Students, staff decide: Is astrology real?

Soledad Lee
Social Media/Graphics Editor

For Gen Z and Millennials, zodiac signs and astrology serve as an escapism from life’s problems.

Astrology rose in popularity during the pandemic in 2020, when many were escaping to TikTok and needed an outlet to navigate stressful times.

Usually, it’s all just for fun, but some are totally against astrology, arguing it is not true science and is a wrongful judgment of people’s personality.

“Somebody could have the same birthday as someone else, and be like the same sign and have completely different personalities. That doesn’t determine who they are, so I don’t want people judging people off of something like that,” senior Blake Ahrens said.

Latin teacher Jeff Smith said, “I never really believed it, but they would actually print it (horoscopes) in this thing called a newspaper. I would read it every morning, and I think it’s bunk. I don’t believe any of it, cause science.”

Science teacher Greg Heard who teaches Astronomy, explained how astrology isn’t a scientific form of thinking.

“Astrology, on the other hand, does not base its foundation on experimentation and data analysis. Instead, it attempts to recognize connections in nature without little or no evidence guiding such correlations,” Heard said via email.

Heard also highlighted that people should be aware of Astronomy and astrology sharing similar origins.

“They both began by people asking questions about the observable universe and our place in it. As evidence gathering techniques improved throughout history, so did our views on Astronomy and Astrology,” Heard said via email.

According to britannica.com, astrology dates back to the third millennium BC in Mesopotamia, where it spread to India, and gained its Western form in Greek civilization during the Hellenistic period. Astrology then, through Greek tradition, found its way to Islamic culture and redirected to European culture through Arabic teaching during the middle ages.

“I think it is so real, because there is a very long history behind it. I actually just watched a really old documentary, and it’s like, why would you doubt something that’s dated back thousands of years and is ingrained in so many Eastern religions,” senior Saroya Williams said.

There are 12 zodiac signs (Aries, Taurus, Libra, Virgo, Gemini, Capricorn, Cancer, Leo, Sagittarius, Aquarius, Pisces and Scorpio). They are assigned to the month and day a person was born.

Some might assume a person is assigned only a sun sign, but there are different placements including the moon sign and rising sign. The sun sign is someone’s personality, their moon sign is their internal feelings, and their rising sign is how a person is socially and the way someone physically look.

Junior Allie McGuire believes zodiac sign compatibility is real, from her own experiences when meeting people she essentially finds herself getting along with.

“People who I meet, who I feel like we’re on the same wavelength, after I meet them and whenever I learn about their horoscope or whatever, I’m like wow that’s really weird; cause they’re like a fire sign. There seems to be a correlation,” McGuire said.

A common thing people associate with astrology believers is their dislike towards people they believe they aren’t compatible with, they commonly say phrases like, “We could never be together; you’re (zodiac sign),” or “You’re a (zodiac sign); we aren’t compatible.”

“I think those people don’t actually understand astrology because that’s just not how it works. It’s not like there’s generally people who are not compatible or anything,” Williams said.

Ahrens has experienced this himself.

“They’ve been like, ‘Oh, of course, you do that cause you’re a Libra,’ and I’m like ‘What? That doesn’t even make any sense,” Ahrens said.

Seniors Katherine Ragain and Ruby Coalier see the fun in astrology but don’t quite believe in it.
“If it’s a silly time for you, go for it, but if you’re basing all your decisions off that, then you should reconsider some things,” Ragain said.

“I do think there’s some silliness to it; like you get a necklace with your sign on it. That could be fun,” Coalier said.