astrology

View more Religion & Spirituality videos

For more information on astrology, visit Britannica.com.

Astrology took its place in the body of Western knowledge with the spread of astrological lore from Babylon to Greece several centuries before Christ. This transmission began with Berosus, a priest of the temple of Bel, who settled on the island of Cos, the home of Hippocratic medicine, where he established a school of astrology at the end of the fifth century bc. However, the full application of astrology to medicine called iatromathematica, was developed subsequently in Hellenistic Egypt.

Both Greek medicine and Greek astrology shared the predominant Aristotelian physics of the day: that everything was composed of the 4 elements of fire, air, water, and earth in varying proportions. The 12 signs of the zodiac were divided into four groups of three, each group or ‘triplicity’ being associated with one of these elements, whose qualities of heat, cold, dryness, and moisture they symbolized. A particularly Egyptian feature was to give to each zodiac sign signification over certain parts and organs of the body, the first sign, Aries, signifying the head, through to the twelfth sign, Pisces, for the feet. Moreover, the four humours, which Hippocratic medicine held to constitute the human body as the elements composed the physical world as a whole, were assigned planetary significators, along with the organs which contained them: Jupiter ruled the blood, the liver, and the veins; the Moon, phlegm and the brain; Mars, yellow bile and the gall bladder; and Saturn, black bile and the spleen. The Moon in addition represented the humours as a whole, while the Sun denoted the vital spirit of the body, radiating from the heart via the arteries. Venus governed the genitourinary system, while to the seventh planet, Mercury, was given rulership of the mind.

The continuous movement of the planets in their courses, and their mutual interactions, were seen to correlate with the constant changes in the physical world: the cycle of the seasons, its mirroring in the four ages of Man, and the alternations between health and disease in an individual or community. The birth horoscope was used to identify the individual temperament, whether sanguine, choleric, melancholic, phlegmatic, or a combination of these, from which followed advice on the correct diet and lifestyle to maintain health and avoid the diseases to which that particular temperament was liable. The horoscope cast for the time of a person falling ill, called a decumbiture, was employed to help identify the nature, origin, and location of the disease, the likely prognosis, the kind of treatment to be given, and the most propitious times for its administration. The critical days in a disease, when an alteration in the condition for better or worse was anticipated, were calculated from the movements of the Moon and Sun for acute and chronic conditions respectively.

Medicine, as systematized by Galen in the second century ad, combined with late Stoic and Hermetic doctrines concerning the influence of the seven planets in the zodiac on terrestrial matters — encapsulated in the notion of a ‘cosmic sympathy’ and in the phrase ‘as above, so below’ — produced a positive science of astrological medicine for medieval men. A more fated attitude took hold among Arab, Jew, and Christian, that everything was ‘written in the stars’.

When astrological medicine was transmitted to Western Europe in the later Middle Ages; it required harmonizing with Christian theology. The position came to be accepted that the stars incline but do not compel, keeping intact Man's essential free will. For, although the human body might be subject to alteration and change occasioned by the movements of the planets in the zodiac, Man's immortal soul remained free from such influences so that he could indeed command the stars, insofar as he commanded his passions. This theme, that ‘the wise man rules his stars, the fool obeys them’, was powerfully developed by Marsilio Ficino, a fifteenth-century Florentine priest and physician steeped in Plato. The notion of a pre-ordained length of life, calculated from the points of life (apheta or hyleg) and destruction (anareta) in the natal horoscope, was overturned by correct physical habit and spiritual development, which nurtured the health of the body and soul, so extending the lifespan. However, the planets were still held accountable for epidemic diseases. The medical establishment in Paris blamed the triple conjunction of Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn for the outbreak of the Black Death in 1348. The spread of syphilis at the end of the fifteenth century was thought to be caused by the conjunction of many planets in Scorpio in 1484, while the very name ‘influenza’ is testimony of the belief in the celestial origin of that disease.

Nicholas Culpeper, the famous seventeenth-century herbalist and astrologer, was one of the last to practise with integrity the combination of Galenic medicine and astrology, before the celestial art was relegated among the educated to a superstition, along with alchemy, which depended on astrology for its correct operations. Culpeper popularized astrological medicine by issuing inexpensive books in straightforward English on these learned subjects, with the effect of extending people's knowledge beyond the simple rules for seasonal blood-letting, purging, and bathing, and the times for doing so according to the zodiac sign occupied by the Moon, which were common to many popular almanacs of the time.

This astrological medicine, now very much marginalized, was carried on by a small number of enthusiasts. Ebenezer Sibly, an eighteenth-century doctor, believed that Enlightenment learning derived from observation and experiment was improved by a knowledge through astrology of the occult properties of substances. His Solar and Lunar tinctures, for men and women respectively, achieved some efficacy and popularity as medicines, while his edition of Culpeper's Herbal carried on the iatromathematical tradition. In Victorian England, the astrologer A. J. Pearce, whose career stretched into the 1920s, used to assist his father, a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and a homoeopath, by providing astral diagnoses of his patients. Today, on the fringes of the popular revival of astrology, the iatromathematical tradition continues.

— Graeme Tobyn

Bibliography

• Tester, S. J. (1987). A history of Western astrology. Boydell Press

Study of the stars in the belief that they influence human affairs. The traditional Jewish attitude concerning the validity of astrology was not uniform, although it would appear that most of the great rabbis, certainly through the Middle Ages and even beyond, accepted its validity. The debate about the efficacy of astrology can be traced back to the Talmud (at which time astrology was linked with astronomy). Thus, in Shabbat 156a, R. Joshua ben Levi states that a person born on a Sunday will be either totally virtuous or totally evil, since on the first day of Creation both light and darkness were created. Similarly, birth on any other day of the week implied certain characteristics. R. ḥanina, disagreeing with R. Joshua ben Levi, does not question the overall hypothesis, but claims that it is the hour of one's birth that determines one's nature, as each part of the day is dominated by the sun or by one of the planets. R. Johanan, on the other hand, rejects the entire idea of propitious times---at least as far as Jews are concerned, and states: "The Jews have no mazzal," the word mazzal, which later came to mean "luck," referring to the different signs of the Zodiac. It was also suggested that Israel lay under the planet Saturn. In general, though, the Talmud assumes that the constellations do play a role in man's fate, but that the Jew has the ability by his actions to overcome what the constellations otherwise decree.

