Astrologers Explain Why You Shouldn't Judge People Based On Their Zodiac Sign

The memes are funny, but they're not as accurate as you think.

Is there a zodiac sign you highly dislike? Chances are that one or more instantly popped into your head. It's easy to believe that there are some zodiac signs that will simply not mesh with yours. We're often told things like water signs and air signs will never, ever be happy together, or that certain signs are just too much to get involved with.

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This year, I've only been romantically involved with Geminis. Each dynamic was extremely challenging and made me want to avoid Geminis altogether. It was easy to feed into the Gemini hate, with many memes about their supposed shady and messy ways. There's even an Instagram meme page called Not All Geminis, a nod at the hate that many feel toward them. But after in-depth conversations with a Gemini friend about my prejudice toward the air sign, I realized that this mentality is actually harmful and absolutely incorrect.

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I spoke to two astrologers, Cassidy Scanlon and Stevie Anderson, who shared why stereotyping zodiac signs can be harmful. They also dispelled the myth of certain zodiac signs being incompatible.

Cassidy, who has a column on Pussy Magic called "Sapphic Sorcery," explains that we can't just measure compatibility according to someone's sun sign. There are actually plenty of other elements to take into consideration.

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"Compatibility can be measured in a lot of different ways. Typically, people just take into account sun signs, but sun signs are just barely scraping the surface of astrology," she explains. "We're so much more than our sun sign, like we have Mercury and Venus. And then you [have] house systems. So there's really no universal way to experience things like Gemini energy, for example, because that can manifest in a lot of different ways."

Stevie, who hosts the podcast What's Your Sign?, agrees, saying, "Any sign can be compatible together because as the internet and astrologers will scream from the mountaintops, we're more than our sun sign." She also gives an important reminder that not everyone of the same sign acts the same way because each person's natal chart is so different.

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"Maybe you had a bad experience when you keep dating Cancers [but] not all Cancers are going to be the same. They're going to have different elements in their chart that make them up: different aspects, different signs for different planets. So I think it's just a good reminder that writing off people just from a sun sign is really limiting," Stevie says.

And while many might believe that opposite signs, like water signs and air signs, wouldn't be compatible, Cassidy points out that they can still bring out a good dynamic in each other. "A Libra can get along with Aries, but that compatibility is more like opposites attract, because they're signs on the opposite side of the spectrum, as opposed to say, like, a Libra getting along with a Cancer. That's technically a Square, which can bring challenges, but there's also a very dynamic, exciting energy in that connection," she explains.

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"I feel like we can look at compatibility in so many different ways, rather than just seeing it as like, oh, air doesn't get along with water, because it can and it does, but like it might not be the same way that water signs would get with earth signs. ... You have to be aware of the tools that require that, especially like when you're looking at a sign history," Cassidy says.

Both astrologers discussed how with the memeification of astrology, it's easier for those who aren't as knowledgeable in astrology as professionals to focus on the negative traits of each zodiac sign instead of digging deeper into all their complex traits. Anyone can make an Instagram meme page, so in most cases, we're only seeing a surface level take on astrology in those pages.

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"I'm very glad that astrology is becoming more popular. However, at the same time, it's a lot easier to just look at memes, and the point of memes usually is to make fun of and roast astrology signs. But a lot of people don't really have any other contacts with astrology. So they sort of just take things for face value," Cassidy says.

She adds, "I think that pop astrology is a problem, but also willingly examining why certain stereotypes exists, and like, why certain signs get so much more shit than the other ones. And I really I don't feel like there's a direct answer there. But it's not fair to judge someone based on something you saw on the internet. Like everyone has their own way of expressing and dealing with that energy. And it's not really helpful if people feel afraid to be their authentic selves."

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Though certain signs like Gemini, Sagittarius, and Cancer often are the butt of astrology jokes, Stevie mentions that there are stereotypes for every zodiac sign on the internet. "For Virgos, [it's] that they love to clean and love to organize and for Scorpios, that they're really tough and scary. And I think that a lot of these stereotypes are rooted from some core elements and core themes that we can find in each sign. And then it gets sensationalized for the internet and for memes' sake, because it's easy to, you know, make a joke about whatever," she says.

While the memes can often be funny, it's important to remember that they shouldn't be taken at face value. So, no, there is no such thing as a "bad" zodiac sign and yes, any sign can be compatible. Our challenges with other zodiac signs require introspection so we can all understand each other.