The History Behind Western Astrology

The night has been associated with a lady dressed inastrologers have gone underground to give way to the
black velvet and bejewelled with glowing diamonds wepowerful beliefs of the Christian Church in the Middle
know as stars. The shining stars of the night, togetherAges. They practiced astrology with caution as it was
with other celestial bodies, however have been moredeclared unorthodox at that time. Fortunately, by the
than trinkets in the sky. The astrologers have forRenaissance period, the revival of the Greek and
centuries looked to the heavens for some star orneo-Platonic thought brought western astrology back
planetary activity that might impact people's lives onto life. Marsilio Ficino was one of the famous alchemist
earth.and astrologer of this era. Still, this was cut short during
So what is the history behind astrology in the westernthe Age of Enlightenment when a paradigm shift
part of the world? In the ancient times, the practice ofseparated the fields of astronomy and astrology apart
astrology is meant only for the royal blood, during this- considering the former to be a physical science and
period, the royalty credibly relied on astrologers andthe latter a mere supernatural art.
placed them in respected positions in their palaces.The revival of western astrology at the start of the
When the astrologers brought some bad news though,twentieth century was made primarily through the
they literally cut the heads of the poor astrologers off.efforts of the awe-inspiring astrologers Sepharial and
In the meantime, in 2300 BC, western astrology startedAlan Leo - the pioneers of the Astrological Lodge of
in ancient Mesopotamia and found its way to oldenthe Theosophical Society in Britain. From then on,
Greece. Astrology thrived in this land along with thewestern astrology flourished and became a popular
emergence of the well-known Greek philosopherspursuit for almost everybody. The astrological beliefs
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.referring to the Sun Sign Astrology, karma,
Meanwhile, one of Aristotle's students, Alexander thereincarnation and daily horoscopes became part of
Great, went on colonizing different parts of the worldgroup discussions and everyday lingo.
and with it distributed the Greek philosophy and wayIn the 1930s, Paul Clancy published the "American
of life. In a span of three hundred years, it was inAstrology" magazine and opened up the world of
Egypt that much of Alexander's conquests made itsastrology to a wider public. It was the highly respected
greatest influence. Astrology in particular became theDane Rudhyar who first wrote the daily horoscopes
centre of scholarly learning and acceptance by theunder the 12 astrological signs. The horoscope then
foremost thinkers of the era. In particular, Ptolemy notbecame a daily habit and widely sought in the
only studied the skies but focused on mathematicallynewspapers, magazines and other publications. Hence,
inclined astronomy, this event marked the beginning ofthe history of western astrology may have been full of
astrology as we know it today - the horoscope andadversities, but the fact that it has survived through the
the zodiac signs.years speak of a supernatural yet down-to-earth
After several hundred years however, westernspirituality.