The Island Journal

I think life would be simpler if I believed all the hocum around the horoscope. I am a cancer... the crab. Sure, that sounds like a bad thing, but supposedly I'm an artistic, family oriented, sensitive person who'd rather stay at home than explore the world around me. Hmmm, maybe I should take this a little more seriously. I do often travel and explore, but that's because I can't be home, I'm away on business. I have been known to doodle from time to time.... and paint.... and write.... O.k., I'm creative damnit! I also have an attachment to my parents as any “good child” should. We haven't always gotten along (we've down right butted heads from time to time), but I still feel that parent / child obligation and I love them both. I don't care to have a “family” of my own necessarily, but at some point a wife might be nice. Alright, we're batting 3 for four, but sensitive I ain't. Well, not anymore... but that means I was. Darn you astrology!

As a lark, I decided to look up my sign and a woman on a dating site just for curiosity's sake. The compatibility chart (Yes, there is one.... crazy right?) says that we would not get along because of the differences in personality. Looking at the personality traits she is supposed to have and looking at mine, it would seem that not only would we not get along... we'd kill one another. So looking at this logically, if the horoscope is right as far as I'm concerned, then it follows that it should be right where she's concerned. If that's the case, then we should never date. If we don't date we don't fall in love and we don't produce little hellion offspring there by never starting world war three and not ruling the earth. Alright, went off on a tangent, it happens to Cancers, but still... my point is valid. Who says that two people can't overcome the stars at the time of their birth. I know plenty of people who don't fall under the template of their sign.

More importantly, it's all wrong anyway. Due to stellar drift, the sign you're born under is, well, just plane wrong. Modern astrologers get their layout from the ancient Persians and Mesopotamians... I mean ancient! We're talking 2000 to 1500 BC. Add to this that is was developed over a naked eye perspective of the night sky, the system does not allow for modern discovery. Your sign today thanks to stellar drift, is off by nearly a month. In another 10,000 years, Polaris won't be the north star according to some calculations. On top of all of this, the distances, movement, and scale of the stars involved as well as the force (if any) that they exert on the planet or it's inhabitants is negligible. What does this mean? Well, it means signs don't really mean a thing.... or do they?

I am a cancer. I was born nearly a month late so I should have been a Gemini. Since the stars are out of sync with the horoscope, I am actually a Taurus. I do exhibit personality traits of all of these plus more dominant traits ascribed to three others. Observation is always colored by the observer so you can read into the individual's behavior, anything you want and attribute it to (or blame it on) the stars in the sky. Heck, I worship a deity that no one has seen in person (well, not all of him anyway) for at least five thousand years. Granted, he sent his kid to check up on us two thousand years ago, but still...

Seriously, if you look at the facts and history of any religion or system of beliefs, there isn't one that can't be debunked or at least criticized for some inaccuracy. There are about 101 contradictions in the Christian bible, regardless of translation or interpretation. I still believe it... it's a text book, a guide, not a claim of concrete supreme knowledge. I, however, am an observer... bare that in mind.

Addendum -

I read something interesting at a native American gift shop site (Animal Totem) that struck me as funny and a little suspicious.

June 21 - July 21 (which would be Cancer)

Salmon, Woodpecker, Flicker

Salmon strive to return home after a long journey. Salmon people are home-loving, giving and sensitive. They are also very imaginative and sometimes moody. Their goal in life is to live in harmony with the environment.