Everywhere you look it up they try to play it off as simple astrology/superstition.

"The sense is astrological, of a calamity blamed on an unfavorable position of a planet, and "star" here is probably meant in the astrological sense of "destiny, fortune, fate.""

"its original meaning in English was "an unfavorable aspect of a planet or star."

"The ancient Greeks were fascinated by astronomy and the cosmos, and believed wholly in the influence of celestial bodies on terrestrial life."