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The history of Astrology
encompasses a great span of human history
and many cultures. The belief in a connection between the cosmos and terrestrial
matters has also played an important part in human history.
Partly in further development of views unfolded in Babylonia, but chiefly under Greek
influences, the scope of astrology was enlarged until it was brought into connection with practically all of the known sciences:
botany, chemistry, zoology, mineralogy, anatomy and medicine. Colours, metals, stones, plants, drugs and animal life of all
kinds were each associated with one or another of the planets and placed under their rulership.
By this process of combination, the entire realm of the natural
sciences was translated into the language of astrology with the single avowed purpose of seeing in all phenomena signs
indicative of what the future had in store.
The fate of the individual, as that feature of the future which had a supreme interest, led
to the association of the planets with different parts of the body, and so with medicine, where astrology played an important
part in Medieval medicine; most educated physicians were trained in at least the basics of astrology to use in their practice.
Here, too, we find various systems devised, in part representing the views of different schools, in part reflecting advancing
conceptions regarding the functions of the organs in man and animals.
From the planets the same association of ideas
was applied to the constellations of the zodiac . The zodiac came to be regarded as the prototype of the human body, the different
parts of which all had their corresponding section in the zodiac itself. The head was placed in the first sign of the zodiac,
Aries, the Ram; and the feet in the last sign, Pisces, the Fishes. Between these two extremes the other parts and organs of
the body were distributed among the remaining signs of the zodiac. In later phases of astrology the signs of the zodiac are
sometimes placed on a par with the planets themselves, so far as their importance for the individual horoscope is concerned.
With human anatomy thus connected with the planets, with constellations, and with
single stars, medicine became an integral part of astrology. Diseases and disturbances of the ordinary
functions of the organs were attributed to the influences of planets and explained as due to conditions observed in a constellation
or in the position of a star.
Click on the picture to enlarge
it.
Astrology has been studied
and practised continuously for thousands of years and has played an important, and often central, role in the scientific,
medical, philosophical, literary and psychological traditions of cultures all over the world. From ancient Mesopotamia,
Egypt and Greece, through to the present day, astrologers have seen the stories of individual lives and great historical events
reflected in the heavens.
Studied at universities throughout Europe from the 11th to the 17th centuries, astrology was included in the curriculum
of every educated person. In the days before astronomy and astrology became separated, many of the
greatest scientist/astronomers were also practising astrologers.
With the development of mechanistic science and the decline of the study of the
mystical and magical traditions in the 18th century, astrology lost the status and intellectual respectability it had had
in the past, but as we enter the 21st century the holistic nature of the universe is once again being revealed across many
disciplines.
According to the results of a 1987 survery conducted by Northern Illinois University, 67% of American adults
read astrological reports, while 36% believe that the reports are scientific.
Public
Opinion Laboratory of Northern Illinois University; published in American Demographics and cited by EP News Service.
A third of Americans believe in astrology. Executives
and professionals are the fastest-growing group of believers, according to a study by USA Today.
After the American president,
Ronald Reagan was shot, his wife Nancy employed an astrologer to forecast his future safety.
The
most famous astrologer is Nostradamus, who is said to have predicted events
such as the Second World War, the assassination of the American President John F. Kennedy and, most recently, the attack on
the World Trade Centre.
The words, astrology and horoscope are the most searched topics on the Internet, according to a 1999 study by searchterms.com.
Astrology is thought to be both a science and
an art. It claims scientific status because it requires mathematics and an understanding of Astronomy, as well
as a more than five thousands of years of methodology based in astrological observations. It
is an art because interpretation is necessary to bring the different aspects together and formulate an idea of the individual's
character traits and tendencies.
In the middle ages, a number of Catholic popes were intimately familiar with astrology:
Sixtus IV was the first pope to draw and interpret a horoscope, Julius II choose
his coronation date astrologically, and Leo X and Paul III relied heavily on astrologers for advice.
According to a 1999 survey, Americans spend $100 million a year
on astrology. · Astrology offers an explanation for crop circles. The crop circles occur in cereal and grain, which is the
signature of Virgo. Virgo, is the grain mother who feeds and nourishes the earth, not only with crops but with the new direction
of our beliefs, she asks that we exercise discernment.
A research group into the critical study
of astrology has been set up at Southampton University. PhD students attached to the group are currently researching alcoholism's
link to Jupiter, the correlation between prostitutes and their date of birth and also the link between women's infertility
and correlations of Jupiter and Saturn.
Statistical studies in Europe show a widespread
belief across all ages that astrology is a science.
Age when
studies finished
Astrology is a Science
Up to 15 years of age
50.5%
16 - 19 years of
age
55.1%
20 years of age and over
49.8%
Still studying
55.3%
Average
52.7%
A Majority of Europeans
view Astrology as a Science.
52% of European citizens consider astrology as a science (38% against). Over 16,000 people were interviewed.
Respondents were asked to rate astrology as 5 very
scientific to
1 = not at all scientific.
Scepticism about astrology was most evident in East Germany,
Italy (2.63/5) and the United Kingdom (2.70/5).
Based on the MSBNC survey made on February, 2007,
with 1114 responses at the time of this survey. The overwhelming answer was “Yes” (78%) and "no" had only 22%,
for the question "Do you believe
in Astrology?.
Deny observed facts during millenniums (Astrology) is not
scientifical.
Economy, metereology and medicine, makes predictions everyday, often failed, however they are considered
sciences. Moreover in the case of psychiatry or psychology, disciplines based in subjective approaches, not in scientifical
basis like in the case of conventional medicine, but they do predictions also, mostly subjective predicitions that again often
fails.
To consider certain social sciences as "Science", as in the case of Law, completely lacks of a scientifical
basis. To be "scientifical" this discipline should work as machines integrated into an international common norms. Machines
that would judge in an absolute impartiality and dettached for the final decision, taking into account all the involved norms
and jurisprudence. Its decision should be perfectly based in justice and not in the subjectivity of the judges and their beliefs,
thats what we often see at the tribunals world wide.
Even the computer science or the mathematical science are
not always accurate, although they are regarded as exact sciences.
What is Science? and What is not Science?... This is a
difficult matter to determine, specially today with the arise of many empirical sciences.
Astrology keeps not relationship with Magic, but however
not one would eliminate magic from its existence. Everywhere persists a magic culture all around, from David Copperfield
to Harry Potter, from gnomes to angels, full libraries specialized in rituals, spells, potions... and ever betsellers about
the subject.
Nevertheless who one do away with the magic culture from
the popular imaginary?... Not One. Because all we from where we were children believed on it, and it touched our soul. We
grow up with it and anytime that happens to us a "miracle" we remember of it, like when "magically" we meet someone and fall
in love with this someone.
Beyond what is formally considered "scientific" nowadays,
there are our dreams, our wishes, our imagination, which are the factors that push and make develop the science, without them
not science would exist at all.
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