I Don’t Believe in Astrology (or gravity, for that matter)
A Love Letter to Astrology Skeptics and All Those Searching for Meaning in the Map Above Us
The other day I shared a post on social media about the latest horror show to tumble out of the White House, followed by the prevailing astrology that explained why it was happening now.
In this wild time we’re living through, I’m always trying to offer context, and little reminders that though it may feel like our world is collapsing, it’s all just part of a larger cycle, lurching from collapse to renewal and back again, on repeat. Right, now we’re in a season of breakdown, en route to a season of renewal, and when you’re staring into the abyss, sometimes it helps to know it’s just winter, and spring is on its way.
Anyway, someone commented:
“I loved everything you wrote until you got to the astrology nonsense.”
Classic. I get this kind of thing all the time.
“You had me until you mentioned Pluto.”
And honestly, I don’t mind. It doesn’t bother me anymore.
In fact, it often opens the door to a real conversation, like it did that day,
and sometimes, it even leads to making a new friend.
Somewhere along the thread, another person chimed in:
“I don’t believe in astrology.”
And suddenly, we were having that chat,
the one where astrology is treated like Santa Claus,
the Easter Bunny, or a cryptic tale from the Book of Genesis.
There’s only so much room to respond on social media,
and I come up against that kind of statement so often,
I’ve decided to craft a response below that I can share
the next time someone mistakes astrology for a belief system.
So here, friends, is what I wanted to say that day,
but I couldn’t manage in 140 characters.
Here it is, publicly, clearly, and loudly, once and for all…..
I don’t believe in astrology either.
Astrology is not a religion.
It’s not a cult.
It’s not a replacement for science, or therapy, or common sense.
I don’t attend the Church of Pluto in Aquarius.
(Though if it existed, the sermons would be epic.)
Astrology isn’t something you believe in,
any more than you believe in spring, or tides, or gravity, or oxygen.
These things don’t require our belief.
They just are, whether we like it or not.
You can choose not to believe in autumn, if you wish,
but the leaves will still fall from the trees.
You can choose not to believe in night and day,
but the sun will still set, all the same.
These things are cycles.
They happen on repeat.
And each time they happen,
we can track how they happen,
so we’re better prepared the next time they do.
They don’t need your belief.
But you’d be wise to observe.
And that’s why I pay attention to astrology.
Not because I’m obsessed with stars.
But because I’m fascinated by patterns.
The Pattern in the Skies
Humans have always studied patterns and cycles.
There’s evidence of astrology being practiced as far back as 6,000 years ago.
That makes it older than the wheel.
Older than writing.
Older than math.
Older than the Bible, Buddhism, Plato, and Pythagoras.
Older than pyramids, philosophy, or the concept of time as we understand it.
Before humans could spell their own names, they were tracking the stars.
Before we had clocks, we had constellations.
Before there was language, there was the sky.
Astrology is not new.
Disbelief in it is.
We track celestial bodies for all kinds of every day things, and don’t think it strange.
We track the orbit of the Earth around the Sun and call it a year.
We divide that year into seasons.
And because we understand the rhythm of those seasons,
we don’t panic when winter comes.
We don’t run around screaming that the world is ending
just because the lake froze over.
We know spring is coming.
We know the flowers will bloom again.
We plan for it.
We adapt to it.
We even build entire cultures around it.
Same with the tides….
we know the Moon pulls the water in and out,
like the breath of the ocean.
We know the full moon tends to stir the emotions.
(Police, nurses, and parents of toddlers can confirm).
So if we already accept that the position of the Earth relative to the Sun shapes the seasons, and that the Earth’s position relative to the Moon shapes the tides…..
Why is it so hard to imagine that the Earth’s position relative to other planets might shape other things in our world?
It’s All Just Cosmic Weather
We’re already living by a multitude of cosmic patterns.
We call it the weather forecast, or low and high tide,
or summer, winter, autumn, spring.
It’s all patterns and cycles, just like astrology,
only astrology zooms the lens out a little further.
It says: here’s where the planets are now, and when they were in this exact position in the past, here’s how things played out, and maybe……just maybe……something similar will play out again.
It’s not fortune telling.
It’s cycle tracking.
It’s watching the sky for weather,
and learning how to dress for it.
Nobody bats an eyelid when you tell them to dust off their mittens and jumpers because winter’s coming.
But tell them that things might start falling apart as Pluto’s moves into Aquarius - because every time Pluto has been in Aquarius for the last few thousand years, society has gone through a massive upheaval - and they might start looking at you like you need a good lie down.
But you needn’t lie down, because you’re not crazy.
You’re just observing a clear and obvious pattern.
We call it chaos because we don’t remember it’s a cycle.
But history does.
And Pluto remembers everything.
Proof of a Pattern
Every time Pluto has been in Aquarius, we’ve seen society rupture and rewire.
