I don't think the concept of "rational astrologies" helps anyone grasp the idea that they can benefit from following laws they don't approve of if they'll be punished for noncompliance. That's one of the most basic forms of punishment avoidance.
Models can often be stretched to apply to regions where they only somewhat fit. I suspect that's what's going on here. The boundaries where we switch between models are often the most difficult to get right.
If I'm reading your comment correctly, you're saying that the areas where the rational astrology model does better than the signaling model, are also areas where there are other, better models available. I had initially thought the rational astrology model did better in some areas. I now believe it does better than a pure signaling model in some areas, ...
The article can be found here. While it is not, for many of us, new ground, it is an excellent treatment, and it requires no rationalist background in order to be understood. The subject is the pernicious pull of doing the standard thing, regardless of whether or not the standard thing makes any sense, and it does us the service of giving that phenomenon a descriptive link we can share as well as an excellent name.
I hope to, after more discussion and thought, write a main post on the subject.