Big Pisces Energy: Horoscopes Edition
If you know me, you’ve probably definitely heard me talk about Co-star. Co-star, your modern day astrology app offering the sweet promise of “hyper-personalized, real-time horoscopes.” Or for skeptics, offering the silly deception of “hyper-personalized, real-time horoscopes.” A dear friend who gives me daily notifications about what’s apparently going on in my life, in connection with our planetary shifts and orbits.
Many people maintain that horoscopes are misleading, if not completely fake. Most sources are unclear about what their information is based on, leading to common labels of “pseudoscience.” The information presented is thus arguably random with narrow scope, perhaps guiding you to focus on irrelevant concepts. And framing bias could lead you to dwell on ideas and aspects of yourself that only came into existence because you decided to read your horoscope that day, and not because they are ideas that you want to explore at this time in your life.
On the other hand, Co-star for example publicizes its use of AI algorithms and data from NASA, grounding itself in more of a hard science background. Whether horoscopes are “accurate” or not though, vigilant reflection through horoscopes could be a helpful guiding force for your internal life. Feeling out which concepts and ideas speak to you and which ones fall flat can alert you to what is important and resonates with you, nudging you (perhaps a little whimsically sometimes) to explore those areas further. Even if there’s little or no validity to the current horoscopic algorithms, our emotional responses to these astrological aphorisms are real. And even the subtlest astrological intervention could enact change and inspire you to grow or take action. We also simply may not have the technology and knowledge to decipher astrological patterns and their relation to our lives. Thus I am not discounting the possibility of celestial forces and energies at work.
I land somewhere in between the two camps with a bias towards and soft spot for subscribing to astrology. In the spirit of my simultaneous skepticism and passionate interest in horoscopes what with their potential reflective power and possible astrological accuracy, I gathered some lines from the past year of my Co-star horoscopes and wrote responses to them for both entertainment and contemplative reflection.
What makes you feel alive?
This one came at a time when I had been feeling a bit stuck in some ways. It’s a good reminder question when the days seem to clump together in one amorphous busy blur. So...people, dancing, uncontrollable laughter. Long conversations that settle inside of me for a long time, solidified sand that’s soft like a cheesecake, light that shines through the faint criss cross of tree branches forever reaching across the sky. My favorite song playing unexpectedly in public feeling like a sign, the familiar scent of a memory, slowed heartbeats when I’m half asleep and maybe dreaming.
Try not to look for approval today.
This one is always relevant. I think it’s natural and even okay sometimes to look for approval from others, especially people you care about. We thrive off of external validation and support in the form of approval, and thus feel accepted. But I certainly need this memo every so often, a reminder that I want to be actively searching for approval and love from myself. Period. What others think is not everything. (I’m starting to sound like a horoscope oops).
It’s complicated - your Mars in Libra might explain your paralysis in the face of decision making.
This one is definitely a targeted attack! Co-star loves to hit you right where you’re vulnerable. But it did push me to reflect on why I find decision making difficult and tedious, and what I can do to change how I approach decisions. It raised the question of why I often accept a label of indecisiveness from others and myself, and how I want to evolve that aspect of myself.
You’re looking for answers but your concern for other people’s feelings is interfering...The goal doesn’t have to be clarity. Sometimes truth can be complicated.
Where do we draw the line about concern for other people? The “truth” of human relationships is enormously complicated, which is why creating personal boundaries for yourself can be so helpful and honestly necessary to function in this messy world. I love caring for and considering other people deeply, it’s a part of who I am, but emotional fatigue is a real thing to account for. This makes me stop and think about how much of ourselves we put out there and how much we receive in return, and how that exchange shapes our experiences as well as our approach to relationships moving forward. In the end, complete and objective clarity within relationships is not possible, even as we seek it, or something resembling it, out. Becoming closer to someone inevitably complicates, and that is a part of life. It’s a process of learning to lean into the complications, loving those in between shades.
Honor your feelings. They are facts. Your emotional life is rich and deep. Trust what you feel.
This one has popped up a few times. And it’s one of my favorites, always. As someone who considers myself a strongly emotional person, it seems like a given that I would always listen to and trust my feelings because they’re so in my face. But there are times where I lose sight of my own core feelings and what I want. My emotions are so deeply interconnected with the people in my life, it can be difficult to distinguish what comes from me and what comes from the outside. But then this idea — feelings as facts. Every feeling you feel is real. You’re feeling it for a reason. And it’s important to trust that so that you can trust yourself.
Vulnerability is potent, not feeble.
Is Co-star listening to my conversations? I’m pretty sure I think or vocalize this thought at least once a week. It never fails to resonate though, and it can’t be said too many times in a society that teaches us emotional vulnerability is giving up our power and ultimately is a sign of weakness. Read my past posts for the dreamers and in the end for more thoughts and feelings on this.
...Practice opening the map of your life in a way that shows more than one path.
Uncertainty is often unnerving. I, like many people, generally like having structure and certainty, feeling like I can see my path up ahead (this is one reason shopping period at Brown, while a great opportunity and one I loved having, drove me crazy). And yet, without uncertainty, our lives would be completely different and not necessarily better. If we knew everything to come, there would be no motivation, no driving force in our lives, a lack of free will. And no hope. Because hope lies warm and cradled in the embrace of “not knowing.”
Hope and despair are two sides of the same coin named uncertainty, but we hopefully continue to choose hope.
If you’ve read this far, I’m not trying to change your mind about horoscopes and astrology, but maybe I’ve given you something to think about in relation to your own life. Reach out if you want to talk about anything from above or beyond, I’d love to expand these thoughts into conversations!
At the end of the day, aside from the celestial mystery of horoscopes which certainly is appealing to me, the root of what draws me in is my take on astrology’s take on life. The way it makes me feel small in this huge and ever-expanding universe, but also larger than life in the everyday. The way it makes me feel like magic is inhabiting my life.
The way it challenges you to find meaning in your experiences, big or small, posing the question: what matters to you?