Horoscopes make me feel shifty, but I like them

Hello to any passing blog readers - happy new year! I've been scrutinising my horoscope for this month and what 2009 might allegedly hold for me, probably along with loads of other people. Mentioning it makes me feel a bit shifty though, as if it's some dodgy illicit habit that I shouldn't admit to in certain company (on the blog's ok, of course).

I don't know why I read them, but I have been for years in one particular magazine. Every month I think it's time to stop, as it's probably a waste of money - a couple of quid on a magazine full of typos and frequently rather suspect grammar, with articles that make me cringe slightly and always go unread. Topics like the 'jelly baby spell that changed my life' and articles about fairies. I like to think I'm fairly open minded about these things - no reason that fairies don't exist, any more than aliens may or may not do, along with any other more conventional spiritual entities - unless you've seen them, it's a case of belief. My mum's side of the family have always been interested in psychic things, from uncle's Aleister Crowley habit to my late gran's spiritualist leanings.

But I still feel dreadfully shifty when I queue up in the newsagent to buy my monthly horoscope fix, hoping no-one notices what I'm holding. Sometimes I also buy something more respectable, like The Guardian or the Times Higher Educational Supplement, as if to show that I might be buying that magazine, but my brain's still intact, to anyone that notices (which is very unlikely). It seems worse somehow than buying the Daily Mail or the News of the World, which I also occasionally do if there's something odd in them.

I don't know why I feel like it's something illicit that I shouldn't admit to doing. Maybe it's the logical scientific side of me that thinks it's silly. Maybe it's the apparent girliness of the whole horoscope thing I don't like, as if it's tainted with some negative aspect of femininity. Or maybe there's some intellectual snobbiness involved and when I'm Dr so-and-so I won't care.

Well, whatever it is, I shall continue to read them, shifty or not. I had my horoscope done ages ago by someone with a glass eye (which was slightly distracting, if I'm honest) but it was strangely accurate and I have continued to read them in a particular magazine ever since.

So this month's snippet of astro-advice for me is to 'plod on' with my work. It's definitely relevant - it could have been written for anyone trying to finish a PhD. It's nice to know that what I'm doing is affirmed by certain heavenly configurations. Reading horoscopes is harmless enough as habits go. Maybe anything that sensibly confirms what you are already doing, or want to do, is ok in these times of global doom and gloom.

Song for the day: The Floaters 1970s soul classic 'Float On', from Top of The Pops. The lyrics are a bit strange in retrospect, but fit the blog post ok!