How To Use Astrology In A Sentence

This is certainly an interesting theory for all those who seek a practical application of astrology.
Newtown is the place to be this month if you have an interest in palmistry, astrology, numerology, Egyptian sand reading or other forms of divination.
Much of classical astrology developed as a result of the Hellenistic perspective towards numerology and geometry.
This Kristo's horoscope site had some interesting stuff on it that I want to come back and check out, about dreams, astrology, alchemy, intuition and some other junk.
Ashmole was fascinated by magic, alchemy and astrology, and befriended many astrologers regardless of political allegiance.

Linguix Browser extension

Fix your writing
on millions of websites

Get Started
For Free Watch how it works

Of course, since astrology is all complete claptrap, this shouldn't concern me at all, should it?
Astrology and alternative medicine are part of the New Age movement.
Thus began my journey into astrology - a journey where law and astrology have been closely intertwined.
She regularly flies to the USA to see clients and give talks on astrology, palmistry, tarot and how to develop clairvoyance.
In astrology Mars represents the compelling force of action and initiative.
But I think Popper may have wanted to find out criteria of demarcation between science and such pseudosciences as astrology and Freudian psychoanalysis.
The life of the architect is so fraught with uncertainty and dilemmas that any clarification of the future, including astrology, is disproportionately welcome.
What we immediately take away from this is what I call the synchronized clock theory of astrology. The Volokh Conspiracy » “Evolutionary Astrology”
Alternatively, it could be argued that the chart made a dud prediction, and astrology is entertaining hokum that has as much to do with the real Jupiter as chocolate bars do with Mars.
The nobler arts of magic, astrology, alchymy, necromancy, &c., were equally in vogue in this age with that of the infernal art proper. The Superstitions of Witchcraft
Green Magick uses more trees and plants, while Red Magick uses alchemy and astrology for its references.
Their discipline is as acedemically rigorous and as intellectually as astrology, homeopathy or chiropractice. British Blogs
Claire describes Kate as a Gemini (in Western astrology — the study of the movements of celestial bodies, a Gemini is a person born under the third sign of the zodiac). "Lost" Viewing guides « Peace Corps: China
The 7th chapter denounces "the anti-astrological process" (the malignant academic complot to exclude astrology from the science mainstream).
In occidental astrology mars is in Taurus which represents less energy and competitiveness than mars in Aries.
Electional astrology is using astrology to select the best date for an important event.
Count Gramalkin www.countgramalkin.com is the home of Count Gramalkin; Professional Western Sidereal Zodiacal Astrologer, Tarot Reader and the foremost practicing direct heir from his chosen linage of the astrological insights, knowledge and research of the modern day father of astrology, the great world famous Western Sidereal Astrologer Astronomer Cyril Fagan of Dublin, Ireland 1896-1970. Count Gramalkin.com-western Sidereal Zodiacal Astrology-tarot Reader-sidereal Astrologer-addressing Astrological Realties V9-11.7 « Articles « Literacy News
There'll always be people saying stupid things – I'm sure than on an astrology board somewhere, some astrologist is really shouting his mouth off – and I don't see it as my mission to make sure that other people aren't having impure thoughts. When Mixing Science and Theology is OK
During the reading my psychic used such ancient arts as numerology, astrology, palmistry, tarot cards and rune stones and even found hidden meaning in the color of my tie.
Keeping a moon journal is an easy, enjoyable and insightful introduction to astrology.
Through astrology one could be forewarned of the exact time of his coming.
Cavalieri also wrote on conic sections, trigonometry, optics, astronomy, and astrology.
Apparently, people use various forms of divination such as astrology, palmistry, omens and tarot cards as a ‘mirror that speaks truth’.
This method of prediction is, of course, based on the antigennesis used in the continuous astrology of genethlialogy. ASTROLOGY
Esoteric astrology has its roots in the philosophy of hylozoism, which asserts that life and matter are inseparable.
A dealbreaker for me is believing in astrology, which is handy since so many numbskulls blurt out references to astrology very soon after you meet them.
The themes of heraldry, religion, astronomy, astrology and the natural world are expressed in murals, mosaics, stained glass, intricate woodwork and stone and marble carvings.
