NONSENSE OR NOT, surely everyone has sneaked a peek at their horoscope at some stage. Not Michael Shermer, editor-in-chief of Sceptic magazine and director of the US Sceptics Society. He not only ignores his daily horoscope, he's made a career out of debunking so-called fortune-telling.
Shermer says the unknown isn't so mysterious, and that astrologists, palm-readers, tarot card-readers and the like are all graduates of the same school of make-believe.
'They employ a cold-reading technique in which they 'read' someone they've never met,' he says. This entails them asking questions, making numerous statements, and seeing what sticks. The one occasional strike is all that's needed to convince the client that it's genuine.
Shermer tested his cold-reading theory for a science television series in 2003, for which he posed as a tarot card-reader, palm-reader, astrologist and medium.
He had mixed results, but maintains his stance. 'There's not a shred of evidence that any of this is real,' he says. 'The fact that I could do it reasonably well with only one day of preparation shows just how vulnerable people are.'
But for self-taught astrologist Christine Challis, fortune-telling isn't about lucky strikes. She says she's predicted job promotions and house sales - right down to the day and time - and is yet to find a person who'll denounce her readings as hocus-pocus.
'Any failure of predication or analysis is due to the interpretation by the person and not the science itself,' she says. 'I know it works and have been studying for nearly 30 years. I wouldn't have spent so much time and money on the subject if it was bogus.'