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Birthday People

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Astrology is a bunch of hooey. There’s no way the position of the stars in relation to the Earth on a particular day has any influence at all over the sort of person you become. All you have to do is look at any one day’s host of birthday people – artists who launched themselves into a certain form of expression and ultimately wound up in very different places.

Like today’s birthday people in music. February 9th boasts:

Carmen Miranda in 1909
Ernest Tubb in 1914
Carole King in 1942.

If astrology had any truth to it, these three different performers would fit this description from astrology.com.au

You are a zesty individual, having tremendous amounts of energy. You are determined and forceful in how you deal with people. You want to express your ground-breaking spirit in everything you do but unfortunately you won’t always able to break free of the limits that are imposed upon you. Some Aquarians learn through their family life that before you can be the master of your own destiny, you have to serve. In some extreme cases Aquarians are controlled and dominated by others throughout the formative period of their lives which is why it’s so difficult for them to submit to others.

Most of that could apply to anyone. But in the case of these three, it’s not true at all. Well, OK. Maybe the “zesty” part. And all three had great chart-topping success for a time in the music business. Each eventually found some disappointment in the limitations of the entertainment industry and the fickle nature of stardom.

Two of them are always seen wearing hats. Two were listed among the most creatively and financially successful women of their time.

But only one of them attempted to shoot a music producer in a hotel lobby. And only one had a heart attack on the Jimmy Durante show and died the next day.

See? Very different.

Astrology: Is it charlatanism, quackery or just pure hooey?

58 thoughts on “Birthday People”

  4. Personally, I have thought it was hooey but someone gave me a book with expanded descriptions and the description for Virgo had many things that were spot on. The Aries description for my father and one wasband are pretty close, too, but I can’t get other family members’ signs to “work”.
    So I still think it’s hooey.

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  5. Of course it’s hooey, but isn’t it fun sometimes to consider? My Birthday is Feb 1, so I always have a place in my heart for the nice things people say about Aquarians. Maybe it would be good if we tried to live up to the positive qualities for each of our zodiac signs.

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  6. I think the ones in the newspapers that try to lump all the Aquarians, i.e., into the same prediction are hooey. Those are about just the sun signs, and that’s only a portion of the whole picture. But I’ve had my chart done a number of times, and it’s kind of amazing when you get into all the details.

    Basically, when I consider the vastness of the universe, I don’t see how I can discount the possibility that movements of its components might affect things here. Kind of like the idea that the flap of a butterfly’s wings… There is just so much we don’t know.

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  7. I love this stuff, I had a guy do the chart and it was right on
    All zodiac folk can tell I’m pixies but now I need to factor in Chinese zodiac where they do it by 12 but it’s the year instead of the month I think the two sentence synopsis in the back of the tabloid may be overly broad based but could be honed in with more detail given the chance.

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    1. Which movie had the two sisters who knew jimmy stewart was pixelated? May be truer than I want to admit . Spell checker didn’t like my misspelling of picies.

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  8. Good morning. I don’t completely discount anything that anyone thinks might be true. How can you prove that anything is completely wrong? Any proof you have that something is wrong could fall apart when looked at more closely. Even if I completely disagree with something, I could be wrong.

    I haven’t looked for any proof that astrology isn’t quackery. I more or less assume that it is the kind of thing that isn’t based on anything that can be shown to be true. From what I have seen it is just an interesting thing to talk about and can be a good conversation starter. I don’t completely rule out the possibility that it might hold true in some way.

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  9. Morning all! Although I don’t take any personal stock in astrology, I hate to totally discount anything in the universe (There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.) I’m guessing that there is much much more to the “craft” of astrology than what we get in the newspapers and magazines. I am a Leo and a monkey and I’ve never completely “fit” either of the descriptions, but I’ve never had a complete chart done either.

    Stayed nicely on the fence there, didn’t I?