The Talmud has various passages indicating that certain times are more propitious than others. Thus, for example (Shab. 129b), Samuel gives detailed rules regarding the dates on which bloodletting is dangerous. When the Talmud asks why people engage in bloodletting on Fridays even though the constellations are inauspicious, the response is that as this has become common practice, "the Lord preserves the simple" (Ps. 116:6). Vestiges of the idea of favorable and unfavorable times are to be found in later Jewish law, e.g., the law that "from the beginning of the month of Av, a Jew involved in litigation with a Cuthean (i.e., a non-Jew) should attempt to postpone it, because it is an inauspicious time" (Sh. Ar OH 551:1), since at that time of the year, Jerusalem and the Temple fell.

Among the open proponents of astrology were Saadiah Gaon, who included astrological material in his writings, Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Abraham Ibn Ezra, and NAḤMANIDES. Levi Ben Gershom, while endorsing the concept of astrology, claimed that the astrologers were unable to obtain correct readings of the portents in the constellations. R. Judah Löw of Prague was also involved in astrology, and is reputed to have worked with his friend, the astronomer and astrologer Tycho Brahe. The mystical Zohar considers the validity of astrology as axiomatic.

The greatest opponent of astrology was Maimonides, especially in his Mishneh Torah, "Laws of Idolatry." There (11:9), Maimonides writes, "One is forbidden to predict (favorable or unfavorable) times, even if one did nothing more than state these lies, for the simple believe that these are true words emanating from the wise. Whoever is involved in astrology and plans his work or a trip based on the time set by those who examine the heavens is liable to be whipped, for it is written (Lev. 19:26), 'You shall not observe times.'" After enumerating other such activities, Maimonides concludes, "All these matters are lies and deceit, and it was with these that the ancient constellation-worshipers deceived the nations so that they might follow them. It is not proper for Israelites, who are wise, to follow these deceits and to think for an instant that there is any value in them." Furthermore, he asserts, "whoever believes in these matters and similar ones, and thinks to himself that they are true and wise except that they were forbidden (to be engaged in) by the Torah, is but a fool and lacking in sense." Elsewhere, Maimonides notes that those who were involved in astrology were, among others, the Chaldeans and the Egyptians, whereas the great Greek thinkers all rejected astrology as baseless.

One of the few relics of astrology in common use today---although it is unlikely that anyone uses it in its original sense---is the universal Jewish expression mazzal tov ("good luck"), which means literally "may your constellation be a good one."

---

As people began to consider the seemingly infinite universe, they wondered whether the stars could foretell future events and exercise control over human lives. A psalmist of the Bible wrote, "the heavens declare the glory of God" (Psalm 19:1). Zoroastrian astrologers called Magi traveled to Bethlehem at the birth of Jesus because they saw a "star" or sign in the heavens foretelling the birth of a Jewish king. Long before this, astrologers as far apart as Egypt, China, Peru, and England were building stone structures to aid in foretelling times and seasons based on the stars.

Good evidence has been presented that the pyramids of Giza mirror the stars of the constellation Orion. There appears to be astrological significance attached to many of the enigmatic stone circles of Western Europe, including Stonehenge. Indians of the American Southwest seem to have been very aware of the significance of astral events, recording them on pictographs scattered throughout Arizona and New Mexico. Chinese mythology makes mention of comets and stars that are now followed by astronomers.

When the comet Hale-Bopp stood high in the sky during the spring evenings of 1997, groups such as the Heaven's Gate cult were sure it was a prophecy portending either doom or salvation for the human race (See Cults).

Such age-old wonder at the heavens perhaps naturally gave rise to astrology, the study of the stars. Astrology, a form of which is found in nearly all cultures, is a vast field of study that focuses on the correlations between celestial events and humanly meaningful events. While not a religion in itself, astrology has been put to use in many religious contexts. As astrologer James R. Lewis notes in The Astrology Book: "Most people are familiar with only a tiny portion of the science of the stars, namely the 12 signs of the Zodiac as they relate to the personality of individuals and the use of astrology for divinatory purposes"-that is, the horoscope as it appears in daily newspapers. Such horoscopes are based on a person's sun sign-which one of twelve constellations the sun appeared in, from the perspective of his or her birthplace, at the time of the person's birth. The positions of other heavenly bodies also make up one's so-called natal chart, which most astrologers are careful to note does not so much predict a person's future as describe possible influences, likely tendencies, or the overall nature of one's personality-information one can use to set the course of one's own life. The same process can be applied to analyze the circumstances of any other event, past or potential, such as a wedding.

(See also Aquarius)

Sources: Hitching, Francis. Earth Magic. New York: William Morrow & Company, 1977. Lewis, James R. The Astrology Book: The Encyclopedia of Heavenly Influences. 2nd ed. Detroit: Visible Ink Press, 2003.

---

One of the clearest examples of an item of culture originating among intellectuals, but passing to the peasantry. Throughout much of its long history, it derived its authority from complex mathematics and philosophical speculations; its prestige was high in courts and universities in medieval and Renaissance Europe, and as late as the English Civil War it was still important in political propaganda. Its symbols and concepts were also diffused through cheap printed almanacs, and were used in simplified forms by farmers, magicians, healers, and fortune-tellers (Davies, 1999a: 229-46).

During the 18th and 19th centuries astrology became marginalized, and by the early 20th century had virtually disappeared from public view. However, it was given fresh life by a press stunt in 1930, when the Sunday Express invited an astrologer to draw up a nativity chart for the newborn Princess Margaret, and to compile a simple horoscope applying to anyone whose birthday fell that week. Other newspapers copied the idea, encouraging semi-serious curiosity about astrology; like other aspects of the occult, it is currently enjoying a revival.

See also DR JOHN DEE.

The study of the heavenly bodies as predicting the fate of individuals was ultimately due to the Babylonians. The belief underpinning astrology, common to educated people generally, was that the cosmos was a unity, and that whatever happened in the heavens was bound to affect or be reflected in events on earth. As it was possible to predict the recurrence of celestial phenomena by astronomy, so it might also be possible to predict terrestrial events by observation of the heavenly bodies (astrology), and it came to be generally believed that the fortunes of an individual depended upon the aspect of the sky at the moment of his birth, and that astrologers could give guidance accordingly.

