Zodiac - it only sounds like an antidepressant.

If you ask most women their Sign, they'll stare as if you've got an afro and bell-bottoms. There was a time when people used the stars and Zodiac to guide all of their actions—but Ronald Reagan isn't president anymore.

Sextrology: The Astrology of Sex and the Sexes Great book.

No, in this enlightened age of reason, technology and science, astrology is as disreputable as any other crazy belief like the Earth is flat, aliens living among us, or the infallibility of the Pope.

Now, we're not going to try to defend astrology. But we're not going to trash it, either. Because there is some value in it.

Astrology has never been shown to predict future events with any more accuracy than a dead weatherman.

So we don't recommend reading your daily horoscope (take responsibility for your own actions, bitch). Horoscopes in publications with million-plus circulations are ridiculously vague and general to the point of being useless. We don't believe a personalized reading is worth a damn, either. Don't waste your time with the supposed "predictive" properties of Astrology.

Sexscopes: How to Seduce, Stimulate, and Satisfy Any Sign.

But that doesn't mean Astrology is entirely without its uses.

Growing up, women are constantly exposed to Astrology in teen magazines and its ilk. Having been told how women born on their birthday are "supposed" to act, it's not hard to imagine that they'd subconsciously adopt those behaviors and traits over time.

In fact, the book Quirkology, in an attempt to discredit Astrology, ironically ends up proving it's accuracy. The book’s research study states that, while astrology is scientifically total bullshit, it’s nonetheless nearly 100% accurate in predicting personality traits in societies where people are aware of astrology. Because when people grow up with a knowledge of astrology, they subconsciously end up internalizing the traits of their signs!

Quirkology: How We Discover the Big Truths in Small Things

Driven more by self-fulfilling prophesy than any claimed "planetary effects," women tend to exhibit the traits attributed to their specific Zodiac Sign.

Coincidence? Totally. And that's our point: Regardless of the facts against astrology, you can benefit from knowing something about it.

Having at least a cursory understanding of Astrology can help you get a rough sense of any woman you're considering dating.

In the most general sense, it can be used to categorize women into broad "types." There are no guarantees, of course; a girl's personality involve too many other variables to rely solely on her Sign to predict traits accurately.

Robin MacNaughton's Sun Sign Personality Guide: A Complete Love and Compatibility Guide for Every Sign in the Zodiac.

As we said, a girl's parental influence, birth-order, childhood environment (i.e. - the neighborhood she grew up in, her family's societal class, etc.) all factor heavily into the equation. The best you can hope for from knowing Signs is a ballpark guesstimate (but at least, that's something). Without any other variables, every Taurus would have freakishly identical personalities, and experience doesn't bear that out.

So clearly, it's not smart to assume you'll get along with a chick just because she's technically a compatible Sign. You can, however, use the knowledge of incompatible Signs to spot trouble.

FIND OUT IF YOU'RE WASTING YOUR TIME (AND MONEY).
Get some free insight into a girl from Astrology.com

For example, when you meet a new girl, she'll try to present herself in a way that jives with what she thinks you'll like. You're not getting to know her "real" personality. Instead, you're just getting her best guess at what she thinks you want (not really difficult, since all guys like the same cleavage....er, things).

But once you're in a long-term relationship with her, she'll tend to relax and show more of her true self. As she lets down her guard and stops trying to impress you, there's a strong chance she'll exhibit her true nature—one very much like what's described by her Sign.

If you're compatible with her sign, this isn't a big deal. But if you're not, it's the beginning of the end. By knowing the kind of woman she will likely become—in advance—you can better decide whether it's worth pursuing the relationship, or running screaming into the night.