not this one? According to what criterion? - - Certainly not because of the unverifiable application of risky rules, more motivated by associative interests than established to test the real skills of the applicant. Before testing the candidates, it is the associations and schools of astrology that should be submitted for examination!
Astrology is caught in a vice, between the disaffection of researchers and the contempt of intellectuals on the one hand, and the rapacity of charlatans and traders on the other hand, who proclaim, just like the office astrologer, their ability to make and sell astrology, to attract and satisfy a clientele. What distinguishes the charlatan from the practitioner, if they speak the same way, if they distribute more or less equivalent chimeras, if they both refuse to learn and improve, if they adopt a strictly identical attitude towards research? The argument from authority? The warning shots from the little chapel idols?
It is not up to the institutions to settle the debate, since they do not care about the destiny of astrology, and the astrologer does not actually want them to worry about it. Association astrology cannot, however, demand that we guarantee the security of its cocoon, when it refuses to expose itself to the debate of ideas. He dreams that the State will guarantee him against charlatans, as in the time of Alfonso X the Wise, while he is not ready tosupport research, and that he is even inclined most often to deny it, if not to obstruct it, as I have experienced for several years. The exclusion of astrology from the field of knowledge dates back to the 17th century. After the catastrophe of the “Enlightenment” in the 18th century and the positivists of the 19th century, astrology even lost the right to appear honorably in historical treatises, despite its ubiquity and the radiant status (the queen of the sciences) that it was able to assume in the past. Its ambiguous status means that it occupies only a minor and occasional place, often even non-existent, in different histories, whether the history of science and astronomy, the history of philosophy, or the history of religions. Alfonso had taken legal measures against usurpers and incompetents, but granted credits for publishing, translation and research. It is the same in all periods of progress in astrology. Because the price to pay for the freedom enjoyed by astrologers is quite simply the absence of resources for research. The world of astrologers remains a marginalized cultural field, away from state systems, unlike psychoanalysis which has been able to adapt to modern ideology. There is only one solution: that associations of professional astrologers support research efforts – whether historical, psycho-statistical, scientific, anthropological or philosophical – and that each practitioner pays a tax or tribute to research
- as is the case for medicine. This is the only rule of “ethics” that is valid. This tax does not mean that research validates the practices carried out (consultations, courses, newspaper horoscopes, Minitel and Internet commerce, etc.), but that there is a price to pay for the right to use or usurp the title of astrologer.
Any declared astrological activity would be taxed, at a rate of 5% for courses and consultations, 10 to 15% for newspaper horoscopes, minitel services and others. These funds would be divided into three: 1- For a real research library (astro)
2-For publishing (translations of historical works, facsimiles, preservation of astronomical heritage, etc.) 3- For teaching and associations Qualified managers would be put in place to manage each of these activities, who should be linked to the university. Then an international debate can be set up on the condition that each astrologer worthy of the name says: 1) what is the initial experience which encourages him to take astrology seriously, 2) what is his practice of astrology, 3) what are the elements and techniques that he uses, 4) what are his sources, and why he chose them, 5) what is the intrinsic logic (if there is one!) of his model of astrology, and finally, 6) what is his conception of the history of astrology and the evolution of models. There is no way out for astrology outside of this debate.
Patrice GUINARD
Website http:f/cura.free.fr *This article was published in Destins n°20
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