Astrology is the belief that the position of celestial bodies in space affect our lives on Earth. It is a popular practice that can be found in many cultures throughout the world.
The concept of astrology has roots in the ancient Babylonian civilization, when people began to notice that the stars moved and made up patterns, later becoming known as constellations. These patterns were thought to indicate changes in weather, seasons and even eclipses.
Origins
Astrology, the study of the influence of stars and planets on human affairs, has its origins in a wide variety of ancient civilizations. From the time of the Mesopotamians, humans have looked to the heavens for guidance. Their cultures developed astrological charts, which helped them predict the recurrence of seasons and certain celestial events.
It was once inseparable from astronomy, the scientific study of the movements of the sun and other celestial bodies. Although the Copernican revolution disrupted ancient astronomy, the principles of astrology were not lost; astrologers still believed that stars and planets influenced human behavior.
Many astrologers assumed that different planets had special relations with each other, and that these relations were so complex that they could only be understood through a sophisticated understanding of astronomy. These relations were also seen as a way for the stars to interact with the natural world and influence events on earth.
Throughout history, a variety of cultures have developed astrological systems that differ greatly from one another. These varied systems are based on the mythology of their respective cultures.
For example, Western astrology derives its roots from the Greek tradition and is based on the zodiac. Its principles are rooted in a belief that the position of the constellations, or stars, have an impact on a person's personality and character.
Other astrological systems include Vedic astrology, which originated in India and is now practiced in Nepal and South Asia. Vedic astrology is a type of Hindu divination that relies on a spiritual approach.
As a result, Vedic astrology is a very ancient and highly respected form of astrology. It is a powerful tool for enhancing human well-being and reducing sufferings.
It can be traced back to the earliest days of civilization, which was largely centered around Mesopotamia (c. 3rd millennium BC). It spread to the Indian subcontinent and was eventually brought to Europe by the Greeks in the Hellenistic period.
During the Middle Ages, astrology was disapproved of by the Christian church and largely forgotten until the Renaissance. But in the 16th and 17th centuries, a growing awareness of astronomy helped astrology gain popularity again. This resurgence was partly due to the introduction of Western culture and Islamic learning along the Silk Roads.
Ptolemy
In addition to being an astronomer, Ptolemy was also a mathematician and geographer. His works, at least three of which were important to later Islamic and European science, include an astronomical treatise called the Almagest (in Greek: He mathematike syntaxis), a geographical work named Geographia, and an astrological treatise titled the Tetrabiblos (“Four Books”).
Ptolemy’s primary goal in writing astrology was to reformulate it according to the principles of natural science, and make it a legitimate science by demonstrating that celestial influences played a role in horoscope interpretation. This was a far cry from the earlier Hellenistic views of astrology, which had tended to see planetary positions as giving signs of future events without necessarily being causes.
For the most part, he succeeded in his efforts. His astrological treatise was the most popular astrological work of antiquity and enjoyed considerable influence in the Islamic world.
He is usually credited with having developed the geocentric cosmological system, which posited that the Earth was a stationary sphere at the center of a vast planetary sphere which revolved around it. This was a highly influential theory and it stood the test of time until Copernicus and Galileo challenged it with their discovery of the solar system’s heliocentric nature.
However, it is important to note that the geocentric system was not the only one favored by ancient Greek astrologers. A similar system, which posited that the Sun was the centre of the universe, was also prevalent in Egyptian astrologers.
Unlike the heliocentric system, Ptolemy believed that heavenly bodies could be interpreted in mathematical terms, which is an interesting idea. He compiled this information in the Almagest, which was considered a very important book of astronomy in the Greco-Roman world.
In the Almagest, Ptolemy argues that the planetary motions are best described by mathematical calculations. He also explains how to construct instruments that can depict the planets and their movements from this perspective.
In the Tetrabiblos, Ptolemy further develops the geocentric cosmology he developed in the Almagest. He argues that the stars and planets are attracted to the Earth and that they influence human life. He also lays out a detailed system of how to determine the planetary position and the rising and setting of the sun, moon, and other celestial bodies.
Copernicus
Copernicus was a remarkably accomplished astronomer who, after several decades of experimenting with a variety of theories, settled on one that incorporated both mathematics and physics to explain the movements of celestial bodies. It was a major breakthrough and, by the time it was published, had been embraced by virtually all of the world's leading astronomers.
He began his scientific studies at the University of Cracow (Krakow) in 1491. After two years he left to study in Italy, where his uncle, Domenico Maria de Novara, was the principal astronomer at the University of Bologna (Latin: Universität in Bologna).
His uncle's influence helped him develop a clear view of the sun and its orbit around the Earth. He also helped him understand how the Earth's rotation accounted for the rise and setting of the sun, the movement of the stars, and the seasons. He was especially interested in the precession of the equinoxes, which he understood to be caused by relatively small changes in the angle of the Earth's axis over time.
However, his uncle's influence also meant that he was living in a culture of astrological prognostication, which had a profound effect on the way Copernicus perceived the nature of the universe. His observations of the heavens, based on the assumptions he made about them, were impregnated with astrological meanings, making it difficult for him to distinguish between facts and opinions.
During the next two decades, he devoted much of his time to studying astrology, trying to decipher its meaning and applying it to his observations. He acquired many astrological texts, including the Arabic treatise In iudiciis astrorum by Ali ibn Abir-Rijal.
It was also at this point that he began to take a more mathematical approach to astronomy, combining both mathematics and physics in his book De revolutionibus. This was the first major work in Europe that worked out a heliocentric system of planetary motions in full mathematical detail, something Ptolemy, de Cusa, and Aristarchus had not done.
The resulting theory solved a wide range of problems that had long plagued ancient astronomy, such as the precession of the equinoxes, the obliquity of the ecliptic, and the changing eccentricity of the planets. It unified all of the spheres into a single system and allowed for fewer explanations to account for appearances. In the process, it made a profound impact on Western science and the Catholic Church's views of the cosmos.
Galileo
Galileo was a remarkable astronomer who advanced astronomy throughout Europe. His discovery of the principle of relativity and his invention of the telescope contributed greatly to modern science. He was a man of many talents and interests, but he was also one who believed in bizarre ideas that seemed valid to him at the time.
The influence of astrology on early modern science is often neglected in scholarship, despite the fact that this specialized area of study was not only popular but also widely practiced. Nevertheless, scholars of the early modern period have begun to reassess astrology as a critical aspect of Galileo's intellectual work and his role in the wider scientific community.
He did not see astrology as a means of divination, but as a tool to understand the nature of matter and its motions. Rather than using the Aristotelian physical categories, he departed from them and left only the material element of matter, corporeal matter, whose properties and motions he described with the mathematical proportional relations typified by Archimedian simple machines such as balances, inclined planes, and levers (Machamer 1998a; Machamer and Hepburn 2004; Palmieri 2008).
For Galileo, this represented a major advance in science, as it dethroned the Aristotelian physical categories, replaced them with a new set of concepts, and ushered in a mechanical tradition that is still common today.
His most important contribution, however, was his work in astronomy, where he used the telescope to discover craters and mountain ranges on the Moon and the existence of sunspots. These discoveries refuted Aristotle's view that the sun and Moon were perfect spheres without any marks or blemishes.
In 1632, Galileo published his most important scientific work, the Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems, in which he argued that the Copernican model was logically superior to the Ptolemaic-Aristotelian model. While his support for heliocentrism was criticized by the Roman Catholic Church, the powerful Medici family protected him, and he continued to pursue his research.
