Believing in Astrology, to be honest
The dating app Bumble has made creating your bio a lot easier now that it asks you a list of general questions, from exercise habits to political alignment, to put on your profile. One of these questions happens what your zodiac sign is.
Some people might find it ridiculous to swipe left or reject a person just because they’re a Scorpio or a Gemini. But you’d be surprised how people nowadays take astrology more seriously than ever. Online publications such as Buzzfeed, Bustle and The Cut have their own astrology section that publishes weekly in-depth horoscopes or seemingly baseless quizzes like “Pick Out A Full Face Of Makeup And We’ll Reveal Your True Zodiac Sign”. The Twitter account Astro Poets combines poetry, horoscopes, and a bit of meme culture for its 392,000 followers. In fact, they’ve landed a regular spot on the website of the renowned fashion magazine, W Magazine.
There are some people who take astrology to heart and some people who have enough time to kill to take five of those Buzzfeed astrology quizzes. Regardless of this, one can’t deny the casual impact astrology has on today’s online pop culture. But the question is why now out of all times?
Astrology’s initial simplicity can be something to appreciate. You’re given several guides, from a list of traits that you knew you already had and either a foreboding or hopeful description on how your week will go.
But your zodiac sign is just the tip of the iceberg. For more advanced believers in astrology, there is a (monstrosity) called the natal chart. This guide calculates almost every single aspect of a person according to the day, year, and time of one’s birth. Each planet in the solar system is assigned a different zodiac sign and this combination represents one’s behavior towards a certain aspect of life. A Virgo, which is their sun sign, can also be an Aries in Venus, meaning that they value honesty and openness in a relationship. The natal chart gets more complicated with “house placements” and more. Fortunately, Allure Magazine, Refinery29, and other magazines give detailed guides on how to deconstruct your natal chart.
It’s an open secret that astrology doesn’t have any scientific evidence as its basis; however, its distinct system of logic allows it to be elevated to the status of “pseudoscience”. Ironically, it is exactly this logic that lets astrology get away with inconsistencies. If a person is a Taurus but isn’t lazy at all, then it’s probably because they’re a Libra rising, meaning unfinished work will leave them unsettled. And let’s not forget the planetary retrogrades (now more than just Mercury) that happens throughout the year and the effects they have on our moods.
The secret behind astrology’s supposed accuracy is its generality. Absolutely anyone could value loyalty just like a Taurus could. A person doesn’t have to be a Virgo to be a bit on the shy side. But since these attributes are based on your own date and time of birth, astrology is a quirky package made especially for you.
The susceptibility in believing a general descriptor as accurate is called the Barnum effect. Researchers Peter Glick, Deborah Gottesman, and Jeffrey Jolton had studied the effect on people’s beliefs in astrology and found that a general and vague personality description doesn’t even have to come from astrology for a believer to find it accurate. The horoscopes don’t even have to be positive for people to believe in them either.
Nevertheless, there’s a certain feeling of reassurance that comes in reading more about the future in 120 characters or less, no matter how vague. And what if you just so happened to have one bad relationship with an Aquarius and don’t want to take the risk of repeating it again?
The truth is that no one likes uncertainty. And the world — especially now — has a lot of it. Studies have shown that an increase in astrological belief occurs in the presence of political and economic threats, very much like how it is today.
Thus, Marjaana Linderman calls astrology an “anxiety-buffer” that offers people a “coherent worldview” against feelings of uncertainty. A person is repeatedly told by different websites that they are disciplined, patient, and practical, regardless of their dubious basis. They receive a weekly notice on the hardships or the opportunities that could happen considering those traits of theirs. Thus, a supposed awareness of the self and their surroundings allows a person to function even a tad bit better.
In a world of contradictions — where we’ve never been so advanced and yet never so backwards — people today will cling onto anything that makes sense. One of these things happens to be astrology. And yet, even if the planets and stars are constantly in motion, such change only brings hope. In an in-depth feature on the new age of astrology in The Atlantic, writer Julie Beck said, “Astrology offers those in crisis the comfort of imagining a better future, a tangible reminder of that clichéd truism that is nonetheless hard to remember when you’re in the thick of it: This too shall pass.”
