The Sky Speaks — Is Astrology Becoming the New Religion?
发布时间 2026-03-15 12:00:43 来源
Hey everyone, this is Adam Allen Boss from Night Let Astrology. Happy Sunday everyone. I've got a bonus episode cooked up for you guys today. We're going to ask the question of whether or not astrology should be considered a new religion. It seems like a strange question on the surface, but I've been noticing this question coming up a lot and it was actually asked to write an article on this question for an astrological magazine. Later this year, it will, my written version of this talk will actually appear in a magazine. And the reason for that is that whenever Saturn and Neptune get together, conjunction years like this, there's a long history of astrologers noticing that major changes happen either within the trajectory of existing religions or often new religions or religious or spiritual groups or communities are formed.
大家好，我是夜晚星象学的Adam Allen Boss。祝大家周日愉快！今天为大家准备了一个特别节目。我们将探讨一个问题：占星学是否应该被视为一种新宗教？乍一看，这个问题似乎很奇怪，但我注意到最近这个问题经常被提及，实际上我还被邀请为一本星象杂志撰写关于这个问题的文章。今年晚些时候，我的文章版本将刊登在杂志上。之所以考虑这个问题，是因为每当土星和海王星相遇时，比如今年这样的合相年，历来都有占星师观察到现有宗教的发展轨迹会发生重大变化，或者往往会形成新的宗教、宗教团体或精神社群。
Even within the field of astrology, for example, the Saturn and Neptune conjunction that coincided around the same time that Uranus was also in the mix in Capricorn in the late 80s, early 90s, coincided with the emergence of Hellenistic astrology, which is kind of a new sect of astrology. So within the spiritual field of astrology, a new sect emerges, one that's rooted in the appearance of new doctrines and teachings from a lost era, so to speak. It's a thing. But the question we might ask ourselves right now, especially considering the increasing amount of money that's being put into the astrological industry, astrological software, programs, the marriage of AI in astrology, which is concerning obviously, but also just the prevalence of astrologers.
即使在占星术领域内，例如在20世纪80年代末至90年代初，土星和海王星相合，并且天王星也位于摩羯座的时候，正值希腊占星术的出现，这是占星术中的一个新分支。从某种意义上说，这一新分支植根于来自一个失落时代的新教义和新教学。在占星术这个精神领域内，一个新派系的出现确实是一个现象。然而，考虑到投入占星领域的资金越来越多，例如占星软件、程序的开发，以及AI与占星术的结合，这显然让人担忧。此外，占星师的数量也在增加。在这个背景下，我们可能需要思考一些问题。
I remember when my wife and I opened a yoga studio back in 2011, and between now and then the prevalence of yoga studios, yoga teachers has sort of exploded. We're seeing something similar in the astrological industry. It's a lot more common for people to be an astrologer, to see an astrologer, to be aware of astrological transits, to be aware of mercury, retrogrades or eclipses, for example. And so it might be worth asking ourselves, look, is astrology becoming a new religion itself right now? I mean, for a lot of us, it's been around for a long time, so we're like, well, not for me, it's not. It might have played that role for you for a very long time, but is it more popularly becoming a new religion right now?
我记得我和我的妻子在2011年开了一家瑜伽馆。从那时到现在，瑜伽馆和瑜伽老师的数量激增。我们在占星行业也看到类似的情况。越来越多的人成为占星师，或者去咨询占星师，甚至意识到占星过境现象，比如水星逆行或者日食月食等。因此，我们可能需要问问自己，占星术是否正在成为一种新的宗教。对我们中的很多人来说，占星学已经存在很久了，所以我们可能会觉得，这对我来说不新鲜。对于你来说，它可能长期以来一直在扮演这样的角色，但它是否正在更广泛地被视为一种新兴的宗教呢？
So I'm going to address that question today, and I will give you a reason why we might say yes, and I'm going to give you a reason why we might say no. And I'll tell you what I think about it as well, but hopefully give you enough ideas and thoughts to make a decision for yourself. Anyway, before we get into it, remember to like and subscribe. If you get something out of this channel, throw a quarter in the hat by giving us the subscriber the like or a comment, it really helps the algorithm find us, and then we can keep growing and thriving in what we do in the way that we serve you guys with this content.
今天我要回答这个问题，我会为你解释为什么答案可能是“是”，也会说说为什么答案可能是“不是”。同时，我也会告诉你我的看法，希望能给你提供足够的想法和思路，让你自己做出决定。在开始之前，请记得点赞和订阅。如果你觉得这个频道有帮助，不妨通过点赞或评论来支持我们，这对算法推荐很有帮助，这样我们就能继续成长，为大家提供更好的内容。
You can find transcripts of any of these daily talks on my website, which is nightlightastrology.com. No promotions for the day because it's a bonus episode. We're just going to get straight into it. Look, when I was in my undergraduate program in philosophy, I was at a religious school. At the time, I thought I was going to become a pastor. I guess I do, I've always joked that I give sermons from the stars. So, and I was a preacher's kid. So maybe I've still taken up something, I don't know, kind of, I'm a clergy of some kind. God knows of what, but anyway, when I was in my undergrad at a religious school, I was studying philosophy and world religion, interfaith studies all very interesting to me.
