History of Astrology through a Prism of Folklore

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Seongchan O

Ryan Demoss

2016.5.27

History of Astrology through a Prism of Folklore

Introduction

The word “astrology” is literary translated as study, or science of the stars (Lewis,

xiii). The basic difference between the science of astrology and astronomy is the connection

and correlation of the first one to events meaningful for humankind or for particular

individuals. While astronomy studies celestial bodies, movements and phenomena in a

manner independent from humankind history and development (if not to consider

technological progress that provided new and improved means for astronomical

observations), astrology suggests connections between the celestial events and events in life

of humankind, community or a particular individual. In a more linguistic comparison,

astrology is translated as “reasoning, story, word” of stars, and astronomy is translated as

“law” of stars” (Kasak 84). Therefore, astrology is obviously based on astronomical research,

but astrological interpretations seem to be rooted in folklore more and “collective

unconscious” of the local population in each particular region.

This paper explores the ancient history of astrology from its suggested origins and

into the 21st century. The main research question is how astrology developed, and what are

the current trends and future perspectives of astrology. It should be noted that this paper

studies the history of astrology through the prism of folklore, focusing on superstitions,

beliefs and methods of prediction. Therefore, scientific discussions and philosophic theories

related to astrology are not the focus of this paper.

The paper is organized as follows: in the first part, “History of Astrology”, discussion

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of the suggested origins and description of history of astrology in different ancient regions is

presented. Then, the paper discusses the Christian perspective regarding astrology and

touches upon the Inquisition approach to the issue. The second part of the paper, “Current

Trends and Future perspectives”, discusses the fate of astrology in the 20th-21st centuries, and

provides the author’s suggestions about future trends in development of this discipline. The

Conclusion provides a brief summary and limitations of the research.

History of Astrology

Suggested Origins of Astrology

Today, astrology is mostly associated with forecasting of the future and defining the

characters of individuals or nature of events according to configuration of celestial bodies

(Kasak 84). However, it should be remembered that the first astrology was probably

developed by pre-historic humans in order to predict the changes of seasons, weather changes

and other events that were crucial for their communities’ well-being (Saunders n.p.). Also, for

nomadic tribes, stars were one of the means to orient themselves during their travelling. It

should be suggested that the earliest people used not only stars, but also other natural

phenomena to guess and predict the weather and natural events, taking notice of winds, fogs,

clouds, animal and bird migrations, and other signs. As it can be concluded from the earliest

written data created by ancient civilizations, the observations of the pre-historic men were

collected into systems of knowledge.

These systems of knowledge might have included data about possible natural

phenomena, particularly about celestial movements and bodies, their correlation to natural

events “on the ground”, probable actions that might be taken by humans to achieve success or

avoid harm, and knowledge about best observation methods. These are only suggestions, but

bigger ancient civilizations developed rather impressive astrological systems and

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interpretations, making it possible to conclude that certain knowledge had been collected and

passed to the following generations before.

Astrology in Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia is believed to be one of the first ancient regions that developed a

profound system of astrology and used it for predictions and other daily needs. The

development of astrology in Mesopotamia underwent three stages: early astrology, primitive

zodiac astrology and horoscopic astrology (Kasak 86). The early astrology was studied and

practiced in the Assyro-Babylonian (Akkadian) period and the main method of predictions

suggested interpreting different omens occurring in celestial movements and phenomena.

According to omens, fortunes and misfortunes were predicted; the course of natural event and

its interpretation were carefully written down and astrologers used to provide the local rulers