Modern astrology seems to be the newest religion for the latest and greatest generation. Every action can be explained and excused by the stars and their alignment. The question is… how accurate is this method of personality charting and why do so many people believe in it? 

To break down modern astrology to its simplest explanation, because it is very complex, it is “the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world.” There are three signs that everyone has based on their birth chart: sun, moon and rising. Each of these points defines an individual aspect of people’s personalities. The sun sign is your identity, the moon sign is your soul behind your identity and your rising sign is your social personality. Quite frankly, [hypothetically] it’s all a load of bull.

We hate to be the cynical ones, but here are 10 reasons why astrology is probably fake… enjoy!

• Astrology has been rejected by the scientific community. 

Astrology has been rejected by the science community because it has “no explanatory power for describing the universe.”  

• There are 13 constellations in the zodiac, not 12

When the constellations were assigned to each month of the year, Babylonian astronomers from approximately 1000 B.C. completely left out the 13th constellation called Ophiuchus so they could match with the 12 month calendar.

• The constellations do not match up with the same time periods

 Since 3,000 years ago, the sky has shifted. When the zodiac signs were invented, a birthday between July 23 and August 22 would fall under the Leo constellation. Now that Earth’s axis has shifted, the Leo constellation does not fall above the dates that the astrologists believe.

• It has failed in scientific experiments countless times

There have been several notable scientific experiments conducted in order to determine the validity of astrology. One of the most significant of these was Carlson’s experiment which was conducted by twenty eight astrologers. Their final conclusion was that the study “clearly refutes the astrological hypothesis” and astrology has no more validity than chance.

• There is no consensus between astrologers

If astrology was real, then why would horoscopes in different newspapers be the same. Often, horoscopes will differ greatly depending on where they come from. In a study done by Dean and Kelly, it found that the degree of agreement among astrologers’ predictions was measured as a low 0.1.

• The sun doesn’t spend an equal amount of time lined up with each constellation

Because the constellations are different shapes and sizes, the sun does not spend the same amount of time lined up with the constellations. For example, the line from the earth through the sun points to Virgo for 45 days but only points to Scorpio for 5 days.

• It’s a pseudoscience 

A pseudoscience is “a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on the scientific method.” In 1978, Paul Thagard declared astrology a pseudoscience, not because the origins were unscientific, but because there was no progressing statistical correlation between birthday, and personality or intelligence.

• Why Birth?

If a person is being developed for over nine months, and the date of birth can vary depending on many different factors, why would the astrological signs not depend on conception? 

• Astrology is a discriminatory practice

People use astrology to assign premeditated characteristics to individuals, make unsupported judgments and, sometimes, alter who they interact with to match a specific sign. Which… is technically biased discrimination based on an inherently unchangeable trait. 

• Sun sign astrology is a recent addition to modern astrology 

While modern astrology was born in the 19th century and gained massive popularity in the new-age exploration, it actually originated in the Hellinistic period. However, the ideology that sun signs indicate personality was popularized in the 1890’s by Alan Leo. He was faced with many legal battles in the early 1900’s for “unlawfully practicing fortune telling” and was looking for “wisdom” to increase New Age development. 

As you can see, there isn’t much scientific or historical evidence as to why modern astrology would be a genuine factor in the development of someone’s personality or character. In fact, there is essentially none. I suppose it could be compared to global warming deniers or flat earthers. You can believe it all you want, but it doesn’t make it true.

Ok, ok we know this is going to make some people upset. We recognize that at the end of the day, astrology gives people something to believe in, and who are we to say what is real and what isn’t. That’s the great thing about faith; it begs to be challenged. John and I can’t really label every astrological component as certainly fake, but everything deserves to be questioned. However, take everything with a grain of salt and do what makes you happy.