Many King’s students love astrology. In Prince Hall, you might hear whispered exchanges of big threes, daily horoscopes, maybe even the precise birth chart of a grain of rice flicked onto the floor. But at a school built on intellectualism, this interest is a secret only some of us share aloud.
“Do you believe in astrology?” is a question that’s hard to answer. Say yes, and you might receive a snide remark about how it’s shallow or childish. Say no, and you’re some kind of cynic.
To the King’s student interested in astrology, I see you. It’s hard to enjoy something when you feel you have to rationalize why.
It’s annoying to hear again and again that astrology is antithetical to science, as if that’s its only measure of value. Why can’t skeptics let those who find joy in astrology just enjoy it? I notice that even I put a concerted effort into making my interest in astrology sound more “rigorous” by citing old, respected geezers like Carl Jung. My opinion might be respected, only if “intellectually mandated” men have been open to it. I hate it, but I do it.
Astrology dates back some 2,400 years, when Babylonians developed horoscopes: natal charts calculated by birth data that astrologers use to infer a person’s character and forecast their life events.
Major authors, scientists, and philosophers studied in FYP studied astrology. Chaucer used astrological signs to influence his characters’ fates; Kepler practiced and published astrological charts. Even David Bowie referenced astrology as part of his persona.
We’re often taught that the only things worth knowing follow the empirical method. And you can’t (theoretically, anyway) make a lab experiment out of art or theatre — it’s entirely subjective. But this is exactly what our time at King’s is about: questioning, feeling and measuring what it means to live in this world.
When you want something, you attach a certain level of importance to it. When you can’t seem to get it, it can feel like you’re unworthy. So the easiest way to avoid those feelings of unworthiness is to put down that thing you want the most. If you constantly have to justify the nonexistence or stupidity of a certain thing, it means there’s something in you that is strongly attracted to it.
We may never prove astrology to be real, but that doesn’t change the experiences people have or the way astrology is used. Astronomy can confirm that on Friday, March 20 at 4:42 p.m. AST, Mercury will leave retrograde and begin to move backwards from our geocentric perspective. Astrologers take that information and parse it out. They ask: What does this mean? What does this mean in the context of Mercury being in Pisces? What historical evidence of Mercury going retrograde in Pisces can we use to back these claims? What information about the present moment — personally or globally — can we use to say something about this event?
Astrology, even if not based on cold, hard science, at least affirms my every suspicion and fantasy, my likes and dislikes. When the world feels bleak, the stars provide a little meaning. After a long day of talking about Nietzsche or Dostoevsky, it’s nice to open my phone to a horoscope that tells me: “You have everything that you’re seeking within you.” Maybe the skeptic needs to hear that too.
