# Do Grown People Really Still Believe In Astrology? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 29, 2004, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918 "2004-10-29T20:16:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/121 "2004-11-02T17:30:51Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#): > > From [astro.com](http://astro.com): > > Be selfish. Got it. > > Don’t be selfish. Got it. Sounds like a typical horoscope. Bland, common-sense advice mixed in vaguely contradictory statements and resting on a lardy dollop of self-congratulation. What they never do is actually stick their neck out with an actual prediction. _As a [Insert Sign Here] you’re a good person, but sometimes you can appear not to be to people who don’t know you well enough. Take a chance sometimes, but be careful, but not too careful. Don’t hesitate too long over important decisions, but don’t rush into anything. Now is the time to live it up, but be sure to put something away for a rainy day. Don’t let people push you around, but don’t be too inflexible. Some days will be bad, but others will be good. The future will be fine, because deep down you’re a nice person who people like._ ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/122 "2004-11-02T17:32:02Z")
> [@](#): > > you may as well pick a random page in the dictionary and read it once a day. Bibliomancy has been and is used as a means making decisions. The bible gets used more often than the dictionary, but the dictionary would be just as valid. I just picked the page with salary and saliva. How uncannily accurate! I do want a raise. dropzone - I would love to hear your wife talking at parties. Long-extinct invertebrates don’t get enough respect. Seriously. Has she written anything about them? And back to the OP - I’ve had my chart done (self-done and freebee online) and looked into all the different astrology bits. (It’s trine, but it’s trine _applying_ - The orb is a bit large for a conjunction, but the proximity of the nodes of the moon. . . ) Basically, a chart has so many components that enough of them will be contradicting each other, allowing the chart to become an ink blot to be interpreted emotionally. So if the real question is “what do I want to do?”, a chart or a tarot spread or a page in a dictionary can be used to let you sneak up on that. Come to think of it, I DO want a raise. Hmmm. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/123 "2004-11-02T17:51:35Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > I just picked the page with salary and saliva. How uncannily accurate! I do want a raise. But are you **drooling** for one? 😃 > [@](#): > > **dropzone** - I would love to hear your wife talking at parties. Long-extinct invertebrates don’t get enough respect. Seriously. Has she written anything about them? There are extant invertebrates without anuses (ani?). In fact, the presence or absence of an anus is the distinguishing factor between two phyla of worm; the placement of the anus relative to the lophophore distinguishes the two groups of bryozoans. (And **that** ’s something you seldom hear at cocktail parties, I bet! :)) ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/124 "2004-11-02T20:00:10Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > **Polycarp** , I see what you’re saying but, unless these planets are exerting some mythical influence, (which I’d say is pretty damned hard for what are essentially balls of rock a few light years away in the case of planets “…55 Cancri b & c are in opposition, which suggests that you should avoid risky business ventures; however, the position of 51 Pegasi b is more auspicious…” ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/125 "2004-11-02T20:05:24Z")
> [@Steve MB](#): > > “…55 Cancri b & c are in opposition, which suggests that you should avoid risky business ventures; however, the position of 51 Pegasi b is more auspicious…” 😃 I used to be involved in the search for extrasolar planets, and I _love_ this! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/126 "2004-11-02T22:22:57Z")
> [@](#): > > There are extant invertebrates without anuses (ani?). In fact, the presence or absence of an anus is the distinguishing factor between two phyla of worm; the placement of the anus relative to the lophophore distinguishes the two groups of bryozoans. See, now that’s interesting - - and I learned what a lophophore is. I can’t contribute much to such a conversation, although I did win the Guess the Number of Nematodes Contests at Picnic Day, once. The other contestants were off by multiple orders of magnitude. The prize was a bucket of Gummi worms. My kids were the right age to be impresssed. Oh, either anuses or ani would be correct. And do most astrology buffs think that astrology only influences people, or are other mammals and so on also influenced? (Cicada Brood X emerged May 11, which makes them a Taurus. . .) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/127 "2004-11-03T02:26:12Z")
What slays me are the people who beleive in feng shui. All I care is if I can walk through my room at night without lights on and not crack my knee or hip bone on the corner of some table or peice of furniture. That would be bad feng shui. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/128 "2004-11-03T06:22:20Z")
