Astrology practices hold beliefs that astronomical phenomena interlink with the events or personality of an individual on earth. Despite being rejected by the scientific community, Astrology occupies a significant portion of the market in India. And even a few universities started offering graduate and postgraduate courses in astrology. For example, one of the reputed university of India, Annamalai University, offered astrology courses during the year 2010-2015.
The scientific testing of astrology yielded no positive results that could support the outlined effects in astrological traditions. For centuries astrology has been making dubious and false predictions. The Shawn Carlson experiment, which included committees of astrologers and scientists, reached to a conclusion that Natal astrology works by-chance. Natal astrology functions with beliefs that the entire life of an individual and their personalities can be mapped-out on a natal chart. To build natal charts, astrologers use the date, time, and place of birth of an individual, including the planetary positions. Practices of natal astrology often observed in India. Most of the professional astrologers predict an individual’s future based on their personality tests. Even though the fact lies wide open, the absence of verified scientific base to support their astrological beliefs, yet astrology is frequently adopted in many events or ceremonies among communities with low scientific literacy.
Falsifiability tests are often among the criteria used to differentiate between the scientific and non-scientific bases, where a theory is falsified, with a single failed test. And in this test, astrology being tagged falsifiable, thus declaring astrology a pseudoscience. Despite the falsification, astrologers have not come up with any scientific pieces of evidence or react to it. In contrast, scientific disciplines always respond and support its theory with empirical data gathered through a series of experiments. Therefore, believing in astrology would be an adaption of pseudoscience and its promotion. Even though astrology creates a large market in India and other countries, yet, is a hallmark of pseudoscience. Many read the astrology section purely for entertainment, while the rest try to relate predictions with their activities of life. However, science is an evolving subject where we continuously learn, unlearn and relearn. Few authors questions the science, with the quote, if gravitational force can affect how the biology of an individual is shaped, then why not planets. To answer that, perhaps, astrologers might have to help the scientists to measure the scale of the effect that planetary movements can cause in an individual.