How astrology became so deeply integrated into our lives these days is the subject of our latest episode of Alt.Pop.Repeat with Dr. Jennifer Freed PhD. Dr. Freed is the bestselling author of Use Your Planets Wisely and contributing astrologer to goop and she shared that the Internet has a lot to do with with our obsession with astrology. But, when we get into it, humans have been obsessed with stars for a very very long time.

A calendar of stars
Our ancestors referenced the movement of the stars across the sky as a calendar. The Mesopotamians maintained detailed star catalogues, one tracking a farming calendar while the other tracked the divine. Inferring the stars had any impact on our lives beyond indicating what time of year it was wasn’t even considered until around 750BC.

Just to move this along, we have a zodiac with 12 signs with names we are familiar with: Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius – all thanks to the Greeks. However, when the practice migrated to Europe around the 12th century, astrology hit the first wave of pop culture – inspiring the European Renaissance where court astrologers were the norm and astrological references appeared in poetry, music, plays and literature of the time.

Science Killed the Mood
However, as time moved forward we moved away from astrology. The advent of the scientific method and an almost obsessive focus on reductionism in the late 18th and 19th Century was the nail in the coffin for the notion of astrology and it began to fall out of favour.

Yo, Astrology is baaaack
While California did try to pass the unsuccessful Assembly Bill No. 1793 in 1943 – making the practice of astrology legal in the state. It wasn’t until we hit the New Age Boom in the 60s when eastern spirituality was the cultural product du jour. Westerners were importing yoga, meditation and thanks to India, Vedic Astrology to Britain and North America. Where it laid some serious foundations that would take another 40 years for it really take off.

Oh, Internet. Is there anything you can’t do?
While the mid-century New Age boom brought astrology back into the Western consciousness, the Internet brought access to everyone. Susan Miller’s AstrologyZone popped up in 1995 and offered readings far beyond the cryptic 3 line horoscope next to the comics in the daily newspapers. These were free, robust and in-depth 2,500 word forecasts that began to introduce a new generation to the possibilities for self awareness through astrology.

Where it’s left us, is over 90% of the population, whether they believe in astrology or not, know their sun sign (the placement of the sun at the time of your birth). 30% of Americans believe astrology works, which is up from 20% in 2009. And, Stella Bugbee, the president and editor-in-chief of The Cut, says a typical horoscope post on the site got 150 percent more traffic in 2017 than the year before.

Is it all because of the Internet?
No, not really. The Internet makes access to astrology much easier, and free sites can distill a birth-chart (the position of planets, stars, meteors, etc at the moment of your birth) with basic interpretations within moments. But, there’s another cultural phenomenon that’s going on right now that’s fuelling the rise of astrology: Secularism.

We explored the rise of spirituality in Episode 3 with YouTuber Matthew Santoro and how more and more people are moving away from traditional religion and identifying as “spiritual”. Generally, though, those who identify as spiritual believe in some kind of connection to a higher purpose or being but do not participate regularly in organized religion.

This individualistic aspect of new-age spirituality is based on the fact that people in the modern world are not so much brought up in a single religious tradition as they are brought up surrounded by many seemingly incompatible traditions and scientific teachings. They grow up knowing they have the ability choose and modify the religion, spiritual path or way of life that appeals to them personally.

With all of this added together, comes a naturally curious generation of people who don’t believe that science needs to be in alignment with astrology. That for many astrology is apart of their Secularist traditions – a customized collection of belief structures and personal traditions. So why does science need to validate it?

So in a nutshell…
That’s why astrology is so hot right now. Regardless of whether it’s condemned by science or not, astrology is the pop-psychology complement to secularism in the 21st century.