Philippine newspapers, magazines, TV and radios shows have one thing in common: they all regularly publish horoscopes. And why not? Filipinos are fond of astrology—and they’re not alone. The Chinese, the Romans, the Mayans and the Greeks were into it, too.
Experts offer different opinions why many Filipinos believe what their zodiacs say. According to an astrology blog, Urban Mala, the answer is rooted in the earliest culture of Filipinos. The blog said that before the Spanish came, babylan, or the local shamans, practice their own version of astrology wherein they foretell the fate of a barangay. When the Chinese came, they deeply influenced the ways on how astrological forecasting was done and it has carried on to present-day Philippines.
Astrology Friends of Manila, an alliance of Filipino astrologers, said astrology has a vast effect or influence on the lives of people in the East because, through horoscope readings, they can constantly have the “subjective mind conditioning.”
This subjective mind conditioning makes people believe that predictions would really happen in the near future – especially if they are favourable to them. On the other hand, negative astrological readings, can be countered through lucky charms, prayers and rituals.
But all said, there has not been a conclusive scientific evidence establishing the statistical relationship between astrological predictions and the actual outcomes of these forecasts to a person’s life.