你可以在我的网站 nightlightastrology.com 上找到这些每日谈话的文字记录。今天没有宣传内容，因为这是一个特别节目，我们直接进入正题。听我说，当我在大学期间学习哲学时，我是在一所宗教学校就读。当时，我以为自己会成为一名牧师。我常开玩笑说，我是在星星中传道。我还是牧师的孩子，所以也许我仍然从事类似的工作，虽然不知道具体是什么，但反正算是某种神职人员吧。无论如何，当我在宗教学校读本科时，我学习了哲学、世界宗教和跨信仰研究，这些都让我觉得非常有趣。
And I read a book that I had to pull off the shelf and look some details up from for this talk. It's called Dimensions of Religion by a gentleman named Nini and Smart. And it is widely taught in religious studies programs. I don't know if it still is or not. Maybe it's totally dated at this point. But anyway, it was something I had to become familiar with in my own studies. And he gives seven very famous dimensions of what constitute a religion if you know a religion as a religion because it contains these seven dimensions.
我读了一本书，为了这次演讲，我不得不从书架上拿下来查看一些细节。这本书叫《宗教的维度》，由一位名叫尼尼的绅士和斯玛特合著。这本书在宗教学课程中广泛使用。我不确定它现在是否仍在教学中，也许现在已经完全过时了。但无论如何，这本书是我在自己的学习中必须熟悉的。他在书中提出了七个著名的宗教维度，认为如果一种宗教被认作是宗教，通常就是因为它包含了这七个维度。
So what I'm going to do for you today is I'm going to go through these seven dimensions of religion from Nini and Smart and tell you first why I think astrology actually fills out every single dimension. And so, yeah, maybe we could say it's a religion and maybe even more than that, we could say that it's becoming something like a religion. It's becoming a kind of spiritual sect, maybe not as institutional as in defined as like a Protestant sect or the Catholic church or something like that. But I think there's an argument to be made, a case to be made that we fill out all seven of these dimensions and that the rising growth and popularity and recognition of these seven dimensions among more and more people do indeed make it, it's at least to be considered as a kind of new religion and maybe one that will see grow from this point forward. Then I'm going to introduce some reasons why I think we might not be so quick to call this a new religion for a variety of reasons.
今天，我想为大家介绍尼尼和斯玛特提出的宗教的七个维度，并且解释为什么我认为占星术实际上涵盖了每一个维度。因此，我们可以说它是一种宗教，甚至可以说它正在变成一种类似于宗教的东西。占星术正在成为一种精神党派，虽然可能不像新教派或天主教这样有明确定义和制度化，但我认为有理由认为它涵盖了所有这七个维度。占星术的快速增长、普及以及对这七个维度的认同，使得越来越多的人认为应当把它视为一种新的宗教，甚至可能会从此进一步发展。然而，我也会介绍一些理由说明为什么我们不应该轻易将它称为一种新宗教，这其中有多方面的原因。
And then I'll let you decide for yourself. I'll tell you kind of where I land at the end. But anyway, let's get into it. So here's the seven dimensions that he mentions. The first one is ritual or practical. This would be things like ceremonies and prayers, liturgy, sacraments, meditation, etc. So is there a ritual and practical dimension to astrology? And I would say that there is. That ritual or practical dimension is as simple as the daily casting of charts, the casting of the birth chart, the casting of elections, the casting of forary charts for different purposes, often connected to different spiritual intentions, prayers, offerings to the gods, for thousands of years, spend this way.
然后，我会让你自己做决定。最后，我会告诉你我的看法。不过，先让我们进入正题。他提到的七个维度中的第一个是仪式或实践维度。这包括像仪式、祈祷、礼拜仪式、圣礼、冥想等内容。那么，星座学是否也有仪式和实践的维度呢？我认为是有的。这个仪式或实践的维度可以简单到每日的星盘绘制，出生星盘的绘制，择日星盘的绘制，以及不同目的的占星盘绘制，这些通常与不同的精神意图、祈祷、向神灵献祭相关，几千年来一直都是如此。
But speaking more recently to our modern moment right now, because by the way, astrology has been connected to world religions for thousands of years. So in a way, this is kind of a silly question because astrology has always been connected to religion, right? But in terms of is it now for us right now becoming more of a popular modern new religion? Well, does it satisfy all of these dimensions? Ritual and practical? Do we have practices that are repeatable and observed by many people for spiritual purposes? Yes. Simple casting of charts, but also the creation of daily forecasting content of the tracking of history through transits and transit tracking and mundane forecasts. So yeah, I think there's a ritual and practical dimension that's satisfied.
