ABSTRACT
Among the pleasures enjoyed by millions is the daily horoscope produced in the astrology column of newspapers and magazines everywhere. Most people know which star sign they are born under, that they are Taurus or Virgo or Leo or Scorpio, etc. Many people actually have an idea about what personal qualities and characteristics they are supposed to possess as a result of being born under a particular star sign. It is not uncommon to hear a person say of himself, ‘I am a typical Taurean, I guess, home-loving, dependable and a bit boring’. The person hearing such a remark will not, on that account, be likely to conclude that the speaker is a superstitious or irrational person. The statement may even appear to convey a measure of objective self-awareness; it has nothing of the bizarre about it, no irrational excess, and its commonsense plausibility makes it appear ‘normal’. Nor are statements such as these usually delivered with the conviction of the zealot, the true believer. Those who read such columns do not, as a rule, claim to be either believers or disbelievers. Indeed the whole question of belief is suitably clouded by a widespread disinclination on the part of the public to enquire too closely into the astrologer’s system of justification with its claims about the movements and courses of the planetary bodies and their relations to each other. Authoritative and matter-of-fact references to the aspect that Mars presents to Jupiter and so forth may reassure the reader of horoscopes that there is, after all, some ‘logic’ underpinning the claims made but that usually suffices without the individual feeling the need for further investigation. The advice offered sounds broadly realistic and is couched in terms that are vaguely suggestive of a lay science discourse. However, there are many regular readers who would claim that they read such columns purely as harmless entertainment or fun and that they do not really taken them seriously.
