Jeff Jawer and Rick Levine: Speaking seriously about astrology

Jeff Jawer and Rick Levine are the co-founders of StarIQ.com, an online company formed in May 1999 to offer serious astrological services to the public and to the community of professional astrologers. They joined this CNN.com/career chat to talk about their vision of astrology in general, and StarIQ.com's place in that vision specifically. In speaking together, Jawer and Levine were operating much as they do -- in complementary conversation -- in their daily audio "Planet Pulse" commentary on StarIQ.com.

Jeff Jawer: I'm very happy to be revisiting Atlanta electronically!

(Editor's note: After receiving a BA in the history and science of astrology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Jawer lived in Atlanta for several years of his early career in astrology.)

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Rick Levine: Good morning, and it's a privilege to be able to talk seriously about astrology at a time when most people think astrology is only for entertainment purposes.

CNN Chat Moderator: What kind of role can astrology play in influencing one's business or career?

Jeff Jawer: Astrology gives an objective assessment of our talents and interests.

Rick Levine: Astrology is a study of cycles, and as most people know, business follows cycles. There are increasing numbers of traders and businessmen and women all over the world who rely on understanding planetary cycles to better understand rhythms of business.

Question from Astro: What is the outlook for the markets?

Jeff Jawer: We're not market forecasters, ourselves.

CNN Chat Moderator: Can you give us some idea of the way you would work with someone, astrologically speaking?

Rick Levine: Individually, astrology can be used to assess someone's communication skills, strengths and weaknesses, and to understand how they can better work within their individual team. Astrology excels at bringing us understanding of how people relate with each other.

Question from sarcastic_git: Jeff, what info do you need?

Jeff Jawer: The complete information is the date, time and place of birth, although if the time isn't there, we can still use astrology with slightly less effectiveness.

Question from Mike: Jeff: Are you kidding? Astrology has never been shown to have any scientific validity of any kind.

Rick Levine: A person who makes a statement about the lack of scientific validity of astrology has very simply not read the literature available. A good book for someone like that to read would be John Anthony West's "The Case for Astrology." There are many other books available, and the literature is widespread.

CNN Chat Moderator: Can you give us some examples of well-known people or businesses that utilize astrology?

Rick Levine: J.P. Morgan, in a court deposition in the early 1900s, stated, "Millionaires use their brains, billionaires use their astrologers."

Jeff Jawer: Where do you think Ronald Reagan got his Teflon from? The launch of the Ford Mustang -- the date was selected astrologically. And I have an astrologer colleague who gives a speech to an IBM sales group in the San Francisco Bay Area every year.

Rick Levine: The simple fact is that because astrology is somewhat out of intellectual favor, most business people who use astrology -- like politicians -- don't advertise it.

Question from Rick: Jeff, are we heading for a down cycle in the economy?

Jeff Jawer: This is a specialized area of study. Rick and I aren't market specialists. I did, however, receive a communication yesterday from Arch Crawford, an expert in this field, who warns of continuing down trends for the short term.

Rick Levine: At http://www.StarIQ.com/marketweek there are daily and weekly Nasdaq and Dow Jones updates, written by an analyst from an astrological point of view.

Question from shaggs: Jeff, Rick, is this something you need to read and study over years to understand?

Jeff Jawer: To understand and practice? Yes. To use in your life with the help of a practitioner? No.

Rick Levine: Additionally, today there are numbers of quality computer programs aimed at helping traders make better use of understanding planetary cycles.

Question from Astro: Rick, Jeff, isn't astrology prohibited by the Judeo-Christian faith?

Jeff Jawer: The Bible is full of contradictions. There's basically support for astrology. God gave us the heavens as signs. The Magi were astrologers. The prohibitions are for putting astrology before religion.

Rick Levine: If you go to the Sistine Chapel and look up, you see the signs of the zodiac as you do in many of the great churches throughout Europe. The history here is fascinating, but the short version is that until the 15th century, most popes were either astrologers or had a staff of them.

Comment from dollfin: There are many, many Christians who practice astrology and since God created the planets and stars above, this is not an inconsistency. He gave us the stars above to assist us in our own journeys.

Rick Levine: I agree with that comment. Let's remember that Christians all over the world recite "The Lord's Prayer "that says it is done "on earth as it is in heaven. "

Question from Guest19522: Doesn't the Vatican have one of the largest collections regarding astrology?

Jeff Jawer: Allegedly they do, but they've rescinded my library card. :-)

CNN Chat Moderator: How frequently should one consult astrology? Daily?

Jeff Jawer: Astrology can be used at any frequency as long as the person using it takes responsibility for his or her own life. With personal responsibility, astrology casts light, and gives meaning to our lives. Without responsibility, any form of information is useless.

Question from Astro: Mr. Levine, what do astrologers use to predict the future?

Rick Levine: The predominant tool for astrologers to forecast is a physical movement of the planets in their regular orbits around the sun. Interestingly, the father of modern astronomy, Johannes Kepler, was first and foremost an astrologer who developed mathematical formulas so he could predict the movement of the planets. There is a relationship between planetary movement and time here on earth.

CNN Chat Moderator: Someone with a birthday of August 3, 1949 is wondering what kind of reading you would have for her?

Jeff Jawer: Moderator, do you want us to go into personal readings?

CNN Chat Moderator: Briefly, please

Jeff Jawer: Expect the mind to keep changing with new ideas, mental breakthroughs, and breakdowns in patterns of communication.

Rick Levine: In order to do a real consultation for someone based upon their birth data, one cannot do this in a two-minute period of time. It would be like asking a medical doctor to make a full diagnosis once they know someone's blood type.

Question from Astro: Jeff, Rick, if you use astrology to make your decisions, do you become a slave to astrology?

Jeff Jawer: You become a slave to anything if it's your only means of making decisions. Astrology offers another perspective, not the only perspective, on life. It has been used for thousands of years by virtually every culture on earth, and has helped us develop agriculture, cities and civilization. So, it continues to be a good and helpful guide to making choices -- if used intelligently.

CNN Chat Moderator: Rick, Jeff, do you have any final observations for our audience today?

Jeff Jawer: We thank CNN for the opportunity to be here. We invite people to learn more about astrology.

Rick Levine: We're at a special time in history, because with the advent of the Internet, astrology is beginning to be understood as a special tool. Prior to the Internet, astrology was primarily a mass-produced tool of entertainment. But with the Internet's ability for mass customization, the unique characteristics of each and every person can be broadcast efficiently so people will begin to see astrology as a viable and effective tool in their personal lives, and in their business life.

CNN Chat Moderator: Thank you for joining us today, Rick Levine and Jeff Jawer.

Jeff Jawer: Goodbye, come visit us at StarIQ, and use astrology intelligently.

Jeff Jawer and Rick Levine joined this CNN.com/career chat from Redmond, Washington, StarIQ.com's base. The above is an edited transcript of the chat, which took place on Wednesday, October 11, 2000.

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October 11, 2000

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