Astrology has been part of my life from an early age. Well, not exactly "part of my life"; that makes it sound as though I don't leave the house without consulting Russell Grant, Mystic Meg and Jonathan Cainer first. I suppose it'd be more accurate instead to say I was exposed to astrology-type stuff from an early age. My Mum used to study astrology and draw up people's birth charts for them...when my sisters and I would go to her house on a Sunday there'd be astrological paraphernalia all over the place. Textbooks, notepads and compass-drawn charts with confusing squiggles and symbols all over them that somehow held the mystery to that person's exact personality. As a child all this seemed quite magical; even though when I found out what my own star sign is (Leo) I didn't like it. It seemed bossy and masculine, and I used to pretend I was Libra instead (which is ironic given the supposed nature of Leo personalities).
Given my love of stupid personality quizzes it seemed only inevitable that at some point I'd do an "Are You Like Your Star Sign?" type quiz, which whenever I do I've always found that I am "a typical Leo with a fine, balanced personality and a delight to know" (that's not just me blowing my own trumpet, honest, I did a quiz and it really said that! Really!). But I then took the same quiz for every other sign and found that I was also a "typical Capricorn", a "typical Sagittarian", a "typical Aries"...and so on. So much for my being "unique and special" - which was how my star sign had been described! I felt royally cheated. Another astrologically-based quiz was bold enough to attempt describing me physically, as someone with "problem feet and can't-do-anything-with-it hair" (they must have seen my Facebook pictures).
But some people do take astrological signs very seriously. My Nan, for example, says that the older she gets, the more she sees how true people are to their signs; conversations with her are always peppered with "well he's a Scorpio and everybody knows they're secretive buggers", or "she's the dullest person I ever met - typical Virgo" (don't worry; I've made those specific examples up!) And once I was out with a friend and we got talking to a rather strange man who asked what our star signs were. He approved of mine, but when my friend said she was Capricorn his eyes narrowed in fury. "I HATE Capricorns!" he said, practically spitting venom at her as he spoke, and he walked off in a baffling huff (he must have been a Cancerian; I hear they're sensitive like that).
I've never taken astrology that seriously. But I will admit to reading my stars every now and again, and especially at the start of a new year. I'll promptly forget everything it said roughly five minutes after I've read it, but while I'm reading it it's...well, it's nice. Because in the stars, everything's going to turn out alright, even when you're told it's going to be "a challenging year". I can understand why some people use astrology like others use religion; as a comforting, mostly harmless, voice of reason.
(But then I would think that, as a Leo with an Aquarian rising sign).
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