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Planetry
Observation
The
planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn were all observed
in the night skies and their movements correlated with events on
earth. Eventually the pathways of the planets were called the Zodiac,
at around the time of the Greek civilisation in the 5th and 6th
Centuries BC. The behaviour of the planets and eclipses were noted
from high temples called Ziggurats.
Early
Astrology History
Early
predictions were of natural disasters and war, and later individual
horoscopes were cast for the leaders of countries.
Some
of these exist today. Astrology then spread towards India and China
and Egypt and Greece. Simultaneously, the early Europeans and the
people of the Americas were developing their own forms of Astrology
and Astronomy, particularly the Mayans of Mexico.
However,
the Greeks attributed their gods and goddesses to the planets and
then the Romans accepted that astrology was a form of divination,
and introduced the names we are familiar with today.
In
Alexandria, Ptolemy wrote the first books on astrology; the Almagest
and Tetrabiblios. These books describe how the earth is surrounded
by a power, the forces of which are projected from the planets to
affect life on earth.
The
books list benevolent and malefic influences and begin to relate
to individuals rather than countries. From this time, every person
who could afford it was able to have his or her horoscope read,
and would find out about health, wealth, the best partner to share
life with and even the time and cause of his/her death.
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Astrology
Development
As
astrology developed new techniques were introduced; the ten degree portions
of the signs (decans), the association of the rulers of the days and
the weeks to the planets.
From
Egypt came a collections of texts on magic, healing and astrology attributed
to Hermes Tismegistus, the Greek equivalent to Thoth, the Egyptian god
of learning.
The
Greeks went on to develop and complex scientific method of astrology.
Philosophy, medicine, and religion all accepted this system.
The
idea of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm was born (as above, so below).
Various
parts of the body were associated with different planets and signs,
and early religions used initiation through seven planetary realms as
stages of the soul.
As
Christianity developed, astrology all but disappeared in the west. It
was kept alive by Muslims, and some Jews in the books Sephir Yetzira
and the Zohar which develop the Jewish mystical tradition known as the
Cabbala.
In
the Renaissance, astrology/astronomy was once more acceptable but further
setbacks occurred in the 17th century. At this time laws were passed
which made fortune telling illegal.
By
the late nineteenth century, there was an interest in esoteric religions
and Madame Blavatsky's Theosophical Society delved into astrology and
the journey of the soul.
Today,
there is a huge interest in the subject and the Sun Sign columns in
newspapers are a product of the twentieth century. This is often a starting
point for the further study and understanding of a huge and enlightening
subject.
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