Book Review: Gary Goldschneider’s Everyday Astrology
Fill the Void
When I was young, I wanted to believe in God and Jesus. It was a warm, fuzzy, exciting feeling to think that some great and powerful entity was out there, watching, interacting, loving. The search for some sort of understanding about this entity helped give purpose to my life. As the years progressed, though, I accumulated doubts about there being an all-knowing, all-powerful deity who bothered with the day-to-day affairs of humans, and I ultimately weaned myself off that world view. But, when a void is made, it yearns to be refilled.
Thus I began a rebound relationship with magic. I collected books and what I thought were magic artifacts (Tarot cards, runes, hematite, daggers). I tried spells and rituals, and I convinced myself that there was some mystical nature to the universe into which I could tap and manifest my will. I didn’t merely believe in magic, I wanted to believe it. And thus it became true and magical for me. Until reality overcame desire.
My efforts to manipulate the world through magic were in vain — spells didn’t really work; the Tarot was too open to subjective interpretation; rituals accomplished little more than wax on the carpet. It was as if my prayers were going unanswered while a fanatic yelled at me that I must be doing it wrong. After years of failed attempts at harnessing something I no longer believed to exist, my hope that there is “something” out there vanished, and my search for some metaphysical truth seems to have ended.
We’re all just star dust.
But not everyone is content to sate their vacuity with materialism. There are many people who want to believe in something, and quite a few of them want to believe in astrology. Gary Goldschneider’s new book, Everyday Astrology, is for those people.
Make Astrology Work for You?
The book’s official pitch indicates that it explores “hundreds of scenarios in areas ranging from work to love to family and friends,” including “how to break up with a Scorpio boyfriend, how to make a great impression on a Capricorn first date, how to survive the holidays with a Pisces parent.” “Whatever the situation,” it claims, “you’ll find practical and specific advice for making astrology work for you.”
Astrology is the realm of belief that the positions of the stars and planets can provide information about human personalities and earthly events. Although scientists call astrology a pseudoscience or superstition, it’s popular enough that the U.S. is inundated with newspaper and magazine postings of daily Horoscopes, which list the star signs of the Zodiac in chronological order, with tidbits of advice or predictions under each.
The truth about astrological star signs might surprise even some amateur astrologers. Star signs are determined by drawing an imaginary line from Earth “through” the Sun, to one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. During a solar year, that line points to each of the twelve zodiac constellations in succession along the zodiac “ring.”
(image via Wikipedia)
Because the Earth wobbles a bit on its axis, our perspective changes in such a way as to “shift” the zodiac ring about one degree every 72 years, taking about 25,800 years to complete a full cycle. This is called the precession of the equinoxes, and its relevance to today’s horoscope is that the zodiac has shifted about one full constellation since the original zodiac was discovered over 2000 years ago.
In other words, if Jesus had been born on December 25, about 2009 years ago, his target constellation would have been Capricorn. However, if Jesus were born December 25, 2009, it would, instead, be Sagittarius. Yes, the sign you thought you were may not be the sign under which you were actually born.
The reality of the shifty zodiac, however, doesn’t dissuade people from asking, “What’s your sign?” in order to determine potential compatibility.
Everyday Astrology contains voluminous details about the characteristics of people, based on the historical zodiac. Similarly to any other horoscope one might read in a paper or astrology book, Everyday Astrology gives bits of advice, scattered with hints about personality and fate. Unlike those other sources, this book changes perspective. It’s not about you and your sign. It’s about someone you know (or want to know). The book is quite cleverly organized such that the reader can choose a target based on sign and relationship to the reader, and then turn right to the section on how Goldschneider suggests the reader deal with that person.
For example, if the reader has a boss, and the boss is a Taurus, the reader can flip to the Work / The Taurus Boss section, and then to any of the sub-sections: Asking the Taurus Boss for a Raise; Breaking Bad News to the Taurus Boss; Arranging Travel and/or Entertainment; Decision-Making; Impressing and/or Motivating; Making Proposals and/or Giving Presentations to the Taurus Boss.
What if the reader wants to ask a Taurus Boss for a raise? Everyday Astrology says that the reader must be thoroughly prepared, make an appointment early, state the case in writing, don’t rush the meeting, don’t exert any pressure, let the facts speak for themselves, voice demands unequivocally, never threaten to leave unless intending to, and never make idle threats to a Taurus boss. That’s pretty good advice for just about any situation where a worker wants to ask for a raise, but the book gives the advice through the filter of the Taurus stereotype: stubborn, bossy, inflexible, insensitive.