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  10. Morning–

    Once upon a time, long long ago, spur of the moment I went to a local palm reader / tarot card reading / astrologist (?? Are they all the same or different entities I wonder?).
    She said, among other things, that I would have trouble with money. I paid her and while she went for change I got up and left- Leaving her a much bigger tip than anticipated. Not that I meant to leave her that big of tip, I just sorta forgot what I was doing and I got up and left. So, was she right or was she setting me up?? I’ve always wondered.
    I don’t recall what else she told me. Probably something about blogs and baboons.

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    1. My wife’s Aunt went to a local soothsayer with a friend and told the friend on the way there that the soothsayer was just an old witch. When they got there the soothsayer told her: “you are wrong, I am not just an old witch”.

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  11. Headstrong, arrogant, ostentatious and successful in investments. Lucky in love, with an ability to have long marriages or — if things don’t go well — no trouble finding a replacement. Does that sound like me? That’s me, according to the Chinese horoscope system. Would I call this hooey? That word isn’t nearly strong enough. “Ludicrous, reeking, contemptible horse-pucky” seems a lot closer to me! No staying on no frickin’ fence for me! I’m much too headstrong and arrogant for that.

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  12. I wish I had a reliable source of future prognostication-we leave for London on Wednesday morning, and I am hoping for a hassle free trip. We arrive in London at 6:30am Thursday, and plan to hit the ground running, heedless of jet lag. Would it be wise to buy tickets for an 8pm performance on Thursday of Cirque Du soleil at the Royal Albert Hall, or would we sleep through it? Hmm. We need to be up really early Friday morning to catch the shuttle to the Warner Bros Harry Potter studios. Maybe we should just try to make it through the day and get a good night’s sleep.

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    1. Renee – I don’t know if this will work for you, but it always works for me (although I do have to admit I have a very forgiving internal clock). Take half an excedrin pm (or something like that – not to knock you out, but just relax you) as you’re about to head over the Atlantic. So if you’re flying out of New York – take it there — if you’re flying from the Midwest, take it about 6 p.m. Then turn off your light, pull your blanket up and sleep as much as you can. Don’t wake up to eat, don’t watch a movie, don’t read. When you arrive in London in the morning, re-set your watch to the current time in London and push on as if you’ve been on this time all along. If it were me, I’d get the Cirque tickets and go for it! Good luck!

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    2. A few years ago one daughter was going to visit the other daughter in England at Christmas time. She arrived Dec 23. They went to Cambridge and spent the night there then got up in the morning to queue (from 9 AM until they let you in at 2 PM) for the Ceremony of Nine Lessons and Carols at Kings College. She was doing well until she sat down for the ceremony. As the other daughter said, ‘At least you didn’t snore.’
      Good luck with the Cirque Du Soleil! It sounds like fun! Have a good trip!

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    3. You won’t notice it at all the first day
      The trick is to find morning stuff because the hotel will store your bags but not let you in the room. So get out the train schedule and head for someplace fun
      . Piccadilly Circus has. 1/2 price ticket office for that nights theater performances . Go see the Crown Jewels or the Tate museum
      Pub lunch is the highlight of a British day
      Hope you like beer, it’s one thing they do very well

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      1. Thank you for the suggestions. We plan to do the London Eye on Thursday. Daughter wants to see the Tate, and a pub lunch is a must for Thursday as well. I don’t care much for beer, but hard cider sounds pretty good to me. We will see the British Museum on Sunday, and have tickets to see the new exhibit of prehistoric ice age art. We are staying in South Kensington, near the Victoria and Albert museum.

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    1. This is hilarious – we just got back from a production of HAIR at MCTC (Metro. Community & Technical College)… Well done, PJ!

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  15. My birthday is Sept. 23rd, first day of Libra. So, I’m a heavey Virgo-Libra cusp. And the fact that my birthday is printed in the paper every day got me interested in astrology as a kid. The descriptions of both signs certainly coincided with my personality. I used to be WAY too sensitive and I had to learn to tamp down my emotional reactions to things a little or I’d have gone bananas. Puberty was not an enjoyable time in my life because of this. So, was it self-fulfilling prophecy or was it reality? Honestly, I don’t know. But, as Margaret Atwood said during her interview on MPR this last week, “It’s a good conversation starter.”

