ASTROLOGY: THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE HOROSCOPES AND DO THEY ACTUALLY WORK?

Everyone knows their star sign. When you’re born its almost as important as counting that you have your ten fingers and toes. The superstitious family members make their predictions about what your personality will be like. If you’re an Aries, you’re sure to be strong minded, fiery and determined because that’s what your stars say. But beyond the birth of a new child and other various important life events, does anyone really take note of their daily or weekly horoscopes? Some swear by them and others think they are just a generalised statement that any normal person could interpret to apply to their life. So how accurate are they and do they actually hold a wealth of knowledge that could be useful in times where guidance is needed? I aim to find this out by doing a 5-day experiment.

But first — some history on the science and developments of astrology.

Astrology originated from the Babylonians more than 2,000 years ago. The study of the sun, moon, planets and stars enabled them to predict the recurrence of seasons and celestial events. The Babylonians introduced their knowledge and study of the solar system to the Greeks in early fourth century B.C. The word zodiac is actually derived from the Greek word Zodia meaning ‘the circle of animals’. Astrology was then later to be embraced by the Romans. It is from the Romans that the zodiac signs get their name which are still used today. The science behind astrology continued to develop and become more in-depth. It was soon discovered that there were 12 lunar cycles before the sun returned to its original position and 12 constellations were linked to the progression of these lunar cycles.

The process of writing a horoscope isn’t as easy as one might think. First, the date and time are to be calculated in ‘sidereal’ time. The astrologer must then consult an astronomical ephemeris (a table which details the locations of the sun, moon planets and stars at any given time) and construct a chart. Then, if done properly, the astrologer can interpret this chart in order to make predictions that reveal personality insights and current trends that will effect people of their given star sign.

So, how accurate are the everyday star signs that we see in our local newspaper and online?

To determine this, I am going to use the horoscopes from Astrology.com and three different people of different star signs. Over the course of five days, I will interview each person at the end of the day and ask them questions about what they have experienced. Without them knowing what their horoscope says, I, as an objective third person, will analyse what is in their daily horoscope and see if there is any relevance or correlation between what is actually happening in their life.

I introduce to you, our three lab rats:

All three girls were keen and excited to start the experiment, as was I. However, by day three it is safe to say we were all pretty over it and found it to be a nuisance — but we powered on in the name of an interesting experiment. It may not seem like a lot of effort, but chasing up three different girls five days in a row to assess their day and link it with their horoscope became pretty tiresome! So, to summarise what became an extremely lengthy 2,500-word document with all three girls’ horoscopes for all five days and their five respective reflections, the results have been put into three tables. The tables detail three main statements that were made in their horoscope for the day and whether or not they manifested in real life.

It became clear quite quickly that none of the girls’ horoscopes were neither consistently true nor consistently wrong. Most days had elements of truth and also elements of falsity. However, on Thursday, none of the girls’ horoscopes had any truth or accuracy behind them — perhaps it was a full moon! The results and their varying levels of truth can be clearly seen in the graph below which plots the level of accuracy against each day for each of the three girls.

The girls weren’t allowed to look at their horoscope for the five days in order to make the experiment more accurate but it was still difficult to ask the girls questions about their days that didn’t prompt them to talk about certain topics that were in the horoscope. This could have made the results a little less accurate.

From this experiment, in my opinion, horoscopes make just enough generalised statements ambiguous enough for people to be able to identify with at least one of the things said which leads them to believe it is true. Sure there is a solid history and science that informs the predictions made in a horoscope, but, can these statements really apply to the entirety of the people born during a specific zodiac?

On the bright side I do think that horoscopes are great when you need a little bit of guidance and positivity in your life. They can push you in the right direction when you are lacking the motivation to be productive and active. It is also nice to believe in the bigger picture and that there is a greater force coming into play to help you through life’s greatest moments.

So why not check your horoscope for the day and have some fun — let them put some positivity back into your life.