Written by: maundumaingi
Introduction
Astrology is the study of the movement as well as the relative positioning of celestial bodies as it relates to the human and natural worlds. It is mostly used to predict the future.
Astrology is not a concept that began yesterday; it traces its history to thousands of years ago even before science was invented. In this post, we shall take a leap into the past and see how astrology has evolved to what we know of it today.
Where Did It All Begin?
Astrology is believed to have begun in Mesopotamia and Babylon as far back as 3000 BC. It is said that it is the Mesopotamians that were the first people to identify constellations as well as the five wandering stars. It is these stars, along with the sun and the moon, that formed the 7 planets as were originally known. Indeed, the term planet was derived from Greek, meaning wanderer.
It is also during this time that the Babylonians advanced the concept of the zodiac. Basically, the zodiac is a pattern followed by the sun as well as the other planets as they move through space. The Babylonians believed that if divided into 12 equal parts, the zodiac could be used to measure celestial times. Of course, these 12 equal parts resemble the 12 months of the year. However, unlike in the present times, these months were assigned different animal names, and the days for each month were not necessarily what they are today.
Exit Babylonians….Enter The Greeks
The Greek introduced a very interesting dimension to the whole concept of astrology – the gods. Greek gods were not some invincible supernatural beings. Instead, they were basically human divinities. However, each god was linked with a planet and each association with a god and a planet was believed to influence individual vitality, wisdom and power.
The concept of Greek gods in astrology was especially introduced to help in matters of politics and governance, as well as perpetuate the whole concept of astrology in terms of forecasting the fortunes of ordinary people.
One notable astrology work by a Greek philosopher, Ptolemy, is the Tetrabiblos. It is in the Tetrabiblos that the current names of the planets was first documented, along with names of the zodiac signs and other aspects of the universe.
1st Millennium B.C
From the first-millennium BC, India inherited the mantle of advancing the concept of astrology from its predecessors. It is from this period that the western/modern versions of the zodiac were introduced. And while India accounted for the bulk of the efforts in advancing astrology, other countries played a significant role as well.
The advent of Arabic scholarship was especially instrumental here. Arabs travelled far and wide and took with them the rich heritage of Greek astrology, much of which was threatened with oblivion.
It is also important to mention that during this time, astrology was not just about the planets. The Arabs, mostly from Mamluk Egypt introduced other aspects like the tarot cards to Europe in the 14th century. Much like the zodiac signs, tarot cards were instrumental in forecasting people’s fortunes.
Is Astrology Still Alive?
In the 19th Century, Swedish scientist Psychologist Carl-Jung tried in vain to market astrology as an effective method to incorporate in medical and scientific analysis. However, the world was fast advancing in the direction of modern science.
And since it is a pseudo-science, astrology has been largely replaced by modern science. It is now being revered more as spiritualism than science and as you know, these two seldom agree on anything.
While countries like India have struggled to keep the concept alive, western countries view it more like a personal indulgence.
REFERENCES
http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac32
https://astrostyle.com/learn-astrology/history-of-astrology-timeline/
https://www.gaia.com/article/history-of-astrology
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