Astrology and the Human Brain

As known, Astrology is a huge database of psychological knowledge of humanity, and we must be proud of it and get the most it. It’s not some kind of magic used by witches. It’s grounded in human psychology!    

My motivation here is not to limit Astrology to the narrow scope of the known and visible, but only to show that Astrological outcomes are not absurd illusions stranger to science. The functioning and rules of the universe can’t yet be fully explained neither by Astrology nor by Science up to today.

I will try to show you some connections between the Planets in Astrology each representing a unique energy and regions of the brain regulating analogous energies. It’s amazing to discover these connections and open an invisible door between Astrology and Science.

Sexual behaviour in brain is regulated by the same area that regulates hunger, appetite, thirst and body temperature. Hypothalamus is responsible for our short-term and long-term survival.

In Astrology, survival and sexual drive is associated with the “small malefic” Mars. Mars in Astrology represents energy, action and desire, our survival instinct, assertiveness, sexual drive, our energy to tackle things in order to continue. In Astrology, Mars is pure action energy unlike the creative energy of the will.

In Brain, our senses trigger some reaction in Amygdala translated as sexual arousal. The signs that appear during sexual arousal are similar to the signs that we show in a life-threatening situation. It’s know that Amydgala plays an important role in the formation and storage of memories associated with emotional events. A sustained enhancement of signaling between affected neurons leads to formation of long term memories. Long term memories are the most important elements of the subconscious and unconscious mind. In Astrology, they are associated with the Moon.

However, it has recently been discovered that Supramarginal gyrus is responsible for the empathy toward others (putting yourself in others’ shoes)

In the absence of empathy, we tend to Project our emotions on others. In other words we become egocentric.

Empathy grows out of our ability to understand other peoples’ emotions and thoughts. Empathy is associated with the Moon, that rules Cancer. Pisces is also considered a highly empathetic sign in Astrology.

The limbic system that regulates our mood is the most primordial part of the brain, thought to be developed the first in human species. Our mood is evolutionarily important, influencing how we think and view the world.

The nucleus accumbens is the pleasure center of the brain. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, reward and reinforcement flows into this area, and gives this message: that was fun/felt good/tasted good/smelled good, don’t forget, do it again. For ex. schizophrenia and narcolepsy are treated with antidopamin agents. Dreaming, a wish fulfillment process (proposed by Freud) is fueled by Dopamine in a hallucinatory dimension.

Hallucinations and daydreaming are associated with the planet Neptune. Drug addictions associated with Neptune are results of the actions of mesolimbic dopamine system. Drugs cause huge amount of dopamin to be released in a very short time.

It has recently been discovered that during meditation, dopamin levels are sensibly increased. Planet Neptune is associated with mystics and people having transcendental experiences.

Our “wanting center” is located in the nuclus accumbens shell. This is where “Motivational salience” is formed. Motivational salience is our ability to measure the risk and reward from a particular goal, considering the amount of time and energy we put on it. The amount of dopamine that travels through our mesolimbic pathway is correlated with the magnitude of want that we have. Our wanting for something increases without our actual liking of it, so it’s natural that we may be doing things that we don’t like.

The main motivation center in Astrology is the Sun. In Astrology, Sun is our main motivator, the one that sets the most important goals for us. It’s our main purpose in life. So, if we combine the scientific and astrologic perspectives, we inherently know that there is a big, unique reward for what our ego really wants. There is a big reward, if we can be who we really are.

Our kidneys also release certain amount of dopamine.

 

The posterior cingulate cortex is a highly connected and metabolically active brain region. Cerebral flow and metabolic rate in the PCC are approximately 40% higher than average across the brain. It’s the center node of the default node network known to be involved in many seemingly different functions which can be related with ego:

-          Autobiographical information: Memories of collection of events and facts about one’s self

-          Self-reference: Referring to traits and descriptions of one’s self

-          Emotion of one’s self: Reflecting about one’s own emotional state

-          Imagining the future

-          Episodic memories

-          Decision making regarding those personally very close such as family

-          Mental time travel

-          Organizing the information, like a librarian handling immediate customer requests, indexing and categorizing the books.

The dorsal (upper) part of PCC involves involuntary awareness and arousal. The precuneus is involved in visual, sensorimotor, and attentional information.

Some psychedelic drugs are shown to decrease the communication between the brain regions that make up the Default Mode Network, a collection of hub centres that work together to control and repress consciousness. The result is an altered state of consciousness, feeling of dissolution of ego and oneness with the universe, a sense of reconnection with ourselves, others and the natural world.

According to some, sensing fear and sensing unity are tightly linked within the brain. Fear and mystical experience are intertwined in the limbic system through the workings of serotonin-2a. Serotonin is considered the foundation o a great neurochemical system important for the brain functions including fear, memory and the regulation of consciousness itself.

It’s amazing to see that such a big portion of the brain is dedicated to communication. It shows how important it is for humanbeings to have these functions.

