Some Thoughts on Astrology

Ever notice how when someone gets into the Myers-Briggs or Enneagram and discovers their type, they start exhibiting more of those characteristics?

Since science has become tied with politics, it's become a bit trendy, with the corresponding increase in arm chair scientists. As a result, it has become popular to bash on astrology, pointing out the lack of scientific basis of any sort of causal effect between constellations and behavior.

How old were you when you first learned your sign?

My earliest memory of knowing my sign was somewhere around seven. Granted, this was in the seventies and my mother had an astrologer friend. Still, growing up, I was constantly exposed to information about my sign (Aries). Astrology has been a fairly accepted part of our culture for some time. Although often approached in a light-hearted manner and lacking the seriousness with which we approach, say, religion, it still constitutes a cultural belief. As a cultural belief that has been pervasive in the west for some time, we get told a certain cluster of traits or tendencies are "us" from an early age. As a cultural belief, we can't help but, consciously or unconsciously, adopt some of the traits associated with our sign. If I'm told as an Aries that I'm hot tempered and impulsive, then I'm more likely to notice those instances when I'm hot tempered and impulsive and see them as me. This is part confirmation bias and part socialization. This is independent of whether we intellectually endorse astrology as we get older. When enough people tap into this cultural belief and adopt the relevant traits, astrology becomes "true" in the sense that there is a correlation between one's sign and common traits. Astrology has now reached archetypal status which has become part of our overarching social experience.