Words have more meaning beyond how you will find them defined in any dictionary today. This is not just because the words we use change meaning over time.
It’s because many times new discoveries, even if they are of much older things, require us to either redefine a word in light of the new discovery, or the new discovery will require us to create a new word to define it. A new term that doesn’t yet exist in the dictionary when you go to look it up.
Because of the discoveries we made, we also find ourselves here in this cool place of pioneering a new field of study that requires defining.
We’ve looked at several places and at this point, have not found Alternative Astronomy defined in any dictionary so we may be among the first to actually define it. Pretty cool, huh? Maybe cool only for the nerdy pants people like me.
They say there’s nothing new under the sun, but that all depends on how you look at things, as we’re learning more and more about here.
We are going to start out looking at three dictionary definitions of the word astronomy to see exactly why we are going to need another term.
When we get to Merriam-Webster’s definition of astronomy, they also give you a little blurb about the difference between astronomy and astrology that we will be revisiting in more depth, later.
After comparing these three definitions, you can see they are all focused on science. I think if you ask, most people would tell you that when hearing the word astronomy, they think of science. Because of this, we need to look at the definition of science and it will take us in an interesting direction. Let’s stick with Merriam-Webster’s definitions to take a look deeper.
Merriam-Webster offers the example of cooking being both a science and an art, under their fourth definition.
I think there’s a split between how most people view science and art that can be seen all over the world today. This misunderstanding of what science and art actually are is at root of a whole lot bigger misunderstandings we see in society. Let’s take a look at what Merriam-Webster has to say then about the word art and see more of what I mean.
The third definition is what I think most people think of when someone uses the word art. At least, I think it’s the mental images or concepts that get pulled up in their own mind’s eye when they hear the word art. When comparing the words “science” and “art”, however, you can see there is not much of a difference between how they are defined.
The biggest differences aren’t in the definitions of the words themselves, they biggest difference is how people view them, or how people think about the words or how they see them in the images that go with the words.
Things become even more interesting when we investigate the origin of the word astronomy. Etymology is the study of the origin of words and it sheds a great deal more light on astronomy than the dictionary definitions we use today.
Now we’re getting down to it. We are getting closer to defining what it is that we are learning about here at starsnearme when we go back to the origin of the word astronomy. We are learning about occulted or hidden star law and de-occulting it.
So though we are learning real astronomy, and using the scientific method to verify over and over again our discoveries, we are finding our results contradicts much of what is being taught as astronomy today in places like schools.
This is why we need another term. We need to distinguish what we are learning about here from the modern day conceptions, the models, the images and the stories everyone sees in their mind’s eye when they think about the word astronomy.
Let’s end with a good working definition of Alternative Astronomy for us as we move forward.
What is Alternative Astronomy?
The study of the law of the celestial luminaries and their connection to the stories and events that affect beings living on the earth. It is both a science and an art.
For books to learn the star constellations of the Northern Hemisphere by season, complete with full page star maps to help you begin to learn the “law of the stars”, you can find those by clicking here.
You can find plenty of Alternative Astronomy designs in our shop by clicking here.
If you would like to watch the video version of this post, you can find that by clicking here.
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Until next time…stay lit & be well,
shannon