“As we are bracing ourselves for the immense impact of Mercury once again going into retrograde, I couldn’t help but wonder if Mr Big and I are indeed doomed to be nothing more than star-crossed lovers,” is probably something Carrie Bradshaw would’ve slammed into her keyboard if the pseudoscience of astrology were as prevalent in the nineties as it is today.
In a time when the positioning of celestial bodies has become a determinant in our decision-making—from personal contemplation to swiping right on that one Tinder cutie, to corporate consideration on the specific point in time to roll out a new product—it is certainly a curiosity that the system of divination that was once relegated to the back pages of newspapers has now made the headlines.
When did it all start, you ask? Though the maths-meet-myth meshwork has existed for aeons, with the earliest evidence dating as far back as the third millennium BCE, those in our generation would probably cite staples of early 2000s girlhood as their introductory chapter. American comedy show Lizzie McGuire, for instance, marked a seminal moment for many.
Famously featuring an episode where the titular character found her guiding North Star in horoscopes, the series showed McGuire consumed by the thought that they would predict her future. She then began to calculate her every move to remain in step with her astrological forecast. It was a plot device that explored the themes of superstition and self-doubt, which have trickled down into different segments of pop culture over the years.
But here’s the conundrum: The scientific community has been adamant in its dismissal of astrology and there is a mountain of evidence, or rather, the lack thereof, to back it up. Jonathan Jarry’s How Astrology Escaped the Pull of Science noted that these divinatory practices have been probed since the 1950s and champions of the cause have yet to make a convincing case for them.
“Astrologists have dealt with this evidence by ignoring or rejecting it. They have resorted to hand-waving: they do not yet know what this all means, but astrology works and one day we will figure it all out,” quipped the science communicator in his article. “Their response to a study published in 1990 encapsulates their close-mindedness to course corrections,” he added.
He, of course, was referring to the experiment where six astrologers, provided with the photos of the respondents and their answers to a questionnaire by the Indiana Federation of Astrologers, were tasked to match 23 birth charts to 23 people. The outcome, to no one’s surprise, was less than stellar with each astrologer making at most three correct matches.
“When presented with this verdict, the Federation twisted itself into a pretzel to provide an explanation, ultimately claiming that ‘astrology may not always give quantifiable results but it works nonetheless.’” said Jarry. The lack of empirical evidence, however, has yet to deter enthusiasts. If anything, the interest in it has surged with modern-day trappings like Co-Star, Ghost of a Podcast, and the like.
Sign of the Times
With many turning to astrology for enlightenment, the theory of a new religion has entered the public consciousness, and it may not be as ridiculous as it sounds. The civilisation that has flourished across millennia, after all, has been anchored by religion for its utility in offering guidance in times of uncertainty. It is in our nature to seek meanings, to find explanations for the inexplicable.
But what happens when every manoeuvre that we make, according to the handbook, leads to dead ends? Like, what can a queer person look forward to other than fire and brimstone? Some of us choose to pave our own path to the betterment of ourselves. But could astrology pass for a religion? The chances are certainly higher than it being recognised as a scientific phenomenon.
Astrologer to the stars Chani Nicholas, in an interview published in British Vogue, drew a parallel between the two. “The major world religions come from societies where people were living according to nature, and time is marked with a lot of emphasis. In Judaism, we celebrate the new moon—every month it is celebrated. We are lunar people,” she prefaced her answer.
“Before major religions, we were living in places where there were temples to the moon—human beings come from a solar/lunar system and understanding of the system. Holidays, Christmas, and Easter, are clustered around equinoxes for a reason. The marking of time is in our DNA, and I think people are hungry for it again. And astrology helps you do that,” she added.
That being said, unlike religion, astrology lacks the absoluteness mankind often seeks solace in, the unchanging set of rules, in distinguishable shades of black and white, as recourse when the line gets blurry. So how can astrology, with the planets and their neighbouring entities prone to anomaly, be reliable when the goalposts are ever mobile?
“It’s not about being right. It’s about being helpful and providing people with space for reflection. You can’t write for 1/12th of the population and be right,” said Nicholas. “But what I can be is useful. I can be a place of refuge or reflection,” she added. Perhaps this is the kind of wishy-washy argument that Jarry pointed out earlier and perhaps, it doesn’t really matter.
When Stars Don’t Align
A couple of months back, a friend; a self-proclaimed tarot reader, offered to read my cards. Now, I am neither a believer nor a detractor of all things woo-woo but the future is indeed fascinating. It is a mystery that I, like many of us, find joy in unravelling. It is like watching a good thriller that you can’t help but go along with the protagonist in piecing the puzzle together in pursuit of the truth.
After flipping through the stack with faces of deities shuffling about, between steaming cups of flat whites, he began foretelling my future. The passage of time may have smudged the edges of the once-clear details but the gist still holds firm: an old flame was to return that weekend. Hope burned bright within me but it was swiftly put out when fate made clear that it couldn’t be bothered to comply.
I don’t believe in astrology pic.twitter.com/NpggneEMJl
— memes (@memescentrai) May 25, 2021
The disappointment was fierce but fleeting, possibly due to my near non-existent relationship with astrology, and my indifference kept me from investing emotion in it. If anything, the snippet of Priyanka Chopra’s interview on the Jennifer Hudson Show that popped up on my FYP not long after reaffirmed my commitment to trusting my own decision. “I don’t read my books backwards. I like to go to the next chapter, not to the previous one because I know the story.”
Detaching oneself from astrological readings, especially when they read false positives, may not come as easy for others. In Fortune Telling Addiction: Unfortunately a Serious Topic About a Case Report, Dr. Marie Grall-Bronnec and co. shone the spotlight on a 45-year-old woman whose addiction to clairvoyance had led her to become psychologically dependent on astrologers.
Helen’s trouble began when she was a teenager, the report reads. From an innocent question about school stuff, her enquiries became more intense over time, pleading to the moon and stars for answers to the most trivial matters, hopping from one soothsayer to another when they were not to her liking. It was a way for her, as they later found out, to glaze over her deeper, underlying issues.
Not unlike Helen, some of us get sucked into the black hole of astrology to escape—from insecurities to responsibility. We are looking upward for answers when we should be looking inward. Sure, it is easier to blame Mercury for the inconveniences that befall us than to admit our own shortcomings, but taking accountability is the only way to effect lasting change. The truth will set us free.
This story first appeared on GRAZIA Malaysia October 2024 Issue.
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