Astrology does not seem to have exerted much influence on Greek life until after the third century BC, in the wake of Alexander the Great. By the next century astrology had spread to Rome, and a vogue for it began when a number of manuals began to circulate widely. Believers included Sulla, Posidonius, and Varro (but not Cicero). Vitruvius, Propertius, and Ovid all professed to believe, and Augustus published his horoscope. From the first century AD onwards virtually everyone, Christians, pagans, and Jews alike, accepted the predictability of fate and the maleficent powers of the planets (see MANILIUS). A few held out against this tyranny, usually with the argument that while stars, by reason of the universal ‘sympathy’ pervading the cosmos, may indicate the future, they cannot determine it. Rome particularly was sensitive to the potential political dangers, and at times of national crisis banished all professional astrologers. However, no permanent ban was intended, and the emperors themselves frequently had recourse to horoscopes. It was not until the fourth century, with Augustine's emphatic denial of its validity, and with the advent of the Christian emperors, that the practice of astrology was officially banned. Neverthless for the ordinary man it retained an axiomatic validity until the seventeenth century and beyond. See also PTOLEMY.

In India, Buddhism adopted the Hindu scheme of astronomy but rejected the latter's preoccupation with astrology. The position and movement of the celestial bodies was of interest to Buddhists only for pragmatic purposes such as calculating the time of day, the length of the lunar month and its holy days, and the period of retreat during the rainy season. Such skills were especially important in the case of forest-dwelling monks who were cut off from society. Such monks were to learn ‘the positions of the constellations, either the whole or one section, and to know the cardinal points’. Astrology as we know it probably did not exist at the time of the Buddha—it is largely a Greek synthesis of Fertile Crescent star-lore, created around the 3rd or 4th centuries bce. Nevertheless, early sources such as the Brahmajāla Sutta of the Pāli Canon describe numerous techniques of divination including predicting eclipses of the sun, moon, and stars, and forecasting the events they were believed to herald. The Buddha is singled out for praise as one not devoting himself to such ‘low arts’ (tiracchāna-vijjā). Despite this, in practically all Buddhist cultures, monks officiate as advisers to the laity and employ techniques of divination. In south-east Asia the use of horoscopes is widespread among Buddhists, and they are known in Burma as sadā, and as cata in northern Thailand. In the Buddhism of Tibet and central Asia, indigenous shamanistic practices were incorporated with only superficial modifications, and in China a complete system of astrology and divination based on the Book of Changes (I-ching) found an accommodation within Buddhism.

[Gk. astrologos]

Students of the study of the purported influence of the stars on our lives profess to see evidence of astrological thinking in their reading of Celtic myth, but there is scant verbal evidence in early texts to demonstrate the widespread practice of astrology. The Irish term néladóir, ‘cloud diviner’, may be synonymous with ‘astrologer’. Another Irish word, astralaíoch, is borrowed from the Greek. Reflecting Christian attitudes towards astrology, Scottish Gaelic speuradaireachd may also mean ‘swearing loudly’ or ‘blasphemy’. Manx planartys; Welsh sêr-ddewiniaeth, astroleg; Breton hudsteredoniezh. See also DIVINATION.

---

Defining early modern astrology is a thorny issue. The early modern distinction between "natural" and "judicial" astrology, still widely used among scholars, served to express moral and religious qualifications. Hence, its meaning was highly localized. A more useful starting point is obtained from astrology's status as an academic discipline, which endowed it with more universal pedagogical narratives. Following Hellenistic and Arabic antecedents, Italian professors such as Peter of Abano (1257–c. 1315) distinguished between a "science of motions" and a "science of judgments." While this distinction roughly mirrors that between our "astronomy" and "astrology," a closer look reveals important overlaps. For instance, late medieval astronomical textbooks often included considerations of the distances and size of celestial bodies, astrological aspects, planetary conjunctions, eclipses, and lunar mansions. It is therefore best to approach late medieval astrology as a "science of the stars" that comprised both celestial motions and judgments. Paraphrasing Gervasius Marstaller (1549), we might define our topic as follows: "Astrology aims at predicting and/or studying the power of celestial bodies on earth and measures their positions by means of astronomy."

This definition reflects astrology's position within the disciplinary hierarchies of the late medieval university. The emphasis on prediction reveals the simple fact that astrology was mostly taught as an auxiliary tool for medical prognosis. A practical ability to calculate astronomical data and assess concomitant celestial effects was widely expected from medical graduates. The reference to a more "theoretical" study of celestial effects reflects the pervasive influence of Aristotelian logic, epistemology, and physics, which was institutionalized in the arts faculties. Just like medical physiological textbooks, most introductions to astrology (typically Ptolemy or Alcabitius) sought to express basic parameters like planetary effects, or the nature of zodiacal signs, in terms of Aristotle's four manifest qualities (hot, cold, wet, dry). When this proved unconvincing, astrological effects were counted as "influences," based on "occult qualities": one could perceive their results on earth, but not their manifest action in the celestial bodies. This did not necessarily undermine astrology's academic status. Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly (1350–1420), for instance, promoted a "concordance of astrology and theology" that proved highly successful in several universities.

Many developments in the early modern period can be interpreted as attempts to safeguard astrology's status as it branched out beyond the university. Most academic astrologers were trained to perform a wide range of astrological tasks: they discussed large-scale predictions (mundane astrology), individual fates (natal astrology), or even particular events (horary astrology, subdivided into elections and interrogations). Courts and local town authorities increasingly drew upon political astrological consulting in the late Middle Ages. Beginning in the 1470s, print technology brought these political particulars to a wider, predominantly urban, audience through a new astrological genre: the annual prognostication. The propagandistic value of such initiatives contributed to the formation of close alliances between prognosticators and court culture in Italy, France, Germany, Poland, and the Low Countries in the late fifteenth century.

