Horoscopes

I was reading a book about Feng Shui, and it was talking about qualities that people have based on their birthday. I have always looked at such categorizations with a grain of salt, it seemed a bit odd that everyone born in the same month or year would have such similar characteristics. My husband and I are born with a month of each other, on the same year, and in many systems we fall into the same grouping, and yet I see more differences than similarities in how we think and how we approach life.

However, I also know that almost always, when I read the descriptions of the groups that I fall into, I find myself agreeing with a lot of the descriptions. Sometimes I agree with descriptions of groups that I don't belong to, and sometimes I find very little that I can identify with unless I make some very big stretches.

I know that a lot of people dislike horoscopes, especially those that you might find on a website or in a newspaper. Often these horoscopes are very general, and sometimes aren't even really an attempt at fortune telling at all, but a piece of solid advice that almost anyone would benefit from following. Similarly, many systems that group people by element, birth month, birth year or any other type of category give such a broad range of descriptions that everyone finds themselves identifying with some of the characteristics.

Because of this, it is quite common for the entire thing to be considered a fraud, a joke or just completely useless. I think that the problem is not the horoscope, but the way we feel we need to interpret them.

I don't look at a horoscope as a guarantee. It is not a picture of my future, nor a mirror in which I can see my true inner self. Instead, I think about what the horoscope makes me think about myself. If it is telling me about my personal qualities, which ones do I agree with and why? I think that it is so very easy to take our selves for granted, to not really appreciate the things we are good at, the things that are meaningful to us or even the things that we might be lacking in.

And more than just what they make me think, how do those thoughts effect what I do? Many times, I'll get into a personal research project, start reading up about something and get near obsessed with it. I'll want to go out and do everything I read about, change myself to become the picture of me I saw in my mind when I read or thought about something new. This can be a great thing, but it can also be a bad thing. It is easy to go over the top, to focus on the sensational instead of the substance.

When it comes to horoscopes that intend to predict the future, what I find interesting is to see what I pay attention to as the time described by the horoscope comes to pass. Do I find myself focusing on things I might have otherwise overlooked because the horoscope said these things would find their way into my life? This can provide a lot of opportunities, both to emphasize the good and avoid the bad. If I am told that I will meet a new friend today, I am more likely to pay attention to strangers I may meet instead of paying attention to my shopping list or the other things I need to do in the afternoon. If I am told that I should beware while in cars, I will probably be more focused in my driving.

I think that horoscopes have the potential to be really great tools, if we learn how to use them. Dive beneath the surface and see what your horoscope really says about you, and reap the benefits that they have to offer.