最近谈到我们当下的现代时刻，顺便说一下，占星术与世界宗教的联系已经有几千年的历史。所以从某种意义上说，这个问题有点滑稽，因为占星术一直与宗教相关，对吧？但就我们现在的情况而言，它是否正成为一种流行的现代新宗教呢？那么，它是否满足了所有这些维度？仪式性和实用性呢？我们是否有可以被许多人为了精神目的而重复和观测的实践？是的。简单的星盘制作，以及通过行运和世俗预测追踪历史的内容创作。因此，我认为在仪式性和实用性方面是达到了要求的。
Two, this is where it gets a little bit more subjective. Is there an experiential and emotional component? In other words, do people experience, is there a personal religious experiential dimension to the practice? To astrology? Are there mystical states? Do people convert somehow to astrology? Is there a sense of revelation connected? Now again, this is a little subjective, but I would say certainly there is. For example, many, many, many people, thousands that have come through our programs at nightlight over 16 years of professional practice have said that they get bit by the astrological bug, which usually means they have an experience that they come to recognize one way or another as astrological.
翻译如下：
第二点，这就涉及到一些主观的内容。是否存在一种体验性和情感成分？换句话说，人们是否经历过某种个人的宗教体验，或者对这种实践有个人体验？在占星术中是否存在神秘状态？人们是否以某种方式“转向”占星术？是否与某种启示感相关联？现在，再次强调一下，这有点主观，但我可以肯定地说，确实存在。例如，在我们夜光计划中，有许许多多的人——在16年的专业实践中数以千计的人——表示他们中了“占星的毒”，这通常意味着他们通过某种方式经历并认识到了一种占星体验。
They recognize their experiences, the insights or the meaning of an experience in terms of the symbols of astrology, and they experience something like a conversion to an animate, mystical, astrological cosmos, which they suddenly are peeking through the veil and understanding is real and present, and many people like a spiritual conversion are forever changed. And this may actually open the door to traditional or conventional religious participation as well. So and beyond that are daily tracking of transits, are daily relationship to moon cycles or eclipses, are daily tracking and charting of the grabbed stories that we've done on this channel in the past, or the way that funny symbolism shows up under a Mercury retrograde.
他们通过占星符号来认识他们的经历、见解或体验的意义，感受到如同皈依一个充满生命力、神秘的占星宇宙一样。他们突然透过一层面纱，理解到这一切是真实存在的，许多人因此经历一种类似精神上的转变，从此被深深改变。这也可能为参与传统或常规的宗教活动打开大门。在这之外，他们可能每天关注行星运行、与月亮周期或日食的关系，每日记录和追踪我们以前在这个频道上所做的故事，或者观察在水星逆行期间出现的有趣符号。
And we go, that's the astrology. There's the astrology you can't make this stuff up. And the way that we often find ourselves in the midst of a deeply meaningful experience in life because the symbolism is speaking in the midst of it, I can't say that that is an experiential and emotional. On the one hand, it might just look like data tracking or transit and pattern tracking. But for anyone who lives astrology, you know that it's experiential and emotional to its core. And you can probably also relate to the idea that there are something like astrological conversion stories. I've seen way too many of them way too frequently throughout my full career to say otherwise.
这就是占星术的奥秘。你可能觉得这些都难以置信，但事实是，当我们在生活中经历一段具有深刻意义的体验时，往往是因为其中的符号意义在发挥作用。我无法否认，这是一种体验和情感上的深刻感受。从表面上看，这可能只是数据记录或观察星象和模式的变化。但对于那些真正了解占星术的人来说，这种体验是发自内心的情感。你可能也会认同，有人因为占星术的故事而受到启发。我在自己的职业生涯中见过太多这样的例子，实在无法视而不见。
Number three, he says that the third dimension is called narrative and mythic. This would be sacred stories that explain things, that explain why things are the way that they are. Origins, divine beings, cosmic order. Do we have something like that in astrology? Absolutely. Now, is it, do we have a clear singular, like monomith about the creation of the universe? No. But we have an astrological model that was embedded in the cultures and tradition of many different religions dating back thousands of years. That is the heavenly spheres model, which puts the earth at the center and sees everything moving outward in concentric spheres that are like different dimensions of reality that the gods and goddesses preside over. And that semantic symbolic model of reality archetypal, often platonic, Pythagorean, Vedic, pervades the modern imagination of astrology of astrologers just as much as it did people thousands of years ago.
他说，第三个维度被称为叙事和神话。这指的是解释事物为何如此的神圣故事，比如起源、神灵和宇宙秩序。那么，在占星术中是否也存在这样的东西呢？当然有。不过，我们是否有一个明确且单一的宇宙创造神话呢？并没有。但是，我们拥有一种占星模型，这种模型千百年来深深植根于不同宗教的文化和传统中。这就是天体模型，将地球置于中心，并认为所有事物向外移动，形成像不同现实维度的同心球体，由众神和女神掌控。这种富有意义和象征性的现实模型，常常是柏拉图式、毕达哥拉斯式和吠陀式的，深入现代占星师的想象中，就像几千年前一样。
And our entire language is built off from gods, goddesses, myths, archetypes, ancient philosophy. So I think it's safe to say there is a strong narrative in mythic dimension not only to the history of our field, but the way we talk about it on a day-to-day basis. So number four is doctrinal and philosophical. Are there formal teachings or theological systems? Now here's where it gets a little bit more controversial because there are actually many different schools of astrology throughout the whole history of astrology. Is there are there doctrines of Hellenistic astrology? Absolutely. But are there doctrines of Vedic astrology that differ at times? Yeah, totally. Are there different doctrines of horary astrology, medical astrology?
