By: Talia Chen
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According to Britannica, people have been divulging meaning from the movements of the cosmos since ancient Mesopotamia. Astrology does have a basis in fact, as seen by the work of many civilizations and scientists that have paid attention to space throughout history. The current astrological culture of horoscopes and star signs, the one we’ll be talking about in this article, started in the 1960’s, and doesn’t really have any evidence to back the astrological predictions it produces. However, astrology has been and still is an interesting part of our culture and the fun is in believing it.
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So first off, every person has a zodiac sign. This sign is correlated with their birthday, so for example, I am a Taurus because the Taurus month is April 20-May 20 and my birthday falls in that window. My sister, the little snake, is a Gemini which means her birthday is between May 21-June 21. The Gemini symbol is a pair of twins which correlates to how people think Geminis are two-faced. Interesting that my sister is one. There are 12 signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Saggitarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. In addition to these sun signs, there are moon signs and rising signs, which give you a more in depth view into your personality. Your moon sign and your rising sign are given by your time and place of birth. Along with these three signs is a slew of other signs and astrological orientations that any astrology website will give you if you enter your birthday information. The sun, moon, and rising signs are generally the ones people want to know, if you’re only a first level zodiac/astrology person like me.
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Astrology is popular because it’s fun! There are countless horoscopes, fun facts, and memes about the zodiac signs and it’s even more enjoyable to share them with your friends and family. Whether or not you truly believe in astrology, it’s appealing for something to tell you about yourself and provide answers to ambiguous questions. Astrology can tell you things like which sign your soulmate is, or your greatest flaws. Astrological predictions also tend to be vague yet precise enough to make you feel like they’re valid. The descriptions of Tauruses I come across can be applied to many people, regardless of sign, but when I read it as a target audience member, I read things that I relate to and could describe me. And who knows, astrology is so extensive that it provides a way to explain every fluctuation of a personality, so it’s fine to truly believe in it, too.
Personally, I don’t actually believe in astrology because if someone’s a Scorpio, I could also believe that they’re a Cancer. My sister is a Gemini but we thought she was also a Taurus for a while, and that was fine too. A lot of astrology is focusing on the parts of someone that fit a sign, which is easy enough to do subconsciously. Astrology is a nice way to pass the time, but I don’t take it too seriously because it also adds a lot of labels. It is fun to connect people’s quirks to their signs though. And yes, I’m a Taurus who likes food, is kind of stubborn, and arguably lazy.
Written by writer Talia Chen.