Don’t Screw with the Mutable Positive Fire Sign
The book’s margins blast strength, weakness, and interactive style adjectives at the reader, like “Stable,” “Inflexible,” and “Explicit,” that sometimes seem self-contradictory, while each main sign page displays the date range of the sign with a brief description of the sign using astrological terminology that I found unhelpful, since there is no glossary or explanation. Perhaps it’s assumed that the reader would either already know astrological lingo or wouldn’t care enough to worry about it.
For example, Geminis are apparently “mutable air signs… [r]uled by Mercury.” That’s certainly not language for an “everyday” person who hasn’t delved at least thigh-deep into more comprehensive astrological texts. Although I’ve had some friends and family at some point fascinated enough with astrology to want to have a reading done for me, the terminology here escapes me. Regardless, this doesn’t necessarily detract from the indicated purpose of the book, which is to give specific advice about people with a certain sign.
The two categories of the book besides Work are Love and Friends and Family, which include subcategories like First Date, Spouse, Friend, Roommate, Parent, Sibling, and Child, all of which contain similar insights into the personalities of those types of people based on their star signs.
The Painful Truth?
I try to approach everything as a skeptic, but also without prejudice. My first thought upon opening the book was, “I wonder if any of this is accurate.” The best way, in my mind, to answer that question would be to find my own star sign and see if the entries accurately describe me, and then to see if others in my life are accurately described. Interestingly enough, when I picked up the book and gave the pages a quick flip-through, my thumb landed on my very own star sign. Perhaps a bit of magic remained from my days of old. I read the description, which warned, “Scorpios are best left alone since their capacity to inflict pain is pronounced.” Hah, that pegged me!
Unfortunately, I found little else in the book that corresponded with the personalities of myself or anyone I know. However, arguing about whether or not the book accurately depicts anyone in my life would be akin to me arguing that you didn’t really see the ghost you know you saw. It was real to you, so it’s real, right? Astrology, just like its cousins psychic reading and numerology, titillates our human desire to fit pieces together in a desirable pattern, even if those pieces don’t belong to the same puzzle.
Could there be some truth to astrology? There are so many other factors involved that can explain the perceived correlations between star signs and personality. People could adopt personality traits based on their perception of the horoscope stereotype. We could view others through an astrological filter, subconsciously highlighting horoscope-matching characteristics despite the presence of non-matching characteristics. Sign descriptions could be designed to include as many personality types as possible, but presented slightly differently, and cryptically, so that most people reading them could find a connection and still feel spiritually connected to the sign. If the correlation between the stars and our personalities is so frail, what purpose can a book on astrology serve? At minimum, it can be mildly entertaining and perhaps provide some decent advice that is probably applicable to the majority of the population, disguised as being mystically derived.
A Child is Born
Does horoscope ambiguity and the reliance some people put upon astrology create a potential danger to the believers or others? Astrology, although taken seriously centuries ago, is now as influential and credible as a psychic hotline. I know of no astrology nuts who try to impose learning astrology on public school children, or try to get our money imprinted with “In the Zodiac We Trust.” I’m quite positive that no astrologer would condemn any non-astrologer to an eternity in hell just for not believing in astrology. Astrologers don’t make human sacrifices. Overall, it’s a fairly innocuous practice that might just be a lot of fun, seeing whether someone you know fits a certain profile, or whether you can predict something based on how the planets are aligned. As long as people aren’t hurting or abusing one another in the name of astrology, there isn’t a problem.
But what about the manner in which a book like Everyday Astrology is being advertised? This isn’t a book solely about whether the cute boy or girl sitting next to you in class will like you based on some two-thousand-year-old stellar alignment. It’s also about how to interact with people who may not place as much faith in astrology as the reader. The boss, the competitor, the spouse, the parent. The child.
A child is born on that day and at that hour when the celestial rays are in mathematical harmony with his individual karma. His horoscope is a challenging portrait, revealing his unalterable past and its probable future results. But the natal chart can be rightly interpreted only by men of intuitive wisdom: these are few.
-spoken by Sri Yukteswar in Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda
Besides the fact that Everyday Astrology informs the reader that the majority of spouses, regardless of the sign, are inclined to be unfaithful (both creating a potentially hostile situation in any relationship as well as possibly giving a justification for certain signs to cheat), the book also gives advice on how to raise a child, based apparently not on any peer-reviewed and tried medical or psychological approach, but, instead, on the author’s determination that all children born under the sign of Aries, for example, will react the same way and will require the same parental treatment. When we’re dealing with adults not desiring to wear red on Tuesday because that’s what the horoscope said, that’s a sad case, but only detrimental in the sense that the person is perpetuating a delusion that is fairly harmless at the time. However, when that delusion (of astrology telling it like it is) is applied by parents to children, my spider sense starts tingling.
