Astrology

What follows are some sincere question for my friends who are into astrology. I’d like to try to understand people’s beliefs and motivations a little better.

Why not just keep the inspiring, self reflective, spiritually encouraging, life-coachy parts of astrology and ditch the astronomy pseudoscience part? It’s clear that astrology has some real value to people but it also seems clear (at least to me) that that value has nothing whatsoever to do with stars and planets.

Do you truly believe that the position of stars and planets in the sky has a real impact on our lives or is it just that the kind of wisdom that resonates with you happens to come pre-packaged with these ancient beliefs about the stars and planets?

Also, to what extent do you believe that people with the same star sign actually share similar qualities that are different from those with different star signs?

Are you religious? In what ways do you think astrology is similar or different from religion.

What makes a person qualified to be an astrologer? Are some astrologers better than others? If so, what makes them better? Is it better accuracy, better insight, something else?