Astrology has been a common thread through the decades and empires. This generation has taken the stars down to Earth and not in a good way.
Astrology and human fascination with the stars has been something that transcends cultural divides and language barriers, having been seen in many separate cultures across the world.
As with most things, we have the Greeks to thank for the modernization of astrology.
The Greeks were far from the first to believe that the placement of stars and planets had some ‘effect’ on the lives that people lead, but they were the ones who created the system that most closely resembles our modern day version.
They were the ones to divide the sky into the 12 star signs that you are most likely familiar with; Aries (March 21-April 19), Taurus (April 20-May 20), Gemini (May 21-June 20), Cancer (June 21-July 22), Leo (July 23-Aug. 22), Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22), Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22), Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21), Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21), Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19), Aquarius (Jan. 20 to Feb. 18) and Pisces (Feb. 19 to March 20)
While the Babylons did something similar, dividing the sky into twelve star signs and naming the constellations with familiar terms like The Scales and The Lion, their interpretation is largely just bundled up with the Greeks due the similarity.
From its origins in Mesopotamia to the Greeks to ancient China, it was believed that the stars that shined when you were born held some sway over your personality and your fate. Even after we discovered that the universe revolves around the Sun and not the Earth, which the basis of astrology heavily relied on, humans continued to believe in the stars.
The 1930s is when astrology revived in popularity with its appearance in newspapers, believed to begin with R.H. Naylor. Daily horoscopes began to be printed, often getting their own column but were determined as folly by the newspapers themselves. When sorting the stories for storage, the horoscopes got placed with ghost stories, simply for reader entertainment.
Nowadays, you can’t enter a quirky shop or bookstore without stumbling into something astrology related. There’s candles, necklaces, sweaters, crystal bundles, little booklets, earrings and so much more. The capitalist nature of our society has tainted astrology, taking it from its original and playful beginning and turning it into a money hungry beast.
For something like astrology, I will always wish that capitalism kept its greedy hands away from. I wish it had remained something that existed purely for the whimsy of itself. I don’t need a sweater from Anthropologie for 20 bucks of my astrological sign to show the whole world, I’d rather it simply be a talking point in conversations or a means to find a purpose within my life.
I think as humans, we all yearn to be defined, to be told that the way we act is for a reason and not simply because that’s the way that we are. It’s less painful if it comes from outside ourselves, the definitions, especially if it’s something we can’t control. Like, for example, the stars that were present at our birth.
Astrology isn’t the only victim of this wide-spread need for people to try and find meaning or purpose. There have been many personality quizzes, ranging from the ever popular Buzzfeed quiz on which “High School Musical” song you are to the infamous Myers & Briggs Personality Test.
Despite the Myers & Briggs Personality Test being widely besmirched for lacking a scientific background and over-generalizing personalities, it is still widely used by the population as a way to define. When it comes to wanting to know who you are, science is thrown out the window.
Don’t even get me started on people who see their astrological sign as an excuse to say untoward comments or do unwise things. While regarded as a joke on social media, there are some people who genuinely see their astrological sign as a feasible excuse to, simply put, be a bad person. Now, you’re abusing the star signs and making them appear far more corny than they actually are.
I think for things like astrology and personality tests, there is a fine line that needs to be walked. You can believe that your choices and life can be influenced by the stars, but don’t let it consume your every waking moment. You can construct your identity to align with your Myers & Briggs Personality Test results, but just ensure that you are being true to yourself. There’s an intrinsic balance that needs to be employed with these kinds of things.