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A Letter to Time.com Editor: Eclipses and Beyond - What the Astrologers Interviewed Didn't Say

Below is the full text of the letter-to-the-editor of Time.com that I have written in response to its article "What Does the Solar Eclipse Mean for You? Astrologers Can't Seem to Agree" published on August 19, 2017 to dispel some very unfair criticisms of Astrology:

"I am a Hong Kong-based astrologer and would like to respond to the article by Melissa Chan in the Science section about the American Solar Eclipse - and more.

"First, if Time really wanted to help readers learn what the eclipse means in Astrology, you shouldn't have sent in a Science reporter who obviously has never studied Astrology to write the story. It was like sending in a Sports reporter to write a Politics story by asking her to interview Congressmen who talked about things that she had no background in - hence failing to make sense of what the interviewees said, who appeared to be making contradictory statements to one another.

"I know the science community has denounced Astrology as a 'pseudo-science', but that's ridiculous - because I'm yet to see a professional and respectable astrologer who claims Astrology is a science! I wouldn't call it that either, for Astrology is actually more like an Arts and Humanities subject than a hard science subject like Physics. Denouncing Astrology as a 'pseudo-science' is as ridiculous as calling Physics a 'pseudo-art'.

"However, even if Astrology isn’t a science (in the sense of not being experimental, with its results repeatable, etc), it is definitely empirical. As a field of studies, it’s been in existence for at least 4000 years, dating back to the Babylonian times, with a history much, much longer than many subjects currently studied in universities. Its concepts and techniques have been modified and reinvented by countless astrologers throughout the ages, in both East and West. Therefore, the symbolic meanings that astrologers ascribe to planets and zodiac signs are by no means random. It’s been constantly tested, revised and updated for 4000 years already. As long as someone has really taken the time and effort to study the subject (going beyond the Sun sign columns in the media), he or she would see it really works.

"As Astrology is a big field, there are many approaches. Some astrologers tend to practice it for fortune-telling purpose while some use it as tool to help clients understand themselves better, closer to psychotherapy. But most modern-day astrologers no longer believe the planets AFFECT human affairs, unlike the ancients. Astrologers nowadays tend to see planets as REFLECTING certain trends, potential and possibilities only.

"As for the specific meaning of eclipses in Astrology, let me clarify there are at least two levels: The societal and global level (what astrologers call 'mundane astrology') and the individual level. For individuals, astrologers would look at their birth charts which are generated based on the person’s year, month, date, hour and minute of birth as well as the birth town’s location. Each person’s birth chart is unique, hence his or her experience of a certain period in time is also unique, as reflected by the transits to the birth chart. No sweeping statement can sum up the experience for everybody.

"As for the societal and global level, eclipses usually indicate a time in which there are more major natural disasters (earthquakes, storms, etc) and outbreaks of violence (like terrorist attacks, violent protests). Like individuals, countries have 'birth charts' too. If one wants to find out how a particular country will experience a particular period, one can look at the planetary transits to that country’s birth chart.

"I don’t know the astrologers interviewed in the article and am not speaking for them anyway. But I feel the mainstream media and its readers deserve a better understanding of Astrology which has been so under-estimated and unfairly treated, even if it’s been such an important part of human civilization, in both East and West.

"Thank you for your attention."


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Based in Hong Kong, Belinda has got over 10 years of chart-reading experience and holds four university degrees, including Psychology and Counselling. Before becoming a professional astrologer, she was doing a highly stable and well-paid job. She switched careers because astrology had simply changed her life… Read on

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