While Astrology is often met with a degree of snark for its lack of scientific backing, young people are flocking toward it now more than ever. Astrology has a certain staying power. 

It may have lost its footing as a science, but astrology hasn’t fallen to the wayside. We know now that there isn’t scientific backing behind it, yet many of us still read our horoscopes and dread Mercury retrogrades. 

Astrology holds importance and was a crucial part of the origin behind understanding our universe. Part of the development of geometry is credited to astrological calculations made by ancient Babylonians. Galileo and Kepler were expert astrologers as well as significant contributors to the field of astronomy. 

It’s proven to be somewhat influential as a tool for prediction and pattern recognition in recent history. President Ronald Reagan would use the writings of astrologer Joan Quigley to plan his schedules. Blending astrology and economics using astrological transits as a predictive tool for investing in the stock market is gaining traction.

Rachel Dominguez, tarot reader and owner of Third Eye Psychic Salon in Minneapolis, said despite criticism, astrology and other readings draw in a variety of clientele. 

“People will still seek it out,” Dominguez said. “I’ll still have scientists, atheists, come and get a reading. I will still have religious fundamentalists and conservative Christians and Muslims come get readings because we offer at least the possibility of certainty. People want to know. People want to be certain about things.”

Maybe this goes back to the intuitive wisdom that astrology provides. Perhaps not through scientific reason or empirical evidence, but as a tradition used to understand our universe for much of human history. Astrology is by no means scientific. However, scientific and useful are not interchangeable. 

To believe in something unprovable by scientific measures is not anything new or unheard of, either. 

Astrology is a source of faith and healing for many individuals. It plays a major part in Hindu culture, where astrologers are often consulted to aid with major life events, such as marriages or financial decisions. 

Astrology operates somewhere between science and spiritualism. Its core principles lie behind the idea that our natural surroundings and universe influence our behavior. 

It’s not based on pure fact but relies upon the transits and principles of the stars in our own universe, which we know to exist. It’s not based upon pure belief in something unprovable, but belief in certain patterns outside our physical world that may influence our behavior and predispositions.

Surena Singh, a first-year student at the University of Minnesota, said she believes astrology affects her mood at least to a certain degree, and that planetary transits can affect peoples’ disposition. 

“One day you’re feeling fine,” Singh said. “Then halfway through the day, it’s like your whole mood is changing. You just want to tune everything out. What is the reason for all of this?”

Astrology combines nature and nurture by providing us with an unconventionally holistic view of ourselves.

Birth charts go deeper than just the date of birth, with birth time and place being taken into account to create a larger picture of how we interact with our environment. A birth chart can reveal aspects of our personality not defined, but affected by universal events that took place when we were born. 

It provides us with a snapshot of the circumstances we entered this life that we otherwise wouldn’t think to consider. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn’t have to rely on reductive stereotypes such as “Tauruses are lazy” or “Geminis are two-faced.” It can be incredibly insightful into one’s personality when evaluated on a larger scale. 

Dominguez said good astrologers use birth charts to explore a person on a deeper level and begin an honest exploration of someone’s tendencies in life and love. 

“A good astrologer is going to look at your chart and say, ‘All right, here’s the parts of your chart that might get in the way of a long-term relationship.’” Dominguez said. “Or maybe I look at your chart and (your partner’s) chart and I see some incompatibilities or some potential conflicts that, if certain situations might arise, it might be really challenging and stressful to your relationship.”

There’s a certain beauty in having a complete stranger read your entire life.

As I mentioned earlier, astrologers can act as sources of catharsis and healing for many. Dominguez said astrology can be a helpful source outside of conventional religious or psychological methods.

“There is a quasi-confessional aspect, I think, too,” Dominguez said. “I think people come in and they want validation for the things that their free will or their brain or their heart has told them that they have to do that might make them feel guilty in some way. Whether some religion says it’s a sin, or some person got their feelings hurt or whatever.”

Astrology gives us greater insight into our connections with the universe, whether it be to answer questions about human nature, predict the stock market, or receive some sort of answer for why we are the way we are.

It’s no wonder we tend to look toward universal phenomena and patterns to explain and predict our uncertain world. 

Of course, astrology is in no way a substitute for mental health treatment. I’m advocating for its potential as a springboard toward the type of thought that gives a person the agency to get to the root of their problems. 

Dominguez said astrology can be a helpful tool toward self-actualization. 

“There’s a reason that you’re here,” Dominguez said. “There’s a reason those stars are looking down on you. And so we just try to figure that out, help people. Not even say, here’s your life’s purpose. It’s like, let’s try to read you in a way that clicks something in your head that becomes a catalyst for you to really figure that out for yourself and discover that.”

Maybe astrology’s continued legacy of cultural relevance provides us with some reassurance. That, for the problems we may not be able to understand, there may be an answer somewhere in our physical reality, as opposed to beyond the curtain, or outside of this realm. 

Maybe the answers to questions we can’t quite pose lie just outside the boundaries of this world or were within us all along.