Happy Chinese New Year

Today is Chinese New Year, we are now in the Year of the Rat.  Happy Chinese New Year!

I've always found the idea of horoscopes and the zodiac both western and the Chinese zodiac to be something intriguing.  I like the idea that you can know certain aspects of a person's life and their personality without having to ask, but as others will point out most horoscopes are generic statements that can apply to anyone and any situation, as for the personality traits and what they encompass these too are often written in a way that is malleable and easily twisted to fit whoever reads their description.  As for whether or not you can derive any truth of a person based on where or when they were born I think to an extent some things can be ascertained. 

For example if you know someone has a birthday that is typically in the Summer months they're more likely to enjoy getting older and enjoy the idea of celebrating their birthday because that time of the year is quite pleasant, whereas for the northern hemisphere at least if someone's birthday is in the middle of winter or very close to Christmas they are probably less likely to enjoy celebrating their birthday as the cold, dark winter months make people less likely to want to do anything productive and there is also the inevitability that their birthday will be overshadowed by Christmas with the worst being those who were actually born on Christmas day I would imagine serves as a particular point of contention.

Nevertheless the attempt to categorise people into groupings that can be stereotyped seems to be prevalent, a form of segregation but without the racial connotations.  Although I have seen the way some people regard their star signs with fervency and I would argue it borders on zealous.  Beyond the signs themselves, or in the case of the Chinese zodiac the animals, both incorporate elements.  The western zodiac uses Earth, Air, Fire, and Water, whilst the Chinese Zodiac uses Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, and Fire.  This year to give its full classification is the year of the Metal Rat for instance.  These elemental modifiers add another aspect to the classification system.

The association of personalities, and character traits with elements is something that interests me, especially since most cultures share common ideas when it comes to these associations.  Like many other areas of study however, the more I have explored these concepts in the past the more akin to Cold Reading they appear, where statistics and observations have simply been collated so that assertions can be made with confidence using educated guesswork and vague statements can be used to tailor the message to fit any willing recipient.

There is however the question of suggestion, whether horoscopes and zodiac in and of themselves rather than accurately depicting the individual simply offer up an archetype for the individual to conform to - in other words when you read your daily horoscopes that you think come true so often because they can foretell your future, are they really inventing scenarios that you then unconsciously create through your actions?  A form of subtle suggestion if you will, like hypnosis where the individual must be willing, then too horoscopes may simply be suggestion and their prevalence due to those who prescribe to their suggestion conforming.

Is Taurus a stubborn star sign because people born under Taurus are stubborn or are people born under Taurus simply stubborn because they learn at some point that is to be expected of a Taurus?  Likewise will a Rat be industrious because they were born in the year of the rat or will they become industrious because they learn at some point that is to be expected?  When you read what this year will bring for your zodiac, are you unconsciously asking for direction as to how to behave in the coming year?

I don't have answers to these questions because like anything of this nature the truth is subjective not objective, from a purely objective stance there's no evidence for any of it to be true beyond statistical coincidence that is no more accurate than a random distribution, but subjective truths are influenced by more than empirical data.

I guess in truth if it brings you joy or entertainment and does not cause harm to anyone else then have at it, I'm undecided by the way, just voicing both sides of the argument as I can see both, I want to believe but have yet to be given reason to believe despite the fact I do identify with many of my western zodiac traits [Taurus] as well as my Chinese zodiac traits [Dragon] but those are traits I can also apply to many people I know who are neither.