In human brain, cerebrum controls the speech. Cerebrum is the largest part of the brain. It’s divided into two pats, called hemispheres, which are joined by a band of nevre fibers called corpus callosum. Your speech is typically governed by the left side of the cerebrum if you are right-handed. Broca’s area is another part of the brain which is involved in turning the ideas into actual spoken words. This area has been found to be most active right before we speak. It also helps to pass the information to the motor cortex, which controls the movements of the mouth. Wernicke’s area is mainly involved in understanding and processing speech and written language. It’s located in the temporal love, just behind the ears. The temporal lobe is also where sound is processed. Arcuate fasciculus is a band of nerves that helps to form words, speak clearly, and understand concept in language form. Cerebellum, located at the back of the brain is involved in coordinating the voluntary muscle movements like opening and closing the mouth, and controls language processing. Motor cortex is what we need to speak clearly, moving our mouth, tongue and throat. These components are unarguably necessary for communication being connected to the regions of the brain implicated in learning, reasoning and problem-solving. As it is well know, left brain is responsible for analytical thinking, logical reasoning, analysis, language, sequencing, mathematics. The right brain is more visual and intuitive. It has a more creative and less organized way of thinking. It’s connected to imagination, holistic thinking, intuition, arts, rhythm, feelings visualization, daydreaming. It’s said that they work together and complement each other. We don’t use only one side of our brain at a time. For ex. left brain handles mathematical equations, but right brain helps out with comparisons and rough estimates. Some studies suggest that this is a myth and there is no difference between the functions of the right and left brain.

Most of our decisions are based on emotions, controlled by our right brain. Emotions can disrupt reasoning in certain circumstances, but without emotion, there is no reasoning at all.

From Astrological viewpoint, intuition and emotional intelligence is associated with the Moon. In Astrology, Moon also represents receptivity and the need in order to feel safe in the world and relationships.

In Astrology, rational mind and thought processes are ruled by Mercury.

Mercury also rules our thoughts and objective reasoning. Almost every part of the brain must be involved in this process, however my focus remains on the most explicit.

I believe that there is no purely objective thought coming out of the human brain and entering it. Only sensory information can be called unprocessed before it goes through our brain.

Mercury does his best to make thoughts as objective as possible unless it’s under stress in the Zodiac. Our thoughts are transfered to the external world after being processed internally.

In Astrology, Venus represents love (disregarding moral and obligations) and the material world, values, and the pleasure we take in life. It sounds like it’s all about the pleasure mechanism embedded in our brain as mentioned above. However, Venus also represents our artistic inclinations which is a function of the right brain Note: maybe right-left brain theory is no more valid.

Love is a state of extasy and illusion because of the high levels of dopamine released by our brains’reward system. When we are engaged in romantic love, the neural machinery responsible for making critical assessments of other people shuts down. The neural pathway responsible for negative emotions, such as fear and social judgment are deactivated.

Diplomacy, harmony and compassion are also the qualities represented by Venus.

The parietal lobe is known to be the area of the brain whose main functions are cognition, information processing, touch sensation (pain, temperature,etc), understanding spatial orientation, movement coordination, distinguishing between two points, even without visual input, Visuospatial navigation and reasoning, speech, visual perception, reading and writing, mathematical computation. It has been discovered that people with injuries to the right frontal lobe has difficulties understanding spatial orientation and navigation. A recenty study shows that people with such impairment feel close to a higher power and their lives were part of a divine plan. They have an increased feeling of closeness to a higher power.

To distinguish between two points, we need to know where exactly they are. What makes is easier for us is that each object has their limits and they don’t extend eternally in the space. It would be impossible to do that if the exact location of two points were not defined. Visual perception also wouldn’t be possible if the objects didn’t have certain shapes. I think that there is a connection between the mechanism that helps us to coordinate our movement in space. We can do it easily because we know the exact location and limits of objects. And then it sounds natural that people with impairment to this specific region of the brain don’t feel like there are limits in a spiritual state of mind, oscillating in the infinite. All this reminds us of the planet Jupiter in Astrology. Jupiter in Astrology is the god of the gods, representing expansion, abundance and prosperity, optimism, good fortune and luck, the opposite of what Saturn represents. Saturn reminds us of our boundaries, our responsibilities, and our commitments. It brings definition to our lives. Saturn makes us aware of the need for self-control and of boundaries and our limits.
It seems interesting to me what was discovered in Einstein's brain after his death. Scientist found out that the two hemispheres of the parietal lobe were sensibly asymmetrical. His parietal lobe was 15% bigger than average and one of the hemispheres had an unusual shape.
His right parietal lobe which came out to be unusual might have helped him to have a different understanding of the space-time.
As we know, he didn't believe in God. So, it might be that his extraordinary right parietal lobe was the reason.
As seen, human brain is inclined to attribute to each object a specific place at a specific time probably because of our need for immediate reaction to external events. However, unlike in classical physics, quantum particles can be in many places at the same time, and they don’t behave like traditional waves. There is no way to determine where exactly a quantum object is located and where it is going at the same time. This is called the uncertainty principle, which is well-defined mathematically.