by Marie Quaranta
The decline in religion is far more than a statistic. Even though the prevalence of people practicing religion around the world has taken a hit it is not by coincidence or accident. While the motivations for people to leave an organized religion are varied, here is my own. I grew up in a Catholic household. Some might associate this with very strict and conservative parents, however that was far from how I was raised. My mother was something of a hippie who was forced into Catholic school by her Hungarian immigrant parents. Even though she rebelled against religion at a young age she always seemed to come back to it and wanted the same for her children. My mother’s slogan was always, “I’d rather my children rebel against the church than me!” As such, my siblings and I were caravanned to church every Sunday and bible study each Wednesday. I hated it but at least my best friend was also forced to be there.
Everything changed when my parents got divorced. Suddenly my mother also dreaded going to mass each Sunday. We no longer stayed after mass to chat with people and make the rounds. As a child this was amazing: it meant we got to go home and watch cartoons together. However, as I got older my mother opened up about how the entire church shunned her when news of her divorce spread. You would think she had killed her husband the way people looked at her. Other married women shuffled away from her as if her divorce would wear off on them.
I soon began to resent these people who treated my mother so poorly. How could someone preach love and acceptance and then turn their back on one another? I no longer found the teachings to be meaningful, but rather hypocritical. Everything that was preached seemed so out of touch with the way people acted. We must, so this logic went, love thy neighbor but at the same time refuse to accept divorced persons and any member of the LGBTQ+ as a part of our community. Right after my confirmation, an official sacrament accepting responsibility for your faith and destiny, I stopped attending mass, as did the rest of my family.
My family began new traditions instead. It was mandatory that everyone was home on Sunday afternoon and evening to spend time with family. My mother never had to enforce this rule, it was just something we were all happy to do. We had deep conversations at dinner about politics, what we believed in, and our aspirations in life. My family replaced a church service with communing together over food and positivity.
Soon my sister and I became interested in astrology. We loved figuring out what our charts meant and how it could be reflected in our day to day lives. We got the rest of our family involved, and surprisingly they all loved it. It seemed like the cosmic powers somehow really did understand all of us. For my family, astrology became, in a sense, countercultural. It didn’t take the place of religion or subvert it in the way some countercultures do, but it opened up an alternate space, a way of thinking about the world that didn’t reproduce the hypocrisies of organized churchgoing. It seemed like many other people began to see the merits of astrology. I wondered if this had something to do with the growing distrust and distaste for organized religion. For me, astrology did not provide a substitute for religion but rather another way of thinking about the world without the hypocrisy of the institutional church. For the rest of this paper I will try to process why so many people, especially youth like myself, have turned away from institutional forms of religion and turned to their own definition of spirituality and astrology.
Church attendance has been steadily declining in the United States. The trend began long before I, a member of Gen Z, made the switch. Each generation in the U.S. has steadily become less religiously affiliated starting with the Silent Generation. The primary shift away from religion could be attributed to Baby Boomers and some early Gen X growing up in the 70s alongside the final wave of hippie culture. The U.S. was ripe with protest and challenging traditional beliefs at this time. Women, African Americans, Native Americans, the LGBTQ+, and so many more marginalized groups were fighting for equality and acceptance. Anti War sentiments were strong and there began to be a call to action to save the environment. Organized religion did not make many progressive changes at the time. In fact, societal progression often made organized religion take deeper roots in their conservative traditional mindset. There are a lot of parallels between the protest and activism of the 1970s and the 2010s. The years were ripe with political unrest, social movements, distrust in government, and calls for environmental progress. This set the stage for a similar rebellion against organized religion, as institutions of all sorts were not seen as trustworthy, and indeed as interfering with the lives of people.
So why astrology? What would make young people turn to the stars? I can dissect this choice into a few reasons, somewhat based on my own personal experience. To begin, the rise in popularity of astrology was never meant to replace organized religion. The two are not mutually exclusive. However, younger generations may be drawn to astrology over a structured church atmosphere because it is open and accepting. There is no set rule of how to act, look, or practice astrology. You would not be considered a ‘bad’ follower of astrology if you only like to look at your horoscope once a month or whenever it comes up in conversation. People are free to be themselves and let the spirituality of astrology turn into whatever they need. As Malaysia and Eliza noted in their posts, one of the greatest strengths of organized religion is the community it provides. That community is great for those who have not been exiled or disenfranchised from it, like with my own mother. I have not felt welcomed in my church since the day I realized the hidden cruelness of those within the community. This experience is not just mine; it is very common for people who do not fit into the traditional boxes presented by rigid religions.
To replace the community traditional organized religion provided, young people turned to one of the things they know best: technology. Social media has begun a place to form groups of many kinds, and it has given a place for astrology lovers to unite. These short snippets of astrology can easily fit into everyday life without much strain or feeling like a chore. Instead, they have been made to be fun and engaging by youths for youths. Organized religion which seems so often arbitrarily based on the words of an ancient dead man makes turning to the stars no longer seem so far fetched.
Many Instagram pages are dedicated to making aesthetically pleasing astrology posts. Some accounts take a more factual approach with daily readings and explanations of what mercury being in retrograde actually means. The Instagram platform has become a place for astrology experts to share their knowledge and reach millions of people. There are a plethora of smaller accounts posting this content but some of the largest are @horoscopes.astrology (358 K followers), @themoontarot (952K followers), and @costarastrology (1.9 M followers). CoStar’s bio perfectly describes what accounts like this offer: a “hyper-personalized, social astrology experience.” Each facet of your chart is explored and explained on a regular basis to provide guidance, clarity, and goals. Accounts like these are for more of the dedicated practitioners of astrology who want to understand how stars and planets interplay with everyday life.
On a less serious note, Gen Z’s love for memes has also taken a hold over astrology. Accounts like @thezodiacstea (1.2 M followers), @sanctuarywrld (1.3 M followers), and @glossyzodiac (4.9 M followers) are the leaders of this astrology subculture. By far the most popular @glossyzodiac, has combined popular culture, memes, and astrology to create an engaging comedic account that has inspired many others. The posts on @glossyzodiac include some of Gen Z’s fashion icons, music idols, and favorite childhood TV shows. The account has been able to respond quickly to trends because they are members of the generations making them. It is appealing to newcomers of astrology because zodiac signs are explained in comedic lighthearted terms rather than strict rules.
@Sanctuarywrld which seems to combine both memes and relatable content with highly meaningful posts. The post shown to the left demonstrates a comedic way to live your life in response to astrological events. They focus heavily on the astrological community, as seen by its location front and center on their highlight reels. Even if their account is lighthearted and whimsical, they have gone out of their way to support social movements like Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ rights.
Astrology can be easy, fast, and fun or it can be deep, meaningful, and spiritual. At the end of the day, the common thread is that astrology is whatever someone makes of it. A community is formed around the common interest in astrology that is accepting and open rather than judgemental and closed minded. Following the stars or looking at your horoscope does not have to be a chore or a negative aspect of life because there is no enforcement or leader higher than the rest. Everyone can be equals exploring what the world means and how it works together. The decline in church attendance and the rise of astrology in popular culture demonstrate, potentially, a shift in beliefs. There is a common trend, no matter the generation, of youth culture fighting back against dominant older cultures. These days, young people want open forums and fewer groundless rules. They want a short sweet interpretable message rather than a long meaning that is set in stone and repetitive. They want honesty and sincerity, not a group of people under the facade of a loving community. Astrology has become a rebuttal to everything that organized religion is not. In these ways, it serves as a countercultural site playing out across social networking platforms and other online and physical practices. Youth culture wants to look to the stars and the future rather than staying locked in our ancient past.
