History
Main article: History of astrology
Traditions
Historically, alchemy in the Western World was particularly allied and intertwined with traditional Babylonian-Greek style astrology; in numerous ways they were built to complement each other in the search for occult or hidden knowledge.[18] Astrology has used the concept of the four classical elements of alchemy from antiquity up until the present day. Traditionally, each of the seven planets in the solar system known to the ancients was associated with, held dominion over, and "ruled" a certain metal.[19]
Horoscopic astrology
Main article: Horoscopic astrology
Horoscopic astrology is a system that some claim to have developed in the Mediterranean region and specifically Hellenistic Egypt around the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE.[20] The tradition deals with two-dimensional diagrams of the heavens, or horoscopes, created for specific moments in time.
Origins
Many[who?] believe that the origins of much of the astrological doctrine and method that would later develop in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East are found among the ancient Babylonians and their system of celestial omens that began to be compiled around the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE.[21] They believe this system of celestial omens later spread, either directly or indirectly through the Babylonians and Assyrians, to other areas such as the Middle East, and Greece, where it merged with pre-existing indigenous forms of astrology.[22]
Before the modern era
The differentiation between astronomy and astrology varied from place to place; they were strongly linked in ancient India,[23] ancient Babylonia and medieval Europe, but separated to an extent in the Hellenistic world. The first semantic distinction between astrology and astronomywas probably given by Isidore of Seville[24] (see astrology and astronomy).
Astrology was not without criticism before the modern era; it was often challenged by Hellenistic skeptics, church authorities, and medieval Muslim astronomers, such as Al-Farabi (Alpharabius),Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen), Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī, Avicenna and Averroes. Their reasons for refuting astrology were often due to both scientific (the methods used by astrologers beingconjectural rather than empirical) and religious (conflicts with orthodox Islamic scholars) reasons.[25] Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292–1350), in his Miftah Dar al-SaCadah, used empirical arguments in astronomy in order to refute astrology and divination.[26]
Many thinkers, philosophers and scientists, such as Galen, Paracelsus, Girolamo Cardan, Taqi al-Din, Tycho Brahe, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Carl Jung and others, practiced or significantly contributed to astrology.[27][28]
Contemporary changes
Several innovations have occurred in contemporary astrological practice.
Western
Main article: Western astrology
Early in the 20th century, Carl Jung, the founder of analytical psychology, developed sophisticated theories concerning astrology.[29] These included concepts such as archetypes, the collective unconscious[30] and with the collaboration of pioneer theoretical physicist (and Nobel laureate), Wolfgang Pauli, synchronicity.[31] Astrologers like Dane Rudhyar[32] pursued a similar path to Jung and others such as Liz Greene[33][34] and Stephen Arroyo[35] were influenced by the Jungian model leading to the development of psychological astrology.[36]
During the middle of the 20th century, Alfred Witte and, following him, Reinhold Ebertin pioneered the use of midpoints (see Midpoint Astrology) in horoscopic analysis.[37] A new kind of Locational Astrology began in 1957–58, when Donald Bradley, published a hand-plotted geographic astrology map. In the 1970s, American astrologer Jim Lewis developed and popularized this technique under the name of Astro*Carto*Graphy.[38] The world map displays lines where the Sun, Moon, planets and other celestial points appear to be on any of the Four Angles (Rising,Setting, MC and IC) at a given moment in time. By comparing these lines with the horoscope, an astrologer attempts to identify the potential in any location.[39]
Indian
Main article: Hindu astrology
Indian astrology uses a different zodiac than Western astrology and is a branch of Vedic science.[40][41] In India, there is a long-established widespread belief in astrology, and it is commonly used for daily life, foremost with regard to marriages, and secondarily with regard to career and electional and karmic astrology.[42][43] In the 1960s, H.R. Seshadri Iyer, introduced a system including the concepts of yogi and avayogi. It generated interest with research oriented astrologers in the West. From the early 1990s, Western Vedic astrologer and author V.K. Choudhry created and developed the Systems' Approach for Interpreting Horoscopes, a simplified system of Jyotish (predictive astrology)[44] The system, also known as "SA", helps those who are trying to learn Jyotisha. The late K.S. Krishnamurti developed the Krishnamurti Paddhati system based on the analysis of the stars (nakshatras), by sub-dividing the stars in the ratio of the dasha of the concerned planets. The system is also known as "KP" and "sub theory". In 2001, Indian scientists and politicians debated and critiqued a proposal to use state money to fund research into astrology.[45] In February, 2001, the science of vedic astrology, Jyotir Vigyan, was introduced into the curriculum of Indian universities.[46]
