) and spread to India, but during the Hellenistic era, Greek civilisation gave it its Western shape. Through learning Arabic in the Middle Ages, astrology returned to European culture after entering Islamic civilization as a component of the Greek legacy. Greek mythology holds that the 12 zodiacal constellations divide the heavens, and that the bright stars that appear periodically have a spiritual impact on human affairs. Ancient China also placed a high value on astrology, and during the imperial period, it was customary to have a horoscope made for each newborn child and at all significant turning points in a person’s life. Even though astrology’s dependence on a geocentric worldview was destroyed by the Copernican theory, astrological signs continue to be generally thought to have an impact on personality.
In This Article...
The creator of zodiac signs?
The 12 zodiac signs, one of the earliest ideas in astrology, were developed by the Babylonians around 1894 BC. In Babylon, one of the most well-known ancient Mesopotamian towns, which is roughly where modern-day Iraq is located, resided the Babylonians.
What was the original sign created?
Since the Persians conquered Egypt in 525 BC, Egyptian astrology most likely incorporated some Mesopotamian elements. In support of this, historian Tamsyn Barton cites the Dendera Zodiac as an illustration of what appears to be Mesopotamian influence on the Egyptian zodiac, which shared two signsthe Balance and the Scorpion (the Balance was known as the Scorpion’s Claws in the Greek version).
Egypt came under Hellenistic power and influence following Alexander the Great’s takeover in 332 BC.
After the victory, Alexander created the city of Alexandria, where Ptolemaic intellectuals produced a large amount of writing between the third and second centuries BC. Horoscopic astrology was created in Ptolemaic Alexandria by combining Babylonian astrology with the Egyptian practice of Decanic astrology. This included the Babylonian zodiac, complete with its planetary exaltation system, sign triplets, and eclipse significance. Along with this, it also included the Greek system of planetary Gods, sign rulership, and the four elements, as well as the Egyptian idea of dividing the zodiac into 36 decans of ten degrees each, with a focus on the rising decan.
According to the constellations, the decans served as a system of time measurement. The star Sothis or Sirius served as their leader. The night was divided into “hours” by the decans rising during the course of the night. It was thought that the last hour of the night was when a constellation rose shortly before daybreak (this is known as its heliacal rising). Each constellation rose shortly before sunrise for ten days of the year. Each decan corresponded to 10 zodiac degrees when they were first incorporated into Hellenistic Age astrology. Predictions on the positions of planets in zodiac signs at the time of the rising of specific decans, particularly Sothis, are listed in texts from the second century BC. The Dendera Zodiac, the first Zodiac discovered in Egypt, dates to the first century BC.
The Greco-Roman astrologer and astronomer Ptolemy, who lived in Alexandria during Roman Egypt, was particularly significant in the creation of horoscopic astrology. The Tetrabiblos, a treatise by Ptolemy that served as the foundation for the Western astrological tradition, is said to have “enjoyed virtually the authority of a Bible among the astrological writers of a thousand years or more” as a source of later reference. After being translated from Arabic into Latin by Plato of Tivoli (Tiburtinus) in Spain, 1138, it became one of the earliest astrological manuscripts to be transmitted in Medieval Europe.
The system of horoscopic astrology was allegedly entrusted to an Egyptian pharaoh named Nechepso and his priest Petosiris very early on, according to Firmicus Maternus (4th century). The Hermetic texts were also created at this time, and Clement of Alexandria’s description of Egyptian religious rites, written during the Roman Empire, illustrates the extent to which astrologers were expected to be familiar with the texts:
Their religious rituals serve as the main indicator of this. The Singer enters the room first, carrying a musical symbol. They claim that he needs to master two of Hermes’ books, the first of which includes the gods’ hymns and the second of which contains the rules for the king’s existence. The Astrologer then moves forward after the Singer, holding a horoscope in one hand and an astrological symbol on the other. He must constantly be carrying the four Hermes astrological books in his mouth.
When did horoscopes start to gain traction?
An impending plague epidemic in France is announced in a 1915 newspaper. A Persian savant makes a prediction about a certain baby from the White House becoming “Magistrate Ruler of the World” the next year. How are these prophets able to know? The stars predict it! Americans have shown a strange preoccupation with demystifying their fates, whether it is through palm reading, Ouija boards, or zodiac signs. Horoscopes first gained popularity in the late 1800s, and by the early 1900s, they had transformed from an antiquated pseudo-science to a respected discipline that was nearly always included in American newspapers. Find out more by reading!
Horoscopes: Are they true?
Astrology: Is it true? Although reading horoscopes is a well-liked past time, is there any scientific evidence that it has any significance?
When you are lured by a familiar interruption and your willpower wanes, problems may result.
Up to 70 million Americans consult their horoscopes every day. At least that is what the American Federation of Astrologers claims. A Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life research conducted twenty years ago found that 25% of Americans thought that the positions of the stars and planets had an impact on our daily life. According to the General Social Survey from 2012, 34% of Americans asked think astrology is “extremely” or “kind of” scientific. The percentage of those who think astrology is “not at all scientific” has decreased from two-thirds to roughly one-half.
The concept that astronomical phenomena, such as the stars above when you were born or the fact that Mercury is in retrograde, have the ability to affect the daily happenings in our lives and our personality traits is commonly referred to as astrology. The study of astronomy, which is the scientific study of celestial objects, space, and the mechanics of the cosmos, is obviously very different from this.
