By: Pooja Suganthan, Lynda Irizarry, Staff Writers

It’s always exciting to find posts on social media telling users what their favorite pastime or musical genre is based on their zodiac sign. Instagram explore pages are often piled with these accounts claiming to define someone using their zodiac signs.

However, zodiac signs date back to much earlier times. They were first created by the Babylonians, then introduced to the Greeks in the fourth century B.C. Later on, astrology reached the Romans and Arabs as well. Eventually, the science of zodiac signs was spread to the rest of the world and still remains to this day.

Zodiac signs are the astrological signs of humans based on the time of year and positions of celestial bodies when they were born. Each of the twelve signs highlight the strengths and weaknesses of a person born within the respective time frame. These signs also reflect one’s potential goals, personality, and interests.

Born between June 21 and July 22, senior Colleen Chang is a Cancer; Cancers are typically thought of as tender-hearted and emotional. However, she believes that “it doesn’t make sense to generalize all of the people who are born at around the same time of the year.”

Similarly, Senior Ralph Rodriguez does not believe in the zodiac signs. He doubts that “the alignment of the stars have something to do with how well or badly one’s day is going.” Out of curiosity, Ralph ran his own experiment by checking his horoscope everyday for a week. He found himself “trying to find any applications of these predictions to different situations that day. In a way, the horoscopes influence me to find situations that would cause it to be true.”

Freshman Julia Maciejak, a Pisces, uses a daily horoscope app. She states, “I only believe in some [Pisces stereotypes].” Julia explains how many people claim she is great to come to for advice, which is a stereotype about her zodiac sign. “I don’t believe [Pisces] are all artsy or calm because that’s definitely not me and a bunch of my Pisces friends aren’t either,” she continued. “But some of them are very accurate, it’s scary.”

Senior Navjit Bajwa, a Taurus, does believe in the characteristics associated with zodiac signs to some extent. She has “met a lot of people who have the same personalities or characteristics that also have the same zodiac sign which makes me categorize those people by their zodiac signs.” Yet, Navjit does not check her horoscope on a daily basis due to the fact that they seem generic and can apply to almost anyone.

Julia advised students not to stress over a negative prediction because “at the end of the day, it’s a horoscope, not the definite.”
For some students, the indefinite predictions seem to lower their trust in daily horoscope apps. Junior Faye Shemper thinks that the accuracy of zodiacs are 50/50; “It’s just a matter of your personality and kind of like just the way you are… I think people pull from different areas of that zodiac.”

Despite acknowledging the vagueness of horoscopes, many students seem to enjoy reading them. For instance, senior Andreas Migia jokingly tags his friends on Facebook posts to tease them for the traits associated with their zodiac sign.

Others, like freshman Amanda Martinez, enjoy learning about the different traits associated with each sign. She explains how she possesses some stereotypical Virgo traits, such as being an “uptight, studious perfectionist.”

Although astrology may not be the most accurate way to plan your future, you may enjoy trying to match your day to a zodiac prediction.

Art courtesy of Amanda Renzi and Jessie Ye