As we already know astrology is wrong, there's no need to get it right, is there? Hanson Convinces Me that Astrology Is a Science, Bryan Caplan | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
The Aquarian alsatian or the Capricorn collie would come to little harm from canine astrology.
For those who don't have the possibility to learn astrology, there are simpler and easier methods to prophesy their future.
Heinlein may have been a opinionated old fart, but he usually put a lot of thought into his opinions, and he draws a completely valid distinction between what he called natal horological astrology and the type of astrology that was the historical precursor for modern astronomy. 2005 July
During the middle ages, the church became notorious for the punishment meted out to persons dealing with persons practising the occult sciences which included palmistry, astrology, and astronomy.
In astrology, it is the Moon's association with water that dominates its influence.
GN is not a remnant, rather an antipode of Ptolemaic astrology, an independent multifaceted system, nor digestible by Ptolemaic descendants even under most favorable conditions today.
What is remarkable is that medieval astrology can get such complexity out of only a few techniques.
Astrology and alternative medicine are part of the New Age movement.
At the heart of this New Age spiritual psychology are a number of concepts vaguely reminiscent of biorhythms, numerology, astrology, tarot card reading, and Myers-Briggs personality inventories.
The planets, signs, houses and aspects are the nuts and bolts of astrology.
They are placing astrology on the same level as fantasy, which makes their long-winded obscurities largely redundant.
It was only after my son was born and I had a friend who was interested in astrology, especially the influence of the moon, that I got to understand better about the cycles of the moon and those horse stud calendars all made more sense to me. The Lunar Writer: 10 Tips for Using the Dark Moon « Write Anything
He writes on astronomy and astrology without knowing either'. The Times Literary Supplement
Jung believed in astrology, spiritualism, telepathy, telekinesis, clairvoyance and ESP.
Most Stoics welcomed all forms of prognostication, for gaining knowledge of the future enabled the soul to accept its destiny, and astrology was especially favoured as demonstrating the harmony of the universe.
Her expertise covers both traditional horary astrology as well as modern techniques ranging from forecasting, synastry (for relationships), to business advice including financial planning and personnel recruitment.
For astrology pretendeth to discover that correspondence or concatenation which is between the superior globe and the inferior; natural magic pretendeth to call and reduce natural philosophy from variety of speculations to the magnitude of works; and alchemy pretendeth to make separation of all the unlike parts of bodies which in mixtures of natures are incorporate. The Advancement of Learning
They superimposed astrology, the use of the zodiac, and the deification of the four seasons onto the Persian rites of Mithraism.
Electional astrology is an event planning tool, and horary astrology is a precise and detailed questioning to help in planning major life events or dealing with dilemmas and decisions.
New Age practices such as occultism, crystal power and astrology are examples of spiritual but not religious pursuits of enlightenment.
On the internet we find thousands of sites dealing with just about every aspect of astrology.
Since then he has also learned to read tarot cards, and continues to pursue his studies in astrology.
It was, rather strangely, his extensive knowledge of astrology that led to his first appointment.
Astronomy, as distinct from astrology, is an exact science.
She stopped believing in astrology after an astrologer advised her parents to marry her off saying she did not have any potential for a career.
The Act does not cover and / or relate to astrology and / or allied sciences like Palmistry, Vaastu Shastra etc.
Astrology was condemned as the doctrine of demons.
Her justification for the legitimacy of astrology as a valid science went something like this.
Not simply in a by analogy, ‘Consider the lilies’, sense 2, but in the sense that fundamental mechanisms about what we see can ONLY come from (messy, imperfect) animals and not from the (clean, perfect) mathematical focus of earlier workers (Francis mentions, germanely, Bablyonian astronomy/astrology – these deal with relatively ‘pure’ concepts and predictable celestial motions, not the uncertainty with which biology has traffic). "Let them learn Latin"
To me, that means clinical psychology, not astrology, incantations, witchcraft, or palmistry.
It does not seem very gracious for contemporary science to dismiss astrology.
This purported scientificity of the spiritual realm, in turn, paves the way for declaring occult New Age practices like astrology, vastu, and quantum healing and even yagnas as scientific within the Vedic - Hindu universe.
Find out what astrology can do for you, with this overview of our services in natal astrology, synastry, progression/transits, horary and electional astrology, with links to our online ordering pages.
