Astrology used to be entirely fatalistic, meaning ancient astrologers would bluntly tell you exactly when you were going to die of a horrible plague or lose all your money in a shipwreck.

A closer look

Astrology used to be entirely fatalistic, meaning ancient astrologers would bluntly tell you exactly when you were going to die of a horrible plague or lose all your money in a shipwreck. It was only in the twentieth century that practitioners realized predicting actual measurable events was bad for business because they were constantly proven wrong, so they pivoted to psychological astrology instead. Now, instead of predicting a literal famine, an astrologer will tell you that you are about to enter a period of 'emotional scarcity,' which is completely unfalsifiable and guarantees you will keep coming back for more sessions. It was the greatest rebranding campaign in history, shifting the product from testable prophecies of doom to vague, complimentary therapy sessions that require zero actual accountability when nothing happens