Utilizing Astrology as a tool for self empowerment.
Marylin Gomes
This capstone project explores why astrology is so pervasive in our culture and yet still considered by many to be a
pseudoscience. To undermine the importance of astrology is to negate its influence across the history of humankind and
diminish its possibilities as a useful tool to improve our future. With the current unpredictable climate, people seem
to be looking for guidance in the midst of general discontent and confusion. This is why astrology can serve as a guide.
Through extensive research from old texts, online articles, and personal interviews with an astrologer, I was able to
get more context into the world of astrology and its importance to various other areas of study, such as astronomy,
psychology, as well as the realm of self-discovery. This led me to create a toolkit called AstroViso to serve and an
introduction into astrological influence, importance, and info. This project does not aim to validate whether astrology
is true or false, but rather to highlight how prominent and useful it has been through time and how we can continue to
use it as a tool to understand ourselves further.
AstroViso is a toolkit that can serve as an introduction into astrological influence, importance, and info.
Instructions on how to use AstroViso.
Contents of the AstroViso Toolkit:
- A Brief History of Astrology’s Influence
- A Guide/Intro about the Birth Chart
- A Physical Birth chart with 12 houses to tap your personal planet placements into
- 12 Sign Cards that state the best + worst characteristics of each zodiac sign
- 11 Planet/Celestial Body Cards and what they mean for you
- A set of 22 Major Arcana Tarot Cards that can serve as advice from the Universe, (aka the Signs + Planets)
- A Template on how to Dissect a Horoscope and what to look for
- A Brief History of Astrology’s Influence
- A Guide/Intro about the Birth Chart
- A Physical Birth chart with 12 houses to tap your personal planet placements into
- 12 Sign Cards that state the best + worst characteristics of each zodiac sign
- 11 Planet/Celestial Body Cards and what they mean for you
- A set of 22 Major Arcana Tarot Cards that can serve as advice from the Universe, (aka the Signs + Planets)
- A Template on how to Dissect a Horoscope and what to look for
The AstroViso Board
Interacting with AstroViso.
AstroViso contains two booklets: The first shares How Astrology Has Helped Us in the Past: A brief history, and the
second shares How Astrology Can Help Us Now: an introduction into using the birthchart. The kit also includes a physical
birth chart that can be used for a user to record their personal planet placements with the use of internet technology.
It comes with 11 Planet/Celestial Body cards that explain what each planet placement means and 12 Sign Cards that share
the positive and negative traits of each zodiac sign. Users can look into their birth chart placements and use the cards
provided to gain greater insight into what their placements could mean while learning about planets, houses, and birth
charts. I also wanted to include an element of advice from the “universe” and found that the first 22 cards of a Tarot
Deck (Major Arcana) coincide with the 10 planets and 12 signs. This gave me the opportunity to create my own deck with
messages of guidance. Lastly, I included a prompt on how to Dissect a Horoscope. The template invites users to look at
horoscopes as sources of advice instead of predictions. It aims to help the user identify where there are moments of
relatability, assumption, advice, and encouragement. When proactively looking at things with the perspective that they
may help us, they actually just might.