Unlike astronomy, astrology cannot be described as an exact science.
Known as the physician of the soul, he used astrology primarily as a means of helping to heal the soul rather than as a tool of prediction.
Individual natal astrology constitutes the third division where, like Ptolemy, al-Biruni was fully aware that considerations of heredity and environment should modify any astrological indications.
I also like when it's my birthday and you look up who else was born on your birthday and it seems like that's the strongest disproof of astrology.
'Ever since Luke wrote his paper on " Taoism, Zen and Analysis", Tim has been acting as if he'd been converted to astrology. THE DICE MAN
She believes in astrology, blaming or praising May and me for one thing or another because we were born in the Year of the Sheep and the Year of the Dragon, respectively. next » Excerpt: Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
As you might have guess, I think that astrology is a load of utter tosh.
There'll always be people saying stupid things "“I'm sure than on an astrology board somewhere, some astrologist is really shouting his mouth off" “and I don't see it as my mission to make sure that other people aren't having impure thoughts. When Mixing Science and Theology is OK
Its influence was always dreaded in mundane astrology, being unfavourable to the farmer's work.
Without significant evidence of its predictive ability, climatology is no better than astrology. The Sun and Global Warming, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
Thus in 1495 Pico della Mirandola dismissed divinatory astrology as a confusion of real physical planets with stellar divinities.
The role of the stars in the life of individuals is known as "natal" astrology while "mundane" astrology deals with the fate of nations and concepts like the AGE OF AQUARIUS. Concise Dictionary of Religion
The same set of circumstances which with one hand had popularised astrology, worked with the other to strip it of academic respect and taint it with vulgarity and a lack of integrity.
And teach you astrology and dowsing, but only those if you perform the goetic rituals correctly. Regretsy – Regretsy Math
Price reports that significant fractions of Americans believe in astrology, clairvoyance, telepathy, and communication with the dead.
Astrology and alternative medicine are part of the New Age movement.
His Office is to teach the Arts of Philosophy, Astrology, Rhetoric, Logic, Cheiromancy, and Pyromancy , in all their parts, and perfectly.
Astrology, astrotherapy, biorhythms, cartomancy, chiromancy, the enneagram, fortune telling, graphology, rumpology, etc., seem to work because they seem to provide accurate personality analyses.
Like astrology, knowledge of alchemy filtered into medieval Europe through Moorish centres of learning in Spain.
Here, the suspension of disbelief is somewhat trickier, because a great deal of Smiley's data on these beasts comes from telepathy, numerology or astrology.
Do you think astrology is totally cool or complete bull?
Foretelling the future through astrology is bunk, right?
Now, I know you'd be the first to distance yourself from the practice of astrology, but it seems that like astrology columns, no two futurists would necessarily agree on their predictions for the future.
The relatively recent recognition of the Sun as the central star of the Solar System has elevated it to a position of supreme significance in modern astrology that has overshadowed the traditional importance of the Moon.
Augustine was preaching on the duty his congregation had to conform with God's word: they must abstain from detestable pagan practices, divination, astrology, haruspication, and the like.
There lived then in Houndsditch one Alexander Hart, who had been a soldier formerly, a comely old man, of good aspect; he professed questionary astrology, and a little of physick; his greatest skill was to elect young gentlemen fit times to play at dice, that they might win or get money. William Lilly's History of His Life and Times
Christopher Warnock is a well known and respected practitioner of horary astrology, one of the oldest and most useful branches of astrology.
Both astrology and graphology, as well as biorhythms, have been widely used in Europe, in India, and in Asia for determining if applicants are suitable for certain positions.
In astrology, Mars is the planet of aggressive energy and creative action.
In which Captain Crowe is sublimed into the regions on Astrology. The Life and Adventures of Sir Launcelot Greaves
Professionally written, beautifully presented astrology relationship reports - synastry reports - are now on sale in our new age shop.
Some of us associate astrology with star signs that talk of things which merely are coincidental with issues happening in our lives.
The lowest branch of mundane, kings and potentates, is but a short step from natal astrology.
Obviously, there's a lot more to Vedic astrology than just knowing that there is a sidereal zodiac and a tropical zodiac; when you start learning, you realise all the rules and regulations.
