“It strips people of their uniqueness and reduces them to pigeonholed blocks of characteristics,” he tells me. “I don’t like being a real logic lord about it, on some ‘I am the ultimate skeptic! Facts don’t care about your feelings, compadre!’ vibe. However, I do find it really fucking irritating, and the memes are all really annoying and I hate the self-aggrandisement of ‘[Star sign] season, bitches!'”

By that, he means people on social media announcing the calendar entry into a new zodiac sign. From now until the 22nd of November, for instance, it’s Scorpio season, bitches.

“Aren’t you a Taurus?” I ask, knowing full well that he is. ” I tell him that Taureans are often pegged as the sign least likely to believe in astrology.

Over the past two to three years, astrology has shifted from being a niche interest to a major point of enthusiasm for many women and queer people. Broadly, [...]