What’s Your Sign?

Well, I’m a Libra. A Taurus moon and a Capricorn rising. According to my birth chart, I should be indecisive (which is true), an idealist (also true), a great listener, an over-thinker, a diplomat- the list goes on. I could list the characteristics of my moon and rising, but that list could also go on forever.

Out of curiosity, I’ve done my research and know every sign and its spot in the calendar year and pretty much the gist of each one. And, as someone who loves to figure other people out, I’m curious to see if there’s perhaps a pattern in who I choose to be around. And perhaps astrology can provide these answers.

I love to first figure out a person’s sign and see how they’d fit in my world. Discovering that the stars are rooting for me and someone I like could be exciting, and perhaps even offer some outside validation. However, discovering that someone isn’t compatible with me, and knowing their potential traits before really knowing them, sets me up, essentially to prejudge their behavior. This idea is in sync with the notion that people are born with what they’ve got and well, have to deal with it. That those traits are perhaps ingrained in us. That we are molded into a persona right when we enter the world.

But this idea is kind of a bit of nonsense meets curiosity, and not so much accuracy. Think about it- astrology is everywhere. In music, television, movies, social media, our daily conversations. It’s a conversation in the break room and an app that predicts our thoughts, feelings, and goals of the day. Its accuracy is in its universal truths and generalities.

Often when I look at my Co-Star app’s daily horoscope I don’t believe it entirely. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Co-Star is an app that provides algorithmically-generated daily horoscopes, customized based on someone’s entire birth chart. So, in other words, it takes note of your sun sign, rising sign, and Moon sign. While most other horoscope apps only take note of your sun sign, which is determined by your date of birth.

But even still, Co-Star doesn’t seem that accurate. But sometimes when I’m in search of some guidance, I’ll look at it and think of the possible connections to what’s being said. For instance, my Co-Star said today that “Today, you are ready to articulate your plans and goals. Humility can help you be perceptive.” Perhaps I could have looked at this and believed it entirely. Maybe though, I know exactly what goals and plans this is referring to. As if the horoscope could relate to someone that much. But daily horoscopes are just nonsense because you could say a universal truth like phrase to anyone and they’ll find a way to connect.

Because the truth is we are always thinking about ourselves. And so we always want to learn more about ourselves and where we fit in the world. And so astrology could be a possible place to turn.

But the dangers of believing in astrology aren’t well known. Think about it, if you’re an astrology lover you’ll know what signs are compatible with you or not. And then you might compare this “truth” to your reality.

So as a Libra, I’m supposed to get along with all Air signs ( Libra, Aquarius, Gemini) and Fire signs ( Aries, Sagittarius, Leo). But I’m not supposed to get along with Water ( Scorpio, Cancer, Pisces) and Earth Signs ( Virgo, Taurus, Capricorn). But of course, you have your Moon sign (inner emotional being) and Rising sign (how others perceive you at first). But still, that doesn’t give you much variability. It implies you won’t be compatible with half the population if you’re just looking at your sun sign.

So if I were to follow what astrology says, I’d most likely be friends with people who are Fire or Air signs or at least get along best with them. I could say it’s true because some of the people closest to me are Air and Fire, but some are also Water and Earth- so this simply proves nothing.

And this is the danger of believing in astrology- closing ourselves off from others because of preconceived ideas or assumptions. Say you have a crush and you find out your signs are compatible- you get excited (I mean makes sense- it’s the validation you were looking for, right?). And then you might look up their sign’s common traits, and then think you have an idea of them before even talking to them. So you then might go into conversations with them with assumptions of how they will behave, what they might say, and what they’re into, and of course how well you’ll get along.

This is the psychological flaw we all face: confirmation bias- a bias in which we look for information that confirms our initial beliefs. We create a story of the person based on our perceptions, fitting with the idea that seeing is believing. Astrology is a case of confirmation bias that has possibly gone too far.

And it’s not just a flaw in how we see others that believing in astrology creates, it’s a flaw in how we see ourselves. I’m told I’m supposed to be indecisive, and well, I am. But what if I didn’t want to be all the time? I think someone can train themselves to be more decisive if they wanted to; it’s something you can work on. But being a Libra means I’m indecisive- it’s ingrained in my being- so can I change? According to my birth chart, probably not.

These implications are a bit self-destructive. For instance, I might not want to change or grow because I’ll blame my flaws on the fact that they’re in my birth chart and that I’ll always be a Libra. Similar to the idea that people who are always anxious just blame the fact that they’re diagnosed with anxiety. This promotes the behavior that we can blame whatever is out of our control for our flaws, instead of realizing that we probably have the power to change or improve on some if we wanted to.

So next time you discover your crush has the same sign as you, don’t assume you’re meant to be. And if you’re told you’re supposed to have a certain trait based on your birth chart, take it with a grain of salt. We can be too gullible sometimes. But mostly because we all don’t know who we are or what we are doing, so we believe what we want to create a story for ourselves that makes sense.

Astrology allows us to place people where they should be in alignment with ourselves and ultimately making the world smaller so we know who we should be around.

But astrology is just a belief system- there’s no proof; there are only believers. So beware that if you do believe it, you might be writing people off and writing people in your life that don’t belong.

Originally written on December 5, 2019.