Such alliances proved to be a liability in times of political or religious crisis. The self-fulfillment of popular prognostications, and their ability to stir unrest, provoked several astrological debates, where both prognosticators and their university learning came under attack. Undoubtedly the most influential example of such criticism was Giovanni Pico's massive Disputations against Divinatory Astrology (1494). By the early sixteenth century, humanistic astrologers in both Italy and northern Europe addressed the Piconian challenge through reform proposals. These were often, but not exclusively, directed at the courtly audience that supported the rise of the prognosticators.

In the course of the sixteenth century, astrological reformers accomplished two significant feats. By advocating a return to ancient, mostly Ptolemaic astrology, they inaugurated a departure from the Arabic traditions that dominated the late medieval "science of judgments." And by tackling both astronomical and astrological reform, they legitimized a gradual change in the definition of astronomy. For example, it is now becoming clear that the astronomical innovations of Nicolaus Copernicus, Tycho Brahe, and Johannes Kepler can be interpreted within the framework of Pico's attack. Their reversal of the traditional subordination of mathematics to natural philosophy seems to flow from an attempt to rescue the physical basis of astrology. Likewise, educational reformers like Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560) strongly emphasized astrology as a part of physics.

This development also provoked a gradual separation of the "science of motions" and "science of judgments." Although Copernican astronomy also presented theological challenges, these were easier to negotiate than the social and religious problems of astrological judgment. As a result, reformers gradually abandoned public astrological predictions: first horary astrology, then natal astrology, and finally weather prediction and some forms of medical astrology. Likewise, "astrological" prediction was gradually ousted from official university curricula. After the 1560s, and well into the second half of the seventeenth century, Catholic and Protestant church authorities issued numerous condemnations of "judicial" or "superstitious" astrology. The "science of motions," on the other hand, was flourishing. It is important to realize that this emerging "astronomy" retained several astrological interests, such as the nature of the heavens, the size and distance of celestial bodies, and the origins of comets.

The pace at which such changes occurred depended on local circumstances. In England, central licensing through the Stationers Company (1603), the absence of strong academic links, and the subsequent explosion of astrological consulting during the Civil War propelled astrological reform projects into the late eighteenth century. Possibly due to local academic structures, Italian medical astrology also seems to have enjoyed a longer lease on life than elsewhere on the Continent. In the seventeenth century, influential astrologers Simon Forman, William Lilly, and Jean-Baptiste Morin remained highly visible, while astrological almanacs even outsold the Bible.

But although extraordinary phenomena like eclipses (1652, 1654) or comets (1664–1665) still provoked general unease, a gradual popularization of astrology occurred in the second half of the seventeenth century. The new royal scientific societies rejected astrology from their research agendas. The upper class no longer found its way to reputed astrological practitioners by the late seventeenth century. After 1650, ecclesiastics and university physicians increasingly left the writing of popular almanacs to surveyors, engineers, or local teachers. Their products became increasingly pseudonymous or anonymous, showed a rapid decline in astrological content, and were mainly distributed in rural areas by peddlers. By the early eighteenth century, the middle class and the nobility were closing ranks in the condemnation of an "irrational" astrology, which, at the same time, became socially innocuous. Paradoxically, this situation may have contributed to the survival of local pockets of astrological beliefs, both "traditional" (such as Ebenezer Sibly) and "modernized" (for example, among British colonial army doctors).

Bibliography

Curry, Patrick. Prophecy and Power: Astrology in Early Modern England. Princeton, 1989. Innovative in its systematic focus on the social and political meaning of seventeenth-century astrology, but with a somewhat narrow selection of relevant backgrounds.

Grafton, Anthony. Cardano's Cosmos: The Worlds and Works of a Renaissance Astrologer. Cambridge, Mass., 1999. An entertaining introduction to Italian astrology in the Renaissance.

Harrison, Mark. "From Medical Astrology to Medical Astronomy: Sol-lunar and Planetary Theories of Disease in British Medicine, c. 1700–1850." British Journal for the History of Science 33 (2000): 25–48.

Smoller, Laura Ackerman. History, Prophecy, and the Stars: The Christian Astrology of Pierre d'Ailly, 1350–1420. Princeton, 1994.

Thomas, Keith. Religion and the Decline of Magic. New York, 1971.

vanden Broecke, Steven. The Limits of Influence: Pico, Louvain, and the Crisis of Renaissance Astrology. Leiden, 2003. Investigates the links between astrological practice in the university, court, and city, and the implications for elite astrology, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.

Westman, Robert S. "Copernicus and the Prognosticators: The Bologna Period, 1496–1500." Universitas 5 (1993): 1–5.

—STEVEN VANDEN BROECKE

The art of divining the fate or future of persons from the juxtaposition of the Sun, Moon, and planets. Judicial astrology foretells the destinies of individuals and nations, while Natural astrology predicts changes of weather and the influence of the stars upon natural things.

The characters used in astrology to denote the 12 signs represent natural objects, but they have also a hieroglyphic or esoteric meaning that has been lost. The figure of Aries represents the head and horns of a ram; that of Taurus, the head and horns of a bull; that of Leo, the head and mane of a lion; that of Gemini, two persons standing together; and so on. The physical or astronomical reasons for the adoption of these figures is explained by the Abbé Pluche in his Histoire du Ciel (1739-41), and Charles F. Dupuis, in his Abrégé de l'Origine de tous les Cultes (1798), endeavors to establish the principles of an astro-mythology by tracing the progress of the moon through the 12 signs in a series of adventures he compares with the wanderings of Isis.

Nativities

Traditionally, the cases for which astrological predictions have chiefly been sought were nativities, that is, in ascertaining the fate and fortunes of individuals from the positions of the stars at the time of birth, and in questions called horary, which comprehend almost every matter that might be the subject of astrological inquiry. Sickness, the success of business undertakings, the outcome of lawsuits, and so on are all objects of horary questions.

A person is said to be born under that planet that ruled the hour of his birth. Thus two hours every day are under the control of Saturn; the first hour after sunrise on Saturday is one of them. Therefore, a person born on Saturday in the first hour after sunrise has Saturn for the lord of his or her ascendant; those born in the next hour, Jupiter; and so on in order. Venus rules the first hour on Friday, Mercury on Wednesday, Jupiter on Thursday, the Sun and Moon on Sunday and Monday, and Mars on Tuesday.

