What is it about horoscopes that tempt us to take a peek at these even as we dismiss them as improbable? I think it is human nature to want to know what the future holds for us and an insatiable curiosity over the imponderables of life.
I shall be honest and admit I yield to the temptation even as I tell myself that I shall suspend belief for the duration. I tend to believe only those bits where the message is positive and conveniently overlook those bits that predict happenings the opposite of sunny.
I salute the intelligence of these forecast writers who possess the enviable quality of being able to write prognostications which can mean so many things to so many different people. There seems to be a silver lining even in their direst prophecies.
Turbulence
Even as your face blanches on reading that the week, month or year ahead is a period of great turbulence which you will find unwelcome, the colour floods back into your cheeks as you read on.
You are told how this is the storm before the calm, that you shall be amply rewarded for your patience and perseverance by a complete reversal of fortune when you shall be the object of envy.
As your face breaks into a smile, you are then cautioned not to let this go to your head and to be cautious.
If you were to think over it carefully, you would realise that the advice is not new. Isn't this what your parents have been telling you over the years? Isn't this what you have learnt from literature?
We have all read plays and stories about the quixotic nature of life itself and the lessons to be derived in that one should not go to extremes. Stoicism is the ultimate message. Don't go overboard when good or ill fortune comes your way.
Then there are the predictions that arouse your survival instincts as you are warned about people not being what they seem and to beware of revealing all the cards in your hand. Circumspection and discretion are the better part of valour. These vague forebodings of 'something evil this way comes' makes you stop and think.
Motives
You begin examining people's motives and vow never to take anything at face value. Every word, every move is to be treated with suspicion and doubt. You suppress your natural trusting nature and view everyone without benefit of the usual rose-coloured spectacles. You wait and watch. And nothing untoward happens. You dismiss a certain let-down feeling as your bracing for the worst was for naught. But you comfort yourself with the thought that forewarned is forearmed.
A perusal of these columns is also educative. You learn about the malevolent shadow cast by Saturn when it hovers over your birth sign a time when one must lie low, not undertake any new ventures or take any risks. For the timid, this is welcome news as you now have good reason not to act and to let things ride. Your inaction cannot be seen as a drawback but as a prudent decision. Mars and Uranus also do not always bode well.
Then there is the blatant flattery. Cancerians are applauded for their home-loving and nurturing instincts while Leons are praised for their bold and fiery character. As one goes through all the flattering adjectives one cannot but help feeling chuffed as one thinks 'Is that true? I never saw myself as so inventive or a born leader'.
Later, as better sense prevails, we are left with many unanswered questions such as if a stranger knows so much about me, how come my friends and family haven't yet recognised my sterling qualities?
