We all know what our sign is. Even if we say or pretend that we do not care, we still know what it is. The signs, or constellations, are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius. They can be found on the ecliptic plane on the celestial sphere. So what makes some people buy into it astrology more than others? Is it the answer that some need to live their daily lives? Or do some simply read them for amusement?
Firstly, astrology and astronomy are not the same thing. Astronomy is a part of science that deals with space, celestial objects and the universe as a whole. Astrology is “the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies (sun, moon and planets) interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world” (Merriam).
Astrology has been around for a long time, dating back to civilizations like the ancient Greeks, Chinese, Egyptians and Mayans. Back then though, Astrology was being used as a way to predict future events and weather patterns for harvesting purposes. That seems simple enough, no harm done. Lets fast forward though to current times. I’m pretty sure Astrology is not being used to predict weather patterns anymore.... that is why we have meteorologists. The whole concept of astrology has been completely warped. Previously, it was a method used to aid the royalty in their decision making or as a way to plan harvesting to maintain life. But now, it’s a meaningless habit that many choose to engage in. Horoscopes in the daily newspaper can hardly be taken seriously. Their messages are so vague that it promotes selective thinking. Horoscope readers read their message, and apply it to the part of their life that they see fits best. It is not based on any science or true facts, its pure biast. “scientific tests of astrology have never found any evidence that its predictive methods work” (Bennett, 87).
From a business perspective, it is just another method of making money. From those who truly believe in the power of horoscopes, they are being suckered into paying $.99-$6.99 for iphone, blackberry or android apps, $6.99 for the cosmopolitan horoscope issue or larger amounts to have their personal astrology read. There also have been many books published, with authors claiming that they can correlate your birthday to your personality, determine your future, or just interpret your whole life without ever having met you.
I know I have just strongly denounced astrology and horoscopes, but my main message is that we need to consider how we take this vague information and apply it to our daily lives. Reading the daily horoscope in the newspaper is a harmless pastime, if you don’t take it too seriously. Those who truly believe that what one columnist writes down can determine their day, their relationships or their success in life really needs to get a reality check. Life can’t be determined by what other people say, it needs to be determined by the one who’s living it.
1) Bennett, J. O. (2009). The cosmic perspective (5th ed.). San Francisico, CA: Pearson Addison-Wesley.
2) Merriam-Webster's dictionary and thesaurus . (2007). Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster.
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