In honor of Sagittarius Season, or in other words “my season,” I thought I would share a few thoughts about astrology. According to the well-documented traits of the zodiac signs, my personality is very much in alignment with a true Sagittarius. Sure, it's easy to roll your eyes at the idea of each individual fitting into a daily or weekly newspaper column that is supposed to give you lucky dates and predict your future career as well as your love life. I can certainly understand that buying into that notion of astrology could seem very unreasonable. Having said that, many religions and mystical traditions that have survived for thousands of years are worth taking a look at even if they seem like ridiculous hocus pocus.
I have been interested in psychology for as long as I can remember. Learning about personality traits and developments, and how these help explain behaviors, has always been a personal fascination. Numerous theories exist to explain these complexities and, although astrology is not an exact science, it can offer some insight into the topic.
To be clear, astrology is not a science at all. It simply cannot fit into a scientific subject category. To be an actual science, hypotheses need to be able to be tested, measured and proven — astrology can in no way fit here. Astrology has scientific components because the basis of its predictions and overall knowledge comes from tools like star charts and heavenly bodies positioning at certain times.
Sagittarians are highly intuitive optimists. This trait has always called me to be open to all ideas and learning about all things philosophical (another Sag trait). If I see or hear of someone putting down an idea, I am the first one to step up and want to give this underdog a voice. My open mind thinks “why not?” “of course you can” “anything is possible” way before I would ever consider putting an option to rest. So naturally, I gravitate toward the planetary explanation of personalities and predictable events. Haha!
I love to learn but this astrology stuff gets complicated! When you take into account 12 months, 12 houses, 12 signs, as well all the planets, their moons, the sun, aspects, interpretations, things going direct and retrograde...oh my!! No wonder astrology can be deemed a science; it seems like you have to be a genius to get it all straight.
I truthfully do see astrology as a personal celestial map that represents your energetic relationship with the planets based on their position at the time when you were born. And you know what, just the idea of that is so beautiful and awesome! A lot of people go through life feeling like they don’t matter or taking on passive victimhood characteristics. But we do matter and we are all simply energy. Whether it’s quantum physics, the proof of the moon’s energic pull of the tides, or astrology that gets you to see YOUR overall influence in not only your daily life, but the effect you can have on others and the collective influence on the world around you, then I think that is a win!
I get that the idea of planets in the sky “ruling” you or determining your personality can be a stretch to accept. The overall point I am making is that understanding our natural surroundings can help give insight into our interpersonal lives and how these dynamics affect us on a daily basis. Many cultures such as the Mayans, Aborigines and Native Americans have used signs in the natural world to help understand not only personalities, but to heal diseases and gain an overall understanding of what is going on inside one another. I personally feel like if I waited around until I had proof of actuals in life all of the time, not only would life get very stagnant, it would be boring. This adventurous Sagittarius would never hear of that!
Bottom line, every human has an innate desire to be understood and validated. These two needs begin with the individual first understanding themselves and validating themselves. So, if looking into astrology and your natal chart helps you understand your behaviors and how you relate to the world around you then by all means, what are you waiting for?! I already dove in, but then again what did you expect from this fire sign?