Finnegan says the disapproves of predictive astrology but does believe "your personality, your inclinations, your instincts, how you work with people, how you relate to things" are all influenced by the form of the heavens at your birth.

Shea links the influence of the star chart to beliefs in karmic reincarnation.

"There's a certain amount of free will," he says. "That particular soul picks or chooses a time, a place and a particular moment to incarnate." That time and place can tell things about the reincarnated person, he says.

So why, in today's scientific society, do people hold to the astrological beliefs dismissed by the academic world?

"I think it's one of those fundamental questions. Why do people believe the Bible is literally true?.... Why do people believe in UFOs? Why do people buy lottery tickets? People have a sort of quasi recreational attaction toward these things," Newman says.

But Finnegan responds differently, remaining loyal to her field.

"These images [of the zodiac] speak to all peoples at all times," she says. "Most people know a lot about astrology without being taught it."