Astrology is Real, Even If Your Local Fuckboy Doesn't Believe in it.
September 02, 2018
Amongst all the reasons people use to discredit astrology's impact, my favorite claim is it lacks 'scientific backing' or 'logical explanation.' Nevermind that astrology and astronomy used to be intwined in the same discipline or that Hippocrates, a notorious Greek doctor, said: “a physician without a knowledge of Astrology has no right to refer
to [themselves] as a physician.”
The non-believers I come across are usually straight cis-gender men. Their conditioning so fragile it could shatter upon impact. And usually they're Aquarius Suns so I'm like???? Y'all are aliens from another planet so how are you doubting you're own terrain? But of course, this isn't always the case. I've met plenty of other signs (and genders, altho mostly cisheteros) skeptical of the stars. I believe the biggest culprit of perpetuating the idea that astrology is a pseudoscience is our Western patriarchal society, obsessed with a purely logic-based 'science.'
Ironically, Western society used to view astrology as scientifically legitimate for many centuries. There are numerous reasons why it's status declined, ranging from the Catholic Church's rejection of it to the Enlightenment's philosophy of self-determination. In this post, I would like to focus on how patriarchy split the disciplines of astrology and astronomy to reflect the gender binary of 'feminine' and 'masculine.'
How can anyone delegitimize astrology's scientific context when it's rooted in the study of nature and geometry? Look at that symmetry. Transits and aspects are literal angles. There is an undeniable connectivity within astrology that demands an interdisciplinary approach to studying the stars.
It's common to find sun sign horoscopes in magazines marketed towards women like ELLE or Cosmopolitan but rare to see them in men's magazines. I found some studies, linked at the end of this post, that interviewed cis men and women about their opinions regarding astrology. All of them find that women are more likely to believe in astrology, the supernatural, and religion more than men.
One possibility for this result is explained by a psychological concept called the 'locus of control.' It's a theory measuring how much power people believe they have over the events and circumstances of their lives. Women scores higher in the 'external locus of control,' meaning their perceived agency relies more on fate than personal autonomy. Since women exist in societies dominated by men, it makes sense why they'd be more receptive to belief systems existing beyond their control.
Unfortunately, there aren't many queer-inclusive studies. But in my personal experience, I find queer people love the zodiac. Or at least are very curious about it. Since queerness is marginalized, disenfranchised, and medicalized, there aren't many resources that support our existence. Perhaps we turn to the stars and planets for insight because they don't judge based on gender and sexuality, and instead push us to better understand our potential.
I also think queers love astrology because space is very gay; it's nebulous, nuanced, mystical, and profound. Like queerness, it refuses to exist in limitations and categories, extending beyond heteropatriarchal concerns of assimilation and procreation.
Saturn, a gay icon. She fought for our rights and demands recognition for it.
Hard to love because she's such a hardass, but she'll always push you to grow.
Since modern Western science relies on cold hard facts for it's legitimacy, astrology's impact is difficult to measure. But I disagree with this. Astrology considers astronomy's scientific findings, incorporating the physical qualities of planets as well as their sociocultural context. Astrology is an interpretation of data, and it fluctuates depending on the interpreter. Nothing is fixed and ideas can evolve. Scientific theories can be contested, disproved, and changed. Why would the study of the stars be any different?
Of course, astrology can be sensationalized and misrepresented. Our ego-obsessed culture mistakenly assumes that sun signs are the only important aspect to study. Predictive astrology raises eyebrows because fate and the future are vague and mysterious. But I think there's a deeper cause to the skepticism revolving around astrology. I believe we're conditioned by our logic-orientated culture to discount ambiguous aspects of our universe. What's considered 'masculine' in a patriarchal society is the subordination of feelings to explicit 'truth.' We're conditioned to trust what men say, how they perceive the world, and accept their opinions as facts.
Meanwhile, 'feminine' qualities and things are secondary, unimportant, and worthy of skepticism and scorn. 'Feminine' is associated with feelings, which are subjective perspectives that are unreliable in comparison to 'masculine' objective reasoning. Queerness, femininity, and the intersections between those amorphous words threaten the standardization of masculine logic and rigidity. Astrology is a threat because it extends beyond the institution of science. It's reliance on intuition and personal truth fails the standardized test of masculinized studies.
This unbalanced binary severs the possibility of seeing astrology as multi-dimensional and interdisciplinary. Without the equal value of reason and information alongside magic and perception, astronomy and astrology remain two polarized realms of study.
Binaries exist within astrology but not like oppressive gender binaries. Oppositional aspects, or sister signs, denote when two signs are across from one another at a 180° angle. Known as complimentary opposites, they are fundamentally the same but their qualities manifest in different ways. For example, Capricorn and Cancer oppose one another. While Capricorn rules the 10th house, signified by career, the father, and our public image, Cancer rules the 4th house, representing the home, the mother, and our private life. But both carry a sense of responsibility, a desire to nurture those and what they love, and struggle to balance work and family life.
If we have an opposition aspect in our natal chart or are experiencing an opposition transit, we are forced to recognize and reconcile the two energies so they can exist in harmony. Otherwise, they erupt in chaos. Hippocrates said: "touch not with iron that part of the body ruled by the sign the Moon is transiting," warning about the possibility of fatal or complicated surgeries that don't consider the Moon's placement. The warning extends to the possible damage of having one-sided perspectives that fail to consider the whole truth.
It's a waste of my time to convince people that the planets can have an impact on our lives. My study is a tool for growth, deeper understanding, and expansion. When astrology gives me the opportunity to access my emotional truth, it's an experience that cannot be proved or disproved.
Sources consulted:
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