Why Our Horoscopes Matter (Even Though They’re BS)

The human race has been obsessed with why we behave the way we do since day one–there are countless myths explaining personalities across cultures. The ancient Greeks, Native Americans, and Africans all did it. Some hypothesized the Gods were behind it all, some thought it was our ancestral origins, and others thought it all came from where and when we are born. While all of these theories still hold power, and even some truth, over individuals, one such proposal has become more and more discussed as of late– astrology, or how the stars’ positions at our birth influences our personalities. 

A quick search through Buzzfeed for ‘astrology’ yields pages full of articles, including “Which Climate Perfectly Matches Your Zodiac Sign?” and, “23 Reasons Astrology Obsessives are Actually Goddesses.” Scrolling through my own Facebook page, I daily see people sharing articles from this and other online editorials with comments like, “So true!” or, “Proud Libra!” Hell, even I have group chats filled with the swapping of Tumblr posts listing how each zodiac sign would react to a specific situation.

However, this rise in the popularity of astrology has been followed directly with skeptics of the “power of the stars.” In a science-heavy age, and a science-focused generation, we have thousands of tweets, articles, and Facebook posts blasting the fascination with astrology, and the pointlessness of these posts. “Every zodiac sign has traits we all can relate to! You all just pick and choose which aspects to focus on!” We can all agree that there has been at least one thing we’ve read about our sign that we’ve looked sideways at, or downright disagreed with– let’s face it, the stars aren’t always right.

So, why are we still so fascinated by astrology? Why do we look past these flaws, and share these posts with such fervor? Is this good, or bad?

We are the social media generation. We love sharing our lives, our identities, and our favorite things with each other through all media. We are vulnerable, open, and proud to be! Astrology is one of a thousand ways that we can choose to identify, and choose to represent ourselves, and I think representation is great! The media we use, the schools we go to, and the jobs we work for are all controlled by corporations run by people out of touch with our generation. How many professional Instagrams are clearly run by someone who has never used it before? These same people who practically run our lives are the ones writing articles and making movies that claim we’re a vapid, narcissistic, selfish generation. We’ve grown up being poorly represented in their art, if at all, and we’re sick of having to use their language to explain our personalities. So we’re making what their generation saw as “weird” ways of expressing ourselves mainstream.

This is the first step in working our takeover of media, of art, and of conversation. So next time you hesitate to share that “Which Parks and Rec Character are you According to Your Zodiac Sign?” because you’re worried what your older relatives will comment, go ahead and do it anyway. In our own way, it’s a small splash of rebellion against a system built to shame us. And, as a Pisces, I love making a splash.

• astrology
• horoscope
• zodiac