Why I Quit Writing About Star Signs

Astrology is no longer niche. While, a decade ago, it was confined to those who lived and breathed the planets, it’s now something for everyone to dip their toes into.

Star sign memes are all over Instagram; birth charts are available at the click of a button via apps like Co-Star and The Pattern; and experts reckon this “mystical services” industry is now worth upwards of $2.1 billion (£1.7 billion). While astrology itself is an ancient practice, it’s this new era of “pop astrology” that’s responsible for Urban Outfitters selling zodiac cushions and Virgo-themed “trinket trays”.

This is obviously fun for many involved. However, for longtime astrologers with decades of experience, this enthusiasm for pop astrology isn’t necessarily something to be welcomed. Cal Garrison, an Arizona-based astrologer and author, with over 50 years of experience, recently released a statement on her website announcing that she would be ceasing to write weekly horoscopes. “I have totally had enough of that sign-by-sign prediction stuff,” she writes. “It is not astrology – it is a gimmick that sells papers, makes the astrologer a few bucks and keeps everyone in the dark.”

She’s not leaving astrology behind entirely – just sun sign horoscopes and “pop astrology”. “I’ve been at this for 50 years and it is my passion. I am definitely not leaving the field,” Garrison tells VICE. “What I did quit was the pop astrology, weekly sign-by-sign prediction and YouTube astrologer bullshit. The media keeps astrology in that play pen so that the collective mind will never get wind of what it’s really all about.”

Garrison began studying astrology in 1970. She thinks the field has changed exponentially since then. “It has totally gone down the tubes, and what’s left is a travesty, in my opinion,” she says. “When astrology got computerised and went mainstream, anyone could cough up a few bucks and get ‘qualified’ in an ‘online’ course, taught by someone who knew nothing about it. These ‘students’ would get a diploma and be credentialed as an astrologer, based on that.”

Nikki Harper is a UK-based astrologer with over 20 years of experience. Way back in 2012, she expressed similar sentiments to Garrison in a HuffPost UK article: “As a professional astrologer, I know better than anyone that sun sign horoscopes are by their very nature generalisations at best and at worst a load of tosh,” she wrote. “I was just writing horoscopes because it paid well.”

Harper explained how she was squeezed out of the horoscope writing industry by newcomers with no real expertise, as editors reportedly sent out junior writers “for a quick day's training so that they [could] write the horoscopes themselves”.

Reflecting on her article, Harper says she still feels as though amateurs are dominating mainstream horoscope columns. “People set themselves up as experts with the barest of knowledge, and if you happen to be skilled with digital marketing and social media, you will quickly gain a following,” she tells me. “Anyone can learn to write horoscope columns quite quickly, but this is not the same as ‘being an astrologer’.”

Harper has since returned to horoscope writing, although under a pseudonym and in a way that permits her to exercise a lot more control over her work output. Like Garrison, she’s totally abandoned sign-by-sign predictions.

“Sun sign horoscopes are massive generalisations and should be taken with a huge pinch of salt. They truly are for entertainment only. I do like what some astrologers are now doing – including me – which is providing a single daily forecast instead of sign-by-sign,” she explains. “By and large, however, that's not what clients want – they want the traditional 12 sign format.”

LA-based Maria Alexander has over 25 years of experience in astrology and is also sceptical of more recent horoscope columns. A 2013 post on her website, titled “I’m Quitting Astrology. The Reasons Might Surprise You”, reads: “It annoys me beyond words to see this half-assed shit that passes for astrology spread around the Internet by people who don’t know their Moon from Uranus. They are amateurs. They have no idea what they are talking about. The bullshit they spew tarnishes the people with real talent, knowledge and skill. No one should listen to most of what they see or read online about astrology. It’s garbage.”

Alexander says her feelings haven’t changed – she believes the recent wave of pop astrology is “pure entertainment” and nothing more. “Everybody thinks they’re an ‘astrologer’ when they don’t know an eclipse from their asshole,” she says. “As long as you’re photogenic and you have a great social media presence, you’re suddenly an expert. My 25 years of practice and study are appreciated by other experts, if no one else.”

Alexander has made a tentative return to the field since stepping back seven years ago, but steers clear of writing sign-by-sign horoscope columns. Instead, like Garrison and Harper, she offers weekly forecasts for platforms like The Crystal Elixir.

Most of the astrologers I speak to are quick to assert that their decision to move away from pop astrology is borne out of a genuine desire to provide people with truly helpful advice. Harper believes that switching over to providing a single daily forecast is “something that actually does provide something useful to people”, while Alexander insists her main gripe with more recent horoscope columns is the lack of “useful guidance” they offer. Garrison says her primary goal is to “help people figure out what the fuck is going on in their messed up lives” and believes this cannot be achieved through “bullshit” sign-by-sign predictions where writers “charge through the nose for their services”.

All three astrologers have flagged up the recent decline in quality astrology as being inadvertently caused by the rise of pop astrology – but it’s not all bad news. Although Harper says it’s “easier than ever to dismiss [astrology] outright because horoscopes are getting shorter and more entertainment-geared”, she’s optimistic about the future of horoscope writing.

“It's easier than ever to learn proper astrology if you are interested, or at least to become better informed about it,” she says. “I'm hopeful that an increasingly astrologically-literate audience will, in time, push the standard of horoscope writing up.”

@serenathesmith