OUTFIT DETAILS: Boden dress (gifted) // Boden flats (gifted) // Boden scarf (gifted)

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Do you believe in astrology?

I don't mean a passing interest to giggle at from time to time, I mean believe. As in you won't make any huge life decision without first consulting your horoscope for fear of throwing the stars, the planets, the orbits, the gods and goddesses off their delicate, celestial kilter. May lightning strike you down as a warning if you step off course.

Personally, I hover the middle ground here -- a passing, cultural interest that really developed once I moved to New York.

New York, perhaps like it's often pitted rival LA, is a city that loves discussing your many signs -- and all of them over dinner before drinks arrive. When and exactly what time you were born, your moon and sun signs, your compatibility (or lack thereof) with everyone at the table and why your past relationships utterly failed because your partners were doomed from the get-go. "You, a Pisces, were with a Sagittarius?!" The looks of disbelief and incredulity on their faces is priceless -- one step away from spitting out their $15 cocktail (pre-COVID times, of course) all over themselves.

And in a weird way, I kinda love it. I find it all utterly fascinating, particularly how much, one could argue, this all chalks up to be self-fulfilling in some ways. Take my sign for instance. I believe the description of a Pisces fits me. Dreamy, empathetic, whimsical sometimes to a fault. But is it me who seemingly fits into the description of a Pisces? Does it embolden us to see ourselves through a vague lens that's already been written, already been crafted for us -- a way of romanticizing our strengths and shrugging off our weaknesses because, well "What did you expect? I'm a Pisces."

I recently read about the Barnum effect (named after famed circus showman, P.T. Barnum), "a psychological phenomenon whereby individuals give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically to them, yet which are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people."

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And it made me think about that particular scene in Before Sunrise, in which Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and Celine (Julie Delpy) are approached by a palm reader at dinner, who tells Celine about the woman she's becoming but that she "must resign herself to the ugliness of life." Celine and Jesse argue after the palm reader leaves as to the validity of anything she just predicted -- Jesse refuses to believe her because surely she's a con artist and Celine refuses to doubt her, in awe of her apparent clairvoyance.

Pragmatic, researched Krystal loves poking holes, much like Jesse in that scene. But the Romantic Krystal -- the Krystal that I see whenever I read a horoscope, feels heard, much like Celine. Why doubt when there's so much unexplained beauty in the world?!

Anyway, this is a rambling, first world problem post that I did't really intentionally have planned for today -- so let's just blame that on Pisces Krystal, who's always flitting off in sporadic, dreamy, half baked directions. I'd love to hear your thoughts though on the matter -- how do you personally feel about horoscopes and astrology in general? Love them? Or scoff at them?

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Photos by Allie Provost