A Marxist Astrology: A Philosophical Inquiry #dignitybabes

Here's the source I'll be using today - the 2nd edition of "The Marx-Engels Reader" edited by Robert C. Tucker. The two works I'll be specifically looking at for this inquiry is "The Communist Manifesto" and "The German Ideology."

Here are the questions I will be trying to answer:

1. Can someone adopt a Marxist philosophy and practice astrology?
2. What does a Marxist astrology look like, if possible?
3. How does identity politics from orthodox Marxism work for or against astrology?

Now, let's briefly talk about Marxism and communism. Marx argues that "the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles" (473) It's known that Marxism opposes capitalism due to the exploitative nature of the bourgeois against the proletariat.

However, Marxism is not just a political stance, it is a philosophy. When Marx mentions that the history of society is class struggles, he is also arguing that the history of society is found in material conditions, where the class struggles take place.

However, capitalism and the bourgeois would disagree. For some people, they would argue that the history of society is found through politics, religion, philosophy, and/or culture. Marxism disagrees with this argument with the "superstructure model" shown here.

Marx argued that philosophy, religion, and culture does NOT determine the workings of society but rather that the material conditions determine the workings of society. Marx makes this argument strongly because the bourgeois controls politics and culture, not the proletariat.

Also, not only does the bourgeois control the superstructure, they also win in the class struggles found in the base structure. Marx proposes that rather than fighting on philosophical and cultural issues, the proletariat needs to focus on fighting on the material conditions.

In fact, fighting on philosophical and cultural issues is a way for the bourgeois to trick the proletariat to fight the wrong battles. This point is going to be very important later, especially on the question of orthodox Marxism and identity politics.

Also a funny side note: Consciousness falls into the superstructure category according to Marx. Here's some quotes:

"Consciousness is, therefore, from the very beginning a social product, and remains so as long as men exist at all" (158)

"Blessed Max Stirner, who knows not a thing about real history, as a mere tale of 'knights,' robbers, and ghosts, from whose visions he can, of course, only save himself by 'unholiness.' This conception is truly religious: it postulates religious man as the primitive man, the - "

"the starting-point in history; and in its imagination puts the religious production of fancies in the place of the real production of the means of subsistence and of life itself" (166)

TL;DR: Marx is making fun of Max Stirner, a philosopher who had a very strong individualistic philosophy that focused on identity. Marx argues against putting the agenda of saving the identity over the agenda of saving the material conditions. Save the material conditions first.

Now, you're reading this and you're like "Wait, doesn't all of this Marxist theory go against astrology?" And you're right, it does. Marx would probably find astrology to be in the superstructure, right along with philosophy, religion, and culture.

To him, material conditions, not astrology, will empower the proletariat to beat the bourgeois. So in THEORY, specifically with the superstructure, one cannot practice astrology and argue that they are working against the bourgeois.

But what about in practice?

I personally put Marx at the praxis end when it comes to evaluating schools of philosophy by contemplation vs praxis. In fact, in the "Theses on Feuerbach," he wrote, "The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point, however, is to change it" (145).

So, we know in THEORY that a Marxist philosophy can not work with astrology. Astrology does not analyze the material conditions, but rather how the movement of celestial objects affect humanity.

However, I'll argue that you can indeed PRACTICE a Marxist philosophy and astrology.

Marxism was all for the liberation of the proletariat and to establish a system of material conditions where there would be no need for class struggle. The system of proletariat and bourgeois formed by capitalism would be no more.

The question now is this: Can you use astrology to liberate? My answer is yes, you can, especially in a world like today where late stage capitalism is thriving. However, you can use astrology to do just the opposite: to oppress.

I'm going to particularly focus on natal astrology for this inquiry, but in order to really flesh out how astrology can help liberate an individual, we have to bring in the issue of identity politics and orthodox Marxism.

Disclaimer: The conversation going on between orthodox Marxism and identity politics is relatively recent, and due to that, there's not too much information on it. However, I'll try my best to state what's going on with the conversation.

So here’s the definition of identity politics from Google. I think it’s a pretty fair definition. An example of identity politics would be feminism, where women use their identity as women to hold a political stance. Race and sexual orientation - any identity, applies.

Remember when I mentioned this tweet? Yeah, orthodox Marxists would argue that identity politics is a way for the bourgeois to trick the proletariat. Identity politics, for orthodox Marxists lie in the superstructure. https://twitter.com/ayyriestrology/status/1230278756960493568?s=20

That means that yes, orthodox Marxists would argue that fighting for your race, sexual orientation, and gender in the political sphere is unproductive and unhelpful.