    I have a very good friend that used to be a comic book artist with DC Comics. She did romance comics specifically and she was and is into astrology in a big way. I bought some of her artwork (and I’ll be buying the rest as I raise the funds) but she did some of the astrology pieces in DC’s romance comics. Stunning work! She was heavily influenced by Alphonse Mucha’s work when she was growing up. I’ll ask Dale to post them.

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    1. My birthday is on September 2nd which isn’t near the Virgo-Libra cusp and is well within the range of a Virgo. I don’t know if I fit well as a Virgo. I also had trouble with puberty. Does anyone do well with puberty? When I did substitute teaching, those kids in early puberty were a difficult group to deal with in class. I often thought they should be given at least a year off from going to school. I tried not to be too hard on them because I knew they needed to be allowed a little freedom.

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    2. I am a couple days ahead of you, tgith – also on the “cusp.” Mostly this has allowed me to pick and choose between what I feel suits me from each Virgo and Libra. And is an excellent excuse for why I’m not as organized as being a Virgo is supposed to make me…If my birthday really had any say in my personality, I should be more like Sophia Loren or Jelly Roll Morton. Not sure I have managed to do Sept. 20 justice with those folks as company.

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  17. My moon is in the 13th house today, and Venus is piddling on me and Jupiter is giving me a Giant Red Pain. I would like to think, Dear Cassius that, “The fault is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” But isn’t it handy to blame the stars.

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  18. My son, myself, my mother, my favorite great uncle, paternal grandfather, and maternal uncle all Aquarians. Family gatherings were not necessarily harmonius.

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  19. I have both sun and moon solidly in the middle of Aries. I’m supposed to be fiery, willful, headstrong, stubborn, sometimes pushy, creative, confident and intelligent. I’m supposed to be a born leader. I often don’t feel any of those things. I usually don’t feel confident or intelligent at all. Sometimes I’m creative but other times I haven’t a spark of creativity. I know I can be willful, headstrong and stubborn but I get those flattering traits from my mother. I really hope I’m not pushy. I tend to be aware of pushy people and I hope like mad that I’m not one of them. I can’t imagine a trait I like less.

    I also really like my solitude and Aries are supposed to be outgoing, popular people. I know some Scorpios and I tend to feel a little wary of them. Some of my best relationships have been with other Aries, Virgos and Libras. A Gemini and a Cancer have each hurt me more than any other sign. I’m attracted to Leo, Aquarius and Pisces.

    I used to read horoscopes but don’t anymore. I read this blog instead – it enriches my life so much more!

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    1. I’m an Aries too, and the description doesn’t fit very well. I looked into astrology a little deeper when I was a teenager and I remember a few details – moon in Libra, Gemini rising – that fit better. As BiR pointed out, the sun sign is only a part of the deal. (A little Googling came up with this: “Women with moon in Libra have an emotional temperament more inclined to be interested in financial matters, social activities, and intellectual endeavors, than in raising children or taking care of household chores.” That’s me, to a T.)

      One of the web sites I found said the same is true for Chinese astrology – “Zodiac animals are assigned by the year in Chinese astrology. But, you have to keep in mind that the animal signs are also assigned by month known as inner animals, and by the hours of the day called secret animals. So, a person born in the year of rooster, might be a horse internally and tiger secretively.”

      There are also five associated elements. In Chinese astrology I am an Earth Dog.

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  20. I have made reference on here in the past to my aged aunt Mabel in Florida and trying to take care of here needs. Only her wonderful friend Ann, daughter of Mabel.s best friend would attend any funeral so there will be none. Thank God for Ann, and I mean that as prayer, who is 72 herself.

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