Every single time for hundreds of years,
that’s what happens when Pluto is in Aquarius,
just like it snows when it’s winter, or it’s dark in the night.
Last time Pluto was in Aquarius in the 1770’s,
the American War of Independence was raging.
So was the French Revolution.
“We the People” became a slogan.
Society cracked, and something entirely new was born.
The time before that, in the 1530’s,
Martin Luther took on the Church in the Reformation,
and Copernicus dared to say the Earth wasn’t the center of the universe.
It was a time of revolution and revelation,
when everything we thought was fixed turned out not to be.
Now Pluto’s back in Aquarius for the next 20 years, and surprise…..
systems are crumbling and nobody knows who’s in charge anymore.
Sound familiar? See the pattern?
It’s visible with other planets too.
Mars is like a match, hitting hard, fast, and suddenly.
It was square Uranus when the Berlin Wall fell.
It was conjunct Saturn when the Twin Towers came down.
Mars arrives like ignition, and every time it lands just right,
it sets off a spark….and KABOOM.
There’s a pattern with Uranus is in Gemini as well.
It’s like a harbinger of battle and war,
whenever the planet of disruption meets the sign of communication.
Last time (the 1940’s) was the height of World War II.
The time before that (the 1770’s), the American Revolution.
And now Uranus is back in Gemini,
and this time the battlefield is language, media, and the mind.
Words start wars, ideas go viral, and truth is up for review.
It’s all a pattern.
Every planet, every sign.
A predictable, revolving cycle.
The Six Thousand Year Study
Whether we’re talking about seasonal weather or cosmic weather,
we’re talking about the same thing.
It’s all the movement of celestial bodies and how they track against life on Earth.
It’s all about where our planet is in relation to another giant rock or ball of gas in space, and what tends to happen when it gets there.
That’s not “woo”.
That’s pattern recognition.
And it’s been studied, tracked, and documented for thousands of years.
Tell someone summer’s coming, they smile and grab their swimmers.
Tell someone Mercury retrograde’s coming,
and they roll their eyes like you’ve just told them Bigfoot reads their aura.
But both are forecasts.
Both are based on real cycles.
The only difference is that one’s socially accepted,
and the other makes people uncomfortable
because it threatens the illusion of control.
We used to trust astrology the way we now trust science and technology.
Up until the 1800s, you couldn’t be a doctor without also being an astrologer.
There isn’t an ancient ruler in history who didn’t have an astrologer in their court.
But somewhere along the way, we stopped looking to the stars for guidance.
We forgot there’s a divine map written in the skies.
We began to see the stars as something to conquer, not something to consult.
We relegated our oldest compass to the realm of carnival barkers,
and forgot our place in the universe.
These days, people dismiss astrology
because they don’t believe the stars control our destiny.
Fair enough.
I don’t either.
Because astrology doesn’t cause things.
The stars aren’t making anything happen.
They’re just reflecting what’s already unfolding,
like a mirror, or a weather vane.
They’re giving us a map to guide the way forward.
Clues on when to rest, when to act, when to grieve, when to revolt.
When to carry an umbrella.
Or start a revolution.
Truth Requires No Belief
So these days when people ask me, “Do you really believe in astrology?”
My answer is always the same.
No.
I don’t “believe” in astrology,
not the way one believes in goblins,
or the Tooth Fairy,
or stories whispered around a campfire.
I study it.
Like a weather map that happens to be 6,000 years old.
Because every time the planets show up in the same signs,
so do the patterns.
Astrology doesn’t require your belief.
It just invites you to pay attention.
To notice what happens when certain cosmic rhythms repeat.
To consider the possibility that Earth is not separate from the rest of the sky,
but part of it, in constant dialogue with it.
I’m not trying to sell anyone stardust or superstition.
I’m just saying, like any good season, it helps to know what’s coming,
so you know whether to plant, harvest, or hunker down.
If that’s nonsense to you, that’s fine.
I’m not here to convert.
But I am here to remind you:
The sky has always had something to say.
To those who are willing to listen.
My intention in my writing is to lessen the climate of fear around world events by offering clarity and cosmic context for what’s unfolding; to bring context to the chaos. I believe our highest calling right now is to anchor in the vibration of love & truth and call in a more beautiful world, and to do that, we must lean out of fear. I hope you read this with an open, uplifted heart.
Don't be disheartened by skeptics. As with all good things, because some people misused astrology to earn a buck or exert control,they have poisoned the well a bit. But you are clean fresh water.....and those who can taste that water will see what astrology really has to offer. Not too many of us can read the map of the skies the way you can. Thank you for reading them and sharing what you see with us all. Please don't stop.
Thank you - great response! It is fascinating how 300 years of “rational thought” can ignore and deny millennia of understanding about the universe. May cosmic consciousness open people’s minds.