A Note to the Skeptics

I can understand that some of the more logical personality types may believe that astrology is ridiculous, or farfetched at best. How could planets, and concepts that are thousands of years old, have any relevance to people being born on certain days? I will admit that astrology is not based on logic. Yet there are definitely a few things to consider that may explain the validity of this age-old tradition. I will begin by discussing the collective unconscious. This is an idea that claims there is a body of information that is automatically within all sentient beings across all cultures and time periods. This chunk of collective information is organized into broad themes that manifest as symbols, also known as archetypes. It is said that these archetypes are known, rather than taught. According to theories suggested by Carl Jung, humans are born with knowledge of these archetypes just as animals are born with instincts that help them to survive.
 
Jung’s theory, while also farfetched, is backed by historical accounts of cultures that share the same artistic and written traditions despite extreme distances between them. These same archetypal themes seem to present themselves in dreams and art forms that have been found within all cultures. The story of Cinderella, made popular by Walt Disney, was actually based on an old fairytale called Allerleirah. This tale has origins in Germany. Yet there is also an eerily similar story about a young lady longing to leave a life of housework, called Yeh Shen. With a dropped slipper this young lady eventually gets to marry her king in a story that hails from China, written about a thousand years before Allerleirah. There is another similar tale about a Greco-Egyptian woman named Rhodopis, who has her sandal stolen by an eagle. The eagle drops the sandal onto the lap of the king who sets out to find who this tiny-footed wonder could be. This tale was documented from a time as far back as the First Century. While it is evident that aspects of these tales morph and change over time, they still seem to contain the same storyline. This is one example of the same tale being told throughout drastically differing cultures, over time.
 
Historical evidence of humans sharing a connection to the same set of archetypes makes me feel more connected to my humanity than anything. After considering the truth of the themes showing up in all cultures, believing in the zodiac is suddenly not that hard to do. After all, humans themselves assigned these traits to the planets. They also assigned the planets to the signs, and the signs to thirty-day spans of time. Archetypes were clearly at work during the pioneering of astrology. They are seen in myths, fairytales, dreams, artwork and are even found within the Torah, Bible and Qu’ran. Archetypes like princess, father, king, witch, mother, crone, lions, snakes, ravens, and fish are symbolic fibers that when woven together form the connective fabric that is the collective unconscious. They still hold significant value today. Just look at how archetypal the ever-popular stories of J.K. Rowling are. Without society feeling so strongly about these collectively recognized themes, Harry Potter may not have been such a sweeping phenomenon.
 
On a separate note, I will also point out that there are certain patterns that occur with regard to childbirth and pregnancy that may play a logical role in why astrology is often accurate. Women are pregnant for 9 months of the year. For the most part this is standard. Thirty mothers-to-be who conceive in January, will have similar experiences that affect their babies, until they all deliver in September. These moms will all begin showing in the spring. What a hopeful time of year! They will all be pregnant during the summer and will reach their most painful stage of pregnancy during the intense heat of August. So, is it that hard to believe that babies born in September share some traits with one another? Before they have even begun to breathe on their own, they all already share similar prenatal experiences.
 
Less specifically speaking, (other than cases where infants are overdue or premature) most babies that were delivered during the late fall or winter, had mothers who carried their offspring during the summer months. During these summer months, expecting mothers were likely to get heightened levels of Vitamin D from the sun, and thus transmit this vital nutrient to their babies. However they also had to deal with constant extreme heat, swelling and misery due to such unmanageable temperatures.
 
Conversely, mothers who give birth during the spring and summer months instead carried their babies during the fall/winter holiday season. Even though this can be a depressing time of year, these mothers may have received more support, rest, relaxation, and time off due to the holidays. These moms were also blessed with colder weather making it more acceptable to be bulky and buried in sweaters. This winter perk could perhaps boost a pregnant lady’s body image and thereby help to reduce perinatal depression. However these mothers did not receive the same levels of Vitamin D as the summer pregnant moms did. So winter babies may start out with a lower Vitamin D levels. This nutrient affects neurotransmitters in the brain that control mood, sleep, diet and other important functions. Scientifically, it seems like pregnancy dates and birth dates could be variables that would be considered important, if studied at the clinical level. It makes intuitive sense that seasonal patterns, and annual societal habits would affect prenatal development in limited ways that contribute to predictable traits, following patterns explained in the zodiac.
 
Above all, I can say that astrology is not the only outlandish ideology we have been asked to believe in during our lives. So, as a skeptic, understand that we humans do not know everything there is to know. Consider something familiar, like magnets. They are found within the earth, and we use them for everything, yet where is the logic behind magnets? There is no logic behind magnetism that I have found, but as two magnets repel or attract…two sun signs (or moon signs) may do the same. Try and ignore the urge to discover the reasoning behind why this happens, and accept that this is just the way it works. Also, please understand that the sun sign is a small portion of a person’s chart. Thus, if you were born under the sign Leo, but do not fit the description, this may be due to other strong influences that you are unaware of in your chart. Perhaps your moon is Virgo, which is quite the opposite of our roaring lion. You would not know about this without a more in depth look at your birth chart. Please read my explanations page to learn about how your ascendant, moon, north node, birth order, and parental/sibling signs can all affect the way your birth chart expresses in your own truly unique way.
 
 
I thank you for reading this far, as you have been quite the open-minded skeptic!