What My Horoscope Says About Me

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I’m a Pisces, a free spirit with a dual nature. On one side, I’m romantic, wistful, imaginative, sensitive, sexually fulfilled, perceptive, creative and intuitive. On the other side, I’m depressive, masochistic, suicidal, frustrated, guilt-ridden and filled with self-loathing. I can also jump from one to the other with complete ease and rapidity. When it comes to sexuality, I’m ambivalent and known to dabble in unusual relationships, including sexual explorations with partners of the same sex, group sex and fantasy fulfillment. My ability to select an inappropriate mate is legendary. However, I agree best with Scorpio, Cancer and Capricorn.

Thank you, horoscope, for having so beautifully drawn an image of my self. I’m now able to truly understand my behaviour and my interaction with others. With your guidance, I can try to lead a better life. Confident much?

I was never a superstitious person. Nor did I take horoscopes seriously. Astrology was a fun, simple distraction, a game where the daily events predicted played against those observed. Yet, my idea of it took a radical turn when I joined the community. There, the diversion had grown into an obsession, a sacred code that uncovered one’s qualities, virtues and vices, molding each individual’s character. It served a purpose: to help build productive friendships and possible relationships. The subject was as common as cigarettes and alcohol, but much more addictive.

Before I entered the community, I expected people to label me in terms of my sexuality. After all, it was partly the key that linked us. I understood that need although I had little appreciation for it. It disappointed me how this kind of reasoning could reach what I consider to be one of the most tolerant and open of communities. Any individual is too rich and too complex to be confined in a box. Personalities are constantly subject to change as life happens. People’s ideas, behaviors, attitudes and sexualities evolve. Consequently, classification isn’t any different than prejudgment because not only is it intuitional, and poorly built on missing proof, but it’s also frequently misplaced. Tags have to be the worst form of verbal abuse. I was faced with a lot of labels before, but the least anticipated was a diagnosis with respect to my zodiac sign. It provoked me, yet I felt curious about the subject, the history behind it, its approach and its purpose.

From a structural point of view, the principle followed in astrology is that of house divisions. There are twelve houses, each comprising a specific zodiac sign with its proper interpretation and characteristics. Geometry provides different systems of house division. However, mathematicians have managed to highlight the many geometrical problems and miscalculations encountering each strategy. This raised various conflicts amongst astrologers and suspicions about the validity of each scheme. Concerning their interpretation, horoscopes are based on pure analogy.

Each planet has an astrological meaning derived from parity with Greco-Roman gods. Their attributes match those of these god figures. Similarly, the characteristics of the zodiac signs are based on an analogy inspired by ancient magical thinking. This irrational form of reasoning would make sense if we lived in ancient times. However, the fact that it’s still used as the reference deprives astrology of its credibility.
As for its validity, the only way to prove it is through statistics. However, statistics is similar to democracy. They both fail to represent the whole mass and instead highlight the tyranny of the majority. Regardless, the ability to collect objective data when it comes to subjective human traits is limited and theoretical.

In brief, can prediction based on the interaction amongst stars and planets help build an image of one’s self? Astrology was, since its creation by the Babylonians, a means used to predict the fate of nations, the world and individuals. It was further altered as it was adopted by many other civilizations like the Greeks and Chinese. Only recently has it turned from a predictive art into psychological interpretation. And although psychology approaches the human mind and spirit using a scientific method, it’s still considered a pseudoscience. Nevertheless, even the seemingly most irrevocable scientific laws can be refuted.
And so, what information can my sign provide me with? Absolutely nothing. I am not my horoscope. Undeniably, I am all the horoscopes and much more.

- Contributed by Sai

Tags: 1, astrology, gender identity, horoscope, lesbian community, queer, sexual orientation, sexuality