The spirit of the age led many astrologers to attempt a renascence and reformation in astrology: a return to pre-medieval practice, which they took to be preserved in Ptolemy.
I was normally not prone to astrological contemplations, but what harm could there be in a little bit of astrology?
But because my commitment is to mainstreaming astrology, I think it would be very confusing to the public if I started discussing other techniques.
I suspect the ancient Greeks set it up this way because it made astrology amenable to mathematical analysis and easier to construct ephemerides. Debunking Astrology: Mars Can't Influence You | Universe Today
Clearly, there are people who are happier looking at the history of astrology and the philosophy behind it than actually sitting down with clients and doing charts - and people for whom the converse is true.
Today, a typical American bookstore usually features shelf after shelf of books concerned with mysticism, wholistic medicine, astrology, metaphysics, witches, the occult, Eastern religion.
The consensus was that there had to be something in this astrology lark, and what did I know, I'm only an astronomy graduate.
His eighth chapter - reproduced on this site from the Levy-Cantera translation - contained 120 aphorisms and generalizations on astrology, highly relevant for the art of horary.
She regularly flies to the USA to see clients and give talks on astrology, palmistry, tarot and how to develop clairvoyance.
He taught Lilly the rudiments of astrology, but Lilly had a low opinion of his tutor.
To validate astrology, a delicate subject, Ficino recounts the wisdom of the three Magi, who "came with a star guiding them, to Christ, the guide of life. Architecture and Memory: The Renaissance Studioli of Federico da Montefeltro
A belief in judicial astrology can now only exist in the people, who may be said to have no belief at all; for mere traditional sentiments can hardly be said to amount to a _belief_. Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 1 (of 3)
A further compilation of ancient texts concerning astrology, magic and alchemy was the Hermetica, written in Alexandria around 100 AD.
But they were not above the resort to astrology and magic, both pursuits then considered more fruitful than physical diagnosis. Times, Sunday Times
Combining astrology with psychology is one way we can help our clients and another way for us to better understand humanity.
She knew nothing about magic, astrology, cabala, or other facets of her calling. THREE KINDS OF KISSING - SCOTTISH SHORT STORIES
It combined elements of astrology and the Greek mystery religions, which highlighted special rites of initiation. Christianity Today
One of his greatest achievements, mathematical proof of a heliocentric solar system, continues to be used today as a major argument against the validity of astrology.
Dean has also authored or co-authored any number of papers debunking astrology.
He writes on astronomy and astrology without knowing either'. The Times Literary Supplement
Vedas and that the term Vedic astrology is Best Astrology and Horoscope site on the web including, daily horoscopes, weekly horoscopes, personal horoscopes, year ahead horoscopes, Our experts follows Vedic Indian astrology system, nearly 7000 years old, which Get your vedic analysis based on our rich experience. Xml's Blinklist.com
The link between astronomy and astrology could no longer be taken for granted. The Times Literary Supplement
Exhibits included displays showing skeptical explanations of paranormal claims such as UFOs, the purported moon landing hoax, cryptozoology, and astrology.
Modern texts often refer to Uranus as the planet that governs astrology and astrologers.
Every indication is negative for peace as far as mundane astrology is concerned.
Struggling for her moorings there, she began reading C.G. Jung which led to books on alchemy, hermetic magic, astrology and the Kabbala.
The link between astronomy and astrology could no longer be taken for granted. The Times Literary Supplement
On the internet we find thousands of sites dealing with just about every aspect of astrology.
All ancient astrologers placed the greatest significance upon heliacal risings and settings and ancient Mesopotamian astrology was also heavily predisposed to observance of this kind of planetary phenomena.
He practiced astrology, calculated horoscopes for a consideration, lectured on chemistry and astronomy, blasphemed the Christian religion, published a journal of hybrid doctrines, called the Philomathean, and pretended to calculate "cheap nativities" on the transit of planets for $10 each, for all of which he obtained but slender pecuniary recompense. Jack London's Parentage
These combine numerology and astrology - knowledge, as he put it, that had remained ‘a forbidden fruit since the dawn of civilisation’.
If one believes that astrology can predict death, then one must believe in fate and that we have no free will.
Astrology gained in status during the Gupta period and moved beyond mere prognostication of birthmarks and foretelling of the future by interpretation of dreams and facial features.
