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Predictions and predictions in one form or another have always been of interest to people. Magical rituals, predictions by the stars, Tarot cards, Christmas divination … Today, horoscopes are the most popular. What explains our insatiable desire to look into the future? We asked the experts this question.
“We want to control our lives”
Sergey Bratchenko, existential psychologist
“Horoscopes offer more or less clear solutions to complex life problems; we get the feeling that we can escape from uncertainty, control our lives. The picture of the world becomes simpler and clearer, it remains only to follow the ready-made recommendations. We shift the responsibility for our lives to fate, the location of the planets, the coincidence of circumstances, and (albeit for a while) we feel more confident and calmer.
“Guilt may bother us”
Lev Khegai, Jungian analyst
“To know your future means to face your fate courageously,” said the ancients. But the motives for interest in it may be different. For example, a strong unconscious sense of guilt and a hidden need for self-punishment can cause a person to reproach himself for his shortcomings or mistakes and seem to expect retribution for them. That is why it is so important for us to get confirmation of our “justification”: if we are not in danger of trouble, the feeling of guilt subsides.”
“We are trying to figure out who (really) our life depends on”
Lucy Mikaelyan, psychologist
“Most of us perceive horoscopes as a game: if the forecast is favorable, we have a feeling of satisfaction: higher powers favor us, we are not alone in this world. If it promises trouble, we say that “horoscopes are all lies,” and we strive to prove that everything is in our hands. So we are constantly looking for an answer to the question: on whom does our life depend – on some higher powers or is it on ourselves?
“We subdue our worries”
Sergey Kharitonov, psychotherapist
“Reading horoscopes, we seem to be experimenting: we are interested in whether the predictions will come true or not. But, having studied the forecast for the next month, we usually … forget it. The fact is that interest in horoscopes largely depends on our emotional state at the moment (anxious people turn to them more often than others). The forecast reduces anxiety and gives hope that nothing particularly terrible will happen to us.”