Oh shit /adv/ I've become a believer in astrology I'm

It's not any crazier to believe in astrology than to believe in Meyers-Briggs types; both have the same amount of evidence supporting them (i.e. 0 besides anecdotal "omg that is soooo me" examples)

Humans create certain archetypes in order to better understand the world around them, and these archetypes often correspond to reality enough to be significant even if they have no empirical basis. Whatever

I literally read the same horoscope website every day, until I noticed they repeated their horoscopes in a big loop. If that doesn't tell you it's a bunch of bullshit to create ad revenue, then you are dense.

Also,

Deuteronomy 18:9-12

When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.

Leviticus 19:31

Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.

Its a money making scheme that prays off stupid housewifes with broad reaching themes. Ita horseshit and if you cant see that, then you really are braindead

>>17845114

I'd never pay for it though

I guess I'm giving them page views and ad revenues, although I have adBlock, but I can't care too much about that

>>17845108

Oh no !!

They do that on purpose. They use really broad ideas that can apply to most anything, and they take advantage of your brain's pattern recognition.

If you read a horoscope and it doesn't happen, you forget about it. If you read a horoscope and it -does- happen (which is likely, not because they're accurate, but because they're really broad and easily applicable to almost anything), then you remember it. And you remember all of the ones that actually worked. Pretty soon you've built up a whole bunch of ones that "worked", and it looks like overwhelming evidence that it does. But you've forgotten all of the ones that didn't. So it looks like the scale tips towards accuracy.

It's also, again deliberately vague. People wouldn't believe it if it was too specific, because then it would be wrong often enough for people to call it. A good astrologist will use horoscopes and star sign predictors that are universal.

"You try to be a kind person, but sometimes you are selfish. You can be emotional sometimes, and you likely try to hide those emotions unless you're with someone you trust. You want friendships and relationships, you have an innate desire to be successful. When things don't go your way, it's easy for you to get frustrated. Don't give up. As long as you keep using that [insert start sign] [insert positive trait], you will be successful."

This is stuff that is applicable to almost every single person on the planet. People are comprised of tons and tons of traits, most of them conflicting. It's easy to make something that's universally applicable but feels directed at you personally. Just use emotions and thoughts and personality traits that everybody experiences sometimes.

>>17845226

You're totally right, and I recognize this in most astrology resources. The thing is, there are some resources that are extremely specific and accurate.

>>17845089
Just keep yourself away from any old lady with a set of Tarot cards

Just remember: If you don't look at it, it's not there

>not using shit like astrology to escape into your own fantasy world

Who cares if it's real or not? The truth will never be revealed to you, so just believe in whatever makes your life more enoyable. I'm also a fairly Avid stargazer, so I've always enjoyed it.

>>17845245
I know that. My own detailed horoscope is incredibly accurate. Aries on the Pisces cusp (I got into this a while ago).

But you have to pay attention to not just your own, too. I have friends and family who have signs that absolutely do not match whatsoever. I imagine you do, too.

If astrology was accurate, it would be equally accurate for everyone. Not just you, or me, or the occasional other person who finds it matches perfectly.

Again, it's confirmation bias. For every person these hyper-detailed profiles match perfectly, there's dozens of others who don't match. You're not seeing them.

>>17845272

How come you got into it, may I ask?

>>17845284
I used to be quite spiritual. I also was really into mythology and ancient sciences like alchemy.

But the older I got and the more I dug, the less I believed in this stuff. It just made no real sense. It was wrong too often, things didn't add up when you really started to think about it. And we have other things now that are more consistent and more accurate.

I'm still interested in these things from a historical standpoint. It's really interesting seeing how people made sense of the world.

To sum up my position on the matter: People are fallible. They has biases, they have opinions. They can have agendas, they can lie. They have specific things that they want to believe, and will confirm the things that they want to believe. Nobody is exempt from that.

I just feel it's safer and more accurate to believe things that cannot lie. People will interpret evidence and data how they want, and introduce their own biases to that. But I trust the light that comes from space and the fossils provided by the earth itself over the ideas and books made and interpreted by people. I feel like space itself and the earth itself would not lie. They can only present what is, not what they want to be.

And if that's not true, well. If we can't trust the earth under our feet, what can we trust? If space itself can lie, then how can we mere humans discern the truth?

So that's my stance.

>>17845089
I don't believe in them either.

But I really enjoy just letting myself project into what I read about them. It gives me words for things about myself that I'd otherwise struggle to describe.

And it is projection, and conformation bias as well. But if you're self aware, you can make it work for you, instead of working to fit it.

>>17845089
>But I've read some sites and articles that are just so fucking spot-on with their explanations and predictions that, well, I freaked out

It just the Barnum effect. Congrats on being an idiot.

>>17845328
>>17845321

that's beautiful

>>17845105
But its retarded to believe in Meyers-Briggs types anon.

>>17845328
Why don't you read great literature instead if you want something to project into. It's really strange to let scam artists in to your life willingly.
Why use a tainted source? You know nothing of the person that made the horoscope you read, other than the person is stupid or scamming people.

>>17845351
>Barnum effect

There are statements in certain resources that definitely do not apply to everyone.

For instance: "You are aggressive and ambitious." Lots of people aren't aggressive and ambitious, myself included.

"You are extremely emotional and sensitive and prone to prolonged periods of moping." Doesn't apply to everyone, but does apply to me.

"You make decisions via logic and not intuition."

"You get very angry if you don't get your way and are bad at compromising."

"You have a hard time being alone, even for short periods."

Those aren't from my horoscope, but they're some things I've read that perfectly describe people I know. And those statements aren't ambiguous at all.

>>17845384
Well OP, the truth of the Barnum effect is well documented. Along with a host of other kinds of cognitive biases explaining why people like you fool themselves all the time. Astrology on the other hand have never been shown to work. It funny how idiots like you all have their anecdotes on the supposedly accuracy of Astrology, but non of you have ever (we're talking for a period of over 500 years here) quantitatively or systematic shown that astrology works.

So there is no theory for why it should work, there is no proof that it works, and there is no collective knowledge of astrology being developed and expanded (We have this wonderful phenomenon every couple of years where the astrological community discovers, want any stargazer knows, that there is more than 12 signs in the ecliptic). Why would anyone ever believe such kind of nonsense?

I know why so you don't have to answer, I just came to this thread to call you a super retard.

>>17845376
Well I picked up both Steppenwulf and The Idiot. Got half to 2/3rds of the way through both. I should really finish them, and move onto more literature.

They were both fantastic for that purpose too. But horoscopes are more accessible, and they're an easy way to find common ground with people because of that.