We make our fortunes and we call them fate

As I was growing up, my father used to read his Bible every day before leaving for work. He would stand, not sit, for just a few minutes a day over a table in the living room where the worn, black leathered book lay, always open. Sometimes he would start from the beginning and read all the way through, one chapter at a time. Other times he would randomly open to a page and begin reading, trusting in divine intervention to provide the passage. When I was a teenager I mimicked that practice, not out of any religious fervor but from a blind faith in…serendipity? I would read religious passages at random, taking from them what I could, although most of it I didn’t appreciate.

Horoscopes are much the same. I am sure there are people who believe that the weekly –or daily - horoscope in the neighborhood newsstand rag holds the secrets to their love life, professional success, or whatnot. The monthlies in magazines like Vogue or Cosmo are fun to read, even if one doesn’t attribute any cosmic force behind them. But I am a firm believer that you get from something exactly what you put into it. I was reading in order to glean insight into either an everyday occurrence or life changing decision. As a youth there aren’t too many life changing decisions, but I found it provoked thought both comforting and deliberate. A novice’s answer to meditating. For instance, if you read in an online horoscope, “News about some past personal history may surprise you, and perhaps even upset you for a short time,” as mine says today, you might ponder on where the news might come from, or prompt a muse on a recent regret. Like spending the weekend with an Ex when you know it will put you several strides back in your “moving on with my life” marathon. The best thing about horoscopes is that you can interpret them any way you choose and conduct yourself accordingly. I think it gives me a little push into becoming more of the person I want to be, or at least knowing myself better.