Astrologian Lore

[TinyRedLeaf]

Well... I'd sooner take a bit of harmless card-reading than jump into a ravine to prove that I'm not a dragon-loving heretic.

The study of the stars is associated with fortune-reading, I guess because astronomy has close links to the planning of calendars since antiquity. To the average farmer, who just wants to know when is the best time to sow and harvest, an astronomer must have seemed like an all-powerful wizard who could see the future. Never mind the occasional gaps and misses — the smart astronomer would know how to word the fortune broadly enough to cover all possible bases.

I don't have the exact quote, but I believe it was Leveva who said the drawn cards don't actually do anything physically. They're just meant to spur the recipient into believing in its possibilities. That's a con job for sure.

[Zhao]

Pardon me for any repeating what has been said already,
but it is worth noting what is said when learning the [Redraw] skill. The idea is that the stars, or your instrument, may be out of alignment. By returning a card to the deck, you are not ignoring/denying a potential future. Instead, you are saving this card for a future that has yet to come, and will draw upon its power when the time is right.

Likewise, the [Spread] skill is heavily weighted with the idea of patience, to wait until said card may be used best. This also adds to the idea of accuracy vs precision in card reading.
"one cannot influence the card the stars will see you draw" -Leveva

In regards to the [Nocturnal Sect] and [Diurnal Sect], it is not that the Sharlayans do not understand, its more like we do not understand. Each of these sect represents the ideas of the celestial bodies aligned with the sun and 2 moons respectively. We are not able to research the celestial bodies, sun, moon, and missing moon (and their effects and consequences) to such a depth as the Sharlayans who do nothing but research.

[Miyha]

As far as I gathered, AST seems more about giving people the knowledge and support to make their desired fate a reality. The future is not a thing set in stone, but that any number of things is possible in the future and AST helps the "desirable" one more likely to occur through their abilities. Like a Cause -> Effect thing, where they interpret the stars for clues to an Effect, and then try to enable the Cause.

That's just the way I've thought about it though. Take any lore scholar's word before mine.

This is exactly what I think, because this is, more or less, what tarot cards are used for irl. They can be used to predict the future, but also as a kind of consult for advice, different outcomes to a situation and how each outcome could be achieved, etc. It's never set in stone or a guarantee, but rather a recommendation of sorts. Meaning can also be vague, as you could interpret the cards as one thing and in actuality they turn out to signify an alternate (but related) meaning. Astrology and other methods of divination work the same way, for the most part.

(Take this from a real-world witch/diviner.)

[Venjamin]

I think, that was the big thing. The Sharlayan's focus was NOT on the prophesying power, but the more academic, magical aspects. That's why Leveva and others who value Sharlayan astrology were looked on as outsiders, and why the purview of the Astrologians in Ishgard was solely predictions.

Further, in Ishgard, they used it to predict dragon attacks. They were like an 'early warning' sign - if enough Astrologians saw "Oh crap, something bad incoming." they did what they could to alert people. It's the difference between a tornado dropping on top of you, and you getting the extra 10 minutes to get to your storm shelter. The Astrologian predictions are extremely short-range into the future - even the gameplay supports that.

From what it seems, Astrologians can't peer far into the future, and it sounds like there are fixed points. Things that will happen that can't be altered, but what CAN be changed is what happens between now and the next fixed point ( a la shuffling your current draw to pull another one. Per Leveva, the original draw will come to pass, you're just putting it off a little, and making a more desirable fate happen between now and then. )