The answer to navigating relationships and better understanding ourselves has been around for centuries: horoscopes. Since the 3rd millennium B.C.E., people have been using their star, moon and sun signs to learn deeper information about themselves and those around them. Facts about horoscopes are widely available both online and in person with astrologers, so there is truly no reason not to investigate in the phenomenon. While it is easy to doubt the accuracy of horoscopes, quick research can turn many into believers.

The biggest benefit of understanding horoscopes is the information they reveal about people close to us. While the personality traits typically associated with certain signs may not be applicable to everyone, learning people’s projected traits can help us feel closer to them. We can learn why our Virgo friend always wants things to be so perfect, or why our Cancer sister is extremely emotional. On top of this, our horoscopes can lead us in the right direction when we look to form new relationships. They tell us which signs are best suited for our personalities, providing insight that would otherwise be impossible to know before encountering a stranger. 

While we shouldn’t make complete judgments about people based simply on their horoscope, they have the ability to help us learn about new people in our lives, at least to a certain extent. On top of its benefit to relationships, horoscopes can help us process the world around us. Often, those with anxiety feel out of control in their daily lives. However, horoscopes provide the perfect assistance to help conquer this overwhelming feeling. Reading a daily horoscope, which is a projection of the day ahead, gives a sense of comfort to those that truly believe in the reading. It provides people with a connection to the larger world around them. 

Horoscopes have so many potential benefits, should you decide to read and learn about them. While we never want to treat them as complete fact and ignore logical reasoning, horoscopes do have the potential to improve our relationships and lives in an extremely meaningful way. Next time you struggle to understand people in your life, your place in this world or how to deepen a connection, a simple online search is the perfect place to begin learning about the different zodiac signs and star constellations. From there, allow your knowledge to grow and see how beneficial the stars can be in learning about oneself. 

Horoscopes have the potential to give us further information about ourselves and others; personalities, weaknesses and strengths can all be revealed through our star, sun and moon signs. While this knowledge about each other is beneficial, it should not all be believed. It is extremely harmful that astrology signs are used to generalize people and make ourselves feel subordinate if we don’t live up to what our sign says we should be.

It is a known astrological “fact” that Geminis are toxic and Aries are easily irritated. This does not mean that you should go out of your way to avoid befriending Geminis or say you don’t like people whose signs are Aries. Not every single Gemini is a toxic person, and it is unfair to make that assumption. Each person is unique, and just because the stars aligned in a certain way when they were born does not mean their entire personality has been predetermined. People should be given a chance to prove themselves before they are judged based on something that is supposedly written in the stars.

Strong beliefs in zodiac signs also cause people to cut themselves off from potentially making fulfilling connections with others. Good relationships that could have flourished are cut short because people favor what the Internet says over a true bond they have felt. It may be fate that a Cancer you know is extra emotional, but it could have also been coincidental. It is unfair to assume that every single person born between June 21 and July 22 is hyper-sensative, and this belief can hurt the people who do not possess the traits said to belong to their sign.

Believing in our horoscope signs may tell us more about ourselves, but is what it says always true? If a random zodiac website tells someone that they’re a perfectionist because they’re a Virgo, that doesn’t mean they automatically are. The characteristics that horoscopes attribute to each sign could very well be false, and likely are.

Someone could work hard to fulfill the qualities that their sign requires, leaving them unsatisfied with who they really are.

While horoscopes are a fun pastime to talk about with others, when taken too far, they can become toxic to ourselves and other potential relationships. We have the ability to write our own futures and should take advantage of it instead of following what we are told is our destiny.