By Nia Leanne — Food for Thought with Nia Leanne
Image credit: NASA Science
Can astrology reveal the weaknesses we’re born with?
A few days ago this question popped into my mind, and even though I can debunk it pretty easily, it still made me pause. I had a whole astrology era. Not just sun signs, not just the moon… deeper than Lilith, deeper than all twelve houses. I was in it child! I’m naturally an explorative person which is one of my greatest strengths but sometimes one of my biggest downfalls. Astrology also comforted me, honestly. It always felt so accurate… so relatable. Almost too relatable. Which made me wonder… was it actually meant for me, or was it designed to feel that way?
I kept thinking about how I’d claim, “Well, I’m a Libra so that makes sense,” as if that settled everything. Sure, I can be indecisive… but aren’t most of us at some point? Maybe it was just easy to tuck myself into that box. Eventually, I kind of drifted from astrology. Wasn’t even planned. I just didn’t care for it anymore for some reason but I still acknowledged some aspects of it. Then I thought what if I could use astrology as a tool with God as my focus. That led me to the question: can astrology really reveal the weaknesses we’re born with? It sounded almost genius to me. I thought I cracked some kind of code!
Until recently, I never actually sat down and read the Bible. I thought I was already “good.” I’m kind, helpful, manner-able, I pray… so what else did I need? I assumed I knew right from wrong. But did I really? Once I challenged myself on that, I realised I needed something bigger than just me and bigger than my family to guide my moral compass. That can feel restrictive at first… but that’s a conversation for another day. The truth is, sometimes we’re so free we end up lost. For Christians, The Word keeps us aligned and keeps the world from shaping who we think we should be.
Exploring the Question
Life would honestly be so simple if we could just say, “This is who I am because I’m insert sign here.” As I stated before however, I know astrology is deeper than just sun, moon and rising. Astrology believers have an explanation for everything, but it still always feels like a coincidence or like a one-size-fits-all type of thing.
Astrology doesn’t hold up scientifically. Humans naturally share traits. Any zodiac sign can be indecisive, passionate, shy, messy, bold or emotional. We’re more layered and complex than a chart gives us credit for. It can be a fun little thing with the memes and all, but if you get too deep you end up down this dark rabbit hole.
So what do we use to actually understand ourselves on a deeper level? For me, the Bible became the logical answer because the more I study it, the more I see it answering real, relevant human questions. But even outside of faith, we should look at our childhood, the environments we grew up in, our family history and patterns. We are shaped by experiences and people, not planets. Astrology makes it easy to label yourself. Real growth requires honesty.
A Biblical Perspective
As someone following Christ, I already knew astrology shouldn’t be used to predict the future. But using it for self discovery? That sounded enlightening… almost genius. Until I realised it still put the stars on a pedestal. So I went back to the beginning.
In Genesis, God created the stars and the moon to mark seasons, days and nights. They help with literal navigation. Not personality navigation. Not life direction. Literal direction. Sometimes the Bible isn’t symbolic… sometimes it’s just straightforward. The stars are for astronomy, not astrology.
Studying the sky is fine. Using it for divination is not. And divination doesn’t just mean idol worship or predicting the future. It also means trying to uncover hidden knowledge we were never meant to seek from the stars. In this case, using astrology to reveal our weaknesses or spiritual struggles. And the fact that astrology was developed by the Babylonians, a culture tied to rebellion and spiritual confusion, should make anyone pause. It can’t walk with Christianity. Even if the people using it aren’t doing anything evil… it’s still not a real solution.
The stars are like flowers or gemstones… beautiful, purposeful, but not that deep. Astrology has so many layers, and once you start you go from sun to moon to rising to planets… until you don’t even realise you’re lost.
Astrology can put you in a box. And if you’re not careful, you start spiralling inside it. Why limit who you are like that?
So How Do I Know Who I Truly Am?
Self-discovery is a lifelong process. A lot of us are blessed to know who we are from birth but if you weren’t that lucky you learn who you are by simply living and going through experiences. We have to try new things, pay attention to our patterns, be patient, and just be honest with ourselves. I recently learned about four psychology terms under the identity-status model by James Marcia. These four are identity diffusion, identity moratorium, identity foreclosure and identity achievement.
A lot of us are probably sitting in foreclosure or moratorium. The explanations below are my understanding, but feel free to check out the actual theory if you’re curious.
Identity foreclosure is when we lock in on an identity based on what we see. For example, what our family does or what our friends are doing, without exploring anything else. And a lot of us fall into this because one, it’s easy, and two, if it works for them we assume it’ll work for us too.
Identity moratorium is the exploration phase. This is where you’re figuring out what you actually like, what you believe, and what you want to identify with.
Identity achievement is the point you reach after exploration, when you finally know who you truly are and what you stand for.
Identity diffusion is when someone doesn’t explore at all, whether because they don’t want to or because the whole idea of finding themselves feels overwhelming.
I used to say I was indecisive because astrology told me I was. But the truth is, I usually know exactly what I want. It’s just uncomfortable to admit it sometimes. That’s something prayer, reflection, and even therapy reveal.
We don’t need the stars to understand ourselves. We need time more than anything, and the truth is, even though time always feels like it’s running away, we actually have a lot of it. We have time to sit with our thoughts and do whatever we need to do. God’s biggest gift to us is free will… we need to use it. And with time we get to rip off bandaids, sew up our wounds and actually heal.
Pro Tip:
Don’t rush your identity just to feel secure. Quick decisions feel good in the moment, but real self-discovery takes slow, consistent honesty. If you’re unsure who you are today, you probably just need more data. Go and explore but do it cautiously of course. And if you are interested in getting clarity try out the Bible, it's a good read and may be more helpful than you think.
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