A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Horoscope Themes in English, German and Turkish Women’s Magazines

Since astrology has become an essential feature of mass media, horoscopes can be found in newspapers and magazines worldwide. While horoscopes contain information about love, identity, health and the like, they also comprise discourses grounded on cultural conventions of societies. This indicates a need to comprehend the cultural variations available to the societies. By concentrating on horoscopes in women’s magazines written in three different cultural contexts (English, German and Turkish), this study is an attempt to identify and compare the themes of horoscopes in women’s magazines. The study data were gathered from 2023 yearly horoscopes published in online women’s magazines in English, German and Turkish. The thematic analysis was conducted through CATMA 6, which enabled the derivation of 11 themes expressed differently in these languages. Three overarching themes emerged from all datasets: fortune, love and identity. This study aims to contribute to the literature on future linguistic and cultural research related to horoscopes. Additionally, it can be replicated in different cultural contexts and genres.