“Who hasn’t ever received a horoscope on Whatsapp? Did they never predict that singular dimension of destiny explained by astral movement?” a rationalist colleague asked me when I mentioned that he was writing about digital astrology.
I spent some time thinking about it. I did not remember any such episode, although —I confess— I am sometimes intrigued to know what the future holds for me. Perhaps I refuse to consume some kind of mystical service for fear that those predictions will have a reality effect on my behavior. I recalculated, then, and began my search for those who consult the stars to, then yes, advance on the offer of these services and their economic-financial expansion.
Does astrology polarize?
Polarization in political elites is here to stay, societies resignify that perceived distance like an echo chamber, warned VO Key in the 1960s. As one of its most notable features, polarization reduces the complexity of our behavior by realigning different areas of our life that are contained, all together, at opposite poles. Thus, the political-ideological divisions find their correlate in the economic field —more libertarian or more statist—, in the health field —where individual liberties defy collective care— and in the geographic field —among those who move from neighborhood to be with people like one-. However, it is not so easy to draw sharp distinctions between rationalism and irrationalism when thinking about the stars. “Those of us who practice astrology aren’t necessarily religious or anti-vaccine,” one astrologer warned me suspiciously.
Does being an academic imply not believing in the energy of the stars and their connection with earthly movements? Does being a politician make you more of a statesman or more of a mystic? Political consulting experts interviewed for this article assert that political leaders are “lobbyists by definition” and that they sometimes take opinion polls as a mystical explanation of the direction of politics, depending on whether or not they confirm their assumptions. In this environment, in addition, rumors circulate that point to inquiries from political elites for mystical services or magical thoughts from which the course of certain events is explained.
Astrology does not naturally polarize; neither is it aligned with political, social and cultural positions, or with conflicting educational credentials: there are no exclusive categories between scientism and mysticism when it comes to stars.
These disagreements are clearer among those who analyze the phenomenon, but also within the astrological world. For example, the natal chart, the Zodiac, the planets or the luminaries do not mean the same thing for Mia Astral, Rae Orion or AstroMostra. The North American Rea Orión understands that astrology “illuminates the dark schemes of the self, provides a key to understand others, constitutes a useful method to evaluate relationships and gives us the possibility of taking a look at the future”. The Venezuelan Mia Astral is a digital influencer with millions of followers on social networks, who offers everything from horoscopes and classes to learn astrological transits to personalized coaching with tips for effective action.
AstroMostra discusses the idea of healing and opposes “the gurus who tell us what to do.” Their Astrological guide to survive on Earth (Alfaguara, 2019) conceives it as “a mode of interpretation, such as linguistics, Marxism or situationism”.
From a critical stance, the philosopher Daniela Suárez Tomé and the psychologist Mariel Giménez define astrology as a self-proclaimed objective pseudoscience that has performative implications. It is based on “factual statements” that seek to predict behavior, “aided by an over-identification that simplifies.” Contrary to the visibility of gender inequalities, the creators of the Ocultonas podcast point out that astrological consumption is an “invitation to reflect on interests that are feminized.” But not all people take astrology as a reassuring and behavioral guide, some present it as ways of understanding the energy of the stars and interacting with it autonomously. A space for dialogue… spiritual.
digital astrology
The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated the virtualization of work, social, educational and love relationships. But it is a stage within a broader process in the configuration of a self —defined as “neo” or “post-liberal”— characterized by the self-allocation of resources, not only for economic-financial growth, but also , to secure educational, love and spiritual credentials, to name just a few.
For some time now, astrology has been legitimately installed among millions of users who are eager to know the movement of the stars in real time and its effect on their life experience. A poll of the Pew Research Center found that, paradoxically, the decrease in religious affiliations coexists with the increase in the level of spirituality among Americans.
Digital astrology, in particular, has expanded steadily in recent years. According to data systematized by the Sensor Tower Store Intelligence Until 2019, the growth of active users per month in the main astrology apps is exponential: they almost tripled their expenses between 2016 and 2019, going from 7.7 million dollars in 2016 to 24 million 4 years later. In the United States alone, the consumption of these apps reached almost 40 million in 2019.
