Imagine this. You are sitting in your class, minding your own business, reading your Cancer horoscope in the Chronicle. You read that “A person across the room seems to have their eyes locked on you” and look up to see this girl staring right at you from across the room. Coincidence or fate?
The publication of horoscopes have caused the New York Times, Cosmopolitan, VH1’s morning show, and yes, even the Chronicle, to be linked as close together by fate as commitment phobia Sagittarians are to sweet talking Libras.
Astrology in general is not a new invention. It dates back as far as recorded history, and the early astrologers were priests and scholars.
Astrology appears in most things throughout history, and both Greeks and Romans based their system on Gods on what was up in the sky. Astrology was similarly popular in Babylon, Egypt, India and China.
Astrology is really about the interaction between the planets, the sun, the moon and the signs. Their relationships are based on mathematics, which is what astrologers study to be able to predict the future.
Today, horoscopes seem to have become a common last page, top of the screen, necessity to “practical” America. The term “horoscope” actually means “the marker of time,” which is a map of the heavens at the time of one’s birth.
Today, horoscopes have come to mean that brief prediction of one’s future commonly read in newspapers.
If our horoscope says cautious Capricorns could have bad luck one afternoon you will no doubt see the goat sign avoiding black cats and ladders.
The belief that our fate is written in the stars and by our birthdays is something we cling to and plan our day around every morning while eating orange juice and a muffin for breakfast.
Or maybe not. Three out of four interviewed Quinnipiac students say they are extremely skeptical of the superstitious paragraphs found in any prestigious newspaper or magazine.
Sophomore English major Kathy Bencivengo, who is described by her sign, answered yes to all five questions that would characterize her as the quintessential Cancer.
She is hurt deeply very quickly, nurturing with strong ties to the past, has an intense love for her family and keeps most of her feelings to herself.
“I just think most of it is coincidence,” she said.
And Cancers are not the only skeptics. Gemini Jenn Bellardini, a junior English major, provides an answer with a philosophical approach, something typical of the twin sign.
“I don’t believe my future can be told,” she said. “The times I do read [horoscopes] I can see some truth, but I think it’s all because of the power of suggestion. They’re so vague that there has to be something in them that’s real. I think the unconscious finds a connection because you want to find a connection.”
Even professors skip these tid-bits that hold the future. Doctor Crystal Brian, a theater professor who directs all the plays in the Buckman Theater said she knows she is a Virgo because her birthday is in September.
“That’s about as far as my involvement with horoscopes goes,” she said. “I really don’t read them, so I haven’t had any experience with their predictions coming true.”
The reason why both students and teachers tend to not believe these messages, which closely resemble psychic infomercials, is more or less the same.
“I’d rather live my life day by day and not know what may or may not be happening,” said Bencivengo. “Even though I don’t believe in them the possibility of them actually happening causes me to stay away from them.”
But what about people who actually believe in horoscopes? Surprisingly enough, the one male student interviewed said he absolutely believed in his fate revealed in horoscopes.
“More often then not my horoscope is true,” said Aquarius Adam Fragola. “If it says I’m having trouble with relations between people then I’m in a big fight with my roommates. If it says things are going well with a special someone then I’m not fighting with my girlfriend for that one day.”
Fragola also said these things give him hope for the future.
“I got a fortune cookie once that said I was a lover of words and someday I would write a book,” he said. “I’ve always wanted to write a book so I hope that one comes true.”
Horoscopes can be as important as the individual makes them.
“If you believe in them I guess they come true, but if you don’t then you have total control of your own life,” Bellardini said.
Bencivengo agreed.
“They’re just fun to read,” she said. “If it comes true it’s spooky, but if not it’s not the end of the world.”

Information for this article has also been added by Viktoria Sundqvist.