Should your zodiac sign depict your way of living?

When astrology borders delusion about personality and mannerism.

Trends in media tend to change on rotation. One week, there is a popular song by Paloma Faith, about how love can hurt circulating around TikTok. The next week a new voice filter takes over—even new sayings tend to fill our vocabulary in our daily lives. But the one trend in media that has grown and continues to, is astrology.  Along with the rise of TikTok in 2020 came the rise of interest in astrology, and all of its intricacies. 

According to the Oxford dictionary, astrology is, “the study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world.”

Depending on your own feed on any given social planform, astrology may peek its way through. But for those who find these posts more often, you will be met with possible TikTok astrologers who make sure you know you aren’t just your sun sign.

Zodiac signs are based on the month you were born, and the time of your birth is said to affect a person’s personality; the quick “why am I like this?” question. The sun sign is what is commonly known by people.

According to the New York Post, “In fact, you have many other placements that are also deeply insightful: your Rising Sign/Ascendant, Moon Sign and beyond. After all, astrology teaches us that you are cosmic because you have all the stars inside of you.”

It is only when you dive deeper into your 12 houses of your birth chart would you learn more. No one would expect zodiacs to be as complicated as just a name, rather than affect a whole personality as social media might heighten. 

But the real question comes down to if you think you should make your zodiac sign your entire personality.

When speaking to students about zodiacs, I was able to learn their stance. Quintin, a senior here at UWT states his sign is Capricorn. 

When asked if he felt his zodiac sign defined his personality, he said, “Me personally, I don’t think it really does. I looked up what my “traits” were and I oddly agree with some of them,” said Quintin, “But do I think a sign can define who a person is? I don’t think so. I think we all make decisions and have experiences in our life that make up our traits.”

Whereas when asking another student named Intisar, being a Sagittarius, they answered the question saying “I can’t really say it does. I don’t know much about astrology but I did look into what a Sagittarius was and it didn’t quite fit me to the dot.”

Both students did not believe in astrology, both for different reasons, respectfully. 

However, when asked how it played a role in media, Quintin states, “I’ve probably seen it a few times in movies or a show, but used in a comedic point. In social media I don’t see anything about it, but that may be because of the social media algorithms I’m in. I feel like you only see that type of content if you look for those things. Don’t they post zodiac signs in newspapers?”

Intisar says, “It’s like an obsession on the media like I see it everywhere! I even see people discussing signs and which signs are considered bad or good. Like I don’t mind it at all but some people are so mean about it too.”

It seems that the algorithm does play a huge role in what we see and take in. When scrolling through TikTok, I find myself getting lost in tarot cards, zodiac discussions and assumptions. Although this can be fun, how much can you justify until it becomes harmful to others?

When asking both Quintin and Intisar if they believe people take zodiacs too far, or is all for fun, Intisar said, “I see people take fun in it but some do take it to another level. Like refusing to associate with certain signs. It’s never happened to me personally but I’ve seen some TikTok’s about it. But TikTok might not be a reliable source of information.”

Quintin said, “I believe people can think whatever they want to think, but like I said before, you can’t really judge a person based off their zodiac sign. I do have friends that believe in zodiac signs, and it doesn’t change our relationship one bit,” said Quintin,” I think people like it because it allows them to have an answer for a reason or action. Every instance I’ve come across that’s mentioned zodiacs always stated stuff like, ‘oh he’s a Taurus’ ‘she’s a Leo’ etc. To me it seems like they’re looking for alternative ways to justify things.”

Although astrology may be heavily speculated, why not take the time to learn more about it anyways for fun? There are websites online that allow you to learn about your chart, and horoscope, such as Cafe Astrology, horoscope.com and multiple news outlets.