Personal experience: how I wrote horoscopes

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-13 00:26

The life hacker talked to the man who invented the future for his readers.

This article is part of the "" project. In it, we declare war on everything that prevents people from living and becoming better: breaking laws, believing in nonsense, deceit and fraud. If you've come across a similar experience, share your stories in the comments.

In the last decade, astrology is experiencing its finest hour: more and more educated young people read astrological forecasts, order natal charts and consult with visionaries when it is better to change jobs, buy a car and cut their hair. You can find your version of the horoscope in almost any publication, from Cosmopolitan to Rossiyskaya Gazeta.

As a rule, no one delves into the essence of astrological forecasts: it is difficult to say what retrograde Mercury, Mars in Leo and Uranus in Taurus mean. It is more important that forecasts give calmness and at least some solid ground underfoot. People do not want to take responsibility for their lives upon themselves: it is easier to find an excuse for what is happening in the arrangement of heavenly bodies.

That being said, there is no evidence that the zodiac sign affects personality. Horoscopes are nothing more than fairy tales written by copywriters with good imagination. We spoke to one of the authors anonymously. She told how she came up with astrological forecasts in a small glossy magazine in Taganrog. Below is her story.

Who actually writes horoscopes

I don't believe in horoscopes: I am an atheist and advocate evidence-based medicine. I don’t drink glycine, I don’t go to church, and if I see a black cat, then, most likely, I’ll cuddle up to her. All that connects me with superstition is a pendant on a chain with Aries, my zodiac sign. I like that this ram is so elegant, but I don’t put any sacred meaning in it.

Could I have thought that someday I will write horoscopes? No. But I was wrong.

Launching the log

I worked as an editor at a media holding in the small town of Taganrog. We launched a new magazine aimed at a young audience. They wrote about music, games, cultural events, sex.

Our investor, the head of the media holding, completely untied our hands and said: "Here's the money, have fun!"

We collected the magazine together with the co-editor and during my work in the holding, we published 16 issues. We had a number about the zombie apocalypse, about childhood, about downshifting, about work and management. We were different from the local media: we wrote on bold topics and even received an award as the best print publication of the year for young people.

In one of the issues there was an article about threesome sex - the whole city still remembers it. It came as a shock to people that a magazine could print someone having a threesome. Although, it would seem, 2013, Cosmopolitan and Men’s Health in any stall - buy and educate yourself.

At first the magazine was monthly, and then we reduced the issue to one issue every two months. Taganrog, of course, is not a village, but it was difficult to find something really interesting and bright.

Editorial policy

We were categorically against horoscopes and other attributes of the past: recipes for canned vegetables, crosswords, a sowing calendar. All this was in the local newspaper Taganrogskaya Pravda, which has been published for over a hundred years.

These were memes among those who work in the media: when you have nothing to score with a page, you sculpt a horoscope or a scanword. Then there is no need to write anything - happiness.

We thought that it is better to occupy the page with something interesting, at least an article about a cool musician, so that people learn new things. And horoscopes do not enlighten in any way.

Reader reaction

The first issue of the journal has been published. As soon as they brought it from the printing house, the employees started leafing through it. Independently of each other, colleagues came up to us and said: "Why don't you have horoscopes?" We joked that we would make the sowing calendar in the next issue.

We were bothering with this for quite a long time. When the second issue came out, the secretaries and employees of the advertising department complained: “How so? Do you have any horoscopes again? Then we decided to play some fun and still release it.

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Writing horoscopes

We came up with the first and subsequent horoscopes together with co-editor Zhenya - he managed to write more organically about Saturn, which enters somewhere there. First, we chose the theme of the issue, then we made a content plan, wrote down what would be on each page. The first is the cover, the second is the content. When it came to horoscopes, they thought: "So, what do we have for each sign?"

We wrote out all 12 signs of the zodiac and in the mode of brainstorming did all sorts of nonsense, rolling on the floor with laughter. So he came up with it.

The forecast for each ended with the phrase "You will be fine." Oddly enough, both colleagues and readers liked him very much. We've received rave reviews. And the director of the media holding liked the horoscopes.

Astrological predictions for all signs of the zodiac took us from 15 minutes to an hour. We didn't look where Mars and Jupiter are, we didn't focus on it at all. They just tried to stylize our inventions under a real horoscope from experts: they wrote it rather vaguely and with a promise that everything would be all right.

Responsibility for predictions

We did not make horoscopes with negative predictions: people who believe in them will tune in to a negative mood, and something bad may happen to them. As an ardent supporter of evidence-based medicine, I know that the placebo effect is very powerful. If you tell a person that he cannot do something or that his day will not work out, then it will be so. At the very least, your mood will spoil or your head hurts.

We wanted the magazine to help the townspeople to have fun and develop intellectually. Therefore, in horoscopes, we wrote that people would often leave their apartments, read books, attend concerts and watch a good movie.

