What the stars hold for us

Urdu poet Shaadaab Andaleeb stated: ‘Phir naya saal, phir nai peshangoiyaan/Padhta hoon, muskurata hoon, bhool jaata hoon’ (Yet another New Year and a spate of predictions/I read them, smile and forget). This couplet summarises the ‘collective predictive mood’ whenever a New Year arrives and the mood lingers on for some time. Rationalists and detractors may frown upon astrology and its associated sister concerns, such as tarot cards, angel therapy, coffee residual predictions, crystal-ball gazing, numerology, Chinese horoscope and the eternal numero uno, old-fashioned palmistry, but there’s no gainsaying the fact that no amount of reason can dissuade humans from wanting to know what lies ahead in the unfathomable womb of future.

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That’s why many publications across the world carry weekly and yearly predictions — for a euphoric and feel-good effect. A certain ‘futuristic inquisitiveness’ (Carl Jung’s apt phrase) is embedded in all of us and that’s not superstition or irrationality. One of the greatest psychoanalysts, Jung would prepare natal charts of his patients; the great English writer and philosopher, Aldous Huxley, would analyse numbers to predict the future. Huxley was deep into numerology and admired legendary ‘clairvoyant’ Cheiro.

Astrology doesn’t necessarily make us fatalist. More often than not, it’s a psychological booster. All the so-called New Year predictions aren’t rank balderdash. They prepare us to welcome the year with a positive frame of mind. One can be disdainful of astrology, but its universal appeal cannot be denied. Whether or not one believes in it, the overwhelming desire to know what’s in store for us remains in all hearts and minds. That’s why even a hardcore atheist, rationalist and psychologist like Sigmund Freud would occasionally show the lines on his palms to his fellow psychoanalyst and student Jung! And even a sceptic like Freud conceded that whatever Jung predicted came chillingly true!

We all have experienced that whenever someone talks of astrology, most of us gravitate towards him or her. It gives us a soothing feeling. No wonder, astrologers are also known as soothsayers! In these terribly iffy times, when life is forever on tenterhooks and existence frequently on a slender thread of chance, benign and good-humoured predictions uplift our sombre mood and bring us out of the morass of despair and despondency for a while. To quote poet Lateef Khairabadi, ‘Kya bura hai ke dil bahal jaata hai/Ilm-e-nujoom se jeena sahal ho jaata hai’ (What’s wrong if one feels good?/Astrology makes life easier). It sure does make life a tad easier and tolerable, at times.