In drawing a nativity or natal chart (horoscope) a figure is divided into 12 portions representing the astrological houses. The 12 houses are similar to the 12 astrological signs, and the planets, being always in the zodiac, will therefore all fall within these 12 divisions or houses. The line that separates any house from the preceding is called the cusp of the house. The first house is called the ascendant, or the east angle; the fourth, the imum coeli, or the north angle; the seventh, the west angle; and the tenth, the medium coeli, or the south angle. After this figure is drawn, tables and directions are given for placing the signs, and because one house corresponds to a particular sign, the rest can also be determined. When the signs and planets are all placed in the houses, the astrologer can augur, from their relative position, what influence they will have on the life and fortunes of the native.

History of Astrology in the West

The precise origin of astrology is lost to history, but its practice appears to have developed independently in both China and Mesopotamia, and was quite known early in India. One of the most remarkable astrological treatises of all history is the fabulous Bhrigu-Samhita of ancient India, said to contain formulas for ascertaining the names of all individuals, past, present, and future, and their destinies. Unlike popular Western astrology, the key to a Bhrigu consultation is not the birth sign and conjunction of planets, but the moment of consultation of the oracle.

Marco Polo found astrology well established in China, although Chinese astrology developed apart from Western history and only recently has been imported into the West. Western astrology seems to have originated in Mesopotamia, and all of the cultures of ancient Iraq and Iran contributed to its creation. Among the earliest records of astrology are the cuneiform tablets from the library of King Ashurbanipal of Assyria (669-626B.C.E.). Astrologers were making periodic reports to Ashurbanipal on such matters as the possibility of war and the probable size of the harvest. Astrology had been present in the region for at least a millennium but was given a distinctive boost by the Chaldeans who took over the Tigris and Euphrates valleys in 606 B.C.E. The Chaldeans mapped the sky, improved the methods for recording the passing of time, successfully predicted eclipses, and accurately determined the length of the solar year (within 26 minutes).

Thus astrology was well developed in Chaldea when (in the second millennium B.C.E.) the biblical Abraham migrated from Ur of the Chaldees (Gen. 11:31) to Palestine. The conflict between the emerging religions of the Israelites and Babylonian astrology can be seen in Isa. 47:13 and repeatedly in the book of Daniel (e.g. 2:27, 4:7). A primitive astrology had developed among the Greeks, but during the conquests of Alexander in the West beginning in 334 B.C.E. Chaldean astrology flowed into the Mediterranean basin. Alexander's conquests also introduced astrology into India, although the Indians took the Chaldean notions and developed them in a unique direction.

In Egyptian tradition the invention of astrology is attributed to Thoth (called Hermes Trismegistus by the Greek), the god of wisdom, learning, and literature. He is the Mercury of the Romans, the eloquent deliverer of the messages of the gods.

In imperial Rome astrology was held in great repute, especially under the reign of Tiberius (14-37 C.E.). Augustus (27 B.C.E.-14 C.E.) had discouraged the practice of astrology by banishing its practitioners from Rome, but his successors recalled them; and although occasional edicts in subsequent reigns restrained and even punished all who divined by the stars, the practices of the astrologers were secretly encouraged and their predictions extensively believed. Domitian (51-96 C.E.), in spite of his hostility toward them, was in fear of their pronouncements. They prophesied the year, the hour, and the manner of his death, and agreed with his father in foretelling that he should perish not by poison, but by the dagger. The early Christians gave some sanction to astrology in the Gospel of Matthew, which opens with the visit of the three magi (Persian astrologers) who, having seen the star in the east, have come to worship Christ.

After the age of the Antonines and the work of the third-century C.E. Roman scholar Censorinus, we hear little of astrology for some generations. In the eighth century the Venerable Bede and his distinguished scholar, Alcuin, are said to have pursued this mystic study. Immediately following, the Arabians revived and encouraged it. Under the patronage of Almaimon, in the year 827, the Megale Syntaxis of Ptolemy was translated, under the title Almagest, by al-Hazen Ben Yusseph. Albumasar added to this work, and the astral science continued to receive new force from the labors of Alfraganus, Ebennozophim, Alfaragius, and Geber.

The conquest of Spain by the Moors carried this knowledge, with all their other treasures of learning, into Spain, and before their cruel expulsion it was naturalized among the Christian savants. Among these Alonzo (or Alfonso) of Castile has immortalized himself by his scientific research, and the Jewish and Christian doctors who arranged the tables named for him were convened from all the accessible parts of civilized Europe. Five years were employed in their discussion, and it has been said that the enormous sum of 400,000 ducats was disbursed in the towers of the Alcazar of Galiana in the adjustment and correction of Ptolemy's calculations. Nor was it only the physical motions of the stars that occupied this grave assembly. The two Kabbalistic volumes, yet existing in cipher, in the royal library of the kings of Spain, and which tradition assigns to Alonzo himself, indicate a more visionary study. In spite of the denunciations against this orthodoxy, which were thundered in his ears on the authority of Tertullian, Basil, and Bonaventure, the fearless monarch gave his sanction to such masters as practiced the art of divination by the stars, and in one part of his code enrolled astrology among the seven liberal sciences.

In Germany many eminent men pursued astrology. A long catalog could be made of those who have considered other sciences with reference to astrology and written on them as such. Faust has, of course, the credit of being an astrologer as well as a wizard, and we find that singular but splendid genius, Cornelius Agrippa writing with as much zeal against astrology as on behalf of other occult sciences.

Of the early developments in astrology in England little is known. Bede and Alcuin have been mentioned. Roger Bacon included it among his broad studies. But it is the period of the Stuarts that can be considered the acme of astrology in England. Then William Lilly employed the doctrine of the magical circle, engaged in the evocation of spirits from the Ars Notoria and used the form of prayer prescribed therein to the angel Salmonoeus, and entertained among his familiar acquaintance the guardian spirits of England, Salmael and Malchidael. His ill success with the divining rod induced him to surrender the pursuit of rhabdomancy.

The successor of Lilly was Henry Coley, a tailor, who had been his amanuensis and was almost as successful in prophecy as his master.

While astrology flourished in England it was in high repute with its kindred pursuits of magic, necromancy, and alchemy at the court of France. Catherine de Medicis herself was an adept in the art. At the Revolution, which commenced a new era in France, astrology declined.

