Question 92 – What about horoscopes, astrology, and numerology?

Throughout history, kings, rulers, and ordinary people have sought advice from astrologers. This remains unchanged today. Politicians, businesspeople, celebrities, and everyday people alike consult astrologers. Literally tens of millions of people live according to their advice, voluntarily binding their lives to the stars' guidance. It's challenging to find a publication or popular media outlet that doesn't have horoscopes ready for its readers: horoscopes for today, the week, month, year, career horoscopes, relationship horoscopes, and many others. However, few realize that these horoscopes are essentially nonsense even from the perspective of professional astrologers, as they often hardly reflect true astrological principles. Before we delve into the Christian stance on these occult practices, let's define what they actually represent.

Astrology

Astrology is an ancient esoteric field that studies the relationships between celestial bodies (the Sun, planets, the Moon, etc.) and their supposed influence on our planet, individuals, or nations. Astrologers examine analogies and strive to explain past and present phenomena based on astronomical events. They also predict future events according to them. Astrology, as a discipline, encompasses numerous streams, traditions, and interpretations. The most well-known expression to us is the horoscope. Generally, it involves examining the positions and relationships of celestial bodies at the moment of a person's birth. In addition to this, we can also find horoscopes for fauna, flora, and historical events. According to astrology proponents, celestial bodies—their positions and movements—influence our psyche, actions, and entire lives.

Numerology

Like astrology, numerology is an ancient practice that explores and seeks to interpret the meanings of numbers. Numerologists see certain qualities of life energy in numbers. While astrologers place emphasis on the cosmos concerning our fate, actions, and character traits, numerologists focus more on the significance of numbers. For them, the date of our birth, month, year, various sums, and relationships between these numbers are essential. Allegedly, they can determine a person's character, predispositions, and many other realities, including the future.

The Christian Response

The principles of astrology and numerology starkly contrast with the message of the Lord Jesus Christ and the God of the Bible. In both cases, we are dealing with an impersonal force supposed to influence a person's life, to which one should submit. Our lives, actions, and future are said to be governed by the movements of celestial bodies or the meanings of numbers.

But What Does God Say?

God is the Creator of the universe and humanity. He decides what will happen on this planet and what will not. He gives us free will to bear the consequences of our actions and the actions of those around us. At the same time, He advises us to cling to Him fully and rely on Him, not to be manipulated by the assertions that horoscopes or numerologists hold for us. God has granted you freedom—the freedom to choose what you will do with your life. You can lean on Him in every life situation; He is here to listen, help, guide, and nurture you. He loves you—not leading you with a slavish rope but with a thread you can cut anytime if you choose not to listen to God. Belief in horoscopes and the fatalistic meaning of numbers leads people astray and replaces a relationship with the living God. For these reasons, God prohibits astrology and numerology and warns against their principles.

We don't have the space here to delve deeper into their specific principles or why these teachings sometimes appear to work. Autosuggestion plays a significant role here, where we begin to act (albeit subconsciously) as foretold, thus fulfilling the prediction ourselves, or we act directly according to dubious advice from astrologers. For instance, in one case, astrologers claimed a sick child would never recover, so the mother killed the child to "relieve" it. In another instance, an astrologer predicted a man would only be happy in a second marriage, so he quickly divorced and remarried. After some catastrophic marriage experiences, this too ended in divorce...

Furthermore, let us constantly remember that these teachings are, from God's perspective, demonic in nature, their speculative functioning significantly influenced by demonic entities. If horoscopes and numbers are your hobby and you submit your life to them, know that you have bound yourself with a false doctrine and are bringing a curse upon yourself. Even if you don't take them too seriously and only look into them out of curiosity, you at least expose yourself to the psychological effect that will make your subconscious partly evaluate reality in light of what these teachings say about you or your relationships. In the worst-case scenario, demons might act in your life in such a way as to create the illusion that these teachings are working, drawing you deeper into occultism and their influence.

A thought-provoking question noted by W. C. Van Dam in his book "Occultism and Christian Faith" is: 

"Why has it often been found that a horoscope matches until the moment a person becomes a Christian and then no longer aligns?"

Perhaps because when God takes control over our lives, His words apply: 

"Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the way you should go." (Isaiah 48:17)

Summation

Belief in horoscopes and numerology represents, before the spiritual world, a legitimate request for demons to curse a person, for whoever desires to submit to something other than God opens the door to the hostile spiritual world and its influence in their life. If you submit your life to God instead of horoscopes and numbers, it will be He who guards and directs your life paths. The stars and numbers do not love you, but God does.