Bad Astrology is Everywhere
A good portion of online astrology is dreadful. And psychologically harmful.
You’re reading WOODRUFF. I cover the convergence of pop culture, psychology, and astrology with a bit of the Tarot and dream work tossed into the fray. Join my entourage! My bio is here.
THE INTERNET FOSTERS a ceaseless spewing of astrological nonsense with its tendency to make worse whatever it champions through viral mutation.
I don’t mean the blatantly idiotic content—astrology memes, quizzes, surveys, and hypomanic TikTok videos. You can easily dismiss that content as shit and then scroll on.
I’m addressing the more egregious forms of ‘guidance.’ The faux ‘esoteric’ posturing—the unrealistic promises and mystical insights from astrologers that offer absurd guarantees. Find your soul mate! Discover your soul’s deepest purpose!
The more unrealistic the expectation, the more likely the client becomes enmeshed with a dimwit astrologer and their ludicrous promises.
My teacher, Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson, was an Aries with a Sadge Moon, and even back in the mid-70s, amidst astrology’s renaissance through the counter-culture, she bitched about how it was hawked and distorted.
As a student, I’m certain her attitude rubbed off on me as she guided my entry into the art. (Gawd, the stories I could tell of having to do the actual math to construct a horoscope—[and the ways I finagled my dad into doing it for me.])
The Unavoidable Secret
As I wrote recently:
People are often drawn to astrology because their volition has gone offline. This failure of faculty can occur for a myriad of reasons. But dependence on astrological insights can foster a wobbly sort of magical thinking. A passivity that requires a stream of astrological data to sustain the rationale for not engaging with life. “I’ll wait until Jupiter conjuncts my Venus next summer.”
A more sobering, less glamorous guideline is to admit that none of us can ever truly know the handiwork of our fate. And indeed, another as-equally-clueless human can not provide the specificity or solutions we long for.
Our life possesses its own rhyme and reason. And it’s a secret.
As Heidegger theorized, it’s probably right about the time that we take our last breath that the essence of our life’s narrative is revealed. (A fun thought for sure!)
And so it’s best to simply get on with things—to engage with the hand we’re dealt and keep moving, regardless of the astrological portents. Or promises.
Look Ma! I’m an Astrologist Influencer Person
As I do with almost any problem besieging humanity nowadays, I blame the internet and its promise to connect everyone while also imparting a voice to the formerly voiceless (many of whom should have remained mute).
Well, that promise sort of happened, but not in the uplifting utopian way we dreamed it might. Along came social media, and all of that connecting turned into a clusterfuck.