An element of astrology in particular that is gaining popularity is the ability to predict one’s future or provide advise on daily actions through horoscopes. Horoscope pages had 150 percent more visits in 2017 than in 2016, according to publications like The Cut.
It’s obvious that many individuals are looking for methods of star interpretation. Understanding the locations of the stars, the basis of astrology, seems to be a sufficiently scientific endeavor. But can science support the idea that astrology has an impact on our personalities and our lives?
But since I have you for the remaining five minutes of this six-minute-or-so podcast, let’s examine the precise methods by which astrology has been put to the test.
What did Jesus have to say regarding astrology?
I believe that astrology was a tool God created for us to use as a spiritual tool and to better understand ourselves. I believe that astrology is supported by a number of biblical scriptures. I concentrate on what Jesus taught as a Christian. When Christ prophesied in Luke 21:25, “There shall be signs in the sun, moon, and stars,” he was referring to the significance of astrology. He talks to the disciples about the significance of astrology and how it might be interpreted as a sign of his coming back. Why would Jesus provide us this crucial information if we aren’t intended to interpret planetary energies and zodiacal signs and if he actually opposed it? Jesus warned us that there will be signals in the sky upon his return, just as the three wise men understood that Jesus would be born under the star in the sky that guided them to him lying in the manger.
Who is the astrology’s founder?
William Frederick Allan, aka Alan Leo, was a well-known British astrologer, author, publisher, collector of astrological data, and theosophist. He was born in Westminster on August 7, 1860, and passed away in Bude on August 30, 1917. The “father of modern astrology” is how people frequently refer to him.
After falling out of favor in the West towards the end of the 17th century, his work sparked its resurgence. Leo was an ardent theosophist who incorporated many of its spiritual ideas, including karma and rebirth, into his astrology. He published, translated, and distributed his material throughout Europe and America using the Theosophical Society’s extensive global connections.
The zodiac is how old?
Approximately 2,500 years ago, during the “Age of Aries,” the zodiac system was created in Babylonia. It is assumed that the precession of the equinoxes was unknown at the time. The signs of the coordinate system can be fixed to the stellar backdrop for sidereal or tropical interpretations in modern times, respectively, with the signs fixed to the point (vector of the Sun) at the March equinox.
Hindu astrology employs a sidereal method, as opposed to the tropical one used in Western astrology. The result is a clockwise (westward) precession of 1.4 degrees per century, which causes the initially united zodiacal coordinate system to gradually drift apart.
This indicates that the tropical sign of Aries currently is somewhere within the constellation Pisces for the tropical zodiac used in Western astronomy and astrology (“Age of Pisces”).
The ayanamsaayan, which means “transit” or “movement,” and amsa, which means “little part,” or the movement of equinoxes in small partsis taken into account by the sidereal coordinate system. It is unknown when Indians first became aware of the precession of the equinoxes, but Bhskara II’s treatise Siddhanta Shiromani, written in the 12th century, provides equations for measuring the precession of the equinoxes and claims that his equations are based on some missing Suryasiddhanta equations as well as the Munjaala equation.
Hipparchus is credited with discovering precession somewhere about 130 BC. In the seventh book of his 2nd century astronomical masterpiece, Almagest, Ptolemy borrows from Hipparchus’ now-lost work “On the Displacement of the Solstitial and Equinoctial Points,” where he describes the phenomena of precession and calculates its value. According to Ptolemy, the zodiac was traditionally started at the vernal equinox and was always referred to as “the first degree” of Aries in Greek mathematical astronomy. Because its starting point rotates over time through the circle of background constellations, it is referred to as the “tropical zodiac” (from the Greek trpos, turn).
Geminus of Rhodes’ astronomical work from the first century BC describes the idea that for Greek astronomers, the vernal point serves as the first degree of the zodiac. Geminus notes that, in contrast to the earlier Chaldean (Babylonian) system, which placed these points within the zodiac signs, Greek astronomers of his day associated the two solstices and the two equinoxes with the initial degrees of the zodiac signs. This shows that, contrary to popular belief, Ptolemy did not invent the idea of the tropical zodiac but rather only defined Greek astronomers’ convention.
In his astrological work, the Tetrabiblos, Ptolemy demonstrates that the concept of the tropical zodiac was well understood by his forebears by explaining why it would be incorrect to compare the irregular boundaries of the visible constellations with the regularly spaced signs of the seasonally aligned zodiac:
The equinoctial and tropical points should be used to determine the start of the signs and phrases. This rule is not only explicitly stated by writers on the issue, but it is also made particularly clear by the constant proof provided that people’s natures, influences, and familiarities are solely derived from the tropics and equinoxes, as has already been amply demonstrated. And if other beginnings were permitted, it would either be necessary to exclude the characteristics of the signs from the theory of prognostication or impossible to do so without making mistakes in the retention and application of them because the regularity of their spaces and distances, which is what gives them their influence, would then be invaded and broken.
Why not believe in astrology, you ask?
1. Astrology lacks strong proof to support any of its claims. Astrologers claim that changes in the motion of the planets will cause changes in your personality, however NASA has discovered a great number of planets besides those that are currently known to us.
Why do people consider horoscopes reliable?
Self-Discovery It’s likely that people use astrology with the goal of becoming more self-aware and self-aware of themselves. Studies reveal that astrology can significantly affect, even legitimize, a person’s self-concept and boost their confidence in their unique personal traits.