What is Astrology?
Etymologically, the word astrology comes to us from the Greeks and has two parts: astro and logos. Logos means “a branch of study” and astro means “stars,” so astrology literally means the study of the stars, much as biology is the study of life. Studying the stars may sound like a misnomer however, since most astrologers focus on planets such as Mars, Mercury, and Uranus, not stars like Sirius or Betelgeuse. Why not call it planetology?
To the ancient mind beholding the glimmering night sky, there was little apparent difference between the stars and planets. In fact, the planets were known as asteres planetai or “wandering stars,” because they roamed across the heavens, rather than remaining fixed in place upon the firmament. Crossing constellations, moving backward and forward upon the ecliptic, the wandering stars displayed an inherent agency that marveled the ancients.
Before the advent of television, electric light, and the printing press, both the fixed and wandering stars were an integral part of myth and meaning for all peoples.
Although all human societies globally are bound, in some way, to the observation of the night sky, some ancient cultures specifically focused upon the study of the wandering stars, obsessively measuring their movements and comparing them against earthly events. Astrology as we know it in the West emerged from this study.
During the 6th millennium BCE, astral priests in Mesopotamia read omens in the sky for mundane purposes such as the rulership of kings, health of crops, spread of disease, and outcome of warfare. Their observations were collected and collated over the centuries. The first major astrological almanac, the Enuma Anu Enlil, emerged some time in the 2nd millennium BCE. Composed on a vast series of cuneiform tablets, the EAE contains instructions for interpreting celestial phenomena and is presented as a series “if x/then y” statements. For example, one tablet reads, "If in Nisannu the sunrise (looks) sprinkled with blood and the light is cool: rebellion will not stop in the country, there will be devouring by Adad." While their if/then statements are a far cry from any horoscope, the Mesopotamian civilization of Babylon is credited with dividing the apparent path of the sun, known as the “ecliptic,”' into 360 degrees spread evenly across 12 signs, essentially creating the zodiac we know today. Through these key contributions, the Babylonians laid the foundation of Western astrology as the study of the correlation between celestial and earthly events.
At this time, astrology remained an art for elites and kings, practiced by a scholarly class. About 900 miles to the west, the ancient Egyptians created several calendrical systems, including a solar calendar consisting of 36 parts connected to various stars and constellations. They too had an elite class of priests who enlisted astrology, in addition to other divination systems, to advise the pharaoh, schedule rituals, and forecast the future. Both cultures developed astrology as a high form of divination, one more predictable and empirical than reading animal entrails, yet connected to complex astral theologies.
These foundations laid by the Babylonians and Egyptians experienced rapid growth and development during the Hellenistic era. In fact, the system we call "astrology" in the West today congealed during Hellenistic era of the 3rd and 2nd century BC. Following the conquest of Alexander the Great, Greek became the lingua franca of the Classical world. People from as far afield as Northern India to Mesopotamia to Egypt could converse and compare ideas. Advancements in mathematics and astronomy and the rich diversity of religious, philosophical, and mystery traditions around the Mediterranean were exchanged across vast trade routes. In the port city of Alexandria in Egypt, native temple priests, Indian Buddhists, Greek philosophers, and Jewish mystics exchanged beliefs in the marketplace of ideas. Amidst this multicultural milieu emerged Hellenistic astrology.
Synthesizing the 12 signs of the Mesopotamian zodiac, the 36 Egyptian decans, and Greek metaphysics, Hellenistic astrology emerges onto the historical record seemingly fully formed. It stands in contrast to older systems of celestial study because it presented the horoskopos, or what we call the "natal chart" today, as a brand new invention. Before this point, astrological prognostication was primarily done only for kings and countries, whose fate was of paramount importance. After the conquest of Alexander, the fate of individuals took on equal, if not greater, significance. By roughly 200 BCE, we see the earliest evidence of birth charts calculated according to the ascending degree, just like the charts calculated today on apps and websites. Key features arise at this time including planets, signs, houses, and aspects.
These four features form the basis for any kind of chart interpretation today, no matter what branch of astrology one practices. The planets are the primary voices, giving testimony about the question at hand. Signs qualify the voices of the planets, either strengthening or weakening what they have to say, while aspects describe the relationship of the planets to one another. Finally, charts are divided into 12 houses. In any given chart, the signs and planets can fall in any one of these 12 houses. One classic metaphor is that, if life is a play, the planets are the actors, the signs are their costumes, the aspects are their relationships, and the houses are the backdrop of the drama.
Over the next four weeks, we will examine each of these features in detail, beginning with the planets.
