Raghav Gadgil
‘Unsure about your day ahead?’, ‘Want to know when you will get a job?’, ‘Check the compatibility of the right partner’, do such pieces of advice draw your attention? Astrological predictions continue to mesmerise everyone across cultures and generations. Astrology taps into the human need for constant validation and certainty in future. Many civilisations have commented on using stars and planets’ positions to predict the future.
Fundamental philosophical questions like why we are here? What is our purpose on this planet? has always intrigued us. Humans are insecure about their societal status, wealth accumulated, health loss, and what lies in the future.
In this quest to live a better life than others, humans tend to incline toward ‘sure’ things rather than ‘uncertain’ and mysterious future. Rather than having several unknown future outcomes in one’s life, we want someone to give us a limited number of options (and good ones) for our future.
We are drawn towards frameworks that promise our control over the unknown future. Astrology, sprinkled with facts about the positions of stars and planets, intertwined with their effect on our lives, creates a fictional story of our probable future.
Statisticians may provide a probability of each astrologer’s prediction for every human. In every newspaper, there is a horoscope section, and there is some good (or slightly bad) prediction for every zodiac sign, each of which belongs to several lakhs of people.
It’s fun to see that many lakhs of people have the same course of life each day. It’s natural for humans to yearn for foresight. Generalised predictions (vague also acceptable) can provide comfort in turbulent times.
Confirmation bias plays a significant role. We tend to focus on what aligns with our beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence. For example, a person might remember a predicted “exciting opportunity” in a day’s horoscope that coincided with an unexpected phone call but forget the many predictions that didn’t materialise.
The quest for validation is another factor. Humans thrive on social and psychological affirmation. Predictions about personality traits or life events feel personal and specific, even when they’re deliberately vague. This validation reassures people that their lives are meaningful and connected to larger cosmic forces, reinforcing the belief in astrology.
The interesting part is here. The Earth’s axial tilt, currently at about 23.5°, controls which stars and constellations we see. Over millennia, this tilt shifts due to a slow wobble of the Earth’s axis with a cycle of approximately 26,000 years. As a result, the constellations seen at certain times of the year gradually change. Ancient civilisations have seen these patterns and formulated astrological calculations, related them to human lives. I do not find any mention of such star control over any animal’s life. It is because humans feel they are a special creation of the divine.
If Homo Sapiens (and ancient texts and calculations) defy climate change and live for lakhs of years, this knowledge would be meaningless. As the Earth’s orientation changes, the night sky will look profoundly different in future millennia, rendering today’s astrological interpretations obsolete. Several such pseudoscientific texts would have to be written for the new generations. The infallibility of such calculated predictions is a human construct shaped by the relatively short span of our civilisations.
Belief in pseudoscience can overshadow critical inquiry and propagate a mindset that values anecdotal evidence over empirical data.
Astrology’s enduring appeal lies at the intersection of psychological fallacies, cultural traditions, and cosmic wonder. Its reliance on confirmation bias and the human need for certainty allows it to thrive even in the face of scientific refutation. Yet, as the Earth’s axis shifts and celestial patterns evolve, the cosmic narrative we see today will transform, reminding us of the transient nature of our interpretations. Encouraging critical thinking and fostering an appreciation for the dynamic, unpredictable universe can help strike a balance between honouring traditions and embracing scientific rigour.