我们的整个语言都是基于众神、神话、原型和古代哲学构建的。因此，我认为可以肯定地说，在历史和我们日常谈论这个领域的方式中，都有一个强烈的神话维度的叙述。第四点是教义和哲学方面的内容。是否存在正式的教义或神学体系？这一点上就变得有些有争议了，因为在整个占星术的历史中，实际上存在着许多不同的学派。古典占星术有自己的教义吗？绝对有。但有的时候吠陀占星术也有不同的教义吗？当然有。卜卦占星术和医学占星术是否也有不同的教义？是的。
Yeah. Are there different philosophical emphases placed on the nodes from ancient Vedic to modern evolutionary astrology? Sure. So rather than there being one set of formal teachings or one theological system, there's a plurality of them, but they often overlap, they often share more than they differ. And they often say very similar things about the nature of the soul, transmigration of the soul, the process of spiritual evolution. And it's been like that for thousands of years, but I'd say most modern astrologers have a lot more in common in terms of doctrines of craft and philosophy than they have like wild irreconcilable differences. I think this means we have something of a doctrinal and philosophical cohesion to our field.
好的。从古代吠陀占星术到现代演化占星术，节点上确实存在不同的哲学侧重。所以，与其说存在一套正式的教义或神学体系，不如说存在多种体系，但它们之间常常有重叠，并且相似之处往往多于不同之处。它们通常对灵魂的本质、灵魂转世以及精神进化过程有着非常相似的看法。这种情况已经持续了几千年，但我认为大多数现代占星师在技艺和哲学的教义上有很多共同点，而不是不可调和的巨大差异。我认为这意味着我们的领域在教义和哲学上有某种程度的统一性。
Now again, that's just me really just sitting here and telling you what I think about it, right? Number five, ethical and legal. There are moral rules or laws governing behavior. I think this is even dicer because honestly this might be the part that is most lacking in modern astrology. Now there are ethical guidelines present at night light for our students. We talk about ethics of how to read for people, what kind of caring posture to assume for another soul and counseling. But there aren't strict ethical and consistent ethical or legal guidelines all across the field that govern the behavior of astrologers. In fact, some of the most legitimate criticism of the field of astrology is that practitioners can often be so individualistic that they're not held to any kind of ethical or institutional standard when it comes to ethics.
现在，我只是坐在这里，告诉你我对此的看法，对吧？第五点，伦理和法律。有道德规则或法律来规范行为。我认为这部分甚至更棘手，因为坦率地说，这可能是现代占星术中最缺乏的部分。我们在夜光的课程中给学生提供一些伦理指导，讨论如何解读他人、在助人咨询中如何体现关怀姿态。但是，在整个占星领域中，并没有统一且严格的伦理或法律指南来规范占星师们的行为。实际上，对占星术的最具合理性的批评之一就是实践者往往非常个人化，以至于在伦理方面没有被要求遵守任何类型的伦理或制度标准。
So this is a bit of a gray area, but I would say if you go to opa, if you go to Norwack, if you go to Uwack, if you go to major, most of the major organizations, Esar, being another great example, NCGR, there are so many, and I'm probably forgetting some off the top of my head, but the institutions that typically carry the most cloud in the field or industry of astrology have strong ethical considerations baked into their constitutions or their organizations. So let's say broadly speaking that it applies, yeah, there are ethical and legal concerns, but one of the reasons it makes this complicated is that astrology is not so unified and there are not a lot of governing like institutions that set parameters or guidelines for practitioner, behavior or certification, things like that.
这有点像一个灰色地带，但我会说，如果你去OPA（专业占星家协会）、Norwack（西北占星大会）、UAC（联合占星大会），或者其他多数主要的占星组织，比如Esar（占星研究协会）和NCGR（国家地理信息资源中心），还有许多我可能没提到的重要机构，你会发现它们通常在行业内具有很大的影响力，并且在其章程或组织中已经纳入了强有力的伦理考量。可以广泛地说，这些伦理和法律问题是存在的，但使这个问题变得复杂的原因之一是占星学界并不统一，没有多少管理机构来为从业者的行为或认证等设定参数或指导方针。
And so the oversight, the sense of oversight, but I will add just to be fair that if a religion is only defined by its ability to uphold or have ethical and legal standards that are consistent, then we really don't have many because most of our world religions have very deep ethical and legal inconsistencies. Just being honest, not trying to call anyone out or anything.