Effects on world culture
Main article: Cultural influence of astrology
Belief in astrology holds firm today in many parts of the world: in one poll, 31% of Americans expressed a belief in astrology and, according to another study, 39% considered it scientific.[47][48]
Astrology has had an influence on both language and literature. For example, influenza, from medieval Latin influentia meaning influence, was so named because doctors once believed epidemics to be caused by unfavorable planetary and stellar influences.[49] The word "disaster" comes from the Greek "δυσαστρία","disastria", derived from the negative prefix "δυσ-" "dis-" and "αστήρ" "aster" "star", thus meaning "no-starred" or "badly-starred".[50] Adjectives "lunatic" (Luna/Moon), "mercurial" (Mercury), "venereal" (Venus), "martial" (Mars), "jovial" (Jupiter/Jove), and "saturnine" (Saturn) are all old words used to describe personal qualities said to resemble or be highly influenced by the astrological characteristics of the planet, some of which are derived from the attributes of the ancient Roman gods they are named after. In literature, many writers, notably Geoffrey Chaucer[51][52][53] and William Shakespeare,[54][55] used astrological symbolism to add subtlety and nuance to the description of their characters' motivation(s). More recently, Michael Ward has proposed that C.S. Lewis imbued hisChronicles of Narnia with the characteristics and symbols of the seven heavens. Often, an understanding of astrological symbolism is needed to fully appreciate such literature.
Some modern thinkers, notably Carl Jung,[56] believe in astrology's descriptive powers regarding the mind without necessarily subscribing to its predictive claims. In music the best known example of astrology's influence is in the orchestral suite called "The Planets" by the British composer Gustav Holst, the framework of which is based upon the astrological symbolism of the planets.[57]
Astrology and science
In the Islamic world astrology was rejected during the turn of the second millennium owing to the development of the scientific method and the work of al-Farabi, Alhacen, al-Biruni, Avicenna and Averroes, who made a semantic distinction between astronomy and astrology[58] and helped to render astrology obsolete for Muslims. Muslim views on astrology have generally remained negative.
By the time of Francis Bacon and the scientific revolution, newly emerging scientific disciplines acquired a method of systematic empirical induction based upon experimental observations.[59] At this point, astrology and astronomy began to diverge; astronomy became regarded as one of the empirical sciences, while astrology came to be understood as a part of scholastic metaphysics, and was increasingly viewed as an occult science or superstition by natural scientists. For example, Christiaan Huygens wrote in his Cosmotheoros: "And as for the Judicial Astrology, that pretends to foretel what is to come, it is such a ridiculous, and oftentimes mischievous Folly, that I do not think it fit to be so much as named."[60] This separation accelerated through the 18th and 19th centuries.[61]
Contemporary scientists, such as Richard Dawkins, regard astrology as unscientific,[62] and those such as Andrew Fraknoi of theAstronomical Society of the Pacific have labeled it a pseudoscience.[63] In a lecture in 2001, Stephen Hawking stated "The reason most scientists don't believe in astrology is because it is not consistent with our theories that have been tested by experiment."[64] In 1975, theAmerican Humanist Association characterized those who have faith in astrology as doing so "in spite of the fact that there is no verified scientific basis for their beliefs, and indeed that there is strong evidence to the contrary".[65] Astronomer Carl Sagan was unwilling to sign the statement, not because he felt astrology was valid, but because he found the statement's tone authoritarian.[66][67] Sagan stated that he would instead have been willing to sign a statement describing and refuting the principal tenets of astrological belief, which he believed would have been more persuasive and would have produced less controversy than the circulated statement.[68]
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson asserted that "astrology was discredited 600 years ago with the birth of modern science. 'To teach it as though you are contributing to the fundamental knowledge of an informed electorate is astonishing in this, the 21st century'. Education should be about knowing how to think, 'And part of knowing how to think is knowing how the laws of nature shape the world around us. Without that knowledge, without that capacity to think, you can easily become a victim of people who seek to take advantage of you'".[69][70]
