Astrology: guided by the stars or head in the clouds?

From a lucky four-leaved clover, an evil black cat passing you in the street, to a big pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, there are many different superstitions to believe, or not to believe. With many of these superstitions resulting in good luck, bad luck, and anything in between, people can take these into strong consideration. But there is one superstition that is much bigger than good luck, bad luck, and even the earth you stand on; the sky above us.

To be more specific, I’m talking about Astrology. Going back to its roots, around 3,000 BC the Babylonians were the first recorded sky watchers, introducing the zodiac, and laying down the grounds for many astrologers and astronomers to come.

Many people believe in Astrology, believe that your fate is written in these stars. It’s said that the locations and aspects of the sun, moon, and planets can reveal the purpose and nature of one’s life. Astrology when viewed from a certain perspective can bring clarity to people in areas such as love, family, health, career, finance, education, spirit, and even more.

But can the sky really hold all that information to every single person’s life?

I don’t think so. The existence of our universe can seem crazy enough. In overview, we all live on an enormous sphere that spins around a ball of fire, big enough to fit around 1,300,000 earths inside, and that sun is a pin-prick in the whole universe. With more than 100 billion stars, and even more planets in the observable universe, the idea of these working together in such a way to help explain our lives to me is ridiculous.

One thing the human population strives to do is to acquire knowledge, and we have come a very long way in that issue. But humans will never stop trying to understand the life we all live in, nor will we get all the answers we want. Astrology helps people take more control in their own life, giving them a sense of power and stability, even though the information they are receiving from the stars has no real spiritual impact to their secular world.

Astrology can simply help to explain certain things that happen in one’s life. For example: a woman gets cheated on by her husband. If the woman wanted to view her situation in an astrological point of view, there could be plenty of excuses for what happened. Maybe their zodiac signs were not meant to be compatible, or maybe he was meant to cheat so she could go and find her true soul mate. When coming from a viewpoint like this, the woman can find comforting and “logical” explanations for her misfortunes, when in reality these reasons can just help her accept the fact and move on, instead of dwell on the reality of life.

I believe astrology is just a healthy way of keeping order in your life. It is very easy to blame inexplicable things in one’s life to it, in a way giving one answers to questions they wouldn’t have otherwise. Although I don’t believe that it truly holds information to our lives whatsoever, I still believe it is a very positive outlet for people.

To each their own, and with benefits such as stress reduction, peace of mind, and the feeling of power and knowledge; Astrology is a great study.