IS YOUR FUTURE IN THE STARS?
IF the future is written in the stars I endured the worst of the month last week and tomorrow will prove my lucky day - according to the latest edition of Old Moore’s Almanack at least.
The annual astrological almanack has been published since 1697 and features horoscopes for the year ahead with specific high and low dates per month, winning periods with horse and greyhound racing, a guide to choosing your Lotto numbers and even gardening by the moon amongst other predictions.
Alongside downright nonbelievers there are those who will cast an inquisitive eye over their horoscope - yet reading and believing are
“if you read the horoscope from a previous day you can always find something that it relates to.”
another matter.
In light of this, I headed out onto Scarborough’s streets to find out women’s opinions on whether or not they follow and believe in horoscope predictions.
Holly Binder, 21, of Crossgates who studies Early Childhood Studies at the University of Hull, Scarborough Campus is no longer a daily follower but still finds the occasional truth in the stars.
She said: “When I was younger I used to read it everyday, I really enjoyed reading it to see if it actually happened.
“I’d always find something that matched, I think that’s because I wanted it to as well.
“Now I sometimes read mine and my mum’s in the paper. I do believe in them and I like to think they’re real.”
Fellow course mate Katie Turrell, 19, of South Cliff finds that predictions can run in the family.
She said: “I believe them and I read them most days in the Evening News.
“I read Cancer because
it’s mine, my mum’s and my grandma’s’ sign and I do usually find parts that are accurate.
“Every time something relates to all three of us, it’s quite weird really.”
On the straight and narrow is Phiippa Blakey, 33, of
Newby who runs an online retail company and believes in creating your own path regardless of where your planet is.
She said: “I don’t read mine, I used to when I was younger but I never believed it, it was just nice if it was positive.
“I think you make your own future and your own luck.
“I used to read them before probably because I was a teenager and didn’t know about the world, but now I’m grown up I know better.”
The ‘what if’ factor draws cleaner Cheryl Gardner, 50, of Roscoe Street towards her horoscope.
“I do read them every now and again, I don’t believe in them, I’m just interested just in case it does come true,” she said. “I find they’re very general - if you read the horoscope from a previous day you can always find something that it relates to, it’s just a bit of fun.”
Another non-believer is sales assistant Hollie Pickup, 26, of Murray Street.
She said: “I don’t believe them but I do read them occasionally - it’s just because of curiosity to see what they’re all about.
“I have read them constantly at one point, but not
so much now. Sometimes I find they fit in with what I’m doing but other times they don’t.”
Helen Woolcott, 45, of
Eastfield who works at a bookmakers, says she’s a typical Virgo.
Although a regular reader of her horoscope, it has yet to bring her a handsome male.
She said: “I do read them about three times a week but I tend not to take much notice of them.
“I can be swayed a little bit if it comes true, but I’m still waiting for my knight in shining armour.”
Fellow Virgo Tracey Carter, 42, of Eastfield, also matches the personality traits of her childhood friend, though she’s also not convinced that her future is written in the stars.
“I don’t believe in it, but I’ve seen that it makes people happy because they have something to look forward to,” she said.
“I have read them in the past, I think sometimes you want to believe if it’s good, but if it’s bad you tend to ignore it.”
According to Old Moore’s Almanack, Dr Francis Moore tells that “life won’t be difficult for us in 2012”, although “the world may be less fortunate.”
We should expect a revolution at home and in the educational system but a year that’s less intense than 2011,
There’s no arguing with the prediction that 2012 is a year “when anything may happen - within reason”, but if you do want to follow the stars, his last suggestion is “to plan to have an alternative plan in mind.”