In the Beginning...

...I never believed in astrology. I still don't. "Belief" to me is the free and total trust in something that one has never experienced as truth. The only thing I "believe" in is experience. Does the sun rise every day? Great! I have reason to believe it will tomorrow. The same happened with astrology. I started extremely skeptical. I made the mistake of thinking newspaper horoscopes were "real" astrology and dismissed it entirely. And anyone who does so on that basis is utterly correct. Newspaper horoscopes are utterly useless tripe for your entertainment only. So, if you think astrology is crap because of things like that, I'm with you 100%.

I've also known people to "test" astrology by printing out random horoscopes or chart interpretations off the net and giving them to their friends to get their reactions to see if what astrology says is "accurate." Sorry, but that's not a test of astrology. That's testing people to see how fucking gullible they are. (And they can be very.) Or at least how willing they are to admit something is like them. (Often, they're not.) Also, if you give someone a chart reading for Ghandi or Marilyn Manson, and tell them it's them, chances are -- if for no reason other than the Lake Wobegon effect -- they'll agree. And the stuff generated from templates on the net is worded so generically that it can apply to anyone.

I tend to be highly skeptical about anything, really, until I experience something directly. I've tried various practices of astrology and tossed out chunks of it as complete bullshit. Like this "Astrotravel" stuff , where you can project what your vacation will be like in various places based on astro-voodoo rituals you perform naked in the basement with a map of Europe and a protractor. Don't pay anyone a wad of money for such pooh. I've had horrible vacations in places where I was supposed to have good ones, and wonderful vacations in places I was supposed to have bad ones.

If something doesn't work, you are not obligated to "believe" in it. But for me, I found certain basic practices of astrology were extremely reliable -- so reliable, in fact, that I'd be an idiot to ignore it. If that wets your pocket protector, sorry.

Still, the reason I'm starting this blog is not because I'm trying to prove anything. I could not care less if someone finds astrology useful or not. In fact, I wish none of you "believed" in astrology so that I could have my own little secret way of making people Oooh and Aaawww. The reason I'm writing is because I'm constantly seeing ridiculously ignorant stuff on the Net written by astrologers who don't know jack about people and psychology -- particularly places like Star IQ and other popular astrological watering holes. Over the last 14 years, I've had the chance to study charts of people in 12 Step groups, therapy offices, S&M clubs, and other dark crevices of human nature. I'll keep my own anonymity, thank you, to talk about the true signatures of addiction, sexual perversity, and violence.

I promise it's gonna be a dark, wet, wild ride with lots of cussin' and moshin' and fist wavin'. Rawk!