Modern Astrology

Astrology has now permeated every activity of modern life, from daily household activities to politics and stock market speculation. Leading names that have emerged in the astrology revival include Luke D. Broughton, Evangeline Adams, Manly Palmer Hall, Elbert Benjamine Heindel, and Llewellyn George. More recently, figures have included Sydney Omarr, Jeane Dixon, "Zolar" (Bruce King), "Ophiel," andSybil Leek. Also still popular in its various editions is the mass circulation almanac of "Old Moore," which first appeared nearly three centuries ago.

The psychologist C. G. Jung related astrology to "synchronicity," an acausal connecting principle in nature (as distinct from normal cause and effect), and believed that horoscopes offered useful psychological information on patients. Astrology was widely used during World War II as a psychological weapon by both Germans and British.

The most noticeable aspect of the occult revival of modern times has been the widespread popularity of astrology, particularly among young people. It is estimated that there are more than ten thousand professional astrologers in the United States, with a clientele of more than twenty million people. Most American newspapers run an astrology column. Even the respected Washington Post includes a horoscope column.

In 1988 the revelations of former White House Chief of Staff Donald T. Regan (in his book For the Record) caused widespread media comment with the claim that Nancy Reagan consulted astrologers on questions relating to presidential schedules of her husband, Ronald Reagan. Joan Quigley was cited as her astrological consultant. Caroline Casey, daughter of a former congressman, was also revealed as a leading astrologer to politicians, high-ranking officials, and Georgetown socialites.

None of this would be surprising to Indian and other Asian celebrities, since the astrologer is still an indispensable figure in Asian society, consulted on marriage dates and partnerships, business enterprises, and affairs of state. But the extent of American involvement with astrology surprised and infuriated many commentators, who condemned "occult superstitions." In May 1988, testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, Donald Regan was asked whether he had ever heard of American stockholders using astrology for guidance. He replied, "Recently a study was made of Wall Street people and stockholders—and 48 percent admitted that they used astrology of one sort or another in the stock market."

One astrologer responded, "What's new? Queen Elizabeth I set her coronation date by her guy, John Dee, and consulted him every day. Kings have always used us—and popes! Some of those guys were do-it-yourselfers, like Fixtus IV and Julius II. Others just kept their astrologers in the closet, like Nancydid."

There has been little new to add to popular belief in astrology in the present revival except its linking with modern technology in the use of an IBM computer for rapid calculation of horoscopes. For some time the giant Astroflash computer was a familiar sight to commuters at the Lexington Avenue entrance to Grand Central Station, New York.

In spite of its pseudoscientific basis, deriving from outmoded theories of the planetary system, astrology can point to documented successes, particularly by astrologers who combine their calculations with an intuitive faculty of interpretation. There is also scientific evidence for the influence of lunar and solar rhythms on human activity.

One interesting development in modern astrology has been the research of the French statistician Michel Gauquelin and his wife Francosise Gauquelin, beginning in 1950. They claimed to find a significant correlation between the position of planets at birth and the chosen professions of a large sample of people from all walks of life. The research of the Gauquelins, whose collaboration lasted until 1980, is so significant that it is the most frequently cited research validating astrology.

Sources:

Collins, Rodney. The Theory of Celestial Influence. London: Stuart & Watkins, 1955.

Eisler, Robert. The Royal Art of Astrology. London: Herbert Joseph, 1946.

Gauquelin, Michel. The Cosmic Clocks. Chicago: Henry Regnery, 1967.

——. Cosmic Influences on Human Behavior: The Planetary Factors in Personality. New York: Stein & Day, 1973. Rev. ed. New York: ASI Publishers, 1978.

——. Dreams and Illusions of Astrology. Buffalo, N.Y.: Prometheus Books, 1978. Reprint, London: Glover & Blair, 1980.

——. Scientific Basis of Astrology. New York: Stein & Day, 1969. Reprinted as Astrology and Science. London: P. Davies, 1970.

Hone, Margaret. Modern Textbook of Astrology. London: Fowler, 1951.

Howe, Ellic. Astrology & Psychological Warfare during World War II. London: Rider, 1972.

Kenton, Warren. Astrology: The Celestial Mirror. London: Thames & Hudson, 1974.

Lee, Dal. Dictionary of Astrology. New York: Warner, 1968.

Leo, Alan. Casting the Horoscope. London: Fowler, 1969.

Lewis, James R. The Astrology Encyclopedia. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994.

McIntosh, Christopher. The Astrologers and their Creed. London: Praeger, 1969.

Rudhyar, Dane. From Humanistic to Transpersonal Astrology. Seed Center, 1975.

Sachs, Gunter. The Astrology File. London: Orion, 1998.

Thompson, C. J. S. The Mystery and Romance of Astrology. London, 1929. Reprint, Detroit: Singing Tree Press, 1969. Reprint, New York: Causeway, 1973.

A study of the positions and relationships of the sun, moon, stars, and planets in order to judge their influence on human actions. Astrology, unlike astronomy, is not a scientific study and has been much criticized by scientists. (See zodiac.)

Anyone who has taken even the most casual interest in astrology will have noticed that, contrary to all common sense, it seems to work. That is to say, the personal characteristics that are supposed to be governed by the 'sun signs' often appear curiously accurate. People born under Aries (between 21 March and 19 April) are supposed to have drive and enterprise; Tauruses are supposed to be practical and stubborn; Geminis clever but changeable; Cancers home-lovers with a tendency to oversensitivity; Leos dominant extroverts with a touch of egoism; Virgos hard workers who are obsessed by detail; Libras charmers who know how to get their own way; and so on. And most of us can, without much trouble, recall acquaintances who are typical Leos, Cancers, Geminis, etc.

