What Planet Can I Blame Today?

Life is hard. Today alone I’ve spilt a coffee, my cards been declined, and I’ve cried at a

Christmas advert. Is that all a result of my own clumsiness and emotions, or is it because

mercury is in retrograde and my positive energies need recharging? I guess we will never

truly know.

How often is it that we read our horoscopes and they so closely align to present

circumstances, giving reasons to why my life is falling apart one minute, and I am thriving

the next? Yes, of course, there are millions of people who share my star sign and are also

reading Taurus spirituality readings, but there is always something so remarkable about it in

regard to myself that I can’t not be intrigued by the world of astrology.

Despite the common belief that astrology is something that is made up by people who need something to blame their bad decisions on, nowadays there is actual evidence suggesting that scientists think the Earth's alignment in space can cause humans to act in a particular way. 

It’s nice to blame the universe when things don’t quite go to plan. The arrangement of the stars and planets could be the reason you lost your job or crashed your car. The thing is, when things are looking positive, I would rather give myself a little credit and

empowerment from my own actions and achievements, rather than profess my gratitude to Jupiter's placement on a particular day and or to the way that my birth chart pre-determines my life path.

In the internet age, it is obvious why so many young people have flocked towards astrology.

Popular platforms such as TikTok and YouTube have accelerated the spiritual awakening of

masses of teens, and that’s before you even start looking at the impact Covid-19 had on the

trend. Instagram accounts such as @thezodiacstea and @notallgeminis also provide highly

personalised insights into our own lives that make it impossible to not want to follow and

find out more. From life to wealth and romance, Instagram astrologers claim to

know it all.

It seems also that this rise in popular culture has impacted all walks of life. When did ‘how

are you?’ get replaced by ‘what sign are you?’ as the perfect conversation starter? When did

astrology accounts completely take over the social media landscape? Well, the answer may

lie in the data from google trends that show that by the end of 2020 the words ‘astrology’

and ‘birth chart’ hit the highest level of searches for a single year than ever seen previously.

Not only did the pandemic elicit strong feelings of instability that may have caused people

to turn to spirituality, but also the simple fact that people were bored and had plenty of

time to immerse themselves in new hobbies, interests and in the case of astrology, new

worlds. If people are striving for answers in this way, astrology definitely provides some sort of explanation of the strange and unprecedented times we are living through.

Ultimately, I think that horoscopes should always be taken with a pinch of salt and scepticism. Maybe I am just saying this because I am a stubborn Taurus after all. But I like to think that there are always alternative factors that empower us and allow us control over our own actions, rather than a predetermined path designed by the stars.

Feature Image courtesy of Farzad Mohsenvand at Unsplash.