Foundations of Astrology
Branches/History - Part 2

History

The history of astrology is only partly known. There is a large body of knowledge that is still being translated into English. Much other knowledge has been destroyed or only ever existed in a verbal rather than a written form. Yet there is a huge amount of material that is available, much modern. What follows can at best be but a short precis of some of the history of astrology. Note also that this is the history of the “Western” astrological lineage. Other cultures such as India and China also developed astrological knowledge. There are similarities and differences between the thought and methodologies of these systems. For example, Indian astrology, which subsequently developed many unique ideas in its own right, was much influenced by the understanding of the Ancient Greek astrologers. There is an argument amongst some, but not all, scholars that all the developed “astrologies” of the world cultures (such as the Egyptian, Chinese and Indian) are developments or offshoots from the Mesopotamian cosmology. (I believe that the well regarded astrological historian Robert Hand subscribes to this viewpoint).

Mesopotamia

Solar, lunar and terrestrial phenomena (such as weather patterns) have been noted and observed for as long as there have been humans on our planet. We have been navigating by the Moon and stars for millennia. (For example, the Polynesian peoples).

For millennia people have been studying the relationship of the Sun, Moon and planets to the earth. From these observations, the cycles of time and life have been mapped. Astrology developed into a tool for not only understanding the world (astrology's Ancient function) but, from around 469 BC, also for understanding the human personality. (Recent research suggests that the use of the individual birth-chart may have been even earlier than this confirmed date).

Traditionally there were seven known planets. As the outermost known planet, Saturn (Ninurta) was seen as representing the limit to knowledge and possibility. As the closest planet and the one which had the shortest of cycles, the Moon (Sin) was seen as being the most primary of the planets and was regarded as the “father of time”. (The Moon was regarded as a masculine planet in Mesopotamian cosmology).

Sin was “chief of the gods” for a while. Then in time the King Hammurabi, for political reasons, replaced Sin with Marduk (Jupiter) as the head of the gods. Eventually Marduk was replaced by Shamash (the Sun) as the chief deity. The elevation of Shamash is probably due to the discovery of the ecliptic and the invention of the zodiac, whereby solar based calendars became more accurate to use than lunar ones. This later development of the Mesopotamian cosmology, which was to elevate the Sun above the other gods, was carried on by the Greeks and Romans. (Partly for practical reasons such as the devising of the calendar and the measurement of time. But also because these were very king centered societies and the Sun had the status of kingship).

Astrology was “politicised” by the great Ancient Mesopotamian dynasties. Astrologers were given the responsibility of accurately observing, recording and interpreting celestial phenomena. They were the interpreters of the activities and intentions of the gods, as revealed by the patterns and cycles of the heavens. The astrologers role was to act as the intermediary between the sphere of the gods and the humans. The astrologers were also responsible for devising accurate national calendars and measuring the cycles of time. Other roles of the astrologer included: forecasting crop and economic cycles as well as military matters. Astrologers also acted as scribe, temple bureaucrat and counsellor and were part of the civil administration of Mesopotamia.

The royal astrologers were an important source of information and insight for the king. It is doubtful that at any time astrologers surreptitiously ruled the kingdom, from behind the scenes as it were. However, the royal astrologers were in constant communication with the king and thus, indirectly, helped to mould royal policy and perspective.

Greece

The absorption with the predictive and correlative; the study of cycles, patterns and repetition, was to become a great fascination for the next great intellectual tradition after the Mesopotamians; the Ancient Greeks. The Greeks systemised more accurately the Mesopotamian data and knowledge. They added more accurate and precise mathematics and geometry and a more rational philosophy to astrology.

The Greeks approached astrology from two perspectives. These were the mystical/spiritual and the logical/scientific. Sometimes these approaches were complementary, as in the philosophies of Pythagoras or Plato. Sometimes more at odds, such as with Aristotle, who tended to emphasise a more rational/logical cosmology, at the expense of more mystically inclined viewpoints. (Plato was famous for two astronomical/astrological based works - the Timaeus and Epinomis).

Around the 7th Century BCE the Greeks were incorporating and systemising Mesopotamian astrological ideas. The Greeks provided a philosophical basis for astrology and extended our understanding of the scientific and mathematical basis of astrology as well.

In the later part of the 6th century BCE, the Pythagoreans extended our understanding of number as being the source of all things. Numbers in themselves were what mattered. Numbers were related to musical or harmonic series. Geometrical and astronomical ideas were also explored in relation to numbers. The ideas of the Pythagoreans had a profound influence on later philosophical schools such as the Platonist and Stoical schools of thought.

Around 300 BCE the Stoics promoted their form of astrology. They were influenced by Pythagorean and Platonic ideas. The Stoics followed a doctrine of predetermination. They believed that everything is predetermined.

Alexander “the Great” (356-323 BC) helped to spread astrological ideas abroad. As the result of a series of invasions, Greek ideas travelled to other countries. These countries included Persia, Egypt and India.

Thus in the fourth century BC, Alexander the Greats political/ military activities was to result in Greek civilisation, language and culture spreading throughout the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

Zeno of Citium (335-263 BC), a stoic, was an adherent of astrological ideas. Amongst other things, Zeno was into ethics, fate, divination, astrology, the soul, physics and epistemology. Zeno's “system stated it was necessary for man to live in harmony with nature.”

