We often ask new acquaintances: who are you according to the horoscope? And every month we read what the stars are preparing for us, even if we treat astrology with distrust. Why do we believe these forecasts and what questions do we look for in them?
I immerse myself in reading my favorite magazine and immediately start with a column that tells me about myself – “my horoscope” … For a while I sincerely forget that hundreds of thousands more people were born exactly on the same day and hour. The star oracle addresses its predictions to me alone. Here, no one tries to persuade me to buy something, vote for this or that, does not tell me the latest news about the criminal situation in the country and the difficulties of the economy …
I am a Pisces and this is my year. I will be irresistible, my 2011 horoscope tells me, because Neptune, my planet, enters my own sign in April for the first time in my entire life. August and September will be sultry and passionate, December will be more intimate and cozy, and maybe in December I will be able to find what I have been looking for for a long time. In general, the whole coming decade, the forecast promises, will be the most successful, the most memorable, the most exciting for me. This will be the very time for which I was born …
Having lived in the world for more than a dozen years, we could already be convinced of the illusory nature of such predictions. As after a love failure, we promise ourselves never to succumb to deceit again, but very soon we again begin to hope that today, this month and year, there will still be at least a drop of truth in these predictions.
Balm for the soul
Reading a horoscope is one of the “fads” like a coin found up by the “eagle”, a lilac flower with five petals, or a childish idea that if we believe in something very strongly, then it will come true. We believed in Santa Claus as children! And as adults, we hope that the stars will give us what we most desire: love, money, health, success …
Even if the horoscope does not promise me that in the near future I will become so rich that I can no longer work at all, there will always be something good there. He will never tell me that I am at risk of cancer or that my life partner is about to leave me. Too gloomy events (death of loved ones, divorces, illnesses) are not allowed on these pages.
Reading a horoscope is one of the “fads”, like a coin found up by an “eagle” or a lilac flower with five petals
Margaret Hamilton, a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin (USA), calculated that the “Horoscopes” heading in newspapers contains up to 70% positive information – while in a regular article it contains no more than 50%1. We are not such simpletons at all – there is an element of the game in all this. And we will always arrange ourselves in such a way as to find ourselves a forecast that suits us best.
“I have always believed that the horoscope in my journal is more reliable than others,” 47-year-old journalist Veronika admits. “It seems to us that the text of the horoscope is about us, when it was compiled by a talented person,” explains psychologist and hypnotherapist Vladimir Kucherenko. “Each phrase of such a text is ambiguous, and we unconsciously supplement it with meaning ourselves.”
A horoscope is a kind of psychoanalysis, with its help, people with an unclear idea of uXNUMXbuXNUMXbtheir future can better understand what they want
In fact, the horoscopes published in magazines do not change that much from year to year: from January 2001 to January 2011 they sing the same song to us and we don’t even notice it. We are here in the territory of fiction, fantasy.
The world of the horoscope is close to the world of dreams: it imperceptibly refers us to those happy moments of our childhood, when our parents told us wonderful stories about beautiful princes and princesses before going to bed. By the way, professional astrologers themselves – and there are some, and quite serious ones – absolutely do not trust daily forecasts: the planets move too slowly to make predictions for every day …
Looking for meaning
We read our horoscopes when we are in love and full of hope. Or, on the contrary, we are bogged down in trouble, looking for a job … In such difficult moments, thanks to the horoscope, we temporarily project ourselves into a more radiant future: “I feel bad now, but it will get better when Uranus leaves my sky.” Our current difficulties take on some meaning: “I’m not doing well because I’m a Pisces, and Pisces are doomed to suffer, especially those born in the last decade.” And because it’s not just Saturn or Mars that oppresses us, we feel a little less responsible for our inability to keep a job or keep a partner.
“We think we are reading our horoscope objectively, but in fact, we interpret it, inscribing into it situations that we are experiencing at the moment, that we want or are afraid to experience, – Vladimir Kucherenko is sure. “By the way, if what we read does not find any reflection in reality, then we do not pay attention to it or open a horoscope from another magazine that is more favorable or more appropriate for us.”
But as soon as we have a feeling of plausibility, we let ourselves be carried away. “It was five or six years ago,” recalls 36-year-old teacher Tatyana. – I read that in the period from April to June, an acquaintance awaits me, which will be of decisive importance. And from the very first time, when we went to the theater with a certain Sasha, I already invested in this relationship to the fullest. I have seen myself married. In fact, I showed such pressure that he ran away from me!
The heading “Horoscopes” in newspapers contains up to 70% of positive information – while in a regular article it contains no more than 50% at best
According to psychoanalyst Svetlana Fedorova, regularly reading predictions for our sign satisfies our need to imagine that someone else is thinking of us. “It’s a refuge from angst and anxiety in today’s world, which is becoming more materialistic and individualistic,” she notes. — People of antiquity lived alone with a frightening and unpredictable nature, feeling vulnerable, unprotected. To reduce anxiety, they looked for patrons and protectors in higher unearthly powers. Today, such thinking continues to live in each of us and is often included in everyday life in situations of anxiety and uncertainty.
Ancient civilizations used a horoscope to divide time into years, months, hours. They turned to the stars to find out if they should fight, if there would be a good harvest. But in those ancient times, the sky addressed its orders to priests and kings, and not to ordinary citizens like us. Only in the XNUMXth century did the horoscope begin to speak to people from the people. Later, after the Second World War, the language of astrological signs gradually penetrated the pages of the popular press and women’s magazines. The more individualism grew in us, the stronger our thirst for predictions became … In fact, a “good” horoscope is one that elevates us, gives confidence and allows us to consider ourselves the minions of fate.
Talk to me about me
Self-confidence is also the feeling that we are identified, defined, and therefore predictable for others. Capricorns are loners. Pisces are idealists who are always attracted by artificial paradises. Taurus, on the contrary, are reliable and solid. Lions like to be in the foreground, Scorpios are dangerous for themselves and others… “Our era is characterized by an unprecedented desire for identification, which pushes us to look for ourselves in all the models offered,” explains the Jungian analyst Lev Khegai. — Astrological signs only describe character traits and behavioral tendencies (assertiveness, realism, daydreaming, courage…) common to all mankind. Therefore, it is quite normal that we recognize ourselves in part in each of them.
By reading a horoscope, we satisfy our need to imagine that someone else thinks of us.
42-year-old designer Marina experienced it for herself. “A friend gave me a computer-generated analysis of the position of the stars at the time of my birth,” she recalls. – But the time of birth was indicated incorrectly, which, in principle, should absolutely distort everything. However, I fully recognized myself in this portrait, which could not possibly be mine. Even my parents considered that all these features are really mine.
Joys of the Irrational
More than half of Russians believe that they have traits which are characteristic of people born under their zodiac sign. There is something in us that defies the efforts of our logic and education. This part of nature makes us able to dream, gives us access to the sacred, the divine.
The problem is that it can also make us slaves to someone (astrologer, clairvoyant, fortune teller) who claims to have knowledge of our true nature, our needs, desires, our future. It is precisely because of its rejection of such an autocratic position that Psychologies does not offer its readers horoscopes, but prefers to encourage them to work on themselves – the best means of knowing themselves and protecting themselves from self-styled mentors who claim to be omniscient.
1 M. Hamilton «Who believes in astrology?». Personnality and Individual Dia erences, October 2001.