Raye Mathis discusses Science and Astrology and the divide that occured during the Age of Reason
Raye Mathis (she/her) is a noted astrologer, a professor of multiple disciplines at Atlantic University, and has a B.A. in Mathematics (magna cum laude) from Furman University, as well as her M.S.W. in Clinical Social Work from Norfolk State University
Raye teaches 4-week online astrology groups on learning how to work with your own chart. In addition, she has a 40-year ongoing astrology practice giving private astrological consultations and publishes a quarterly newsletter entitled "The Capricorn Times". She can be contacted at rayemathis22@gmail.com
Gretchen O'Neal is a spiritual accountability and empowerment coach. She owns and operates www.cometoyourself.com. Come To Yourself provides unbiased, easily accessible information from the top scholars in the fields of transpersonal psychology and consciousness studies, coupled with personal insights from successful artists, musicians, and business professionals, to anyone looking to start their spiritual journey to discover and serve their soul's mission in life
Gretchen:
Do you think that part of the misunderstanding is simply people's fear, fear of the unknown fear of what they don't understand that kind of prevents them from learning or understanding about this?
Raye:
So major? I think that's a major part, but I think another part is that astrology is based. That is kind of like the foundation of astrology is that we are a part of the universe. We are not a part from the universe and that we affect, uh, our environment. We affect the weather. We affect animals, animals affect us, everything in the universe is it we're all called in, uh, uh, relationship that when one moves, the other feels it. Um, and that's just very different from our Western, at least the Western, um, Judeo Christian background where, um, we're still in the belief system that, uh, we got from the old Testament that man has dominion over everything in the earth. And, and until that belief system is changed and we start to realize that, no, we don't have dominion over everything that we are a part of this, not apart from it.
Gretchen:
There's no hierarchy it's connection. Yeah.
Raye:
So I think that it's very hard. And then of course the whole science thing, um, you know, and, and most people don't realize it's that, uh, astronomy and astrology were the same thing until about the 17th century. And, uh, you know, at that point is when we kind of started as the scientific, uh, movement, so to speak some of them, some of the most famous scientists, quote unquote were astrologers, um, uh, Lilly, uh, Kepler Galileo. If you look on Wikipedia, they will have listed as being an astrologer. Uh,
Gretchen:
You yourself were mathematician for NASA.
Raye:
and, uh, NASA had a spacecraft Cassini. I don't know if you remember. I think it was the late nineties. They sent the spacecraft to, um, Saturn and it was named Cassini and Cassini was a very famous astrologer, although people probably don't realize it. And, um, he was the one who discovered, I think he discovered maybe four of the moons for the satellites of Saturn. So they named it Cassini and they did something. They were going to, um, put, um, the people who had worked on Cassini, put their autographs, kind of put them in whatever they do on a steel plate and send them to Satern. And so they opened that up to people who worked at NASA and my husband that was his whole work life was at NASA And I was there for seven years until our son was born. So we turned in our autographs. And so I just thought it was really neat. you know, to t hink that an astrologer had sneaked o n b oard and was on its way on o ur way t o, to, u h, Saturn. So
Gretchen:
That's, that's amazing.
Raye:
So, uh, so I think that, um, you know, just realize it was kind of the age of reason came along and the same thing happened with alchemy and chemistry. Yes. You know, it was like that whole, it was like the esoteric kind of spiritual side, uh, separated out and was rejected and
Gretchen:
Just pure, almost mathematical science was left. Yeah.
Raye:
Well, if you can prove it in the laboratory, then we'll believe it otherwise. And of course science is even now coming to the realization that they affect their, their, uh, their research assignment. So they're trying to do all kinds of things to, uh, to protect, you know, their thinking, uh, whatever it is that's affecting, uh, their research. So we're, we'll get there. Won't be in my lifetime, not at least this lifetime, but
Gretchen:
So for people who say that astrology just, you know, has no basis in science, it has no scientific relevance or connection, as we just said, completely false, completely not true. It was, it originated as a science,
Raye:
Right. It was while they were all together. And, uh, and I think that, um, it's a little bit like, you know, um, gravity worked even before we discovered it. Yeah. So I think this is what we're working with. Astrology works, uh, even though it hasn't been proven in the laboratory yet, but it works in a very different way from what you get, uh, in the newspaper. So,
Gretchen:
Yeah, I think that there's, I think that that's an important distinction. Um, this concept when people say scientific proof, um, I had a conversation with another professor where we really made the distinction that when you, when at large people say scientific proof, what they're referring to is scientifically accepted. And therefore that is seen as proof, but there is plenty of scientific evidence of everything else, you know, occurring is just because mainstream science hasn't accepted it, it's suddenly isn't qualified as proof, but the evidence exists. So similarly in astrology evidence exists that there is this connection between us and, you know, the, the placement of the planets at the time of our birth and the placement of, you know, every other force, including, you know, where we were born and located, you know, having some kind of ultimate connection.
Raye:
Right. Right. And I, uh, I think that's very well described. So there's, there is plenty of evidence. It's just a matter of, uh, someone it's like, it's hard for me to understand how someone can say there's nothing to astrology. I don't believe in it. If they have not really gone to a good astrologer and had their chart read a lesson, doesn't do that. And then let's see how you feel.