Psychology and Astronomy

Have you ever heard the old wives tales "the stars would have to align for that to happen" or "that person is crazy, must be a full moon" ? Since I am a psychology major ready to graduate, I am interested in the idea of psychology in astronomy.  The internet says that psychology is an academic and applied discipline that involves the scientific study of mental functions and behaviors.  The internet also says that astronomy is a natural science that is the study of celestial objects (such as moons, planets, stars, nebulae, and galaxies), the physics, chemistry, mathematics, and evolution of such objects, and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth, including supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, and cosmic background radiation. A big part of psychology, however, is how peoples environments effect their actions and behavior. Since the sky and it's contents is part of our environment, I thought it would be interesting to relate this idea to my major. 

Through my reading and research, I found many theories and ideas relating these two subjects together.  I read a paper by Dr. Gilbert that studied this subject extensively and he found that

"Today astrological interpretations relate to archetypal mythological concepts that form a background link to human behavior and motivation. Humanistic astrology uses the zodiac of signs as a basic frame of reference because it represents the twelve phases of the cyclic relationship of the Sun to the Earth. It symbolizes the precession of the seasons and the cycle of organic life on this planet."

This theory goes off the idea of the Zodiac Wheel. The wheel is the idea that the solar system is a gigantic plate that spins through space.  It has been used to chart seasons, equinoxes and solstices.  The equinoxes are the points that carry the most momentum and repolarization.  The solstices have the least momentum.  The four periods of the year are thought to posses the four elements of the Earth. These elements reflect in our senses of perception and wisdom of direct experience. Dr. Gilbert said that "Every sign represents a release of archetypal energy for the creation of human expression".




Taking all of this into consideration I decided to find images of the sky during significant events in my life time.

Let's start with a big event September 11, 2001



Columbine school massacre-  April 20, 1999



Sandy Hook school shooting- December 14, 2012


These are just a few of the pictures of the sky for these significant tragedies in our history.  Is there something in the sky that influenced the actions of people? I personally don't know yet. I will still need to do more research in order to form my opinion.  If you are like me and are still on the fence, I hope this at least inspired you to look deeper into the idea.