With the confinement of the last two years, astrology made an unavoidable leap in parallel with the demand for methods to relax, combat anxiety and sleep well. As soon as the health crisis broke out, traffic increased on sites such as Astro.com, Cafe Astrology or Astrology Zone in parallel with the growing download of apps, according to data from the company Comscore. The need to reestablish relationships, improve mental well-being and find our bearings in the midst of a burden that went beyond health, was combined with the ease of access and usability of mobile apps with palm reading, horoscopes and coaching sessions.
Among the most downloaded are Astrology & Palmistry Coach, Co-Star and Daily Horoscope Plus, which today enjoy unsurpassed financial health. The commitment to investment in this market is explained, in part, by the financial potential of these markets, which detect the subjective needs of the time and enhance them with well-thought-out mechanisms for segmentation, personalization of the offer and even notifications. A successful case is Miistico, a startup created by a few entrepreneurs from Barcelona in the midst of a pandemic, which links mystical service experts and clients located in different latitudes. Reyes Pont, CEO and co-founder of Miistico, explained to Diario de Emprendedores that the trust of this marketplace and the diversity of countries and languages they cover will allow them to multiply their turnover in 2022. Digital platforms are also growing rapidly in Argentina —blogs, podcasts , social network accounts and apps—with a varied offer that ranges from personalized horoscopes, tarot sessions, astrological appointments, blogs and podcasts. However, the vernacular users interviewed on this occasion admit opting for foreign offers, especially at a time when geographical limits have evaporated.
The analysis of profits and investments of mystical services generates suspicion, even if it is a widespread activity. At least that is how Alberto Payo, co-founder of Applicants, a daily information website in Spanish about mobile apps and games. This technology expert analyzed the case of Nebula, an astrology service that claims the ability to offer the “most accurate” zodiac predictions from real astrologers. In dialogue with Cenital, Payo admitted that his skepticism remained throughout the exploration of these apps. Nebula generated more confidence than the others, since it had many downloads and, in principle, seemed to have a solid project behind it and a more careful design. But after publishing his investigation, comments from users dissatisfied with misleading charges and the collection of unsolicited subscriptions emerged.
millennial astrology
Twitter, vector of political, cultural and identity passions, is a privileged setting for zodiacal predictions. With more than 3 million followers, the @horoscoponegro account is an emblem of millennial astrology, promoter of an optimistic, positive and totalizing discourse. Esteban Madrigal also made a significant leap in the growth of his Millennial Astrology community. For this one instagrammer, the movement of the stars is much more than knowing our zodiac sign: it is a tool to understand the stars “in a simple and entertaining way” or to achieve self-knowledge and personal growth. “As above, so below” is the motto with which Madrigal invites users to join its community, where “magic and changes happen! for we align our personal micro-cosmos with the macro-cosmos with which we are connected up there”.
Over time, we went from looking for the horoscope in gossip magazines to interpreting the constellations through the most diverse digital resources: personalized newsletters, Instagram profiles, YouTube influencers and apps that increase their download rates at a double pace. Ease of access and familiarity in language are, without a doubt, marks of the resurgence of astrology with a millennial aesthetic.
What if everything that moves does so in an astrological key? Sam Dean exemplifies it convincingly: Google, Snap and Netflix are from Virgo, Microsoft and Twitter are from Aries. And Facebook —which in Argentina has 28.4 million users, according to data from Data Report – Global Digital Insights of 2022—is from Aquarius. In short, “any entity born on this planet” comes with an astral chart under his arm, concludes this contributor to Los Angeles Times in Spanish.
Inquiring into the world of astrology seems erratic, and it is to some extent. The subjective dimension of those who consume it as well as those who offer it does not maintain a consistent pattern; neither does it create communities that are homogeneous within or polarized towards the outside. From the metaphysical predictions of the Greeks based on the movement of the stars to the a la carte menus provided by astrology apps, people come and go to look, guess and predict their fates based on cosmic clues. Faced with this frenzy of digital users rushing to enter the worlds of digital astrology, with creative promises and real-time updates, investors are betting millions to exploit the potential of these mystical services, which personalize the user experience to the extreme. .