ZODIAC SIGNS: FACT OR FICTION?

by Cadence Eastep, Reporter

Lately, if you were to walk into a store involving anything you could possibly need, you are more than likely to find items —or even an entire section— dedicated to the zodiac signs phenomenon. The zodiac, which is a belt depicting the Earth, moon, and other planet’s orbits, and the supposed annual path of the sun, has made its way into the modern consumer’s life; however, some question its validity. Questions of whether or not the zodiac sign assigned to a person is accurate to their personality spins through the minds of those questioning it. Horoscopes create predictions on the lives of people with sometimes ominous accuracy. They leave many people wondering if they are truly an accurate way to judge character, or just figments of the imagination.

Junior Cassidy Long believes in the concept of zodiac signs. She herself is a Scorpio, which is coincidentally the most common zodiac sign in the U.S., with her moon sign being Taurus and her rising sign being Sagittarius. In her opinion, her personality definitely fits with the sign Scorpio.

“There is nothing else that I could possibly be other than a Scorpio,” Long said.

Long said. She finds herself to be very assertive, just as the Scorpio description entails. Along with being assertive, Scorpios are associated with passion and intensity; so much so that sometimes they are mistaken for a fire sign when they are actually a water sign.

Even though she believes in the accuracy of her zodiac sign, Long has never used her sign as an excuse for her actions. “I don’t ever directly say something rude and then say ‘oh, it’s because I’m a Scorpio!’” she said.

She believes that she is very similar to her sign’s description, but she still is her own person. Nevertheless, because of her knowledge on the topic, she still finds herself forming opinions on others due to their own personal sign.

“Sometimes I will ask somebody their sign and form an opinion on them before getting to know them,” Long said.

She tries not to let zodiac signs define her or others, but she still finds the accuracy of her sign to be undeniable.

Megan Pagnini, another junior, also believes in zodiac signs —to an extent. She is a Leo, and she has found that she does relate to the characteristics assigned to this sign.

“After doing some research and looking at my own zodiac sign I’m like, ‘that’s so weird that it’s so similar to how I am’”, Pagnini said.

Leos are defined as confident leaders with a lot of natural drive, and Pagnini has found that she fits this description. However, she has also decided that the concept of zodiac signs isn’t completely rooted in logic.

“It’s not really that I totally believe it. I definitely think there are some things that I’m like, that’s kind of stupid,” Pagnini said.

She finds the idea to be fun and interesting to think about, but Pagnini still believes that the zodiac isn’t entirely accurate.

The opinions about zodiac signs on the PRHS campus are staggering. In a survey of 92 students conducted on October 20th, it was found that only 44% of students leaned towards the idea of believing in zodiac signs, leaving a whole 56% who completely wrote off the concept. Those with negative opinions on zodiac signs on campus are more prone to saying that they are not backed up by actual evidence.

This survey also offered another statistic. A horoscope is a diagram that shows the relative positions of planets, and it gives insight into how a person’s future is going to play out. Each horoscope often predicts any romantic partners, dangers, careers, and other happenings that are supposedly going to occur in a person’s life. Sometimes, these descriptions can be more accurate than others. In this survey, 34.9% of students surveyed recalled scarily accurate horoscope predictions at some point in their life. Clara Lundy, a senior and a member of the survey, recalled a scary prediction:

“I got in a very big argument and it was like ‘you will get in a difficult situation with people you care about’” it really threw me off,” Lundy wrote. This accurate prediction of an event really startled her. Many other people face this uncomfortable feeling too. For something that many find too outlandish to be true, it is scary to see a daily prediction be genuinely accurate.

In science, zodiac signs and astrology have been questioned for a very long time. At this time, there are no cases documented that assign astrology to a new scientific discovery. The concept of watching stars and constellations to understand the world has been around since B.C. times, with Sumarians and Babylonians using planets and stars to keep track of the gods in the sky. So, the theory of constellations and the zodiac have enveloped the world for years —not just in modern pop culture. Scientists will likely continue to try and understand whether or not astrology connects to real science.

Zodiac signs are very popular to think about at this time. They have snuck into the lives of many. Questions of their accuracy will likely be around for years to come. For some, though, the signs’ scientific validity doesn’t matter —all that matters is the amount of fun they have studying and comparing the signs’ characteristics to the world and people around them.

WHICH SIGN ARE YOU?

December 22 to January 19

January 20 to Febuary 18

February 19 to

March 20

March 21 to

April 19

April 20 to May 20

May 21 to

June 21

June 22 to

July 22

July 23 to August 22

August 23 to September 22

September 23 to October 23

October 24 to November 21

November 22 to December 21