Stargazed and confused

MANILA, Philippines – Out of all the things in life that we cannot control, it’s the zodiac signs that leave me a little mystified.

I was born in September, which makes me a Virgo. I didn’t really understand what it meant until I got to grade school (or: the year of stolen magazines in the classroom). The magazine said that Virgos are mostly known to be neat and organized. My friends, being huge believers, dumped all the responsibility (i.e. cleaning the classroom after a Christmas party, erasing the blackboard) to 10-year-old me, thinking that I’d do a terrific job at it. They regretted that decision fast. They realized that not everything you read in magazines is true, and I realized that my friends could be gullible.

I became a skeptic. Sure, I take a peek at the monthly horoscope section in the newspaper but I just look at it as a joke. It delivers incredibly generic fortunes like “You will be lucky in love in the following weeks,” or “You will receive money from your parents tomorrow.” As vague as such prophecies are, not one of them ever happened to me. 

It was only late last year that the stars stirred me back in their cosmic direction. One boring night on Twitter, my friends started talking about one Tita Susan. I thought she was a typical Twitter-famous Tita of Manila who wears large pearls and comments on your holiday weight gain. But no, Susan Miller was a savior to these people. She’s the real OG of astrology, or so I’ve heard. She has a website called astrologyzone.com where she makes detailed monthly predictions.

Let me tell you something, Tita Susan’s website looks like it came straight from the early oughties, iconic blue hyperlink and all. My graphic designer heart broke into a million pieces. But you can’t judge a book by its cover, right?

I searched for my zodiac sign and skimmed through my reading. It was hard to understand at first — with her explanations of the planetary alignments or something — but her prediction summary sure checks out. Eighty percent of what she said was actually applicable. To me. I was over the moon. Pun intended. 

When the new year arrived, I made sure to check her website for my yearly fortune. She said: “An old flame will contact you on January 9,” and “The luckiest day of the month is on the 13th.” I was stunned. Just last month, the guy I used to have a thing (-ish) with randomly called me after not talking for almost a year. I got excited! I told my friends about it and we all marked the date in our calendars.

As fate would have it, Jan. 9 rolled by and nothing happened. Not a phone call or a text message or even a subtweet came my way. It was irritating but I decided to just let it be. I’m a Virgo; I have a positive disposition. Maybe he’ll call on the 13th? Tita Susan cannot be accurate 100-percent of the time, I told myself.

Four days later, I still didn’t receive anything. I got pissed. I felt betrayed by the universe and by the poorly made website. I preached to my friends. My short relationship with Tita Susan was tarnished by this one failure of a prediction. Just like my friends, I realized I had become gullible and dependent on my supposed good luck.

At the end of the day, predictions are just that: predictions. There is no absolute truth to it unless you actually help make it happen. The stars can only do so much to guide you in finding success in life, love, career or whatever. Your desired outcome will still rely on your decisions. After all, you’re the one walking around on Earth. (I doubt the zodiac reception is ideal in outer space for the stars to make a move on your crush for you.)