17
Nixx wrote: Knowing you as I do you might think this is a trick question, but it isn't.
But is it a relevant one Nixx? I'm unlikely to run into such a question so we can find ethical issues much closer to home I'm sure. No doubt the only purpose of this question is to shock and cause disgust.

I wasn't aware that cannibalism is legal in Borneo, but it's certainly not legal where I live and owing to what I perceive to be a depraved question I would politely decline to answer the question.

18
Nixx wrote: Should an astrologer only deal with 'death' if they have undergone bereavement training or 'suicide' if they are a trained psychotherapist ? Is the astrological nous very much secondary to the psychological one ?

By and large astrologers are dealing with questions of human behaviour or mental states. So on what basis can they ethically operate without considerable, and ideally assessed, exposure to material which provides information about these ?
Yes, it's an interesting and sometimes difficult question. Shoudl one only comment on the psychology of an individual if they have received the relevant psychological training? Perhaps. But please tell me what course one should take to qualify them for forecasting death, or someone's lost keys? You mention bereavement counselling, but that assumes that the astrologer is operating as a bereavement counsellor, what if they are not?

19
Kirk wrote:
So it seems to me a certain type or quality of person has an inbuilt ability to understand human nature without needing to study it formally.
YES! But we are taught to not trust that, to treat it as insufficient. We truly do have an innate sense to help us find the right people to ask for their help.
Do we ?

Is this similar to a cat knowing which of the other cats is about to chase him round the garden and which one wants to snuggle up next to him?

What I see on astrology forums frequently, and what happened here on the ''Suicide is possible'' thread is a character appearing who I would have though most sensible or intelligent people would keep their distance from. But not every one did, so if your idea is correct what is happening here ? Presumably this ''innate sense'' has been damaged or isn't working.

20
Paul wrote:
Nixx wrote:
But is it a relevant one Nixx? I'm unlikely to run into such a question so we can find ethical issues much closer to home I'm sure. No doubt the only purpose of this question is to shock and cause disgust.

I wasn't aware that cannibalism is legal in Borneo, but it's certainly not legal where I live and owing to what I perceive to be a depraved question I would politely decline to answer the question.
It's a pretty standard technique in this context; the aim is to get people to think about where their ethics come from. Social norms, taboos, humans rights issues, etc.

If there is a Horary ethics course somewhere? Then the facilitator could adopt the question as follows. Is it acceptable for the Chief Diviner in a village in Borneo to answer this question, i.e. in a setting where ''depravity'' may not come into it?



But please tell me what course one should take to qualify them for forecasting death, or someone's lost keys? You mention bereavement counselling, but that assumes that the astrologer is operating as a bereavement counsellor, what if they are not?
In 2012 there wouldn?t be a course for ''death forecasting' as it is seen as deluded and/or psychopathic now and if caught doing this the astrologer might face a lengthy spell in a penal or even psychiatric institution. Back to social norms/values, how these are generated from the knowledge base we now possess and what is seen as depraved today in the UK.

Back to the Horary course's facilitator they need to make clear there are no certainties with astrology and we are discussing symbolic/mathematical models not blood tests or MRI scans.

I don?t think it would be seen as unethical or illegal by either the man in the street or moral philosophers to advise someone the keys might be in the Jacket pocket. Again it is a simple case of making clear the Horoscope is not a CCTV system, just a construct to think about the solution.

With bereavment I think this hinges on how you advertise your service. Some say they are Astrological Counsellors, or used to ? So ideally they would have some counselling training and again make it clear how they operate and on what basis. But in a Horary context Bereavement /Loss may come up, so to deal with the matter sensitively even a rudimentary understanding of the psychological stages/process one goes through would be very useful.