这种监督和对于监督的理解是存在的，但为了公平起见，我要补充一点：如果一个宗教仅仅因为能够保持一致的伦理和法律标准而被定义，那么我们实际上没有多少这样的宗教，因为大多数世界宗教都有很深的伦理和法律不一致性。我只是实话实说，没有意图批评或指责任何人。
Now social and institutional are their communities, are their clergy, are their authority structures and traditions. All of this is pretty loose. Again, like the ethical and legal or doctrinal and philosophical astrology is not an institution, not exactly. There are some institutions, night light astrology as a school is a kind of institution, but it's practitioner centric. It's more, a lot of the modern astrology still works in the way that traditional apprenticeship models of learning worked. You apprentice with this local blacksmith and become a blacksmith through entrainment to their methods and their training.
现在社会和制度上的群体，比如他们的社区、他们的神职人员、他们的权威结构和传统，这些都是相对松散的。再次说明，就像伦理、法律或教义、哲学一样，星座学并不完全是一个机构。有些机构存在，比如夜光星座学作为一所学校算是一种机构，但它仍然以从业者为中心。很多现代星座学的运作方式仍然像传统的学徒制模式一样。就像你在当地铁匠那里做学徒，通过学习他们的方法和训练，最终成为一名铁匠。
There's a lot of that in modern astrology, Stephen Forrest has his own school. Night light astrology is our own school. We have our own standards and good schools will uphold those and stay pretty consistent to them. We hold a standard that often allows people if they follow the model, the curriculum, to be successful. Are there clear hierarchies, delineations of clergy, authority structures, traditions? No. That's another problem. Anyone can call themselves an astrologer.
在现代占星术中，这种情况很常见，Stephen Forrest有他自己的流派。我们夜光占星也有自己的流派，并且我们有自己的标准。好的占星学校会坚持这些标准，并且始终如一地保持下去。如果人们遵循我们的模式和课程，他们通常会获得成功。那是否存在明确的等级制度、神职划分、权威结构或传统呢？并没有。这就是另一个问题，任何人都可以自称是占星师。
The more that you start participating in group and community, the more that there is a kind of invisible accountability because you start seeing who has integrity and who's serious and who's practicing and who's really getting good feedback and who's developing other astrologers and who's giving back to the community. There's a way in which we do have a very strong community in modern astrology that clearly holds out examples of elders and people who have set the bar high ethically, spiritually craft wise.
当你开始参与团体和社区活动时，你会感受到一种无形的责任感。因为你会开始了解谁有诚信，谁是认真的，谁在不断实践，谁能够获得很好的反馈，谁在培养其他占星师，以及谁在回馈社区。现代占星学中有一种非常强大的社区力量，社区中以道德、精神和技艺达到高标准的长者为榜样，激励着大家。
There is tradition. There is tradition in terms of the things that we tend to do as astrologers together, the types of programs that we attend together. I would say it's looser than modern religious institutions, but there is a social institutional dimension. Again, I think we can safely say that there's enough of that there to be considered to satisfy this dimension of religion.
有一种传统。作为占星师，我们在一起时常做的事情和我们一起参加的项目都有其传统。我认为这种传统比现代宗教机构更松散，但它确实具备某种社会和制度的特征。我想我们可以很安全地说，这些特征足够让我们认为它在某种程度上满足了宗教的这一维度。
And finally, is material. This would be physical expressions such as temples, art, relics, symbols. Well, the history of astrology is replete with the astrological icons in temples, in artwork, in sacred relics and in symbols. Astrological symbolism permeates world religion, not just Hellenistic astrology or horoscopic astrology, but many different kinds of world, celestial omen practices and astrology itself in a broader sense.
最后，是物质的。这指的是诸如寺庙、艺术、遗物、符号等实物表达。在历史上，星相学充满了这些元素，无论是寺庙中的星相符号，还是艺术作品、神圣遗物中的体现。星相符号广泛渗透到世界宗教中，不仅限于希腊化时期的星相学或占星术，还包括多种多样的全球性天象预兆实践以及更广泛意义上的星相学。
So I think our planet actually has a really rich material history of astrology and religion together. But in terms of our modern practice, do we have physical expressions? Well, and I know this might be a stretch, but think of how common it is to see people with zodiacal tattoos. Think of how common it is to see nowadays people's social media profiles or the way that advertising is driven toward different kinds of consumers in the marketplace based on their interest in things like yoga and astrology as an overlap, Eastern spirituality, New Age, mysticism.
我认为我们的星球在占星术和宗教方面有着非常丰富的历史。但是就我们现代的实践而言，我们是否有实际的表现形式呢？虽然这可能有些牵强，但请想想现在人们纹身上有星座符号是多么常见。想想看，如今人们的社交媒体个人资料，以及市场上的广告是如何根据消费者对瑜伽和占星术等事物的兴趣，来迎合不同类型的消费者。这种兴趣还包括东方的精神信仰、新世纪思想和神秘主义。
So is there a sense of art, aesthetics tied to astrology? I think there is. It's a little bit more neptunian. It's a bit more like located in the zeitgeist somewhere. But yes, now in a digital age, are there temples? Yeah, they're called YouTube channels. Like in a weird way, I consider my YouTube channel a kind of temple. Do you know? A temple for people who want spiritual practice of astrology every day.
