"The ability to grok more of the universe than that little piece you happen to be sitting on at the moment.  Mike has it from years of Martian discipline; Allie was an untrained semi-adept.  The fact that she used as meaningless a symbol as astrology is beside the point.  A rosary is meaningless, too - I speak of a Muslim rosary, of course; I'm not criticizing our competitors across the street." Mahmoud reached into his pocket, got out one, started fingering it. "If it helps to turn your hat around during a poker game - then it helps.  It is irrelevant that the hat has no magic powers and cannot grok."