Astrology dates way back to the earliest civilizations, and was once in complete accord with the study of astronomy itself. People once had maps of the stars long before having maps of the Earth. Many old writings, cave paintings, bones, etc are found with lunar phases and star patterns. The stars and the seven planets visible to our naked eye were the first GPS.
The Babylonians are generally granted the credit as the interpreters of astrology, later passing the knowledge to the Greeks. Back then, astrology wasn't used that much to interpret an individual like we do today with horoscopes and personal birth charts, but more so for patterns in weather, natural disasters, human affairs such as war and as counsel for monarchs/rulers. Astrology can be used to predict when a person "should", for example, invest in a certain stock, focus on a certain part of life (whether it be love, business, or mindfulness), or when they may be in a better place for any of these circumstances. This is why many people say that many billionaires, or successful people in general, meet with astrologers regularly. Astrology is not a crazy science of imaginary shapes that we, as humans, created in the sky, but rather the study of centuries and centuries of consistent patterns. 2,000 years ago, the Babylonians first used astrology to predict a certain pattern in particular - the seasons. And since humans were at the mercy of nature and Earth, the stars weren't such an illogical source of this information - and they were correct. Babylonian astrology was then introduced to the Greeks, where it became regarded as a science. Romans and Arabs later spread astrology to the entire world. Now, astrology has evolved just as humanity has, and we can use astrology to benefit us in personal growth, relationships, and planning in our everyday lives. Astrology is not a tool used for "fortune- telling", but rather a tool that can help us live in harmony with the world around us.
The "Zodiac" originated from the Greek term "circle of animals", even though not every zodiac sign represents an animal. All the names of the zodiac signs and planets come from Greek literature during this period, though some sources state that the first organization into 12 signs originated in ancient Egypt. Early astrologers did not plan calendars as we do, but rather knew it took 12 lunar cycles (months) for the sun to return to its original position. They then identified 12 constellations that they observed were linked to the progression of the seasons and assigned them names of certain animals and persons. These constellations have many stories, the Greeks for example have the story of Zeus and Ganymede for Aquarius, and the Romans have their myth of Venus and Cupid explaining how Pisces entered the sky. The division of the 12 signs of the zodiac is based on the earth's year-long rotation around the Sun and relates to character traits and areas of life.
Tetrabiblos - also known in Greek as Apotelesmatiká, is a text on the philosophy and practice of astrology, written in the 2nd century AD by the Alexandrian scholar Claudius Ptolemy. It was seen as a companion literature to another text written on the studies of astronomy. This is considered one of the most important surviving ancient texts on astrology, as it contains the techniques regarding planets, zodiac signs, houses, and aspects (or angles). This gave rise to Western astrology.
When the Roman Empire fell, Western astrology basically disappeared for 500 years, but Greek astrology remained intact through the studies done by the Arabs.
Western Astrology came back in the middle ages and was used by mathematicians to develop an even more accurate astrological system than ever before, but was lost again with the Age of Reason- where excessive superstition, authority, and control from institutions such as the Catholic church ruled.
Finally, horoscopes started being published in local newspapers and were written very broadly and citizens didn't take astrology seriously as a science. This gave astrology the look of being more for entertainment reasons. Today, though, with more access to information and with the ease of looking up a birth chart online instantly instead of requiring a hand-calculated one, people are opening up to the science more and more.
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