> [@yosemite](#): > > Yeesh. Calm down. You sound like it’s really _bugging_ you that now and then (and I mean _now and then_—like a few times a year at most) I read some bullshit for fun. > > Hey, I don’t understand the appeal of most computer games, but I realize that some people think they’re “fun.” I don’t give a damn either way, but if it’s fun for them, it is. No big deal. Yebbut you haven’t explained what is fun about it. Computer games are written to provide fun. Astrology is alleged to be written for life guidance. Again, where is the fun in it that you couldn’t get by reading some other random text? ---
**Author:** ![JustPlainBryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/57b2e6/32.png) [@JustPlainBryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustPlainBryan)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/129 "2004-11-03T15:54:51Z")
> [@AndrewT](#): > > Yebbut you haven’t explained what is fun about it. Computer games are written to provide fun. Astrology is alleged to be written for life guidance. Again, where is the fun in it that you couldn’t get by reading some other random text? Let me guess. You probably don’t see the fun in doing those web memes where you get to find what kind of beer you are, or which LOTR character you most associate with, or which terror threat level you most resemble. It’s the same thing. Astrology is, once again, a very old and complex meme. If you don’t find memes fun, you probably won’t find astrology fun either. Hopefully this answers your question. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2004, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/130 "2004-11-03T17:41:22Z")
My family has always believed that it is very, very unlucky to be superstitious. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/131 "2004-11-05T06:48:09Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > I give the same respect to genethliacal astrology – I don’t give it any credence, but what I argue against is **what they’re actually claiming** , not _Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs_. Og! I thought of her as soon as I opened up this thread. A few years ago, I saw a copy of her book in a junk shop. I remembered my sister reading it in the '70s, when it was all the rage, so I bought it (50 cents). The chapters about the signs are subdivided into Aries (or whatever) Man, Woman, Child, Boss, and Employee. Mr. Rilch is a Taurus and I’m a Pisces, so I checked out “Taurus Man” and “Pisces Woman”. According to Ms. Goodman, a woman who’s married to a Taurus can expect to disagree with him at her peril. He will always react badly to the merest hint of “rebellion”: anything from a prolonged sulk, or verbally tearing you a new one in front of company, to a violent rage. And if you dare to leave him, he’ll follow you and scare the crap out of whoever you’ve sought asylum with. Submit or else, she says. **As if.** Mr. Rilch is not a bit like that, and if he ever tried it, he wouldn’t **be** “Mr.” Rilch. She also says Taurus men don’t talk much. Bwwwaa-ha-ha! I also found out that Pisces women have infinite sex appeal, because they’re passive and treat their men like gods. They don’t bother with silly things like having their own opinions. As an example, she described a Pisces woman who’d been married four times. I’d rather emulate someone who can **stay** married, TYVM. Actually, that’s probably more to do with her than with astrology. But it sounds very much like a '70s version of _The Rules_: women should modify their behavior, but men should never be expected to modify theirs. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/132 "2004-11-05T14:53:23Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > I look _much_ better in that dress than she does. It matches my eyes. It all evens out. Winona Ryder looks much better _out of_ that dress than you do. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/133 "2004-11-05T15:22:40Z")
> [@Yllaria](#): > > dropzone - I would love to hear your wife talking at parties. Long-extinct invertebrates don’t get enough respect. Seriously. Has she written anything about them? Alas, a complete lack of consistent direction in education and careers (you know how those Orions are!) has left her unpublished and self-taught. This is too bad, as she is a natural. A few weeks ago, after getting angry over a fossil interpretation on a program on the Cambrian Explosion, she sighed and admited she should have become a scientist. “I just love to argue.” A while back I unsuccessfully tried to find a messageboard where she could indulge in the intellectual back and forth (AKA: backstabbing, hissy fits, and shit flinging) central to the scientific process. I must try again for she needs the outlet. Anyway, if she’s busy arguing whether _Dickinsonia_ is an annelid worm, a cnidarian polyp, or a lichen she loses her position of moral superiority over me and the time I spend here! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/134 "2004-11-05T15:51:18Z")
