by Jon Stevens
Where
did astrology come from? When did it start? How were they able to
figure it all out just from watching the skies? Is it science, art,
or superstition? These are some of the questions asked by newcomers
to astrology. It may seem difficult to understand how so elaborate a
system for predicting earthly events could have been devised, yet it
becomes more understandable when you realize this ancient study has
been in the making for thousands of years.
Astrology has been around
just about as long as Man has. Unquestionably, it is our oldest known
science. Ever since prehistoric Man drew correlations between the
movement of the heavens and what was happening on earth, astrology
has been in use. To our earliest ancestors, astrology was more than a
trivial pursuit or an interesting way to pass the time; it was a
matter of survival. Because no calendar had been devised, prehistoric
Man's only reference to time was what he saw in the heavens.
Recognizing the shift in constellations, he could easily tell the
time of year. The heavens pointed out for him the right times for
planting, harvesting and hunting. If there was a sudden change in
weather, he relied on heavenly signs to tell him whether it was a
passing event or if a change of season had begun. Knowing the correct
time to migrate to warmer or colder climates was of vital importance
to most tribal and nomadic cultures.
Somewhere along the line,
one of the more astute ancient stargazers noticed that within the
framework of the fixed constellations, there were a few celestial
lights that moved independently. These were, of course, the planets,
but early Man regarded them as "wandering stars" or as
gods. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, being visible to the
naked eye, held untold fascination for our early forefathers. Not
knowing the true cause of the moving lights, the ancients believed
they witnessed the passage of deities through the heavens. When these
deities moved to a certain part of the sky, it was found that certain
things tended to happen in people's lives. This belief was bolstered
by the fact that when the deity later returned to the same part of
the sky, the same types of events happened again. Thus, Man learned
to recognize the cycles shown in the heavens, and predictive
astrology came into being.
This type of
astrology— that of visually observing the passage of the planets
through the heavens— was practiced by ancient peoples for
thousands of years. Astrological charts up to this time were
rudimentary compared to modern charts and consisted primarily of
calculations for the movement of planets through the constellations.
One of the earliest contributors to the formation of a chart system
was Rameses II. Around 1250 B.C., he fixed the cardinal points Aries,
Libra, Cancer and Capricorn, each signifying the beginning of a
season. Thereafter, significant advances, especially in the area of
formulating accurate ephemerides, were added due to the efforts of
Persian, Egyptian, Babylonian and Greek astrologers.
From the first centuries
A.D. down through the Middle Ages, astrology underwent a tremendous
evolution. Great astrological thinkers such as Ptolemy, St.
Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Pope Julius III, Pope Sixtus IV,
Copernicus, Sir Isaac Newton, Nostradamus, Johannes Kepler and
William Lily, to name a few, each made their contributions to advance
the science. Up to Medieval times, astrology was used primarily to
predict events of general significance such as political and
sociological trends, natural disasters, times of abundance or
scarcity, etc. As the science progressed and became more refined,
however, the practice of drawing individual horoscopes became more
and more common.
In the eighteenth,
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, great advances were made due to
the development of larger and better telescopes. The discoveries of
Uranus in 1781 and Neptune in 1846 led to the development of a more
complete astrological system.
In the twentieth century,
the science continued to evolve by leaps and bounds, due mainly to
advancements in astronomical equipment and techniques. The discovery
of Pluto in 1930 ushered in a new era of discovery which has
continued to the present. Numerous distant stars and galaxies, over
2000 asteroids, hundreds of comets and meteoroids have all been
identified and catalogued. Images and data from NASA's Mariner
and Voyager
probes have provided invaluable knowledge about the planets and our
solar system. This improved data on the physical properties of stars
and planets (i.e., their composition, atmospheric conditions,
temperature, etc.) has helped astrologers better understand what
their influences might be.
Astrology represents the
observations of astrologers, scholars, mathematicians, and learned
men and women for well over six thousand years. It is a study a based
on empirical knowledge, that is, on what has been observed in the
heavens. The things that most astrologers agree upon as true
generally come about as a consensus of opinion formed from many
different sources over a long period of time. How it works or why it
works has been a subject of speculation since its beginnings. In
ancient times, it was thought that a power or will proceeded from the
heavenly lights themselves. In modern times, it has been suggested
that the gravitational pull of the sun, moon and planets somehow
changes the earth's electro-magnetic field, or that the
electro-magnetic fields of the planets, sun, and moon interact with
each other to produce effects in endless combinations. It's easy too
see how the moon affects us with its pull on the tides or in a
heightening of our emotions during its fullest phase. The sun too, as
the cause of weather changes and the seasons, not to mention its
distinction as the source of all earthly life, leaves us with effects
that cannot be denied. Is it so great a leap in logic to suppose that
the planets, in more subtle, less noticeable ways, might affect us
also? As astrological knowledge continues to grow and evolve, we'll
discover the answers to these and other inquiries.
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© Jon
Stevens; all rights reserved.
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