AstrologyDating.com Blog

Why are so many people afraid of San Francisco?

When I told my friends I was going to San Francisco about a year ago, the responses were mixed. Sure, they were generally happy for me, and of course they all had visions of me seeing the Golden Gate Bridge and the Transamerica Building and Chinatown and the trolley cars and the murals in the Mission district and all the touristy stuff that compels people to come here. But often, there was a faint but distinct undertone to it all:

San Francisco may infect and change you.

The funny thing is that, despite what Rush Limbaugh or your minister or your Dad told you about it, San Francisco is not "overrun" with gay people or hippies or socialists or any of the other things people often loudly fear... usually for entirely personal reasons. Yes, it's absolutely true: I have seen more naked men (except for a bondage harness) flogging each other in the streets than I have anywhere else. Yes, I have seen more angry protesters demanding that everything, everywhere should be nationalized immediately than I have anywhere else. I've also seen more drunken hooligans dressed like Santa Claus, more completely whacked out junkies, more damaged hippies, more people wearing outfits that match what their Chihuahua is wearing, and more cupcakes here than anywhere else I've lived.

Yes. It's true. There are a lot of cupcakes in San Francisco. A lot. They don't tell you that in the tourist guides, but they should.

What I learned about San Francisco is this: there aren't really more gay people or hippies or socialists or whatever it is your fear in this town than anywhere else. Or at least, not that many more. People are just more free to be themselves here, and that scares the hell out of some folks. You see, when you've put yourself in a cage long enough... so long you don't even see the bars any more... seeing someone wandering around outside, uncaged and unfettered, can be frightening. It can make you question why you're in your nice safe cage, and it might make you terrified of living a life without your familiar, time-trusted iron bars and lock.

So how does this all relate to an astrology dating site, and your love life, and the planet Uranus?

Uranus, astrology's Rebel Planet, is about to enter Aries. It's going to rattle your cage... specifically, whichever cage you've put yourself in over the last few years (or maybe decades) decades of your life. That sort of thing can be fun, thrilling, invigorating, liberating... and terrifying. And when Uranus makes itself felt in your life you don't get any choice as to whether or not you'll allow your cage to be rattled, or when, or how.

When Uranus strikes, you are only free to control how you respond to it. And fortunately, that's all you'll need.

NEXT TIME: How Uranus in Aries will affect you personally, by sign.