Rational people will tell you that Astrology is bullshit. Astrology lovers will tell you it can be a profoundly accurate way to determine character traits in people and predict how they’ll respond to upcoming events. Rational people will respond with something like, the stars that make up the astrological signs are so far away their influence on us is far fainter than a birthday candle — less electromagnetic energy and less gravity, certainly.

And here is where most astrologers lose me as they try to defend the horoscopes and the influence of the zodiac. This is where they turn to the supernatural and spiritual explanations — when neither are necessary. There is a simple pragmatic, even prosaic rationale for why astrology may be valid.

Let’s look at the world of professional sports. What if I could tell you that astrology could provide the probability that a child could become a successful professional athlete? A rational person might balk and ask, what effect could a collection of stars hundreds of light-years away have on a child born on earth? But here is an article that shows that more professional athletes are Capricorns, Aquarians, or Piscean than Librans, Scorpians, or Sagittarians.

Take that rationality! Actually, if you click through on that link, it’s a study that shows more pro athletes are born in the first months of the year than the rest because kids born in that quarter are almost a full year older when they start school than kids born in the last quarter. That age difference results in a size difference. That size difference favors them in sports.

But, that has nothing to do with Astrology, I hear the rational people shouting. And I have to disagree. Astrology is just a calendar. What stars are visible between December 22nd and January 19th determine my sign. In modern times we call them months — but it’s the same thing. What month I was born can determine some characteristics as well as any number of other correlative characteristic. Here’s another study that confirms the first. Birth month is a determining factor in sports performance.

Babies born into the welcoming weather of spring that grow their first year in loose clothing will have differing attitudes from babies born into the blustery fall weather that grow their first months wrapped in down and bundled in snowsuits. The time of year you’re born has an effect that would tend to create some basic similarities with others born when the stars overhead are the same.

Before air conditioning, refrigeration, indoor plumbing, and fertilizer factories, this effect was probably even more significant. The home environments were more brutally tied to the weather, and the nutrition available was more tied to the seasons. A child born in winter was probably not as well fed as one born in spring.

It’s not some spiritual, supernatural thing. It’s a similarity of outcomes caused by the changing seasons — seasons that could be marked by the position of the stars.

At least this train of thought provides some food for thought. I have a similar take on Tarot cards.

Hi Ho.