Ask any reputable person in the sciences, and they’ll scoff in annoyance if not outright lecture you about the foolishness of astrology – and rightfully so. We have long since moved past that stage of scientific misunderstanding. For as frustrating as it is for people to have to combat Flat Earthers and re-convince them that the Earth is, in fact, round, it must be all the more annoying to have to point out the absurdity of believing that the movement of the planets has anything to do with your personality or whether you’ll “meet a tall dark stranger” this Tuesday or not.
Thankfully, we can all agree that everything about astrology is absolute nonsense – right?
As Months Pass
Well, there’s the rub, because as foolish as astronomy is as a concept, it shares at least one precept with credible science done today – the notion that your birth month might actually impact your personality. How could that be possible? Simply put, we are influenced in part by our upbringing when we are young, and few things have a broader influence on our environment during those formative months than the seasons.
There is some evidence to suggest that different months do, in fact, produce slight tendencies towards season-impacted traits or illnesses. For example, suicides are more common among April through June babies, while a Japanese study found that those born December through February are more likely to be agreeable and polite.
A Reality Check
Now, before you start shouting that horoscopes are absolute nonsense – you’re right. None of the predictive or “type”-based nonsense that astrology claims as real are objectively true or in any way scientific. That said, as we continue to crack the code behind environmental effects on personality and psychological development, it may not be absurd to think that different seasonal effects in different climates and at different parts of the year might be somewhat responsible for us all being, well, different.
Just don’t expect to meet that “tall dark stranger” because a fortune cookie or newspaper said so.