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What do the stars predict for SA in 2016?

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Signs of the Zodiac - Google Free Images
Signs of the Zodiac - Google Free Images

Wondering what’s in store for you in 2016? People want to know what the New Year is going to bring in terms of health, wealth and relationships – and since time immemorial mankind has looked to the stars to predict the future.

Although science has banished astrology to the realm of fantasy, everyone knows if they’re Pisces, Sagittarius or Libra, and millions read their daily or weekly horoscope in magazines, newspapers or online.

Read: Feeling powerless leads to paranoia

There is also no shortage of celebrities and famous people who believe/d in the influence of the stars on human affairs. Examples are Ronald Reagan, Albert Einstein and Carl Jung. JP Morgan, who was America’s first billionaire, said that millionaires don’t use astrology, but that billionaires do.

The stars’ stars

In keeping with the public’s fascination with human stars (actors, musicians, sportsmen etc.) astrologers have made predictions for people in the public eye. For example, according to People, Kanye West might bring out a successful new album, Justin Bieber could become a father and Prince Harry will find excuses to keep playing the field instead of settling down.

But horoscopes aren’t only drawn up for individuals, and astrologers routinely make predictions for entire nations and countries.

Zuma may retire

Well-known South African astrologer Linda Shaw was interviewed on Cape Talk and made some interesting predictions for 2016. She foresees that the country will experience economic turmoil until 2019 – unless we learn to embrace our “Africanness” and learn to rely less on the American model. (For predictions for individual star signs, visit Women24's horoscope page.) 

Read: Food insecurity is a reality for millions of South Africans living in informal settlements

As far as President Zuma is concerned, he will receive a “cosmic smack” and will become politically “irrelevant”, most probably due to ill health. Malema will “keep going” but will never obtain any real power.

For the United States Linda predicts that Hilary Clinton will become that country’s first female president. 

Astrology and your health

Hippocrates (460-380 BC), considered to be the father of medicine famously said, “He who does not understand astrology is not a doctor but a fool.”

Traditionally, the planets and the signs are believed to influence particular areas of the body. Aries, for example, rules the head and Aquarius the ankles, so people with these signs prominent in their horoscopes may expect problems in those areas.

Read: African health in focus

It is said that a good astrologer should be able to diagnoses a disease even before it has manifested.

Things are changing

Although astrology has been reviled and regarded as having no scientific basis for the last few centuries, things appear to be slowly changing.

In 1955 Frenchman Michel Gauquelin published a controversial study that postulated that the planet Mars is more likely to be in certain parts of the sky when top sports stars are born. The study caused widespread interest, but was trashed by mainstream scientists. 

Read: Learn to live on Mars

A 2004 article in The Guardian discusses The Scientific Proof of Astrology by Percy Seymour who is a former Plymouth University astronomy lecturer and member of the Royal Astronomical Society. While Seymour does not believe in horoscopes, he maintains that the movements of the sun, moon and planets have a definite influence over us. 

Seymour argues that the movements of the Sun, moon and planets interfere with the earth's magnetic field, and thereby expose the unborn babies of pregnant women to different magnetic fields that influence the development of their developing brains.

Your decision

Despite the lack of conclusive proof, belief in the power of the stars to determine our future is as strong as ever, evidence of which can be found in a multitude of publications and websites. It is therefore left up to the individual to decide to what extent we are the masters of our own fate and to what extent it is predetermined.    

Read more:

What the stars say

Your Sex Style: it’s written in the stars

How we imagine the future

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