A Brief History of Astrology

Early astrological systems were concerned with weather patterns, seasons and crops. Because early humans didn't understand the causes of things like eclipses or the retrograde movement of planets, they created stories, passed on for hundreds of generations, that tried to explain them in a context they understood. Shapes in the stars and the planets themselves became gods — or at least symbols of gods. Every ancient culture had some form of science/religion that was concerned with patterns of movement in the stars. At this point, astronomy and astrology were one and the same. Ancient scientists observed and recorded the patterns they saw in the sky (astronomy); then, they extrapolated those observations to fit their cosmology and life experiences (astrology).

The Mayan, Aztec and Inca cultures of South America had complex astrology's based on a zodiac of 20, including symbols like the jaguar, the earthquake, the ape, rain and the dog. These systems have not been passed on or incorporated into modern astrology because the civilizations themselves died out.

The Chinese had developed one of the most complex astrological systems by 1000 BC, with some characters in written Chinese languages corresponding to their constellations. This system combined 24 divisions of the year with a 28-part lunar zodiac, as well as 12 branches that correspond to an animal. Someone born in a given year is thought to have certain characteristics — for example, 2005 is the Year of the Rooster. In addition, each year has an element associated with it, further delineating someone's type as, say, a Fire Rooster or a Water Dragon.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, Jesuit missionaries brought western astrology to China, where it was incorporated to some extent into the traditional Chinese system. Today's Chinese astrology is a simplified system which only takes into account the animal years.

Current Chinese astrological chart

The western zodiac itself, the foundation of much of astrology, has followed a winding path before it became the system with which most of us are familiar. The Babylonians are usually credited with creating the basic system, assigning certain characteristics to the planets of which they were aware. These characteristics were based on the Babylonians' observations and their metaphorical ideas about what these observations meant. Because Mars, which they called Nergal, was observed to be red, and blood is red, they aligned Mars with war. Ishtar, or Venus, appearing in the early evening when lovers were likely to be outside spending time together, was made to represent love and fertility. Mercury, hard to spot and fast moving, was associated with deceit and speed.

This general system absorbed influences from the many cultures that populated the Mediterranean and Middle East thousands of years ago. The specific names for the modern western zodiac come from the Greeks. The word Zodiac itself comes from the Greek root word zoe, or life.

Science of the Stars

Astrology is one of the most ancient philosophies still in existence in this world. Some estimate it to be more than 3000 years old but recent study of more esoteric beliefs place it further back into the clouded past of human history. In ancient times, and up until today Astrology has been used to predict what happens to countries, the outcome of wars, economic trends and much more about personal course of actions as well.

Around the world, farmers know that for most crops, you plant in the spring and harvest in the fall. But in some regions, there is not much differentiation between the seasons. Since different constellations are visible at different times of the year, you can use them to tell what month it is. For example, Scorpios is only visible in the northern hemisphere's evening sky in the summer. Some historians suspect that many of the myths associated with the constellations were invented to help the farmers remember them. When they saw certain constellations, they would know it was time to begin the planting or the reaping. In course of time this dependence on the sky became a strong part of many cultures. Many nomadic tribes followed the night skies to move from one location to the other.

Horoscopes and astrology began with the ancient Greeks some thousands of years ago. They evolved the belief that the position of the sun and the planets also had an effect on a person's life and what future events would happen to them can be predicted based upon their location.

The word "astrology" is a Greek word that means "Science of the Stars". Astrology was used by the Chaldeans who lived in Babylon as early as 3000 BC. The people of China in Asia later became interested and began practicing Astrology. It is said that these people first noticed how the position of the sun influenced the seasons as well as the planting cycles of their agricultural practices.

Then, somewhere in the year of 500 BC, philosopher Plato used Astrology and studied it further. This kept it alive, and it continued to spread on through the ages. However, it took a downturn when Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to use a telescope in the 1500's. However, as time went by, astronomy once again took an upswing in popularity when it flourished in Egypt around the years of 300 BC. Then, during the Middle Ages, the practice of astrology quietly hid itself as the Christian Church became the predominant leading voice of the new world. It wasn't until the 1600's when an astrologer named William Lilly renamed astrology as being "Christian Astrology" in order to avoid the wrath of the Church and to make it more acceptable. This was instrumental in popularizing astrology and horoscopes of today.