I Followed The Advice Of A Magazine Horoscope For Three Months And This Is What Happened
Last year my life was somewhat falling apart. My dog of fourteen years had to be put down, the person I thought to be the love of my life left me without ever giving a real reason and I lost my flat. Anyway like I said, my life was falling apart and it seemed like every time I tried to glue it back together more and more fragments kept slipping through my fingers. Then something truly bizarre and astoundingly unprecedented for me happened. I started reading magazine horoscopes and suddenly everything changed.
It Was A Trashy Magazine
I only happened across it because it was lying on the only available seat on the tube that day. It lay there with the word “Aquarius” calling out in bold as if it had been lying in wait for me. As a person who has always snorted at people into horoscopes, particularly magazine horoscopes, I found the action of picking it up somewhat pitiful, but thought it would at least give me a laugh.
But What I Found Was Completely Unexpected
Instead of the usual benign generalisations these things come up with, this magazine horoscope read:
Aquarius, I know you’ve had an incredibly tough time recently. You’ve lost more meaningful relationships than anyone should ever have to endure and you’re at a time where not even your home is your home anymore. But do not despair. The world is kinder than you think. Do not be proud and accept kindness when it’s offered.Â
I Started To Cry
I don’t know what came over me in that moment, but all of a sudden I started to silently weep, right there, on the London Underground.
And That’s When I Met Him
A kindly stranger, who, in distress of my distress, offered me some strawberry laces and asked why I was crying. Through snotty tears I tried to tell him that my life was falling apart. He offered to buy me a coffee and at first I refused, not keen. “That’s fine,” he said “I understand you don’t know me, it’s just that sometimes it’s easier to talk to a stranger rather than a friend.” That, as well as something about how the horoscope had truly encapsulated my current situation, made me reconsider.
We Chatted For Nearly Two Hours, And In Those Two Hours I Learnt Three Things.
- The kindness of strangers exists and should never be discredited
- I had actually listened to a horoscope and was making decisions I would never have usually made
- I was going to make the most of having no attachments in the UK anymore and move to Italy
Over The Next Few Months I Began Voraciously Reading Around Horoscopes
What were they? How credible were they? How could I be actually researching something like this?
What I Found Was A Little Bleak
But nonetheless, my encounter with that kindly stranger who made me realise that now was the time to take advantage of being young, unattached and in dire need of a fresh start, still weighed heavily on my mind. I would not have come to that realisation if I had not accepted kindness when it was offered.
So I Continued Reading My Magazine Horoscope In That Trashy Magazine
Some weeks it would not quite hit the nail on the head in the same way as the first time, but I realised that the way I was behaving was somewhat altered. It was as if I was looking out for the things that my magazine horoscope had mentioned, and was letting them guide my decisions.
For Example
A few weeks later a friend offered me some free train tickets to Glasgow, my former hometown, as she no longer could use them. Typically I would have said no, cautious to make such bold plans, but like I said, my behaviour was somewhat altered, and my horoscope that week had suggested that accepting unexpected invitations could lead to great things. So I cleared my schedule and accepted.
So I Got On The Train And Guess Who I Saw?
I’ll give you a hint, he was eating strawberry laces. And even more serendipitous, he was reading a travel book, on Italy. I’d never told him on our single encounter that I was thinking of going there.
So Yes, My Life Is Different Now
It took some heartbreak and a few hundred characters bundled together in a trashy magazine horoscope, but it definitely wouldn’t have been this way if I had done a single thing differently. I still don’t know if I believe in horoscopes, even now as I sip wine in one of the most beautiful countries on the planet. But I do know that I believe in fate and that sometimes we need to be a little less skeptical to allow any real change into our lives.
