Astrology is the belief that there is a correlation between the movements in the heavens and events on earth. Everything is interrelated and in the heavens the patterns are clearer. There are different astrological traditions in different parts of the world. The two main traditions around today are Western astrology which is said to be based on Ptolemaic astrology and then Vedic astrology which comes from India. There are other extant traditions in tibet, china etc and many extinct traditions that some are trying to revive like Mayan traditions etc. History
Main article: History of astrology
15th century image from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry showing believed relations between areas of the body and the zodiacal signs.
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.[18] This system of celestial omens later spread either directly or indirectly through the Babylonians and Assyrians to other areas such as India, Middle East, and Greece where it merged with pre-existing indigenous forms of astrology.[19] This Babylonian astrology came to Greece initially as early as the middle of the 4th century BCE, and then around the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE after the Alexandrian conquests, this Babylonian astrology was mixed with the Egyptian tradition of decanic astrology to create horoscopic astrology. This new form of astrology, which appears to have originated in Alexandrian Egypt, quickly spread across the ancient world into Europe, the Middle East and India.
[edit]Before the modern era
The differentiation between astronomy and astrology varied from place to place; they were strongly linked in ancient India,[20][21] ancient Babylonia and medieval Europe, but separated to an extent in the Hellenistic world. The first semantic distinction between astrology and astronomy was given in the 11th century by the Persian astronomer, Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī[22] (see astrology and astronomy).
The pattern of astronomical knowledge gained from astrological endeavours has been historically repeated across numerous cultures, from ancient India through the classical Maya civilization to medieval Europe. Given this historical contribution, astrology has been called a protoscience along with disciplines such as alchemy.
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 being conjectural rather than empirical) and religious (conflicts with orthodox Islamic scholars) reasons.[23] Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya (1292-1350), in his Miftah Dar al-SaCadah, used empirical arguments in astronomy in order to refute astrology and divination.[24]
Many prominent thinkers, philosophers and scientists, such as Galen, Paracelsus, Girolamo Cardan, Nicolaus Copernicus, Taqi al-Din, Tycho Brahe, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, Carl Jung and others, practiced or significantly contributed to astrology.[4][25]
[edit]Modern approaches
Several innovations have occurred in astrological practice in modern times.
[edit]Western
During the middle of the 20th century, Alfred Witte and following him Reinhold Ebertin pioneered the use of midpoints (midpoints in Astrology) in horoscopic analysis. From the 1930s to the 1980s, astrologers including Dane Rudhyar, Liz Greene and Stephen Arroyo pioneered the use of astrology for psychological analysis, with some following the lead of psychologists like Carl Jung. In the 1930s, Don Neroman developed and popularised in Europe a form of Locational Astrology under the name of "Astrogeography." In the 1970s, American astrologer Jim Lewis developed and popularized a different approach under the name of Astrocartography. Both methods purport to identify varying life conditions through differences in location.
[edit]Vedic
Main article: Vedic astrology
Indian astrology uses a different zodiac than Western astrology and is a branch of Vedic science.[26][27] In India, there is widespread belief in astrology and it is commonly used.[28][29] 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, Indian vedic astrologer and author, V.K. Choudhry has created and developed the Systems' Approach for Interpreting Horoscopes, a simplified system of Jyotish (predictive astrology)[30] 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".
More recently, Indian scientists have denounced a proposal to use state money to fund research into Vedic astrology. [31] From here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology |
