In the last months, as Gloria Star noted in her Mountain Astrologer magazine column, there has been an “upswing of astrology themed features and discusssions…astrology is suddenly trendy again”.
The year began with a New York Times article appearing January 1, 2018 in which author Amanda Hess writing “How Astrology Took Over the Internet” lists popular astrological apps and sites, commenting of “astrology’s return as a compelling content business as much as a traditional spiritual practice”.
On the 16th of January, The Atlantic published “The New Age of Astrology” subtitled “In a stressful, data-driven era, many young people find comfort and insight in the zodiac—even if they don’t exactly believe in it.” The body of the article starts with “Astrology is a meme, and it’s spreading in that blooming, unfurling way that memes do. On social media, astrologers and astrology meme machines amass tens or hundreds of thousands of followers, people joke about Mercury retrograde, and categorize “the signs as …” literally anything: cat breeds, Oscar Wilde quotes, Stranger Things characters, types of french fries. In online publications, daily, weekly, and monthly horoscopes, and zodiac-themed listicles flourish.” The article continues, “Astrology expresses complex ideas about personality, life cycles, and relationship patterns through the shorthand of the planets and zodiac symbols. And that shorthand works well online, where symbols and shorthand are often baked into communication.”
“For Millennials, Astrology is on the Rise”, January 19th National Public Radio On Point program host John Harwood started the podcast with the observation, “It’s the dawn of a new age of astrology. We’re looking at why more millennials are using stars and signs to navigate and make sense of our complex world.” A lively dialogue between the host and guests Julie Beck of The Atlantic, Claire Comstock-Gay, astrologer and Bertram Malle, social psychologist & professor at Brown University explores how and why interest in astrology is growing.
As astrologer Greg Bogart wrote, “In agrarian societies, astrology was used to determine the times of planting and harvesting of crops. In the eras of great kings, it was used to foretell the political fortunes of monarchs. In our psychologically-oriented era, astrology is used for self-reflection and self-awareness, and to navigate complex crises and metamorphoses.”
NPR: http://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2018/01/18/for-millennials-astrology-is-on-the-rise
BuzzFeed: https://www.buzzfeed.com/delaneystrunk/why-the-hell-are-pisces-so-sensitive-like-just-chil?utm_term=.cjZDOv3GX4#.utJ94byvaW
Atlantic Article: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2018/01/the-new-age-of-astrology/550034/
New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/arts/how-astrology-took-over-the-internet.html
Greg Bogart: http://www.astrologysource.com/astrology-articles/the-multi-faceted-layers-of-astrology/