那么，艺术与美学是否与占星术有所关联呢？我认为是有的。这种关系有点像海王星的影响，更像是融入了某种时代精神。然而，在数字时代，有“神殿”吗？是的，它们被称为YouTube频道。在某种奇怪的方式下，我把我的YouTube频道看作一种神殿，你懂吗？它是一个为每天想进行占星术精神实践的人们提供的神殿。
So play with these categories if you want to on your own and see what answer you come up with. Now, here is my biggest concern. So on the one hand, being someone who is always open to sort of both sides of things, I find that maybe my Mars and Gemini is a bit like that. There's one part of me that has no problem saying yes.
所以，如果你愿意，可以自己尝试这些类别，看看你能得出什么答案。现在，我最大的担忧是，一方面，作为一个总是愿意去理解事情两面的人，我发现或许我在双子座的火星就是这样的。有一部分的我没有问题去说“是”。
The part of me that hesitates is the part that goes, is this a new, is this the new religion. The part of me that struggles is really not the idea that astrology can't be considered religious. That it doesn't, it clearly, not just now, but for thousands of years, you know I'm getting serious because I picked up a marker. I don't know why. But all of these dimensions that I'm listing here are not only satisfied right now, but have been, and even more strongly, for thousands of years, and have been present in ancient Judaism, in ancient Christianity, more so ancient than recent, there's versions of astrology present in Buddhism.
我犹豫的一部分在于，我在想，这是不是一种新的宗教。我困惑的实际上并不是占星术不能被视为一种宗教的想法。事实上，不仅现在是这样，而且几千年来，占星术始终有强烈的宗教色彩。你知道我开始认真思考了，因为我拿起了一支记号笔。我不知道为什么。但我这里列举的所有方面，不仅现在是如此，几千年来也是如此。占星术曾存在于古代的犹太教和基督教中，尤其是古代时期，比现代更为明显，甚至在佛教中也存在占星术的版本。
Certainly, the entire history of Vedic religious traditions and sects in India is permeated with this astrology. And that's not it. There's Stoic's, there's Hermeticists, there's Platonist, there's Pythagorean's, there's Egyptian mystics like the ancient world. There's no question in my mind whatsoever that astrology is inseparable from the fabric of many world religions and world religious traditions. But is it a new religion? It's becoming more popular, but here's what I worry about.
当然，整个印度吠陀宗教传统和教派的历史都充满了这种占星术。不仅如此，还有斯多葛学派、赫尔墨斯学派、柏拉图学派、毕达哥拉斯学派，以及像古埃及一样的神秘主义者。在我看来，占星术毫无疑问是许多世界宗教和宗教传统中不可分割的一部分。但是，这算是一种新宗教吗？它正变得越来越流行，不过这是让我担心的地方。
The word religion from the Latin means, like the breakdown of the word is religio, which means something like to reconnect. The word religion shares the same basic etymological idea or image of reconnection that the word yoga does with yoking or uniting two things that are separate and putting them together into something that's whole. As far as I can tell, and I've done a lot of study of comparative ancient Eastern, Western religions, certainly all those that carry astrology as the earliest progenitors, they share an idea, which is that when we live in illusion and ignorance, we are in a disconnected and separated state of consciousness.
"宗教"这个词源于拉丁语，其中"religio"的意思接近于"重新连接"。这个词的基本词源概念或意象和"瑜伽"相似，都是指将两个分开的事物连接或联合起来，使之成为一个整体。根据我的研究，我对古代东西方宗教进行了大量的比较研究，尤其是那些早期带有占星学影响的宗教，它们都有一个共同的理念：当我们生活在幻觉和无知中时，我们的意识处于一种分离和不连贯的状态。
We become separated from our divine nature. Our divine nature means that we are a part of that which is sacred, eternal, you could call it God, or goddess, higher self, the Tao, oneness. And that when we live covered up and unaware of our true nature, that that's fundamentally connected to suffering and illusion, and it is ignorance. It is the definition of ignorance. I don't say this from someone who's not myself covered in ignorance, by the way. However, when we reconnect the world to its sacred wholeness, when we reconnect ourselves, right, to the eternal, the divine, we relink and reconnect.