She's busy writing a book on astrology.
Just like astrology or mountebankery, intelligent design is an agenda-driven pseudo-science that requires faith instead of facts, and imagination instead of empirical evidence.
As Nick himself puts it, if this is how one sees astrology ‘one may just as easily roll a set of astro-dice as go to the bother of casting a horoscope’.
This special form of astrology, we're told, was written by saints and seers thousands of years ago.
Rating by astrology would not be actuarially sound. Allstate Retracts Failed Zodiac Joke
It is also used as a type of divination and has been used in conjunction with astrology.
Others, like William of Conches and the Arabic doctors, demonstrated an interest in putative astrological influences on the fetus's development. 42 But by the mid-thirteenth century, Vincent of Beauvais followed his source, the Cistercian Helinand of Froidmont, a twelfth-century critic of astrology, and strongly attacked the belief in the planets 'power to determine sex differentiation in the womb. 43 Medical writers generally avoided the question of celestial interference and concentrated on the positive and negative influences of terrestrial bodies, especially the maternal body encasing the fetus. A Tender Age: Cultural Anxieties over the Child in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
It is unlikely that he ever practised astrology in the sense of drawing up charts and interpreting them.
The end of the twentieth century was marked by a boom of astrology, mysticism, and occultism in many countries.
The contrast between the latest textbooks on information technology on the one hand, and the guides to astrology palmistry and numerology on the other, is startling.
He followed that with Oracle of Geomancy and Terrestrial Astrology which has become the standard work on Western divinatory geomancy.
Rumpology works the same way as astrology, cartomancy, metoposcopy, palmistry, and getting messages from ghosts.
She did numerology and astrology and tarot with an uncanny instinct.
She was a popular teacher and practitioner and is best remembered for her work in the field of horary astrology.
So we can, in this way, reject (as whole sciences) astrology, homoeopathy, Freudian psychoanalyisis, or Marxist economics. Which Economists to Trust?, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty
Astrology and alternative medicine are part of the New Age movement.
During the reading my psychic used such ancient arts as numerology, astrology, palmistry, tarot cards and rune stones and even found hidden meaning in the color of my tie.
Real astrology is horary astrology, or divination, and can never be other than divination.
Wrapped in layers of philosophy, history, metrical science and astrology, Kingsbury has also given us a closer look at the central premise of Asimov's trilogy: that what men can predict, men can control.
The link between astronomy and astrology could no longer be taken for granted. The Times Literary Supplement
This kind of data retrofitting is common among believers in such pseudosciences as astrology, graphology and biorhythms.
Mongolian astrology is a slight variant of the main Tibetan astrological system, but now in the way of an introduction, let us speak of the Tibetan-Mongolian system in general. Tibeto-Mongolian Astrology and Karma
Unlike astronomy, astrology cannot be described as an exact science.
In vedic astrology, Virgo has some qualities of air, because Mercury is considered an airy planet for them.
The second is mundane astrology, concerning the rise and fall of kingdoms, battles, revolutions, etc.
Dean has also authored or co-authored any number of papers debunking astrology.
Interrogations, or praśnajñāna, never achieved the popularity of genethlialogy or catarchic astrology in India; but there do exist some early works on the subject, notably by ASTROLOGY
She is currently researching the history of astrology and religious thought.
There is so much more to astrology than the sun sign and horoscope columns you read in the papers.
When the astrology reference is made in isolation from the refutation point you are looking at the use of selective quoting to convey a misimpression. Bradley Monton's Paper criticizing Dover Decision
Other spiritual methods of searching for one's soulmate are astrology, numerology, palm reading, personality types, and magic.
There are 10 planets in Astrology, beginning with the Sun and the Moon, which are also known as luminaries.
Astronomy, as distinct from astrology, is an exact science.
Television and the Internet, for example - both products of science - become means of expanding audiences for beliefs such as astrology and satanism.
The major portion of this book is dedicated to debunking beliefs in astrology, superstition and New Age beliefs.
