The fault in our stars.
Quit being such a Scorpio, will you?
I WAS CATCHING UP with an acquaintance over dinner recently. It was all going fine ‒ the serving of crab rillettes at Merci
Marcel was good and the conversation was entertaining. That is, until I revealed to her that I enjoy spending time alone and prefer jogging after midnight. She stopped the conversation, her eyes wide, and then in a hushed tone asked, “When’s your birthday?”
“Late October,” I said. Hmmm. Could anyone else see where this was headed?
A brief but very awkward moment of silence later, she grabbed my arm and said, “Oh, you’re a Scorpio. That makes sense.”
Yes, it went there. And there and then, I couldn’t help but wonder if her assumption really did, in her words, make sense.
Irritating me further, she didn’t exactly hit home base when I asked how the dots connected. Instead, she began listing out typical Scorpio traits with gusto. Mysterious. Intense. Secretive. Etc. It seemed like she was plugged into the universe ‒ she was that confident. And her facial expression told me that she was expecting me to say, “Oh, that’s me all right.”
But I didn’t because everything she mentioned didn’t describe me at all ‒ or not to a T, at least. If anything, it could very well describe any other person in the vicinity. Either that or I lacked self-awareness. And with that in mind, I began thumbing through my phone in a bid to locate my nearest bus stop. There was still some time to hatch an escape plan, I thought.
As with most believers of pop astrology, the acquaintance is, by all means, a pleasant human being. All she was probably trying to do then was to get to know me a little better. I don’t know about you, but I seem to find myself engaged in quite a bit of conversations related to astrology and I noticed that people do take horoscopes and zodiac signs quite seriously. I’ve always wondered why.
I suppose the star charts make it easier for believers to figure a stranger out before actually interacting with them. Kind of like a mystical LinkedIn, getting you all psyched up to behave a certain way towards people of a specific star sign so as to gain their favour or just not step on their toes. It is also possible that it could be an astrological traffic light of sorts, giving cues as to whether you should invest time and energy in potential romantic dates or even a job hire. And when it comes to predicting the future, it truly is a wonder how believers can easily brush off coincidence and bank their beliefs on hocus pocus like this. Funny how superstitious our society can be even in this day and age, considering that the world today is ruled heavily by facts and figures.
I’ll admit I do partake in astrology themed conversations from time to time, but as a non-believer, I take everything with more than a pinch of salt. To me, it’s unfair to assume someone has this or that sort of personality based solely on their zodiac signs. Considering there are 7.7 billion people in the world, surely there must be more than 12 personality types in existence?
It does make for an interesting icebreaker though. But please, for the love of Mercury (which wasn’t in retrograde, mind you), don’t pull the horoscope card and instate it as fact. And before I end off, I’d just like to apologise for this rant, especially to die-hard believers in astrology. It’s just my Scorpio ascendant talking. AM