There are better things than horoscopes to dedicate your life to
By Jessica Berget, Opinions Editor
Carl Sagan once said this about astrology: “It pretends to satisfy our longing to feel personally connected to the universe.”
I know how fun it is to read horoscopes. I read mine, along with my friends’ and family’s (and occasional love interests’), whenever I get my hands on a newspaper. It’s fun to think about how your future is destined by celestial shapes and that your personality is all based on the stars in the sky on the day you were born. However, because astrology has no real basis in science or fact, that’s all it is—just a bit of fun.
Horoscopes are often written so vaguely that they can apply to anyone. If you read any horoscope without looking at which sign it is under, it’s impossible to tell which one it is for because they are so general. I am a vibrant Leo, which means—according to astrology—I am warm, big-hearted, headstrong, dominating, lazy, egotistical, and love receiving attention, among other things. While this may be true about some aspects of my personality, not all of the traits are representative of me or all people born under the Leo star sign. These are characteristics that can apply to practically anybody.
If that isn’t enough to discredit astrology as a science, think about how NASA has already proven that it’s a hoax. In 2016, they stated there is a 13th sign that hasn’t been accounted for: Ophiuchus. When the Babylonians developed their zodiac signs and lined them up with constellations three millennia ago, they already had a 12-month calendar. To fit this calendar they divided the zodiac into 12 parts, ignoring Ophiuchus.
Furthermore, the Babylonians assigned equal amounts of time for the sun to line up with each constellation, when in reality each constellation is a different shape and size. This means that each one lines up for a different length of time, despite what astrology says. According to NASA’s website SpacePlace, “The line from Earth through the Sun points to Virgo for 45 days, but it points to Scorpius for only seven days.” Because each astrological sign is based on being born in a specific timeframe, and NASA has proven that these timeframes aren’t as conveniently synced as astrology says, I think it’s fair to say that astrology isn’t even real, much less scientific.
Finally, ancient astrologers invented the 12 signs of the zodiac 3,000 years ago. Because it’s been so long, the sky has shifted because the Earth’s axis now points in a different direction (or so it has been explained to me on NASA’s website). Thanks to this shift, everyone’s sign should be one constellation earlier. This indicates that almost everyone has been reading the wrong horoscope all this time, proving that astrology is a complete hoax.
Astrology may be bullshit, but it gives people reassurance that their lives are already mapped out in the stars and there is nothing anybody can do to change it. Life is already so strange and terrifying, so I understand people wanting to make sense of it any way that they can—as long as you don’t take it too seriously.