Hey Elsa!
I’d like to know if you ever felt skeptical about astrology in you life, if there was a moment you thought “this thing doesn’t work”, and what situation made you think of it.
I know that now, you clearly believe in it, so what was the moment, the situation that you were sure of it, that it really works and makes sense.
Wondering This
United States
Hi, Wondering.
Great question!
I was introduced to astrology when I was eight years. I thought it was neato-spiff but I was skeptical! I wasn’t sure it would work and even if it did, I wasn’t sure it would work for me.
My grandfather had told me it was “hard” and I believed him. I never came to any conclusions at that time.I left home when I was fifteen years old. At that point, I had other priorities, like survival. But in my early twenties, I’d established myself.
One of the things I did, in order to feel like an adult, was that I sent people birthday and Christmas cards. These cards were from me, as an independent person. I had an elaborate address book (pre-computer), and listed the names of my friends by month.
One day I noticed that the birthdays of my friends were smashed together. This made me think of astrology again. I started to study. I didn’t believe anything for a long, long time. By nature, I’m skeptical. Very skeptical.
As I began to think astrology might work, I still didn’t think it would work for me. But I kept studying.
Over the next five years, I read hundreds of books. I think I read every astrology book in print at the time. There was no Internet at the time. I went so far as to request books, so obscure, I had to sit in the library and read them! Yep. I ordered rare titles through inter-library loan and sat in the reference area of the library, reading and taking notes, under supervision of the librarian.
Eventually, I came to believe that astrology worked…for others! For Stephen Arroyo, for example. But as far a feeling confident in my ability to use astrology effectively…this took close to ten years. It took more than twenty years if you count from when I was eight!
So to answer your question…I started out skeptical and stayed that way for a long time. I made no leaps of faith whatsoever.
Today, the validity of astrology is undeniable in my mind. But I had to have this proved to me, by me, in the only way I truly trust – real life experience.
Are you skeptical about astrology?
Got a question about astrology or life? Ask here! Please mention your (general) location. It adds a layer of interest.
I was immediately enamored with astrology as a child. It was just about the coolest thing being Scorpio. I would read the Sunday paper horoscopes but soon became disillusioned because they were pretty much just entertainment. I held a lingering fascination tempered with a lot of disbelief. It wasn’t until I read an interpretation of my birth chart at 45 that I started paying attention again. I couldn’t believe how accurate it really was, especially being an inhuman computer program. I have a lot of catching up to do!
Oh my goodness, me, too! I would take out every book about sun signs at my school library when I was about 7 and on up. Sometimes in my late 20’s, early 30’s I had my chart done and saw angles and houses and things, so it made more sense than the newspaper stuff. I’ve learned more than I could imagine on this blog and still learning.
yes. i’d like it to be a reliable guide, but too often, nothing.
Always loved astrology. My good friend and I are 5 days apart and I told him all about our being Scorpio when we were in 1st grade. I also told him if we concentrated we could stop the clock in our classroom with our minds since we were 2 Scorps working together. We still joke about that one. I was an early reader and used to read our horoscopes from the paper to my Aquarian friend who couldn’t read yet.
I had a lot of deja vu as a little kid and my mom always gave a lot of positive reinforcement about being psychic.
Never took any convincing, lol.
Great question and answer, Elsa.
I have always ‘known’ astrology was true, though a specific astrologer’s interpretations may not always be accurate. The energies of the planets are real to me although I don’t always understand how they are working together. I see it like seeing the machinery of the ‘higher mind’ that creates this world we are in. My little mind struggles to grasp this enormous vision. I have been a student of this realm since my early teens, with some gaps. My experience is that it is a tremendous tool for self awareness at the very least. For understanding history and current events it is brilliant. Astrology can provide insights that enlighten and transform relationships. The key is to use it as a tool to understand the possibilities and the forces at work in each moment.
So funny you should mention the birthdays lining up… I just had a similar realization that 2 of my closest friends, a close family member, and the guy I am currently dating all have birthdays within 10 days of each other. Makes me think there’s something in their charts that’s serving a helpful purpose for me lately! <3
I became interested in astrology at the age of 14 and before I “came out” to my friends, I practiced creating charts (by hand, mind you) on every family member I could. I quickly began to notice patterns that were statistically significant: planets in the same signs/houses, planets at same exact degree, same aspects (particularly, Moon to outer planets – only one possible day to be born to have them). At that point, I realized astrology was valid because it just wasn’t possible for these placements to randomly occur. By the time I was 17-18, I was deep into what I had called “astrological genetics” and had mapped out many families.
I was VERY skeptical about astrology.
My first exposure was to the Yahoo horoscopes. Being a shy lion, the first thing I did was deny the description of my sun sign. “I’m not a Leo.” I did always like people who described the quintessential Leo though.
I knew that almost all my friends were Leos — at least 4. The funny thing is, this happened at work too. There were so many Leo birthdays, they decided to only have one cake for that month. Plus, the boss is a Leo.
Even though I learned Tarot first, I also vetted astrology. I didn’t start fully believing in astrology until after a year or two, and this site helped.
I found astrology about 5 years ago. A series of unfortunate events had me looking for the why (Sage sun, Aquar moon) My mother would not allow me to read the horoscopes as a kid, devil’s work. Funny, it was after she passed I began my study. Thank you Elsa, by the way for this site. I have learned much 🙂
You’re welcome. 🙂
Horoscope sections in magazines and newspapers were always my favorite since childhood. I’d skip everything and go straight to the back. I always questioned why I was an incredibly shy and reserved Leo hidden in the shadows compared to other bombastic over-the-top Leo peers that naturally sparkled under the spotlight of life. Picked up a book in my college bookstore called Astrology: A Cosmic Science by Isabel Hickey. Astrology has become my religion ever since.
I first saw my chart in high school, but I didn’t want to take it seriously because my chart had a lot of crappy aspects. Who really wants to hear about a Venus-Saturn-Neptune T-square when you haven’t even been in love? Several years later I started calculating natal charts by hand and buying as many astrology books as I could afford, but then I pushed astrology away because I didn’t want to be seen as a freak with “irrational” beliefs. Of course, I couldn’t stop calculating, and now I don’t care if other people think my belief in astrology is silly or unscientific. Astrology is a great tool for self-discovery. It also works as divination through horary, which is what really made me a believer.
Not anymore, but I’ve known you for more than a decade. No coincidence there. <3
I dunno. I might think more dubiously on predictions than I do about the psychology of it. I think that’s usually pretty on.
Not skeptical at all. But the only thing is that I can’t catch on to what is going on in the cosmos until the energy has passed and I feel it’s too late.
How do you tap into a transit? Or a new moon or a full moon? I’m a natural student. I love the process of school in subjects I’m passionate about. I wish there was a way to gain intuition on this subject so that I could take advantage of the downloads from the energies out there.
-Pepe
I’ve been into astrology over 40 years. So I’m not skeptical, since I’ve seen it work too often. But, I’m not convinced all answers are there. Maybe we (I) don’t know enough yet, or it’s not the whole map of ‘things’. But I see it working often enough I know there is a lot to it.