Confessions of a recovering zodiac addict: How I broke free from the astrological prison
Identity myths: “Daisy, what is your sign?” After I told my colleague, she told me what ‘my sign’ is, and quickly continued typing on her phone.
What you need to know:
- I was once obsessed with star signs, desperately calculating moon charts to "understand myself" until I found freedom in my faith.
- Now, I watch with amusement as a new trend claims people with blood type O can't digest pizza or potatoes.
- I refuse to let pseudoscience dictate my identity or my diet when God already defined who I am.
I do not remember how the conversation between the two colleagues started. I was standing next to them but I was not part of the conversation. One of them suddenly turned to me and asked, “Daisy, what is your sign?” I knew exactly what she was asking because I had overheard most of their conversation. One said she is an Aquarius and said something about what that meant for her personality. The other said she is Cancer. They had an animated chat about their signs until the colleague asked that question. Feigning ignorance, I said, “I am a child of God.” She asked for the month and date I was born. After I told her, she announced to me what ‘my sign’ is, and quickly continued typing on her phone.
Half a minute later, she gave me a list of my personality traits. I think she mentioned that I am intuitive and imaginative, but wanted me to read the rest for myself. Just my luck, the event we were gathered for started and we forgot about signs.
I used to be curious about signs when I was much younger. I think my 18-year-old self must have referred to herself as a Pisces girl in one of her journal entries.
Read: Love is in the Stars…
I read widely about what my personality ‘was supposed to be’ based on ‘my sign’. I even discovered moon signs as well! I remember asking my mum the exact time of day I was born and where, because I wanted to calculate, with surgical precision, what my moon sign is so that ‘I can understand myself’.
When I finally thought I had put together all the raw materials I needed to understand myself, and all that was left was synthesising, I came across something else. The ascendant and descendant signs! Ladies and gentlemen, I tried to read these things. I was still immature in my faith as well, so I did not see anything wrong with reading stuff like that on the Internet.
When I thought I had started to ‘understand’ myself, I came across contradicting information, with literature showing that there could be a world of difference between an ‘early’ Pisces and a ‘late’ Pisces.
Go-getters
It was quite the rabbit hole. That is why, after my ‘deliverance’ from trying to understand myself through moons and stars, and remembering that, as a Christian, God is my maker and He is the one who defines who I am, I have never looked back.
But now, it appears that ‘signs’ are not the only anchors people use to ascribe attributes to themselves and others. People with blood group O (both positive and negative) on social media are angry. The theories going round about people with this blood group include: They are very loving people but also have anger issues. They are outgoing and go-getters (I know this sounds exciting and if you are blood group O you are saying ‘I knew it!’). They also have memory loss and age faster than people with other blood types.
Additionally, they should not eat potatoes because they will get arthritis. There is a whole Blood Group Diet battalion out there – you eat based on your blood group. People with these blood type, conspiracy theorists are also saying, cannot digest pizza and shawarma!
Now this last characteristic is what has angered people with blood group O because how dare you tell them they cannot eat potatoes! Someone has worked hard to get a job and when they finally want to eat a proper pizza, at a proper Italian restaurant in Nairobi, you tell them they have blood group O and so cannot digest it? It is the audacity of these content creators for me!
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor. Please check with your dietician or healthcare provider if at all there are foods you should avoid based on your blood group.
The relationship between personality traits linked to signs and those linked to blood group is that they are confusing, and it all just sounds like guess work. I appreciate that it is normal to be curious and want to read up these things, but do not lose your identity, the fullness of who God created you to be, because you are trying to twist yourself into shapes and forms to match up with what your sign or blood group personality says you should be.
The writer if the Research & Impact Editor, NMG, dokoti@ke.nationmedia.com