Astrology has become an internet meme

At the Weekly Review, a voice assistant was recently launched that allows readers to read their horoscopes every week. And the magazine is not alone in pondering the teachings of astrology.

- Astrology has for many years been a very popular topic at the Weekly Oven and in all lifestyle or women's magazines. We wanted to take it a step further, says Irena Pozar.

Today there is a plethora of social media accounts, podcasts, apps and websites with zodiac related content. Accounts like Astrologystuff, hashtags like #astrologymemes and podcasts like Swedish Astropodden. Although astrology has always fascinated it, it has now become part of an internet culture.

- Astrology has begun to be consumed in a different way in the form of recognition images, memes and humor. We did not see that 10 years ago when reading more classic horoscopes in weekly magazines, says Irena Pozar.

A meme is an entertaining video or image that is spread on social media and within a culture. The form is not in focus but the very idea, behavior or style of the mem - which often has ironic undertones.

The fact that astrology works as well as a meme, Irena Pozar believes, is because social media as well as astrology are about recognition and identification.

"It's about not feeling alone and finding an explanation for why things are as they are," she says, continuing:

- Then there are clear prejudices about different zodiac signs, that Capricorns are in a certain way, for example. When it is drawn to its tip, it becomes very fun. It becomes a way to engage with yourself and your friends. Few young people take astrology bloody seriously, it works more like a mini psychologist.

Astrology and other divine-related terms today also function as anti-racist and feminist forums. In the US, for example, a political witch movement has emerged with links to the Metoo movement. Even in Sweden, astrology and divination have gained political prominence. Manon Hedenborg White researches contemporary spirituality from a gender perspective at Södertörn University.

- In Sweden, for example, there is the magazine Bang's astrologer. She has said that she always writes horoscopes from a feminist and anti-racist perspective. It becomes important for how you relate to astrology as a tradition, that you are critical of what can be perceived as mossy gender roles. For example, one does not speak in terms of male and female personalities, she says.

Part of the criticism of astrology has been that it makes the individual passive, in addition to the teaching being pseudoscientific.

- Critics believe that astrology derives from more important issues such as economics and how to allocate resources. But I don't think it works that way. It is rather a way of taking knowledge that has not been of such high status and has been seriously coded for women. It will be a symbolic protest, says Manon Hedenborg.

Irena Pozar also describes astrology as feminist.

- Many women feel that joking astrology is their own where guys do not come and think, which I think is longed for, she says.

Star interpretation dates back to Mesopotamia 2000 years BC Then they had a more magical view of the stars. Today's astrology is rather similar to psychology and is influenced by Carl Jung's ideas and 70's New Age movement.

- Today you see it in a more psychological way. It is not believed that just because a planet stands in a certain way it causes an earthquake, but more so that the movements of the different celestial bodies can reflect different things inside man and different parts of the personality, says Manon Hedenborg White.

The question is why we are looking for answers in the stars at a time when most things can be covered with science.

- Everything that happens with the climate and different types of political developments is unsustainable. Then you look at completely different models of understanding that give a sense of enchantment, spiritual meaning and context. The important thing is not whether it is literally true or can be proved empirically, says Manon Hedenborg White.