Is there any parental “advice” in Everyday Astrology that deviates from the generic “this applies to everyone, but you’ll see it as applying directly to you because it’s under your sign” advice into the realm of misguidance?
My first thought in examining the Aries child entry is that a parent who believes this stuff might unintentionally impose the book’s listed personality characteristics upon a child. For example, the Aries child is, according to Goldschneider, constricted, criticized, and sad.
In the 1960s, researchers studied the effect of giving school teachers false information about students picked at random, to see what effect the teachers’ expectations of the students were. The researchers concluded that the behavior of the teachers that accompanied high expectations actually caused accelerated intellectual growth in the targeted students. It’s unquestionable that a parent exerts an even greater amount of influence. With expectations and guidance, a parent can shape a child’s personality.
An author of a work meant to guide parents in the disciplining and development of children has a duty not to suggest actions that are equivalent to child abuse. Fortunately, despite being set in the realm of mysticism, Everyday Astrology does not appear to breach that duty. Indeed, the sections on children could quite easily be interchanged and applied to just about any child.
The lessons are muddled in methodical verbosity, needlessly and repetitively invoking the star sign, but seem applicable to every parent and child relationship — don’t be too negative, understand that your child might be very demanding, some children have trouble expressing emotion, some stages of childhood can be troublesome, offer your child a range of experiences, older siblings might be a hindrance or might even be helpful, children depend on their parents, children like fantasy. I don’t perceive any harm against children coming from this book, which is certainly better than ancient and even modern religious texts that advocate instilling fear into their hearts.
Pisces, the Final Sign
If you enjoy horoscopes and think there might be something to them, but you feel that you’re still grounded in reality, then this book might be an entertaining way to pass the time with friends and family to see how much of it is accurate. If, on the other hand, you are at the skeptical end of the spectrum of doubt, I would suggest buying the book only if you want to debunk it — it certainly isn’t a book to be shelved in the “rational” category. Finally, if you’re the kind of person I suggested this book was written for — the person who wants to believe in astrology — how could you not at least take a look to see what you’re getting into? The author’s 40 years of astrological study, plus his experience writing very popular books about “personology” will make this book a must-have for budding astrologists and fans of all things spiritual.
I know at least two or three people to whom I would seriously consider gifting this book, based on their studies of astrology or their belief that there’s something spiritual or supernatural out there that is at least somewhat accessible. The cover is well-designed and the navigation easy and quick. If you’re into Ouija boards, Tarot, runes, or any other sort of mysticism or party games, this might be a good book to keep on the coffee table.
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Dear Procrustes,
First, does this book really try to convince people that astrology is something that can manipulate the world, or is it just something to satisfy the cravings of the superstitious?
Second, can I start a tax-exempt astrology church? Please! I mean, out of all the supernatural-based beliefs out there, I find this one mildly relaxing and not so vicious, at least with regard to people trying to pry my rights away. Why can’t we have more churches of astrology?
Finally, Who is Gary Goldschneider, and what’s it take to become an “expert” in astrology?
Best,
Astro
Astro,
Thanks for your questions. I think the author really believes there’s something out there that has a connection, and that people have personalities that correlate to zodiacal interpretation. I don’t think he’s trying to scam people, but I also don’t think any rational person could believe that a book about stereotypical personalities will, as the advert says, improve your relationships. I think this is really just another “this description could apply to 70% of the population, which is good enough to convince people with spiritual inclinations.”
Even if the author were completely serious that personalities and star signs are causally intertwined, there is no explanation in the book for how it is supposed to work. This isn’t a book on astrology theory; it’s a book meant for the reader to assume that the author knows what he’s talking about, has done all the dirty work, and now is giving the reader simple to follow instructions on ground-level application.
As for the astrology church, I discovered Friends of Astrology, which is apparently a non-profit organization meant to teach about astrology, so I guess you can!
For more about Gary Goldschneider, here is his author bio:
Gary Goldschneider, author of Gary Goldschneider’s Everyday Astrology, is an astrologer and the author of several best-selling books, including The Secret Language of Birthdays, The Secret Language of Relationships, and The Secret Language of Destiny. He has studied astrology for forty years and frequently lectures and writes on the subject. An accomplished pianist and composer, he has performed in concerts and recitals worldwide. He lives in Amsterdam, where he writes a regular astrology column for AvantGardemagazine. Visit him on the mypersonology.com and goldschneider.com.
Sincerely,
Procrustes
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After the break is an excerpt from the book:
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