Obsessing over astrology

Hi, this is more of a particular issue I'm having, leaving aside anything else. I really would like to talk specifically, about this subject.

A while back, maybe a couple of years, I started looking into astrology as I have a really bad relationship with someone, although I don't want to go into that too much because it isn't really the problem. Only that it was probably what initiated my interest in astrology.

Well there's a website I started using and it has an astrological compatibility function, which basically lets you input your DOB and the other persons and you get a rating based on a few different aspects, and it's also rated on a percentage scale. Whether or not you're compatible or not and to what extent you are or aren't.

I'll skip ahead now, after using it for many months, using it with people I knew or even famous people. I started building up an idea of who I was and wasn't compatible with just based on understanding past results of using the compatibility (with hundreds if not thousands of different people) I found it fascinating how accurate I felt it was and still do.

I'm 99 percent certain of its accuracy which is why it bothers me so much. I feel like I've categorised and simplified relationships and how I see people. I'm constantly thinking about potential compatibility not only with myself and someone else but with 2 other people, estimating whether or not they get on or don't and putting it down to bad astrological chemistry. It's almost as if I can't truly see people as individuals and that I've put everyone into different personality groups.

It's so frustrating and tiring but more importantly for myself, it's totally beaten up my ability to engage in people, on any level. ESPECIALLY if I have judged that whoever it is, is opposite to me, actually I find that it totally affects other peoples responses to me in every aspect (negatively).

I've tried abandoning it, totally forgetting about it but I can't, the beliefs I've built up with this, are so planted that it's almost impossible to forget and let go. I wish so much that I never went into this topic but at the time I didn't see it as being credible, it couldn't have any basis in reality... it was impossible but time and time again, it left me dumbfounded with how accurate (I perceive it) it is.

Does anybody have any ideas on how to go about dismantling these beliefs or stopping them having such an impact?

-- Sat Dec 30, 2017 3:41 am --

I must also add that it's not just as simple as the 12 signs, it uses a really (really) in-depth tool which is why I think the results are so accurate. Unless you know a bit about astrology beyond the basics, then you'll not realize that people are made up of many of the signs and their in different aspects, sun, moon, planets, etc. Each birthdate is completely unique to that day.

I'm not sure I believe in fortune-telling, although I have always been willing to entertain the notion that, being unbelievably complex creatures, the position of heavenly bodies could have some subtle effect on us. Besides it makes life fun to have some mysticism in one's life.

As far as the obsession... yeah it sounds as if it's gotten away with you. I know sometimes I'll temporarily get so into something that I will see it in other things. I'm not sure how you break yourself of it, except to try to stop referring to the compatibility tests for a while. easier said than done, I know.

JDW, I don't want to say that I am relieved to see your post regarding an obsession with astrology, but I am in the sense that it means I'm not alone in my singular obsession. What you've described is exactly what I struggle with, and have, so sadly, for the past several years.

That being said, I have a couple of suggestions for you. Do not look at the astrology site which has captivated your mind, or any other astrology site. You will still think about what you've already read and committed to memory, regarding your friends, mates, family, etc., but do not add to this. In other words, new people you meet or relationships you haven't subjected to astrology, refrain from doing. I have analyzed so many people and relationships with astrology that it hits me at every turn. It does not help, it just builds up exactly what you want to eradicate.

Secondly, Im assuming that since you are on this forum, you have a history with ocd. If so, have you tried medication and/or therapy? As for myself, I can't say that my obsession with astrology and compatibility is in the past--it is still very present for me. What has helped me is actively proving it wrong, like an exposure-response prevention. So when you have the thought that this is such-and-such aspect with this person, actively seek to discount it, with evidence or action. The only thing that has helped me is proving to myself that it is wrong, by existing evidence or proactiveness. Have you taken medication for ocd? Finding a medication that really helps is a seemingly endless struggle for me. Please, please, please, keep me updated!!

Hi JDW, I believe that astrology states only probabilities, not the truth. So you don't believe it completely.

Hi there,

I had the same obsessive interest in astrology (in my case, that was the first obvious manifestation of full-on OCD, though I wouldn't recognize it as such for years). Astrology can be a very insidious system to internalize because, although it is completely false in the relationships it posits between time of birth and personality, destiny, planetary influences, etc.--at the same time, it can be so compelling and easy to believe, especially when so much of the wider culture sees it as harmless at worst and often completely fascinating. Unfortunately, it can really mess with your critical thinking skills if you get too used to applying its "logic" to real-world choices and judgments. Here are the resources I found most useful in getting out of this trap (and mind you, I still have trouble NOT associating certain traits with certain signs and planets...old habits die hard!):

A sincere professional astrologer's journey to realizing his area of study wasn't realistic: http://www.astrology-and-science.com/a-pass2.htm

A more general awakening by a former New Age healer (not specifically astrological, but a similar examination of compelling but false beliefs): https://missingthesolstice.wordpress.co ... -solstice/

A philosophical paper about how cultural pressures crowd out some flawed beliefs while leaving others intact: http://www.academia.edu/15115212/What_m ... udoscience

The same philosopher discussing why some beliefs, though untrue, are implicitly and subtly immune to our everyday levels of rational criticism, which is why so many people continue to believe them: https://sites.google.com/site/maartenbo ... convenient

A key thing to remember here is that no one who believes in this type of thing or for these reasons is necessarily being deliberately dishonest or carelessly stupid; this is just a way of thinking that humans easily fall into despite our efforts to stay rational and objective.

For a less charitable gloss (which I sometimes valued for its sock-it-to-'em effect), you can also try skeptics like James Randi (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg5TMYOdSUA) and skepdic.com (http://skepdic.com/astrolgy.html).

Good luck!

annamaria289 wrote:although it is completely false in the relationships it posits between time of birth and personality, destiny, planetary influences, etc

Gentle reminder that being a belief system, we need to keep thing framed in terms of it being our opinion- either in favor for or against things like religion, astrology, etc- have to be pretty subjectivist in forum.. thanks...

But astrology IS false. That's not a matter of opinion; it's a statement of fact. The relationships astrology posits among these different aspects of reality are factually untrue and physically impossible. Granted, I can't be *100% certain* about this, any more than I can be 100% certain that there is no Santa Claus or that there was a Big Bang that began the universe or that I'm not in the middle of a very convincing dream right now. But the factual evidence overwhelmingly justifies the belief (not the opinion, the justified factual belief) that the way nature works and the way astrology claims it works are fundamentally incompatible.

It's my *opinion,* however, that astrology is a bad thing to believe in because it misleads you about the nature of knowledge and human relationships and encourages credulity. I cited the sources above because they explain why, despite this being the case, astrology and similar supernatural beliefs are so easy to believe anyway--which was what the poster was asking for help with. Since I've been through the same thing and know how harmful it was, I wanted to respond to that part of the problem--how, despite knowing intellectually that the thing you believe in is vanishingly unlikely to be true, you still have trouble not believing it.