Written in the Stars Students and staff share their opinion on astrology. By Nanda Bean
IIIustration | Nanda Bean
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enior Nancy Iñiguez has been enthusiastic about astrology ever since her father gave her an astrology book for kids years ago. According to her personal sign as a scorpio, she is a “sun, capricorn, moon, and sun: rising.” Her sun sign says that she is very secretive, loyal, and trustworthy, which she finds is “pretty true.” Astrology has become a fun phenomenon and a trend, influencing teens to check their predictions of how their life will go based off of the day they were born. According to the New York Times, astrology has become popular among Generation Z for many reasons, including rejecting the traditional scientific and religious values of belief. With the internet, users can search up astrology and multiple websites will pop up to help find their sign, give them daily horoscopes, offer them a free birth chart to give them a blueprint of who they are, and psychic and tarot card readings. These websites give users a variety of readings of their future based off of when they were born. Iñiguez is one of many AHS students who are into astrology because she loves how it helps her find more about herself and likes to use it as a tool to better her actions. “I just really like the concept of trying to learn more about myself and understanding myself. I try to use it as a tool to help better my actions and how I react to others in those circumstances,” Iñiguez said. Iñiguez loves to share her knowledge of astrology with her friends and family. She is well-aware that not everyone believes in astrology, but she tries to let them know there are more to it other than zodiacs. The problem is not looking past your sun sign, which is supposed to represent your ego and your exterior self. “Honestly, I don’t believe everything that is based on your sun sign because I feel like that way [is] too general, and it might not be true for everybody. But I think that if you look more into other kinds of signs like your moon, rising, Mercury, and Venus [sign]. I think that could get you more accurate results,” Iñiguez said. •
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sychology teacher Carrie Kelder does not believe in astrology, She believes that it is general and revolves around things that people can relate to but those things are about adolescent decision-making. Kelder thinks people are into it now because people are always looking for “something that would guide them,” and it is natural for people to believe in things to depend on. “I don’t believe in astrology because I think a lot of it is just general kinds of things that most people can relate to...People are always looking for something that’s going to guide them or help them and you kind of want to believe [it]. It’s natural for us to want to believe in something that maybe [we] don’t have control over,” Kelder said. Kelder also believes that what leads others to have the disbelief in astrology is looking at it in scientific, religious, and logical points of view. “The more you believe in science, what can be proven, and what can be tested, the less likely you are able to believe in astrology. I also think that if you have a strong religious background, you might be less likely to believe in astrology because you have faith in something else and you might not be able to see or test your faith,” Kelder said. Kelder believes that we like to look for things that can guide students and it’s natural to have a belief in something so we are trying to find control with a few things in our life. Students look at astrology as wisdom and advice to follow, making us feel relatable to others and we might want to know what the predictions say. On the other hand, people can have a natural disbelief if they want actual scientific proof of astrology being accurate in their predictions or they already have a belief in something else. But in general, it is easy to find something to feel relatable to and you have the feeling that it “describes” you, but it is what people are experiencing. “If something helps you and you get comfort in something then I think ‘great’ that’s a great thing for anybody, so I wouldn’t necessarily judge anybody who likes astrology,” Kelder said. •
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