by Brielle Diskin
A progressive, independent, aloof air sign who likes having fun with friends but is aversive to those who disagree with them. This is a stereotypical Aquarian, this is supposed to be my framework to being alive.
As a member of a younger generation somewhere on the cusp between Gen Z and Millenials, I know my peers are edging away from the traditional interpretation of religion and falling into the arms of atheism, witchcraft, or astrology to name a few. We’ve evolved into generation of devout alternatives.
Still what remains is a vacuum for life’s seemingly unanswerable questions and now everyone is looking to the stars.
The pseudoscience known as astrology is a study which makes assertions on personalized material based on a map of the solar system. It’s the analysis of celestial bodies and how they impact human lives and earthly experiences. This is not to discredit the study of astrology but in many ways it is sort of just theories and predictions. Theories and predictions that generalize how we live and who we are.
I remember as a preteen sitting room tearing through issues of Seventeen magazine, reading my horoscope in the back of the book. They were never really spot on and I didn’t really relate. Cut to about a decade later in an internet age, astrology is on a whole other heightened level.
Over the past couple of years, astrology became catnip for a content-driven internet age. we are inundated with daily clickbait on what the stars have in store for you. Popular publications like The Cut, Vice, Refinery 29, Bustle, and others have subsections and columns devoted to astrology and horoscopes. It’s worth noting that the aforementioned magazines have a majority female readership and the study of astrology is especially popular with women. Some of the information is really sharp and on point, other times the insincerity feels like a try for clickbait.
I once enjoyed the solidarity in getting to know myself, it felt personal. Astrology is a conversation that’s taken on a life of its own. It’s no longer private, it’s extremely public. There’s a danger in overly publicized personal information. A danger in trends that take on a life of their own.
In an all too often confusing world rifled with uncertainty, the question of what life and what humanity’s role in it is, looms. It is beautiful that we are trying to decode our existence, become more self-aware, more hopeful, and build stronger interpersonal relationships. But how much reliance is on weighted on these “maps” that read into our life— past, present and future. And how much are we depending on these “birth charts” to explain our characteristics and individuality. But for many, it seems like something that’s worth holding on to. So many of my friends and colleagues talk about the self actualization they found in their birth charts and horoscopes.
“I feel like every horoscope I read I relate to,” said a close friend.
There’s a drinking game I invented. You take a shot everytime you see a girl pull out her phone to create someone’s birth chart at the bar. Both my wallet and my liver have forced me to abandon the game.
It’s taken permanence in the average small talk. “What’s your name?… Where are you from?… WHAT’S YOUR SIGN?”
I hate to completely negate or put down anything that encourages people—young people in particular—to try and understand the complexities of who they are and what that all means in the greater universe. But there’s a fine line between understanding yourself and confining yourself to predetermined pseudoscience.
It should be a guide not a script. Personally, I live my life in contradictions with the understanding that you can never be really sure about anything. Defining who you are is important as it is complicated. We are who we are based off many factors—not just the constellations in the sky upon the date and time of our birth.
Every life is spectacularly unique. Life happens and it changes you and if you think otherwise you’re not paying attention.