Does Astrology Work?
“ The fault is not in our stars dear Brutus, but in ourselves.”
Thousands of years ago when our ancestors looked at sky they saw field of lights, they didn’t know what they were, but they noticed something amazing about them. Their movements were predictable and they had clear effects on the seasons, tides, harvests. So they assumed that these lights shaped everything. This was not limited to only few cultures, almost every other culture invented astrology.
People are still drawn to astrology. Many people still turn the newspaper in morning directly on predictions page. Horoscope alerts on texts and apps are a thing. We can see Sun/Moon Sign in people’s bio on Instagram and Twitter. In India astrologers have regular shows on major news networks.

Modern day astrology finds its roots from Babylonian astrology. Ancient Babylonians noticed that there were roughly 12 new moons over the course of a year. So they divided the path of the sun into 12 each one marked by constellations. Mapping symbols like scorpion or bull helped keep track of constellations year to year. That’s how our sun sign was determined. Originally it was the constellation the sun was in when you were born.

But that is not the only sign. They came up with birth charts which were nothing but snapshots of sky the moment we were born. So we have our sun sign, moon sign and rising sign (whether the sun was rising or setting at time of birth). The chart is divided into 12 houses for different areas of life. These areas include the position of planets and the degrees between them. People of that time also believed that earth is centre of universe until Galileo proved otherwise. But that did not make astrology vanish overnight. Even Galileo worked as astrologer for his family and others for livelihood.
The problem with astrology now is not that we revolve around sun or sun revolves around another center. A lot has changed since astrology was invented in the universe which makes the prediction science questionable. For example our earth has tilted in last 2000 years so sun sign has shifted. The new path of the sun as it’s perceived from the revolving Earth, passes through another 13th constellation other than the usual 12. Astrologers skip this 13th constellation that also resides on the ecliptic: Ophiuchus. About which a lot of us and so called astrologers do not know or take into account. So the astrology that has been in the fashion for all these years should not predict accurately.
So does astrology not work at all?
It can actually. Most of the horoscope columns are more or less positive. Studies show that people who are less in control of their lives are more drawn to astrology and see themselves in their horoscopes. A mystic from India Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev says-
“All those who are incapable of committing themselves to a plan and fulfilling it, want a prediction.”
But the positive outlook you can get from horoscope can make you perform better on cognitive and creativity tests. Its called the placebo effect. It suggests that belief in something can be enough. Like when we see food our digestive juices in mouth already starts secreting. Even we have not started eating food. This how our body work along our senses. So when we see our positive horoscope it can help in boosting confidence for most people.
So we can say astrology from scientific perspective should not work and for those who have experienced positive results from reading horoscope columns every morning ,behavioral economics can give the answer.