Scientifically speaking, of course, this proves nothing; the sceptic can always point to untidy Virgos, modest Leos, timid Aries. Yet it is not difficult to feel that the 'hits' are striking enough to be worth closer investigation. In a case like this, the obviously sensible method is statistical — how many people can be shown to fit their astrological 'type'? In the early years of this century, a Frenchman, Paul Choisnard, tried the statistical approach, and his work inspired a Swiss mathematician, Karl Ernst Krafft, to even more ambitious efforts. Emphasizing his strictly scientific approach, Krafft preferred to call the subject 'astrobiology'; his immense Traité d'astro-biologie appeared (in French) in 1939; but the times were unpropitious, and it attracted little attention. It was Krafft who, in a letter of 2 November 1939 (to a member of Himmler's Secret Intelligence Service), predicted that Hitler's life would be in danger between the 7th and 10th of the month — he specifically mentioned 'assassination by explosive material'. When Hitler narrowly escaped death in the Munich beer cellar — he had just left when the bomb exploded — on 8 November 1939, Krafft's prediction was remembered and he was brought to Berlin. For a while he became a kind of semi-official astrologer to Himmler, but soon fell out of favour, and died in a concentration camp.

Krafft had attempted to 'prove' astrology by examining the birth certificates of thousands of professional men — he concentrated on musicians — and trying to show that their temperament corresponded to their sun sign. In 1950, a Sorbonne-trained statistician and psychologist, Michel Gauquelin, became interested in Krafft's Traité, and fed its results into a computer. His conclusion was that Krafft was deceiving himself when he believed his figures proved anything — he had allowed himself too much leeway of interpretation. Gauquelin's book, Songes et mensonges de l'astrologie (1969), was a scathing attack on astrology, as its title (Dreams and Delusions of Astrology) indicates. Yet the unsatisfactoriness of Krafft's experimental method led Gauquelin to devise a few simple tests of his own.

He concentrated his analysis on two straightforward questions. The first was whether astrologers are correct in stating that people born under 'odd' signs of the zodiac — Aries, Gemini, Leo, Libra, Sagittarius, Aquarius — tend to be extroverts, while those born under even signs — Taurus, Cancer, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn, Pisces — are likely to be introverts (see extroversion/introversion). The second question was whether a person's choice of profession is in any way governed by the planet that is in the ascendant (coming up over the horizon) at the moment of birth.

Greatly to his surprise, the evidence in both cases was positive. The tests were repeated many times, in four European countries, and the results continued to favour these assertions of astrology. Professor H. J. Eysenck was asked to check the results. He agreed, apparently with the expectation that they would prove to be invalid, and was equally surprised to find that they were positive.

The method used by Gauquelin — and later by Eysenck (and two associates, Jeff Mayo and A. White) — was as follows. Certain professions were chosen — sports champions, actors, scientists — and their birth certificates consulted for the exact time of birth (which is recorded on the Continent, though not in Britain). The subjects were 'famous' — to be found in reference books — and the numbers ran into thousands.

Astrologers believe that the 'rising sign' (the sign coming up over the horizon at the moment of birth) and the rising planet are of basic importance in governing the subject's temperament. Gauquelin's computer analysis seemed to show that three other positions were equally important: directly overhead, sinking below the horizon, and directly underfoot — the four quarters of the heavens, as it were. The findings were perfectly clear. Sportsmen tended to be born when Mars was in one of these critical positions, actors when Jupiter was there, and scientists (and doctors) when Saturn was there. Eysenck (1979) states: 'The results were extremely clear-cut and so significant statistically that there is no question whatsoever that the effects were not produced by chance.' But Eysenck, like Gauquelin, is careful to state that he does not consider these results 'prove' astrology; rather, he says, they should be regarded as the possible foundation of a new science of astrobiology.

Now there can be no possible doubt that astrology, as traditionally practised, is a pseudoscience. Early astrology — as practised by the Sumerians and Babylonians — was a jumble of old wives' tales. 'When a yellow dog enters a palace there will be destruction in its gates,' says a Babylonian text; 'When the planet Mercury approaches Aldebaran the king of Elam will die,' says another; and the two assertions sound equally absurd. But they are no more embarrassingly silly than modern popular books on astrology with titles like Love Signs and The Stars and You. How, then, is it possible to take seriously any 'science' that asserts a connection between 'the stars' and human destiny?

It must first be noted that the stars, as such, play no part in astrology. Because they are 'fixed', they can be used as reference points for the positions of the planets — that is to say, they could be regarded as the figures around the face of a clock, while the planets are the hands. It is the bodies in our own solar system that are believed to exert forces upon the earth, which, in turn, exerts forces on human beings. How? Astrology has never been concerned with this question, but Gauquelin suggests that the answer lies in the earth's magnetic field. In 1962, Y. Rocard, professor of physics at the Sorbonne, conducted an investigation into the claims of water-diviners, and demonstrated that the dowser's muscles react to weak changes in terrestrial magnetism caused by underground water, and that a capacity for detecting extremely small magnetic gradients is surprisingly common among human beings. It has long been widely accepted that the moon can produce emotional tension — hence 'lunatics' — and the statistical evidence has been documented by Arnold Lieber (1978). Leonard J. Ravitz, of the Virginia Department of Health, investigated the influence of moon cycles on mental patients in the late 1950s and found that the difference in electrical potential between the head and chest is greater in mental patients than in normal people, and increases at the full moon. In the late 1930s, Maki Takata of Tokyo discovered that when there is high sunspot activity, the 'flocculation index' — the rate at which albumin curdles in the blood — rises abruptly. It also rises before dawn, as the blood responds to the rising sun. At about the same time, Harold Burr of Yale observed that the electric field produced by living creatures — trees, for example — varied with the seasons, as well as with the cycles of the moon and sunspot activities.

So the basic medical facts may seem to be fairly well established. It may also be worth mentioning the discovery of John H. Nelson, an electronics engineer, that most magnetic storms (causing radio interference) occur when two or more planets are in conjunction, or at angles of 180 or 90 degrees from the sun. This seems to establish a foundation for a science of astrobiology; what still remains to be discovered is how forces of terrestrial magnetism could influence a human being to the extent of predisposing him to one profession or another — or even what regular monthly cycle could possibly determine whether a person is introverted or extroverted.