On the relation of Abu Ma'shar to medieval medicine, see Richard Lemay, Abu Ma'shar and Latin Aristotelianism in the Twelfth Century: The Recovery of Aristotle's Natural Philosophy through Arabic Astrology (Beirut, 1962), 50 — 51. A Tender Age: Cultural Anxieties over the Child in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries
He writes on astronomy and astrology without knowing either'. The Times Literary Supplement
The most popular form of traditional Western astrology is sun sign astrology, the kind found in the horoscopes of many daily newspapers.
He had a sound belief in astrology, the stars being the twinkling penumbra of his incandescent belief in the ‘free market,’ with whose motions it was blasphemous to tamper.
No belief in astrology is needed to carry out such an investigation, only the birth-dates, an astronomical almanac, and a table of logarithms for working out the horoscope.
Astrology, Geography, and much else I forget, often leavened by profanity of bargemen at the dock. No-yes : Stephen Burt : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation
Also she was a water sign ( Pisces ), and she believed in things like that, astrology and such. THE SAVING GRACES
But they were not above the resort to astrology and magic, both pursuits then considered more fruitful than physical diagnosis. Times, Sunday Times
Both astrology and graphology, as well as biorhythms, have been widely used in Europe, in India, and in Asia for determining if applicants are suitable for certain positions.
Today, America's highest profile antiscience elected leaders are calling climate change a hoax, harrassing and trying to intimidate scientists they disagree with, saying that creationism should be taught in science class, arguing that homosexuality is "personal enslavement" and that abstinence-only sex education works, opposing the arts, and passing resolutions that say that astrology controls the weather. Shawn Lawrence Otto: GOP Antiscientists Are Leading America Down a Dangerous Road
So, finally the interpretation doesn't goes so far from occidental astrology.
Kunkle's re-examining of astrology is rooted in the Earth's "precession" -- put simply, the gravity-fueled change in orientation of the Earth's rotational axis. Latimes.com - News
This so-called validation of astrology has been circulating about for years.
During this period of seclusion he became deeply interested in magic, alchemy, astrology, cabalism, and all that sort of thing. The German Classics of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, Volume 01 Masterpieces of German Literature Translated into English.
She knew nothing about magic, astrology, cabala, or other facets of her calling. THREE KINDS OF KISSING - SCOTTISH SHORT STORIES
This not only reflects that progresses were made in calendrical techniques during the period, but also reveals the reciprocal relation between the planetary astrology and the calendar.
Unlike astronomy, astrology cannot be described as an exact science.
The contrast between the latest textbooks on information technology on the one hand, and the guides to astrology palmistry and numerology on the other, is startling.
The link between astronomy and astrology could no longer be taken for granted. The Times Literary Supplement
By such an approach we may not only move astrology forward, but astrology may become a means of leading human thought along new paths, by disclosing interrelationships which are at present unsuspected.
It has been instructive to comb the literature for evidence of when astrology has made a difference.
As a wry aside: The Heretic, if you place any credence in astrology, is most likely a Libra. Critique From HereNow
I have to admit, the equation of global warming denialism to astrology is quite apt. Think Progress » South Dakota legislators tell schools to teach ‘astrological’ explanation for global warming.
Because an astrology session brings together the triad of astrologer, client, and universe, one needs to communicate auspiciousness through the environment and the astrologer's behavior.
Every astrology chart is divided into houses, starting with the Ascendant line and working anti-clockwise around the rest of the chart.
She knew nothing about magic, astrology, cabala, or other facets of her calling. THREE KINDS OF KISSING - SCOTTISH SHORT STORIES
Astrology and alternative medicine are part of the New Age movement.
This is often regarded as the most problematic component of modern astrology.
In vedic astrology, Virgo has some qualities of air, because mercury is considered an airy planet for them.
The end of the twentieth century was marked by a boom of astrology, mysticism, and occultism in many countries.
Taoism, or Tao-kiao, was invented by the disciples of Lao-tze, but the lofty theories of this philosopher have denigrated to the grossest superstitions, alchemy, astrology, and a worship of a pantheon of idols, the highest of which is Yu-hwang Shang-ti; the chief of the Taoists resides at Lung-hu-shan (Kiang-si); most of the hierarchy are extremely ignorant. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 3: Brownson-Clairvaux
Traditional astrology recognises five significant relationships, based upon the twelvefold division of the zodiac signs.

How To Use Astrology In A Sentence

Report a problem

Please indicate a type of error

Additional information (optional):