Astrology

Posted on February 19, 2003 in Encounters Myths & Mysticism

If I can get the guts up, there’s something I’d like to say to the next obsessive-compulsive, bully, or other boor who tries to blame how they are behaving on their sign: “Want to change that? A good first step is to stop believing in astrology.”

The thing that prompts this declaration is an encounter I had in my writing group about a week ago. I have a PDA case that I bought a few weeks ago. This person sitting next to me started picking at the plastic tag attachment that I’d left sticking out on one end. I smiled and turned it so that it was out of her sight. There was another such plastic twig on the other side of the case, too. She started to pick at that.

“I can’t help it,” she said as I turned the case to a side where there was no tag just to free myself of her interference in my life. “I’m a Virgo.”

The moment would have been perfect.

People who believe in astrology like to say that they believe we are free to change. I do, too. I have witnessed it in the behavior of people who believe in astrology. They read the descriptions of their signs and become that person by rote practice. Lynn likes to point out that you can find yourself in just about any horoscope if you go looking. Studies by psychologists show that when given a random horoscope which purports to be the one that describes their sign, students are likely to say “Yes, that’s me.” In other studies, where they are given their actual horoscope as charted by an astrologer and one charted for another student, they’re about fifty percent likely to choose the wrong one.

By the way, I’m an Aquarius. Statistics show that most of you who believe in astrology will claim to have had me pegged and to completely understand me now.

The message is clear: people who love astrology are letting their love of storytelling and their fear of uncertainty interfere with their lives. It’s an obstacle to seeing other people and the world as they really are.