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The Damanhur are a very interesting religious group that follows the practise of planning pregnancies based on astrology. As far as I am aware, they are the only religion that uses this as an actual practise.

For those who are unaware, the basis for astrology is that the position of the planets at your exact moment of birth determine major aspects of your life. For example, Venus affects your love life and Mars affects social interaction.

The position of planets at the moment of birth are recorded on the "birth chart" which looks something like the following image.

I'm sure everyone's heard of the zodiac signs, such as leo, libra, capricorn, etc. They are the biggest influence in an individual's life and are based on what constellation is overhead at the time of one's birth.

To plan a birth astrologically, first the parents must select what zodiac sign they want their child to be born under. Then, they must make note of the dates that the mother will be fertile, approximately 9 months before the desired birthday. Then, using scientific calculations, they will look at where each planet will be at the time of birth. After conception, double-checking the calculations for the delivery dates based on when the mother actually conceived, they will note the ideal time for the baby to be born. When the mother goes into labor, they will either prolong labor of induce it to try to make the time of birth as close to the appointed time as possible.

The reason they try to do this is to make the child as successful as possible in all aspects of life.

My question is, is it right for the parents to try to "pre-plan" their child's life like this? Can this be seen as a "head start"? What do you think of astrologically planned births? Is it something you would do, knowing it would bring satisfactory results? And in general, what do you think? I can do my best to answer any questions on this subject, as I've studied astrology myself.

I don't see any harm in it. It's almost something scientific with a mystical twist to it. It doesn't really matter when a baby is born, just what they do when they are born. I wouldn't consider this pre-planning, they are just trying to give their child the best chances they can. If they honestly believe it works, it must have some validity. I personally would probably not do this simply because if I ever were to have a child I do not want it to be a stressful affair, but rather something that happened because it was meant to.

Has anyone else ever wondered why it is astrologers calculate based on the date you emerge from your mother's womb instead of the day you were concieved? xd

Interesting? Yes. Scientific? Not in any way, shape, or form.

Science, by nature, has to be tested again, and again, and again, through objective studies in search of empirical evidence, ibn a controllable setting. Generally, religious beliefs are not based on science (in fact, I can't think of one that's in any way, shape, or form scientific). The idea wasn't concocted in any scientific method, thus it is not science. To say that it is is a disservice to science.

I wouldn't stress proper understanding of science if the word wasn't so grossly misused by many, many people all the time. Astrology, Tarot, magic, none of them are scientific in any way, shape, or form. It's much better for both your own credibility and the practice as a whole if this is understood and conveyed.

For that matter, Fung Shei is another croc- uh, I mean practice that is unscientific. Just thought I'd let you all know.

Could also be that most kids don't really want to think about the moment of their parents having sex either. Bwahaha. gonk

Son of Axeman, I think you could distinguish between how laypeople use the word 'science' and the scientific method itself. Calling something science in a more general sense could simply refer to some sort of structualized understanding of a thing that has been tested and works. It may not have been tested by the scientific method per say, but has been subject to examination that is science-like. The name escapes me, but there is a great psychologist who once made the observation that all human beings think as scientists, by nature. By that he didn't mean they engage in the formal scientific method, but that as a species we all make observations, formulate hypotheses, and change our behaviors based on experiential results. It was pretty interesting. whee

Well, there's strengths and weaknesses to each star sign, but there's also the subtle influences of the planets as well, so they would choose the day on which the most positive influences and least negative influences would be in effect.

I have heard cases of twins like that, but I've also heard cases of twins being separated at birth, growing up in different places with no contact with each other, and ending up dressing the same, acting the same and even working the same jobs.

Of course, there's going to be other variables outside of stars and planets that make people act differently as well.