- Astrology TikTok creators predicted a Harris win, and they're now facing questions.
- Astrology fans feel betrayed, questioning the credibility of their trusted creators.
The astrology community on TikTok is mighty, but trust in the stars has wavered over the past week.
Many popular astrology creators predicted that Kamala Harris would win the 2024 election. However, when Donald Trump was elected for a second term, they were faced with tough questions over their credibility.
Jess Rauchberg, a researcher on digital media cultures, told Business Insider that some fans felt that "the rug's been pulled out from underneath them."
"I placed my trust in you as a follower, and I trusted your brand, but your brand is no longer credible," she said. "You see people who are really, really frustrated and who feel betrayed."
Predictions gone wrong
The astrology industry is growing. According to Market Research Future, it is projected to grow from $14.3 billion in 2024 to $21.52 billion by 2032.
Astrologists on TikTok are nothing new and have been on the platform as long as other communities like BookTok or WitchTok.
The community includes tarot readers, spiritual workers, astrophotographers, and psychic mediums. The biggest creators include Nick Grigolia (3.2 million followers), Maren Altman (1.4 million), and Julia Kelley (384,000). Many use TikTok to attract paid customers.
The industry has been gaining popularity on the platform with 492,000 posts having the #astrology hashtag in the last 12 months in the US alone, according to TikTok data.
Many astrology TikTok accounts predicted a Harris win based on her chart, Semafor reported. The current vice president had "her Saturn return, her Jupiter return, and her Mars return," professional astrologer Dayna Lynn Nuckolls told HuffPost.
Trump, on the other hand, is in his seventh house year, Nuckolls told the outlet, which can signal conflict, competition, and disruption.
Some astrologists foresaw Trump having a cardiac event and not becoming president due to health problems.
Fans let down
After Trump's win, many astrology fans said they could no longer trust their favorite creators, with some even suggesting they should give up the trade altogether.
In response, many astrologers have elaborated on their predictions, saying a period of unrest is still ahead. Others have doubled down, saying something surprising will happen within the next month.
"Some of you feel disillusioned by astrology and psychics who really saw this going in a different way," Rachel Lang, an astrologer, said in a recent video.
"And so I want to just say that the astrology of this time between now 2024 and 2026 is unprecedented. We haven't seen this many outer sign changes all within a short period of time in 6,000 years, so we really are in uncharted territory."
The election took place "with Pluto and Capricorn at the last degree of Capricorn," and the inauguration in January "is taking place with Pluto in Aquarius," Lang said, which points to some mystery about how the "this story is going to continue to unfold."
Trust in the stars
Rauchberg said people have been "clinging" to social media astrologists since the pandemic.
A small study from 2018, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, found that people tend to turn to astrology during stressful times as a "coping device," even if they don't believe in it the rest of the time.
"Americans and those who are closely following the US elections outside of the states are really hungry for some kind of information and some stability and some structure," Rauchberg said. "But when you don't have those sources out there, or you've been told not to trust the mainstream media, where do you go?"
People turn to astrologers for similar reasons that they turn to podcasters, Rauchberg said. While young men have migrated toward Joe Rogan and Logan Paul, astrology TikTok is more likely to have seen an influx of women.
"I think this really correlates with this growing distrust in mainstream media," Rauchberg said.
Both are, in a way, older forms of sharing information. Podcasts are seen as relatable and down to Earth. The stars, similarly, don't have an agenda. They were around before political parties or even the US itself existed.
"Podcasts are not totally unlike going into the Agora or a public forum in ancient Greece or ancient Rome and listening to somebody speak," she said.
"In a time where people are really frustrated with mainstream media being skewed toward one perspective, the stars feel a little bit more neutral," she added. "They're not affiliated with a particular political cause or political movement."
Sara Walka, the founder of the holistic self-help business The Sisters Enchanted and who teaches astrology, told BI the community is very resilient.
However, those who don't acknowledge that there are always two possibilities will lead people to "lose trust."
For example, on Election Day, there was a "tug of war" in the stars and planets "between the old and the new, Trump and Harris," Walka said.
"An astrologer has to acknowledge that this could lead to either path dependent on the collective," she said.
Walka added that, in general, she saw astrologists skewing toward desiring a Harris win.
"I think the certainty that astrologers had in predicting a Harris win would have contributed to the shock and dismay many felt when that was not the case," she said.
"This will contribute to that overall feeling of not knowing who or what to trust in the short term."