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Lightspeed university5/30/2023 ![]() ![]() (Prachak Sawang / Shutterstock)īigger, more complicated issues like climate change feel beyond our control, while self-care and personal fulfillment are within our grasp, and perhaps even our budget. Some traits associated with this sign include loyalty, ambition, jealousy and stubbornness. People born October 23 - November 21 fall under the Zodiac sign, Scorpio, like contributor Maggie Reid. And you shouldn't self-critique, hide or overthink." Venture capital-backed apps like Sanctuary, which calls itself the "Uber for astrological readings" and Co-Star, which self-describes as the "hyper-personalized social astrology experience."Ī reading from Co-Star for the sign Scorpio reveals "You should go to patios and get fake eyelashes. In 2021, it was estimated that the astrological service industry was worth over $12 billion worldwide and is expected to jump to $22.8 billion by 2031. It may be little surprise that astrology, like many other forms of new age spirituality, has been co-opted by the self-care economy. Astrology appropriated by the 'self-care' economy In his 1952 essay, The Stars Down to Earth, German philosopher Theodor Adorno was concerned that astrology provided people with a framework for thinking they have control over systems like capitalism that actually control them. Robin James, philosophy professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, argues the horoscope column was a way to sell people "dominant narratives about what it is to be a good citizen or subject or worker." ![]() In the wake of the First World War, in the midst of the Great Depression and with second war looming, horoscopes served as welcome distractions from the fraught socio-political conditions of the time. The rise of modern horoscopesĪstrology was first brought to the masses in the 1930s, when newspapers began publishing horoscope columns. That sense of hopelessness may be what's driving people to turn to the stars in search of meaning in a world with seemingly unsolvable problems. "The kind of resurgence that we're seeing today is definitely a product of global instability," said Alice Bucknell, an artist and writer whose work focuses on the intersection of technology and mysticism.Įconomic insecurity, climate doom and existential dread leave younger generations feeling "devoid of power and hopeless," added Bucknell. Now astrology is having a pop culture renaissance, where social media and predictive algorithms can deliver horoscopes and psychic comfort at lightspeed. Ideas 53:59 Mercury’s In Retrograde: The Rise of Astrologyįor thousands of years, humans have looked to the stars to navigate everything from their love lives to geopolitics. ![]()
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