I should emphasize that I am not now asserting that the claims of astrology must somehow be 'reduced' to a series of statements about the influence of magnetic fields on animal organisms. Even a sceptical historian of astrology like Ellic Howe (1967) concedes that a 'good astrologer' can produce results of astounding accuracy — describing not only a person's temperament, but the pattern of his life. Similarly, anyone who has ever investigated dowsing will feel that the dowser's powers of detection — of other substances besides water — go far beyond the results obtained by Rocard. When the old wives' tales have been sifted out, there still seems to be more to explain than science is at present willing to admit. Modern computer analysis of structures like Stonehenge, the stones of Karnak, and the Great Pyramid suggests that their original purpose was connected with astronomy, which in turn suggests that our neolithic ancestors (the outer ditch of Stonehenge was constructed about 2900 bc) had a far more precise knowledge of astronomy than we give them credit for. Incised reindeer bones dating back 20,000 years earlier still suggest that Cro-Magnon man went to the trouble of tabulating the phases of the moon. It is difficult to imagine why, unless our ancestors possessed their own primitive science of 'astrobiology' — undoubtedly involved with magic and religious ritual — which later degenerated into traditional astrology.

Eysenck has said: 'At the moment the only feedback that most research workers in the field get is to be shouted down by both sides — by the astrologers for daring to have any doubts, and by the scientists for daring to look at the alleged phenomena of planetary influences on humankind at all.' But this statement in itself indicates that some of the investigations he wishes to see are already beginning to take place.

(Published 1987)

— Colin Wilson

Bibliography
• Burr, H. S. (1972). Blueprint for Immortality: The Electric Patterns of Life.
• Eysenck, H. J. (1979). 'Astrology — science or superstition?' Encounter, December.
• Gauquelin, M. (1967). The Cosmic Clocks.
• Howe, E. (1967). Urania's Children: The Strange World of the Astrologers.
• Lieber, A. L. (1978). The Lunar Effect: Biological Tides and Human Emotions.
• Lindsay, J. (1971). Origins of Astrology.
• Marshack, A. (1972). The Roots of Civilization.

---

IN BRIEF: n. - Someone who predicts the future by the positions of the planets and sun and moon..

There was a time when the most powerful of human intellects were deluded by the gibberish of the astrologer and the alchemist — Thomas Babington, Lord Macaulay, Source: Critical and Historical Essays, Vol 2, Sir James Mackintosh

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

Quotes:

"Faithful horoscope-watching, practiced daily, provides just the sort of small but warm and infinitely reassuring fillip that gets matters off to a spirited start." - Shana Alexander

"The stars which shone over Babylon and the stable in Bethlehem still shine as brightly over the Empire State Building and your front yard today. They perform their cycles with the same mathematical precision, and they will continue to affect each thing on earth, including man, as long as the earth exists." - Linda Goodman

"We need not feel ashamed of flirting with the zodiac. The zodiac is well worth flirting with." - D. H. Lawrence

"You stars that reigned at my nativity, whose influence hath allotted death and hell." - Christopher Marlowe

"Look you, Doubloon, your zodiac here is the life of man in one round chapter. To begin: there's Aries, or the Ram -- lecherous dog, he begets us; then, Taurus, or the Bull -- he bumps us the first thing; then Gemini, or the Twins -- that is, Virtue and Vice; we try to reach Virtue, when lo! comes Cancer the Crab, and drags us back; and here, going from Virtue, Leo, a roaring Lion, lies in the path -- he gives a few fierce bites and surly dabs with his paw; we escape, and hail Virgo, the virgin! that's our first love; we marry and think to be happy for aye, when pop comes Libra, or the Scales -- happiness weighed and found wanting; and while we are very sad about that, Lord! how we suddenly jump, as Scorpio, or the Scorpion, stings us in rear; we are curing the wound, when come the arrows all round; Sagittarius, or the Archer, is amusing himself. As we pluck out the shafts, stand aside! here's the battering-ram, Capricornus, or the Goat; full tilt, he comes rushing, and headlong we are tossed; when Aquarius, or the Waterbearer, pours out his whole deluge and drowns us; and, to wind up, with Pisces, or the Fishes, we sleep." - Herman Melville

"This is the excellent foppery of the world: that when we are sick in fortune -- often the surfeits of our own behavior -- we make guilty of our disasters the sun, the moon, and stars, as if we were villains on necessity, fools by heavenly compulsion, knaves, thieves, and treachers by spherical predominance, drunkards, liars, and adulterers by an enforced obedience of planetary influence. An admirable evasion of whoremaster man, to lay his goatish disposition on the charge of a star!" - William Shakespeare

See more famous quotes about Astrology

Astrology is the study or science of the stars. Often derided as medieval superstition, it nevertheless continues to fascinate the human mind. In fact, polls indicate that its popularity is growing.

Most people are familiar with only a tiny portion of the vast subject of astrology, namely, the twelve signs of the zodiac as they relate to the personality of individuals and the use of astrology for divinatory purposes. The Zodiac (literally, "circle of animals") is the "belt" constituted by the twelve signs: Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius. Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces. The notion of the zodiac is very ancient, with roots in the early citied cultures of Mesopotamia.

The connection between astrology and dreams has been tentatively explored by a few astrologers. One would anticipate that natives of various signs would have more dreams related to the central themes of their sun sign (the sign the sun is in when one is born) than natives of other signs. For example, Cancers should have more dreams about eating, Sagittarians more dreams about long-distance journeys, Scorpios more dreams about sex, and so on.

Also, the moon is thought to be associated with the subconscious mind, which, if depth psychologists are correct, is the source of our dreams. Thus, dreamers should have more vivid, or perhaps more psychologically significant, dreams during a full moon. The water signs are related to the astral plane-the level of the cosmos on which it is said that we dream. Hence, dreams should play a larger role in the lives of natives with a predominance of water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces) or with key planets located in the three houses corresponding to these signs-the fourth, eighth, and twelfth houses.

---

For a list of words related to astrologer, see:

• Occupations and Job Titles
• Individuals and Objects - astrologer: practitioner of astrology and stargazing

---

See words rhyming with "astrologer."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Astrologer.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - astrologi, stjernetydning

Nederlands (Dutch)
astrologie

Français (French)
n. - astrologie

Deutsch (German)
n. - Astrologie, Sterndeuterei

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αστρολογία

Italiano (Italian)
astrologia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - astrologia (f)

Русский (Russian)
астрология

Español (Spanish)
n. - astrología

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - astrologi

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
占星术, 占星学

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 占星術, 占星學

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 점성학[술], 천문학

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 占星術

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) علم التنجيم‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮אסטרולוגיה‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.