我们与自身的神圣本质失去了联系。我们的神圣本质意味着我们是神圣、永恒的一部分，你可以称之为上帝、女神、更高的自我、道或合一。当我们被遮蔽而对真正的本质无知时，这与痛苦和幻觉有根本的联系，也可以称之为无知。这正是无知的定义。顺便说一句，我并不是说我自己就没有被无知蒙蔽。不过，当我们重新链接世界与它的神圣整体，并重新连接自己与永恒和神圣时，我们就重建了联系。
So here's my problem, is that there's a lot of the dimensions of astrology in these seven dimensions of religion that are currently satisfied in our modern era. I'm not sure the religion part is. All these dimensions of religion don't mean much if the ultimate goal isn't to relink the spirit soul to the divine. And while we might have rituals and practices, if their only aim is selfish interest, like what's going to happen to me? What do I get out of this? How do I get what I want? How do I avoid what I don't want? And it's not religious in nature, even though it fulfills the dimension of religion.
我的问题是，在现代社会中，宗教的七个维度中有很多层面是由占星术来满足的。但我不确定这些满足的部分是否真正属于宗教。如果宗教的终极目标不是为了将灵魂与神圣的存在重新连接，那么这些宗教的维度就没有太大意义。虽然我们可能有一些仪式和实践，但如果它们的唯一目的是自私的，比如我会发生什么？我能从中获得什么？如何得到我想要的东西？如何避免我不想要的东西？那么即使它们满足了宗教的维度，也不是真正意义上的宗教。
If it's experiential and emotional, it makes us feel like we live in a magical, synchronistic universe, but that doesn't also lead us then to transformation of consciousness that relinks self to divinity, then it's just a high. It's no better in a way than having a mystical high through a psychedelic experience that has no greater context that it awakens the soul to. Narrative and mythic dimensions might be fulfilled, but if there are anything more than metaphors that are being used to interpret things for selfish reasons, reasons that are not connected to the larger project of reconnecting soul and spirit to divinity, then it doesn't matter.
如果一种体验是感性的、情感上的，它可能会让我们感觉生活在一个充满魔力和同步性的宇宙中。但如果它没有引导我们意识的转变，没有将自我重新连接到神性上，那么它就只是一种暂时的快感。这和通过迷幻体验获得的神秘快感没什么区别，因为这些体验没有唤醒灵魂的更深层意义。即便是叙述和神话的层面得到了满足，但如果其中的隐喻只是被用来出于自私的理由来解释现象，而不是为了重新连接灵魂和精神与神性的大目标，那么它们就没有真正的意义。
All in philosophical roots of the tradition if they're only about craft and not about theology. If the craft isn't pointing us toward divinity, then what good is it? It's not really religious in that sense. Ethical and legal. Well, it's good to be good, but even as the yogis tell us karma yoga on its own is not enough. In other words, just doing good stuff, doing good deeds or being an ethical person is not enough if it's not also facilitating a transformation of consciousness. Lot of us mistake being good for being spiritual.
如果传统的哲学根源只是关于技艺而不是神学，那有什么意义呢？如果技艺没有指引我们走向神性，那么它有何价值？从这个意义上来说，它并不是真正的宗教。伦理和法律方面。做好人确实不错，但正如瑜伽士们所说，单靠业瑜伽（karma yoga）是不够的。换句话说，仅仅是做好事、行善或做一个有伦理的人是不够的，如果这没有促进意识的转变。我们中很多人把做好人误认为是拥有灵性。
Social or institutional. While there's social or institutional presence to astrology, but if it's nothing more than craft and professional conferences, and it's not meant to direct the soul back to divinity and help us walk each other home, so to speak, then it's just another institution. However, more dispersive and vague it may be. And finally, material. If there's a level of aesthetic or art or artifact, but those artifacts, that collection of material artifacts is not seen as evidence of divinity. If they're not pointing us toward some sacred ground that we all participated and stand on, then it's just stuff.
社交或制度层面。虽然占星学在社会或制度上有其存在，但是如果它仅仅停留在技艺和专业会议上，并没有旨在引导灵魂回归神圣，并帮助我们彼此走向精神上的家的话，那么它就只是另一个制度而已。即便其内容再分散再模糊也是如此。
最后，物质层面。如果某种东西具有美学、艺术或作为手工艺品的价值，但这些物品如果不被看作是神圣的证据，不指引我们走向我们共同参与和站立的神圣之地，那么它也不过就是些东西而已。
Now here's the thing. All of this makes me very hesitant based on what I see in the world of modern astrology to call this a new religion, because I don't see masses of people suddenly awakening to the benefits of spiritual practice, self-care. I don't see a lot of astrologers frankly talking about why we're doing this because it's meant to help our spirit soul evolve and awaken divinity within our hearts. Now I'm not saying nobody does. I think there's a fair amount of practitioners that do, and those are obviously my favorites.
现在的问题是，基于我在现代占星学世界所看到的情况，我对将其称为一种新的宗教感到犹豫。因为我并未看到大量的人突然意识到灵性实践和自我护理的益处。我也没有看到很多占星师坦诚地讨论我们为何这样做，因为这些实践旨在帮助我们的灵魂成长并唤醒内心的神性。当然，并不是说没有人这样做，我认为确实有不少从业者在这样做，他们无疑是我最喜欢的。
I won't name names here because I'm not trying to gatekeep. I'm just telling the truth as I see it. But here's the other thing. The problem is that you could apply the same criticism to anything that calls itself a religion that fulfills the same exact things, but has core issues with materialism. I've been awakened well within its fold. Christianity struggles from fulfilling these dimensions, but at times in certain communities and the hearts of individual practitioners being nothing more than a country club for a country club for people who want to belong to the same moral and social fabric. I'm not trying to be a jerk.