We advised: "Capricorns, do not sit at home, but go to the library or store and buy this book, it is cool."

In each astro forecast there was a kind of linking: we wrote that the conditional Aquarius should while away the evening, wrapped in a blanket and boiling cocoa with marshmallows. And a movie, for example, such and such, will brighten up the time, read the review on page 10. In the same way, they recommended going to the pool and referred to the page with the advertisement, said to update the fleet of equipment and indicated an article with a review of new phones. That is, they brought a person to the fact that he leafed through the magazine to the desired one.

Evil horoscopes in other magazines

I think that those who write horoscopes can be divided into three groups. The first is people like us. They understand that a person will read the forecast and can believe, and therefore they do not need to write anything negative.

The second group - people who understand astrology, in fact, a non-existent science. They write conditionally true horoscopes based on the movement of celestial bodies, although there is no evidence that the stars can be used to predict the future.

The third group is people whose job it is to write astro forecasts. They have a task to make a horoscope for a week for all signs of the zodiac. All that worries them is to scribble the required number of characters and have time to pass it on time. Therefore, they do it "on the ditch", not caring about anyone. He prophesied a bunch of bad things, because on a drum, and passed the text. It is quite possible that some write bad horoscopes on purpose, because they are thrilled to do nasty things - like the old woman Shapoklyak.

There are a lot of people who believe in horoscopes, and such predictions are dangerous. For example, a friend of mine bought a Kirby vacuum cleaner in installments for 100 thousand rubles, although she herself received 16 thousand a month. The salesman convinced her that the device would kill all dust mites. If the horoscope tells her that there will be a good year for taking out a loan, she will most likely take it. This is some kind of absolute gullibility and lack of a critical approach to life.

Outcome

After four years of work in the magazine, I had to quit: the salary did not suit. The horoscope was not in every issue: we refused it if enough interesting materials were collected. I can't say how often people followed our astro forecast, but the films recommended by the editors were watched and discussed in public by the readers.

I still don't believe in horoscopes, they rather touch me. It's funny and entertaining to joke about Mercury retrograde and refer to the Moon in Scorpio, but you shouldn't believe it.

I understand that people like me write some kind of nonsense, while others believe it. This is the power of the media, the power of the printed word.

I think that in expensive magazines they can hire a professional to mention him as the author of the horoscope, to give weight. But in cheap newspapers, most likely, trainees-copywriters work. But no matter who the author is, my opinion on astrology is the same.

Astrological predictions give the illusion of control over one's own life. Nowadays, so much information is dumped on all people that it is easy to drown in it. I would like at least some kind of solid support, understanding that today, tomorrow and Saturday you will have good luck in love, a quarrel with loved ones, Uranus will help in business. And you become happy for a second, because certainty has appeared.

How to beat anxiety without horoscopes

In sociology, there is such a statement: "If a person considers a situation to be real, then it is real in its consequences." Psychologists call this phenomenon a self-fulfilling prophecy or horoscope principle.

Why a horoscope? Because all predictions are based on a person's tendency to act not in accordance with objective reality, but in accordance with inner convictions, which, in turn, are formed from attitudes received from outside. For example, from ancestral stories, personal experience, social rules, predictions of astrologers and fortune tellers, and even from folk wisdom like fairy tales.

A self-fulfilling prophecy can be explained in this way: if a person believes in a certain prediction, then he begins to behave in such a way (under the influence of hope, pride, fear and other emotions), which ultimately his steps lead to the fulfillment of this prediction. That is, he himself does everything to make the prophecy come true, but does not realize it. It seems to him that the forecast came true because the cards were so laid down or the Moon in Aquarius turned out to be.

To reduce anxiety, it is very helpful to separate the flies from the cutlets and try to understand why in certain situations you do this and not otherwise. Why is anxiety reaction familiar to you? Here are some general tips.

Stop chaotic anxiety

Get your seizures under control. Before you start worrying, each time tell yourself: "Okay, I'm worried." Thus, you will stop drowning in emotions and will be able to realize when you are able to think rationally, and when you are controlled by anxiety and fear.

Learn to say no to things that drain you

Modern man experiences chronic toxicosis from incredible amounts of information. Airplanes fall, children get sick, banks burst - if you pass all the news through yourself, then this will definitely not contribute to mental health. Showing compassion and giving what you can do is not the same as plaguing yourself with dark thoughts.

Do a simple, understandable thing

Anxiety is the feeling of losing control of life. Any activity that has a very clear and, most importantly, expected result returns the feeling of control. For example, painting, cooking, renovating, or trivial rearrangements in a room are all that you are particularly good at. At least breed cats.

Find the cause of your anxiety

Track how it was customary to meet any significant changes in your family. You may realize that the worry habit is not really yours, but your parents' usual way of dealing with the unknown.

And remember about the main principle of anxiety: the more you wind yourself up, the worse you get to cope. The anxiety about this grows even stronger. It turns out a vicious circle, which literally needs to be broken.