And yes, that is a privileged, harmful take. Hence, the debate about participating in identity politics.

My personal take on the issue? Sure, I can agree that our identities can be arbitrary. After all, an identity serves as a reference point. However, REAL and DEVASTATING class struggles that have occurred on material conditions have happened REFERENCING to identity.

So, will I fight against capitalism with my arbitrary identity as a first generation Asian American woman? I will. I totally will.

Anyways, back to astrology and Marxism and how identity in natal astrology is tied into it. Since identity can be a reference point to empowerment, astrology, a study all about references from celestial movements, can also be a practice of empowerment.

Many people know of the feeling of empowerment from natal astrology. People finally find a system that articulates a celestial story that touches them deeply and powerfully. Finally, people can find and feel like themselves again. Can capitalism do that? Nope. Just the opposite.

21st century capitalism creates the illusion that by spending $13 on a "I love coffee more than boys!" t-shirt at Forever 21, you can build on the identity of a coffee enthusiast. Basically, to build your identity, yourself - you got to buy something. Participate in the system.

But, in order to keep on participating in the system, you have to earn money. How do you earn money? Work. Work until you can be yourself again. But when do you get to be yourself again? Definitely not after that 9-5 when you're exhausted.

Now that you're exhausted, you're losing motivation. You don't want to try anymore. You know how the bourgeois controls culture? Let's insert the "American Dream" to keep the system going. If you keep on working hard and you stay independent, you'll have everything you want!

If you have everything you want, you'll have infinite opportunities to find an identity! To be yourself again! Finally, you can be who you are, right? Wrong.

No matter how hard you work, you will stay as the proletariat. Forever. Working yourself down with the illusion that you will be yourself someday. Until the day you die.

Capitalism does the absolute worst by tricking people that they can build their identities with money.

Capitalism is incredibly insidious by doing this. It's unforgivable.

So, the next question is this: How can we build our identities in a system that is constantly trying to trick us into building our identities by working our souls away?

You guessed it: Astrology.

Astrology can be anti-capitalist. Void of course Moons don't work with a 9-5 schedule. Your natal chart isn't automatically resume friendly, but it's authenticity friendly. You can use astrology to answer questions (horary) and find the ideal occasions (electional.)

The endless applications of astrology present endless opportunities to counter capitalism.

But wait! Can't the endless applications of astrology also present endless opportunities to fuel capitalism and oppression?

Unfortunately, yes.

Here's a list:
1. Scammers on astro twitter.
2. Using astrology to be sexist, racist, homophobic, transphobic, and more.
3. Seeing the "usage of astrology" as a "cute and quirky" identity which fits itself back into the capitalist identity system *cough* Urban Outfitters

Sidenote: #3 is probably the result of astrology going mainstream. There's many benefits of astrology going mainstream, but when astrology goes mainstream in a capitalist society, there's always going to be some cons.

4. Questionable astrology apps that probably want your money more than you empowering yourself
5. Not being intellectually honest with presenting astrological information, which in turn can ruin the quality of astrological information someone can use for self-liberation.

6. Using astrology not for self-liberation, but for the unfair judgment of others. A serious application of sun sign astrology is an example of this.

There's definitely more than this, but these are the ways that popped up first in my mind. Like I said, endless possibilities.

So, let's go back to the questions I asked in the beginning of this now very long thread:

1. Can someone adopt a Marxist philosophy and practice astrology? Yes.
2. What does a Marxist astrology look like, if possible? Liberating and seeking to destroy capitalism.

3. How does identity politics from orthodox Marxism work for or against astrology? In order to practice astrology, especially natal astrology, one has to subscribe to identities. Orthodox Marxism does not work with astrology, especially natal astrology.

Speaking of identities, astrology also supports Marxism in the sense that one can argue that transits, profections, and progressions are all techniques that illustrates how identity can be dynamic. You are never exactly the same at every point in time and astrology shows this.

This even applies to natal astrology, since astrologers can also argue that some parts of your chart may not resonate with you until that part is activated via transit, profection, etc. Capitalism tries to uphold a static identity (societal standards) and astrology counters that.

Anyways, that's the end of my very, very long thread. If you've made it this far, thank you so much for reading. I hope this thread sparks a lot of inspiration and thoughts! #dignitybabes