A Fair Trade Book
Title: You’re Every Sign
Date: 2002
Publisher: Health Communications
ISBN: 1-55874-963-2
Length: 362 pages
Illustrations: black-and-white graphics
Quote: “At the moment you were born, every sign of the zodiac was somewhere in the sky. The position of each sign in relation to you determines the area of your life that it influences...So you’re bound to express at least a little bit of the characteristics of each sign.”
Meh. Whether I consider this book seriously or as a joke, the best summary of my reaction is still: meh. At least it was good for lots of laughs, for me.
It was written seriously. There are people who never, even in the 1980s, considered psychotherapy; they didn’t want to admit that they had any, shudder quake, Mental Problems. Some of these people did, however, seriously consult the horoscopes in books and newspapers for advice. When a newspaper horoscope column goes beyond random platitudes (“Be kind”) or stabs in the dark (“Aries might call”), those who enjoy debunking newspaper horoscopes can demonstrate that literally years go by in between the days when any specifics those columns mentioned showed any accidental resemblance to our days, or our friends’ days. Nevertheless, as long as the general descriptions of astrological personality types resonated with these people (“See, I’m a Taurus, that’s an earth sign, and I’m very earthy”), they continued to treat their horoscopes like guidance, rather than random blather cranked out to meet a required word count.
So Phyllis Firak-Mitz organized her self-help book for people who still don’t want to talk to a therapist or counsellor, not according to “problems,” but according to astrological signs. Readers aren’t told they’re impulsive, histrionic, attention-deficient, or commitment-phobic; they’re told they’re expressing the Gemini influence on their personalities when they make and then abandon plans, ruining other people’s weekends. Firak-Mitz doesn’t tell them that they need self-discipline, or that they’re self-sabotaging; she tells them they “spread themselves too thin and lose touch with their inner core. What Geminis are learning works best is to bring everything they’ve got to whatever they’re doing at the moment. When they do that, they align with the vastness of their own nature.”
If you know a horoscope consulter whose personality could use a little help (I do; from whose library would you think I inherited this book?), you can’t blame Firak-Mitz for trying to meet this audience where they are. How much You’re Every Sign will help them is another question. As the cliché always went, they have to want to change. The person who gave me this book continues to express that annoying "Gemini influence," although Gemini is not this person's sun sign...
Even if they do want to change, how much will Firak-Mitz help to steer them in the right direction? What do you think the right direction is? I think the discussion of Aquarius, which Firak-Mitz identifies with New Age spirituality and Old Left idealism, betrays a bias in that direction. “When Aquarians remember to look upon their fellow humans as if they all are doing the best they can (and they are)...” I don’t believe the Austin bomber was doing the best he could. Do you? If you do, Gentle Readers, that is a religious belief that you hold (and I don’t). So despite Firak-Mitz’s attempt to avoid taking sides with one religion over others in her “spiritual” comments, some bias is inevitably present. It will bother some readers more than others.
There is of course another way to read anything about astrology—as a joke, for debunking purposes. You might enjoy reading this book just to see which people you know show the least resemblance to Firak-Mitz’s descriptions. You’re likely to find that, e.g., the chapter on Leo sounds like X all the way, only X’s sun sign happened to be Cancer, and it also sounds a bit like Y, only Y’s sun sign happened to be Pisces...I think the chapter on Pisces was good for the most out-loud laughter, for me (the most "fiery," macho, decisive living man I know was born under that watery sign), but it was quite a contest. Do you, too, know an annoyingly passive Aries, an obsessively focussed Aspie with a Gemini birthday, or a sloppy extrovert born in Virgo?
To buy You're Every Sign here, send $5 per book plus $5 per package plus $1 per online payment to the appropriate address at the very bottom of the screen. (A book-specific Paypal button is forthcoming.) At least one more book of similar size will fit into that $5 package, and we'll send $1 per copy of her book to Phyllis Firak-Mitz or a charity of her choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment