N3TR - Astrology

LindseyM2012

As some of you know, I work in an office with a bunch of therapists. I am a therapist-in-training myself. I am a "facts" person but as a therapist-in-training, I pride myself on also being intuitive and being able to read people's "energies." I'm not a hippie, but I've always been able to pick up on people's "vibes" (for lack of a better word). However, I would describe the therapists with whom I work to be way too caught up in the vibes of the universe and other not-as-scientifically-factual things like Mercury Retrograde. Apparently this is when Mercury's orbit takes it away from Earth and supposedly causes all sorts of miscommunications (interpersonal), technology malfunctions, etc. These therapists are blaming EVERYTHING on Mercury Retrograde. I mean everything. I'm hearing that term at least 20x/day. Fax didn't go through? A client can't articulate his issue well? Somebody missed their appointment? Must be the retrograde! Has anybody ever heard of this? Could be interesting, what would be the excuse for when these things happen on a daily basis outside of a Mercury Retrograde? I'm sorry if I'm offending anyone by saying this, but I find it all just silly. I don't dismiss ALL things astrology, but there are much simpler and believable explanations for miscommunications than another planet moving away from ours - especially when the same things occur when Mercury is not in retrograde.

Also - they all had an entertaining conversation two weeks ago about Morton's Toe (longer 2nd toe) and its associated personality traits. Rattling off these things as though they were fact and providing anecdotal evidence to its truth (my brother's ex-wife's friend had this and it's soooooooo true!).  I'm hoping this was a joke, but they were talking about asking people about their feet during the assessment process with the following diagram in mind. I liken these sorts of things to pregnancy symptom checking/spotting.

mmmKayy

Wow. That was crazy interesting! And I have never heard of the Retrograde..... but Google isabout to tell me a little bit about it. Thanks for the fun and interesting information today!

LindseyM2012

It drives me crazy at times because everybody is so obsessed and actually afraid of the Mercury Retrograde.

LindseyM2012

rainbowbridge14 said:

Wow, the "what do your feet say about you" thing cracks me up. I think my cracked heels have way more to do with my dry skin and running a lot than me being a decisive leader. Thanks for the laugh

I think I am definitely with you on the astrology thing. I won't count it out in terms of having some effects in the world, but I doubt it has anything to do the small day to day things that happen, those have more to do with the people doing them. 

This. Simpler explanation for cracked heels. And if they become uncracked because of change in weather, shoes, a really good series of awesome pedicures, etc, your personality probably won't change.

BunnyBerry

That picture guide is so funny! 

I experience the same kind of feelings when it comes to DH's Chinese superstitions about things. As a Christian, I would not use astrology to try to predict or soothsay anything, but I kind of see these little superstitions as fun and cultural rather than religious, in the same attitude that we celebrate Halloween but just as a fun time of cultural traditions. 

It doesn't bug me when people who have been trained to think logically/critically/scientifically have some internal contradiction by believing in superstitions because it just seems like such a normal part of being human. But I would be annoyed if they actually translated that into the way they provided therapy!

LindseyM2012

@BunnyBerry - I really hope it doesn't influence the way they actually provide therapy. However, I wouldn't be surprised if these sorts of things influenced the way the therapists conceptualize the client's personality and issue, which would in turn influence the treatment plan. It seems like they could be missing something by being guided by things like this instead of the more tangible and reportable facts. 

MoseyAnkles

I own a couple alternative health clinics and this kind of stuff comes up all the time (but not from me or my staff). One of my mentors is big into astrology and it drives me crazy because I'm more practical. Astrology (study of how the movement of the heavenly bodies affect the Earth and things living on Earth) is something that is matter of fact in some cases but it's unproven in others. The movements of the moon affect Earth's tides, a full moon sees more crazies than the rest of the month, solar flares create many interesting phenomenon, and yes mercury's movement can also affect us.  BUT, MR doesn't explain away everything and you can't do anything about it anyway, so I also think this is silly. Some people even get into the movements of Pluto and Neptune, which I know do affect us, but I don't even place any emphasis on them because of how distant they are. Gravity's strength is affected by distance, and so is this, so why do people get caught up in this?

The foot chart was just laughable! OMG heehee

BandM14

LOL okay the foot chart is completely accurate for me (I just had my shoes off in the office to double check haha). I don't know anything about astrology, but I'm a therapist too!! All the therapists in my office are muchhhh more "medical minded" (we follow the disease model of substance abuse, for example), but I actually wish people were quirkier because I think there's a lot of value to (some) alternative, holistic approaches to things.

I'd be nervous about the therapists discussing the whole Mercury thing with clients though hah. If they are anything like some of mine, the last thing they need is cause for some sort of delusional paranoia!

LindseyM2012

@BlueFairy5 and @MoseyAnkles - I totally appreciate your insights from the more educated perspective. I clearly don't study this stuff. I can certainly see how the moon's phases have an effect on us but that is also because normal astrologically uneducated people can observe the strength of the moon's gravitational influence (tides and such).

@BandM14 - We may need to switch offices! I'm not solely medically minded, but sometimes this office is a little too quirky for me. I'm more Reality Therapy/Choice Theory (Glasser) & REBT (Ellis) minded.

LindseyM2012

Quotes from the office today:

Therapist 1: "Of course the main fax is down. Thanks Mercury Retrograde."

Therapist 2: "Right! Our TV at home went down. And my bus was 8 minutes late this morning."

Therapist 1: "This is going to be a doozy of a retrograde!"

Therapist 3: "Oh. My. Gosh. I was just thinking that! I wanted to call off today."

BandM14

@LindseyM2012 Hah! Technically I follow Beck's CT, but I love Reality Therapy and Motivational Interviewing too. Still, I think incorporating some yoga, mindfulness, and existentialism can bring deeper meaning to the client's experience... I'll draw the line at following moon patterns and astrological forces though . Glad to meet another therapist on here!

LindseyM2012

@BandM14 - Sounds like we agree on where that line should be drawn! I appreciate your eclectic technique  

Shauntee

The feet thing made me laugh. I have heard the retrograde theory a few times. Out here in Southern Cali, people also blame crazy things on the Santa Ana winds. You will hear, "must be the Santa Ana's" quite a bit when strange things happen.