"Astrology creates an interesting narrative around our small human lives on earth"
A conversation about astrology: part one
Hi, I’m Anna. I’m a Capricorn sun, Gemini moon and Leo rising. My rudimentary understanding of astrology tells me that this is a “challenging” set-up. Or is it? What does all of this actually mean, why is astrology so trendy, where can it be helpful and where does it become problematic?
I welcome you to one of the most exciting conversations I have had in this space yet. I chatted to Lena Rutkowski, who I had noticed in my network as both a very outspoken feminist and someone who is super knowledgable in the field of astrology. Lena caveated our conversation with “I’m not an expert, but I have many strong opinions” – welcome Lena, you’re right on brand.
Lena Rutkowski is a Polish-Australian writer based in Copenhagen. You can find her work here and you should also follow her on Instagram.
So, tell me: How did you get into Astrology in the first place?
So my first encounter with astrology was in a teen magazine I was reading when I was about 12 or 13 years old. They had illustrated each zodiac sign as a different woman. And I remember that the Scorpio (my sign) was always portrayed as this super cool goth chick, very chic, dressed in black, mysterious..., and as an awkward teenager, I was like fuck yeah.
I'm envisioning Posh Spice.
Yeah! It was like a Posh Spice aesthetic.
And did you feel yourself mirrored in that goth Scorpio or was it more aspirational?
Oh, definitely aspirational. But I mean, Scorpios are described as being very intense, creative and emotional. They're a water sign, and water signs will always want to go below the surface and get to the bottom of things. And that very much resonated with me. There's obviously a confirmation-bias at play, but I do think there's truth to it.
Ok, and how did your astrological journey continue?
When I moved from Sydney to Copenhagen I went through a phase of feeling pretty lost. I was trying to make it as a writer in a country where I wasn’t a native speaker in the language, which was a huge barrier. And then I made friends with someone who was really into astrology and that coincided with the rise of Instagram astrology in the 2010s and it just took off from there. I have always been interested in outer space and constellations, but also in learning about personality types. This seemed to meet in astrology. Actually, astrology gave me a lens through which I could get more interested in astronomy.
I don’t engage with it so much anymore – however there was a period where I enjoyed star-gazing and reading about it a lot. And as to whether I really believed in it – I think there’s this sweet spot where you can engage with astrology and have fun with it, without actually necessarily believing deep down that it’s true?
Ultimately, I found astrology was a great way to connect not only with myself, but with other people – because people definitely like to be told things about themselves.
But only if you're telling them nice things.
Of course, but the thing about astrology that I quite like is that you don't directly assign negative traits to zodiac signs. As I see it, it's more like energy. I actually have this party trick where I guess other people’s zodiac signs.
What are your chances of being right?
I usually seem to get it right – I narrow people down to 2-3 signs and they’re usually one of them. Maybe it’s just good odds.
I don’t see it as a mystical thing, I just read so much about the different personality traits that I can very quickly be like "I'm vibing that you're a Virgo".
That’s really cool. And did you – or do you – ever base any life decisions on astrology?
Hmm, I was just thinking that my partner is a Gemini. Geminis sometimes get a bad rep among the zodiac signs, but more importantly, our signs are not very compatible at first sight, astrologically speaking. I actually compared our birth charts after our first date, and while that didn’t keep me from dating him – I could predict exactly where our struggles would be. And it turned out to be right! But no, I’ve never based a decision on it.
And did that help you two when you were actually having a conflict?
Well it certainly helped me! It gave me another framework through which to view our different approaches to conflict and emotions. I kept it to myself though – I don’t think he would have appreciated me saying “we’re arguing like this because you’re a Gemini”, haha.
When you talk about astrology, what actually does it encompass? Only zodiac signs or also other planetary constellations, moon phases, etc.?
As I understand astrology (in my own amateur, ad-hoc way) is that you interpret people via the intersection of the planets, the geometrical alignment of the planets relative to the place of your birth – different planets and celestial objects will be in different zodiac signs at your birth – and that will result in your individual astrological mark up.
And that’s something that has always attracted me to astrology, that it provides a lens through which I can see myself in this world that’s connected to something as vast as outer space. It creates an interesting narrative around our small human lives on earth. I have a background in feature writing, copywriting and advertising, and I understand just how much humans love a good narrative in order to make sense of the world around them. That narrative doesn’t have to be “real” or “based in science” to be fun or interesting to engage with.
So the zodiac system is providing you with your roots in the universe? I like that idea. And then everyone of us has probably heard the phrase "Mercury in retrograde"...
Yeah, that has been heavily meme-ifed in the past years... but as I understand it, astrology is grounded in the idea that the movement of the planets throughout space impacts us, impacts our lives; and that their / our placement under different constellations creates different energies. I will caveat that the placement of constellations is totally earth-centric – those patterns in the stars only look that way only from where we’re standing.
I have no problem believing that the moon influences our lives on earth, like it does the tide, but to be honest, Mercury is a stretch for me. And then there’s another concept very popular with Instagram-Astrology: Saturn Returns. Can you break this down for us?
Ok, so the planet Saturn takes around 28-30 years to return to the same place it was when you were born. And the idea of the Saturn Returns is that if you're not on the right path around your 30th birthday, the Saturn Returns will fuck your life up – and you will either be forced to or feel inspired to make big changes in your life. But then again, this also fits our cultural narrative, because I think a lot of people have a crisis around their 30th birthday. Is it Saturn, is it turning 30? Who knows.
Yes, for many it's a time where they take stock and check, is this where I wanted to be.
Exactly. I had an insane age 28-30, there was so much shit going on. And when I heard about Saturn Returns, applying that narrative somehow made me feel better, I could frame it as a rite of passage. And that’s another thing I really like about astrology: It's not a progress narrative, but it's all about cycles and phases. I take a lot of comfort from knowing, ok this is a bad phase, but this too shall pass.
I find it so interesting that you find it comforting to think that it's Saturn Returns which is turning your life upside down. Other people might get scared thinking they’re going through a universe-inspired turmoil which they have no control over.
Haha, well I think I already believe people are hugely shaped by structural factors and social factors, and the privilege or disadvantage they are born into. I grew up an immigrant, low socio-economic in social housing but in a wealthy neighbourhood, and I really felt how those structural factors impacted my life relative to my peers. So maybe it then doesn’t feel like a stretch to accept that bigger forces beyond my control are impacting my life.
But I would like to caveat that I don't believe that that there is always meaning to a difficult time. Sometimes bad things just happen to us. I mean, we live in a neoliberal society that privileges some and not others! This just happened to be a set of ideas that helped me cope personally during one tough time.
That's what my therapist always says: You don't have to create a romantic narrative out of pain. You just have to survive it.
Exactly!
[…]
This was part one of our conversation. Next week, we’ll take a deep dive into why so many men seem to actively dislike astrology (or horses, or pink) and look at the relationship between feminism and astrology.
I’d love to hear from you about if and how you apply astrology to your life. Do you compare birth charts with your date? Do you take any precautions during Mercury retrograde? Did you have a crazy Saturn Returns? You can comment below or reply to this e-mail. (You do not need to tell me that you think it’s stupid, thanks).
Until next time,
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Inwards/Onwards #9
Why we can't stop doomscrolling
“My relationship with social media, especially Instagram, is worse than it’s ever been. Which is ironic, because over the past years I have made sure to remove every influencer I only hate-followed and muted all accounts which made me feel bad about myself, but which I couldn’t unfollow for a myriad of (mostly professional) reasons.
Still, every time I open the app, I get angry …”