Greek Astrology, including the philosophical brand known as Stoicism, was to become “universalised”. Greek astrological ideas and new insights were spread to various nations and cultures.

Rome

Rome was to embrace all things Greek, including Greek astrology. Astrology was in and out of favour at different stages and in different places of the Roman Empire. Many Emperors had an official astrologer.

In 29 BCE the Roman emperor Augustus accepted astrology as an important form of divination and a justification for political power. He forbade anyone to use astrology to predict his death or to use astrological knowledge against him.

Claudius Ptolemy (c100-c170 AD) systemised the ancient knowledge of astrology in his books known as the Tetrabiblos. Ptolemy became recognised as a major authority on astrology for over 1,000 years! Ptolemy was a philosopher, geographer, astronomer, astrologer, mathematician and historian. Ptolemy was a recorder of the great astrological traditions. He synthesised the known body of astrological knowledge; promoting the scientific practice, principles and study of astrology.

In the fifth century AD the Roman Empire experienced a major collapse. Astrology, astrological ideas and astrological popularisers started to disperse more widely abroad.

Christianity

At first Christians were persecuted by Rome. Later Christianity was embraced after the Roman Emperor Constantine became a convert to the one true religion (sic). Early Christians tolerated astrology as a form of the word of God. They allowed for the cosmos as being an expression of god's intent, as all things were of god, including the universe. An issue that developed for Christians over time was that of fate and free-will. Astrology was fine (to this way of thinking) as long as it did not preclude the possibility of free-will or divine intervention.

Islam - Arabia

With the fall of the Roman Empire, some of the astrologers of the former Roman Empire took their learning to Arabia. As astrology flourished in Arabia, it stagnated in Europe. The Arabs not only translated Greek and Latin astrological texts into Arabic, they also added a body of astrological knowledge of their own. Scholars embraced and translated much of the Ancient Greek knowledge, plus Ptolemy's writings, into Arabic.

Europe

Around the 12th century AD Jews fleeing the intolerance of Muslim and Christian sects in Arabia reintroduced the knowledge of Ptolemy and the Ancient Greeks to Europe, which were re-translated from Arabic to Latin! Astrology flourished in Europe from then on. Educated people loved the challenge of having to work out all those complicated astronomical and mathematical calculations. Astrology was on the frontiers of politics, philosophy, religion and science. Astrology was taught in universities and astrological knowledge was a prerequisite to the practice of medicine.

Copernicus (1473-1543) shattered the old conceptual system of the universe and humanities place in it. No longer was humanity at the centre of the universe. We were but one of many planets that orbited the Sun. The extension, which modern science has so extensively explored, is that we are but a small particle of a virtually infinite universe. That is of very little significance. When the implications of Copernicus ideas were more fully understood, a vacuum in intellectual, metaphysical and spiritual understanding was created. Centuries of understanding and tradition suddenly were rendered obsolete, questionable or under suspicion.

But top astrologers still enjoyed considerable prestige for a few more centuries. For example, Queen Elizabeth the 1sts astrologer, John Dee (1527-1608) and the English Parliaments astrologer, John Booker (appointed in 1642).

From the mid-Seventeenth century, astrology, religion and the occult sciences were becoming replaced or discouraged by the new religion of “progress”. That is progress in the sense of technological, rationalist-scientific viewpoints in accord with the world-expansionist ideas of the Euro-centric mind. From then on through to the late 19th century astrology (like religion, mysticism and virtually all of the other “intuitive arts”) was seen to be less in touch with the times, and began to stagnate. That is, these fields of wisdom were perceived to contain no new ideas and therefore to be out of touch with the times.

The Theosophical movement, begun in the late 19th century by Madame Blavatsky, helped to revive and bring new life to astrology. Theosophy provided an umbrella for the return into society of astrology and the other “occult” sciences. A new interest was regenerated throughout Western culture as a result of this new champion for the Ancient Wisdoms.

The 20th century

The real return of astrology into society can be seen in the 1960's, when a profound humanitarian awareness was developing. Experimentation and living creatively and in spirit were the keynotes for the hippy generation. Pluto was Conjunct Uranus in the mid-sixties. This correlated with deep shifts in human consciousness. Reality changes.

In 1977 the planetoid Chiron was discovered. Chiron signifies the connection between the universal wisdom and earthly understanding. Chiron bridges the divine and the mundane. A speed up in terms of psychic awareness and communication can be traced from the first sighting of Chiron. The number of people who are tuning into other realities, besides those presented to the five senses, has been exponentially increasing.

In 1989 - 1993 Neptune was Conjunct Uranus in Capricorn. This conjunction saw a dissolving of old political structures. Many changes came about in the way we regulate and run society. Life became more flexible, less well defined, erratic and experimental. There was a growth of acceptance and searching for new and more meaningful ways of understanding the self and the world. This was also marked with the return of the wisdoms in force in ordinary peoples lives. Humanity went through subtle and enduring shifts in consciousness. Astrology was back strongly in the public mind, but a new form of astrology. Not so elitist as of old, open to all. Old astrological knowledge was also coming back through projects such as Project Hindsight, which is a project to translate newly discovered ancient astrological texts into English.

In the 1990's astrology has become truly globalised through such mediums as the internet. Also from the 1970's, through to the present, a significant minority of people in the psychological, psychic and caring professions have incorporated astrological understanding into their work.

Copyright. Stephen Winder.

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