There are a number of people out there who scoff at astrology, but it’s been around for a long, long time. Babylonian astrology was the first system of organized astrology in the world, dating back at least 2000 years. For an idea to persist for so long, it must provide some value or insight, right?
I didn’t understand the value of astrology until a few years ago. I rarely participated in the ‘Astrology: Yay or Nay?’ rhetoric, but for the longest time, I was immensely skeptical. I appreciate the existence of forces beyond my understanding, but I still remained wary of star alignments and planetary movement dictating my mood and state of being.
Read More: Time Heals All Wounds
But around 2016, I was utterly and completely lost. I had just dropped out of college for the second time, I was completely bed-ridden and some of the most important people in my life had turned on me; in essence, I was more screwed than I had ever been before.
As much fun as it was to consume unhealthy amounts of Impractical Jokers on Comedy Central, TV was a momentary diversion, distracting me from the complete, directionless mess my life had become. That part was not as much fun. So, me being me, I hopped on YouTube to watched a Parks & Rec blooper reel in the hopes of raising my spirits. That was when I saw it; I can’t remember the exact details of the ad, but it had something to do with astrology and finding your path; the whole nine yards.
Read More: Manufacturing Happier Times
Parks & Rec would have to wait. I clicked on the ad and scrolled down to my sun-sign (it’s Libra, just in case you were wondering). It threw words like retrograde and stuff at me, things I didn’t really understand. But it did one extremely vital thing; it told me what I could expect to happen. Whether it was accurate or not was irrelevant, it gave me direction, and from that direction, I drew comfort.
In the weeks that followed, I fell head-first, down an astrological hole. I read one astrological prediction after another. What was my forecast for the day? The week? The month? I read hordes of them and then looked for the common forecasts among all of them to get a better idea of what was going to happen. Gradually, all that information made me feel better about myself. Even though I still had very little control in my life, giving myself to this celestial path was comforting. That was when I felt I understood why astrology had endured for so long.
I don’t want to get into a debate about the validity of astrology, rather I want to talk about what it can represent. Astrology can mean direction, understanding, and comfort for a mind seeking answers to the questions it doesn’t truly understand. I didn’t know what I was looking for when I went down this rabbit hole, but it helped me nonetheless. Once I got better and developed healthy coping mechanisms, the importance of astrology in my life greatly diminished.
While I still maintain a healthy skepticism of how it really works, my experience with astrology gave me a newfound appreciation for the craft. It also taught me a valuable lesson; I can choose to accept something without fully understanding it. In the years since, that understanding aided me on multiple occasions, when people I cared about made choices I did not understand. It would have been easy for me to try and force them to do things my way, but accepting their choice was ultimately fruitful for that relationship. I have extended that courtesy to myself as well; for so long, I tried so hard to make people understand what my depression felt like, but after this experience, I understood that friends and family did not need to understand, they just needed to accept it and for once, that was enough.
Read Next: The Power Of Denial
What are your views on astrology? Drop a comment below and let us know!
Also, we're accepting guest writers! If you want to be featured on our website, Contact Us or DM us on Instagram or Facebook.