我在这里不提具体名字，因为我并不是想要设立门槛。我只是按照自己的理解说出真相。但是，还有一个问题。你可以用同样的批评方式去看待任何自称为宗教的事物，尤其是那些在物质层面上有核心问题的。我在其内部深受影响。基督教在实现这些方面时也面临困难，有时候在某些社区和个别信徒的心中，它只不过是一个让人有归属感的社交俱乐部。我并不是想要显得刻薄。
This is another word I can sort of unfair to have an impossibly high standard when the same criticism could be applied to any current group or community that calls himself a religion that no one would think twice to call it to ask whether it was a religion or not. So that's where I land on all of this. I'm hesitant to call it a new religion, both because it's very ancient, has participated in many different world religions, is not so narrow that it can only be wed to one particular religious path.
这是一种想法，它让我觉得把一个不可能达到的高标准强加于一个群体或社区是不公平的，尤其是当我们对任何一个自称为宗教的现行团体也可以提出同样的批评，却不会有人怀疑其是否是宗教。因此，我对这个问题的看法是这样的：我对称它为一种新宗教持谨慎态度，因为它非常古老，曾参与过多种世界宗教，也不局限于特定的宗教道路。
But at the same time, much of its modern expression lacks the basic definition of a religion as something meant to relength the soul to divinity, that it's aiming us toward that is weirdly absent from a lot of modern astrology in my opinion. But at the same time, it's sort of unfair to hold it to a standard when I think channels like myself and many other people out there, certainly, I think of all of my heroes in astrology that see astrology as just this sacred spiritual thing.
同时，我认为现代占星学中缺少了宗教的基本定义，即作为连接灵魂与神性的工具。而这种连接在现代占星学中常常是缺失的。然而，把它限定在一个标准上也是不太公平的，因为我和很多人，以及我所有崇拜的占星学前辈，都将占星学视为神圣的精神事务。
But there's also like a lot of hype, you know? The same thing happens to yoga. Yoga comes to the West, mostly through Asana, devoid of the vast matrix of Vedic rituals and temple practice. And I mean, really, like Asana is just like a tiny little part of what yoga is. And yet in the West, we think of it as this whole spiritual thing unto itself. But it's not new for aspects of longstanding things to also be taken and sort of distorted or, you know, to emerge as their own thing.
但也有很多炒作，你懂的？这就像瑜伽的情况。瑜伽传到西方，主要是通过体式（Asana）来进行的，但却没有带上庞大的吠陀仪式和寺庙修行的文化矩阵。实际上，体式只是瑜伽的一小部分。然而在西方，我们却把它当作一种完整的精神修行来看待。但从古至今，一些传统事物的某个方面被提取出来，扭曲或是演变成独立的东西，这也不是新鲜事。
And a lot of people also treat yoga as nothing more than, you know, relaxation, which is good, stress relief, which is good, but they don't necessarily see yoga as a part of the overall Vedic project of reconnecting the soul to God. You know, that's not why they're going to a yoga class or a hot yoga class or whatever. So does that make it bad? No, not really. But can you then authentically call modern studio yoga a new religion? I don't know.
很多人仅仅把瑜伽看作是放松的方法，这很好，也能减轻压力，这也很好。但是，他们未必把瑜伽视为“吠陀”项目的一部分，即与神灵重建灵魂联系。你知道，去上瑜伽课或热瑜伽课的人，并非出于这个原因。那么，这是否把瑜伽变得不好呢？其实也没有。不过，你能不能真正称现代瑜伽馆的瑜伽为一种新宗教呢？这就不太确定了。
And the same kind of thing, it troubles me around calling astrology a new religion. I think we need to be just thoughtful around such conversations. And the final thing that comes to my mind is that the Taoist tradition of the way that can be named is not the way. And isn't it always the case that as soon as we start saying, hey, those teachings of Jesus were pretty great. Let's institutionalize it and call it Christianity.
这类事情让我感到困扰，比如将占星术称为新的宗教。我觉得在这种讨论中需要更慎重。而最后让我想到的是，关于道家的观点： "道可道，非常道"。一旦我们开始说："嘿，耶稣的教导真不错，我们来把它制度化并称之为基督教。" 很大程度上都会是这样的情况。
The way that can be named is not the way. If we are seeing astrology becoming a new religion, then between you and me, I think we should keep it a secret. All right, so what I've got for you today, take it easy. Bye.
可被命名的道路不是终极之道。如果我们发现占星术正在成为一种新的宗教，那么在你我之间，我觉得我们应该对这个保密。好了，今天我想给你们说的就是这些，轻松点。再见。