A Scheme of Heaven

Sagan recognized that what motivates those who turn to astrology is, deep down, a sense of curiosity and wonder. He recognized this because it was the same curiosity and wonder he experienced whenever he looked up at the stars. This basic human empathy was a big part of what made him such a gifted communicator. Sagan pursued science as an expressio

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Yet for all the good that might come from a “lucky star” or “the stars aligning,” the bad from a bad star was incomparably worse. It was literally a disaster (from Greek, dys, “bad” + aster, “star”), a word that appears quite ancient but is actually unattested before the Middle Ages. The disastrous influences of evil stars were to be avoided at all

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Today we are taught from childhood that the Earth is not the center of the universe, so it’s difficult, if not impossible, to imagine just how dislocating it would be to learn this as an adult. Shakespeare’s generation, however, would have had to deal with the psychological fallout of man’s demoted status firsthand. If there’s any cosmological subt

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