I have heard that there are severalinvestment advisors who use astrology (in an attempt to make favorable investment decisions). Anybody know about this?Is there an “Astrology Mutual Fund”? Inquiring minds want to know! ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/135 "2004-11-05T16:00:12Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I have heard that there are severalinvestment advisors who use astrology (in an attempt to make favorable investment decisions). Anybody know about this?Is there an “Astrology Mutual Fund”? > Inquiring minds want to know! It failed miserably. Too many Tauruses believing the market would continue to climb, and no Ursa Majors prepared to take the opposite POV. (Might have been saved by an infusion of hirsute gay men, but they were busy investing in gay-friendly REITs. ;)) ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/136 "2004-11-05T16:42:25Z")
Dropzone - how about getting her to write essays on Live Journal? Just for practice. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/137 "2004-11-05T16:48:03Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > Alas, a complete lack of consistent direction in education and careers (you know how those Orions are!) has left her unpublished and self-taught. This is too bad, as she is a natural. A few weeks ago, after getting angry over a fossil interpretation on a program on the Cambrian Explosion, she sighed and admited she should have become a scientist. “I just love to argue.” A while back I unsuccessfully tried to find a messageboard where she could indulge in the intellectual back and forth (AKA: backstabbing, hissy fits, and shit flinging) central to the scientific process. I must try again for she needs the outlet. Anyway, if she’s busy arguing whether _Dickinsonia_ is an annelid worm, a cnidarian polyp, or a lichen she loses her position of moral superiority over me and the time I spend here! I’d love to see what she’s got to say about Onychophorans! 🙂 (This is to be taken as an extremely strong hint to Mrs. Zone!) ---
**Author:** ![Edward\_The\_Head](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ce73a5/32.png) [@Edward\_The\_Head](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_The_Head)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/138 "2004-11-05T19:01:26Z")
I read one of those books once and it came out really accurate, and no I’m not talking about the big long paragraphs that anyone could pick stuff out of. It gave for my birthdate that I would play the trombone, which I do, my exercise would be swimming, which it is, and that I like to wear brown, which I am now. I thought the trombone and swimming together were a bit strange. Other then that I think it’s a crock, especially since they will not give me mine at some of those sites without my time of birth, how the hell am I supposed to remember? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/139 "2004-11-05T19:48:26Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > I’d love to see what she’s got to say about Onychophorans! 🙂 (This is to be taken as an extremely strong hint to Mrs. Zone!) Oh! She LOVES those! We were down by Mazon Creek a couple years ago and she was hoping to find one but we’ll never know because she got distracted by something shiny before demonstrating her favorite nodule splitting method (which, of course, is infinitely superior to that used by anyone else, the morons that they are) and they are sitting in a canvas bag on our bedroom floor (don’t kick things in our bedroom–they might be full of rocks) waiting for her to become interested again. (She’s really a Gemini, through and through.) I’ll drop the hint. Actually, there are a couple hints that need dropping. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2004, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918/140 "2004-11-05T20:08:37Z")
Oh yeah. I know some folks really into this stuff. Background : I consider myself a pretty tolerant person. I’m able to keep myself from laughing out loud when someone starts on a ramble about the stars and planets positions influencing events, etc. I don’t lecture them spontaneously on why I disagree with them. Bottom line - it doesn’t interfere with my life, so I’m not worried about it. But I do think they’re irrational, and I sometimes _test_ them. One female acquaintance was discussing this subject with me last week. My sun and moon signs are both Taurus, and for what its worth, I am one of the most sutbborn people on the planet. She was detailing which signs get along with which other signs, etc. I pointed out my difference from another Taurus we both know, and she informed me of the concept of Rising Signs, and said I was a Taurus there, as well. Now, just from the scraps of information she’d related, I knew something didn’t add up. She’d have to know my birthtime, I thought, and within about … (mental math) … two hours. Furthermore, knowing my own time of birth, and which constellation my sun was theoretically in - I made a guess as to my actual rising sign. A correct guess, as it turns out. So I’ve informed her that she was wrong about my rising sign, and I intend to let her see if she can, based on her “vast” knowledge of astrology, guess my correct rising sign. We’ll see how many tries it takes. And whether or not she can be convinced that Astrology is bunk, if it takes her 8 or 9 tries. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-grown-people-really-still-believe-in-astrology/271918.md?page=8)