Bad Astrology is Everywhere

A good portion of online astrology is dreadful. And psychologically harmful.

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THE INTERNET FOSTERS a ceaseless spewing of astrological nonsense with its tendency to make worse whatever it champions through viral mutation.

I don’t mean the blatantly idiotic content—astrology memes, quizzes, surveys, and hypomanic TikTok videos. You can easily dismiss that content as shit and then scroll on.

I’m addressing the more egregious forms of ‘guidance.’ The faux ‘esoteric’ posturing—the unrealistic promises and mystical insights from astrologers that offer absurd guarantees. Find your soul mate! Discover your soul’s deepest purpose!

The more unrealistic the expectation, the more likely the client becomes enmeshed with a dimwit astrologer and their ludicrous promises.

My teacher, Ivy Goldstein-Jacobson, was an Aries with a Sadge Moon, and even back in the mid-70s, amidst astrology’s renaissance through the counter-culture, she bitched about how it was hawked and distorted.

As a student, I’m certain her attitude rubbed off on me as she guided my entry into the art. (Gawd, the stories I could tell of having to do the actual math to construct a horoscope—[and the ways I finagled my dad into doing it for me.])