Astrology

Homo signorum or The anatomical man, u Zodiacal manilluminated by the Limbourg brothers; sponsored by Duke Juan I of Berry. Chantilly Museum Palace, Chantilly, France.

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Astrology, in its broadest sense, is a set of traditions and beliefs that maintain that it is possible to recognize or construct a meaning of celestial events and constellations, based on the interpretation of its correlation with earthly events; this parallelism is used as a method of divination and character inference of people. In addition to Western astrology, Chinese and Hindu or Vedic astrology have also become popular in Europe and America. In general, predictions of astrology lack scientific validity or explanatory power by modern science standards and are often considered pseudoscientific.

Western astrology has its origins during pre-Christian times in Babylonia and ancient Egypt. In modern Western astrology, the bases and principles of interpretation as well as calculations are recognizable, which are inherited from Hellenistic astrology, which he inherited them from the Greco-Egyptian Alexandria. It is from then on that astronomy emerges as a system of observation and mathematical detection of the sky free of interpretations, remaining for a long time as an auxiliary science of astrology.

Astrology has had a checkered history in Europe. It was attacked and marginalized after the elevation of Christianity as the state religion of the Roman Empire. But in the late Middle Ages it regained its reputation, and from the Renaissance to the 17th century d. C., was accepted as a science. However, as a result of the Enlightenment, he lost credibility among academics. From 1900 a new interest in astrology arose and from 1960, thanks to the new age movement that appeared in the western hemisphere, it regained its popularity.

Modern science studies current astrology from the perspective of the sciences of religion and cultural history.

Etymology

The word astrology comes from the Latin astrologĭa /astrología/ and this from Greek ἀστρολογία /astrology/. It is composed of the words άστρον /ástron/ 'stars', which in turn comes from ἀστῆρ /astḗr/ 'star', 'constellation ', and λόγος /lógos/ 'compendium', 'treatise', 'discourse'; in this case its meaning is more related to «discourse», since λογία /logy/ is a suffix that denotes, in general, discipline or material of teaching.

The lexeme ἀστῆρ / astḗr/ is linked to the Proto-Indo-European roots *ster~/*~stel (noun) 'star' present in the traditional word «star» that comes from the Latin «stella». He can also be seen in: astronomy, asteroid, asterisk, disaster, disastrous and many others.

The lexeme ~λογία /logíā/ comes from λόγος /lógos/ 'word', 'expression' and is linked to the Indo-European root *leg~ 'to pick', 'to choose', plus the lexeme ~ία /~íā/ 'action', 'quality'. This word came to mean "discourse" and later "treaty" and "science." It can be seen in: biology, cardiology, dermatology, oenology, meteorology, methodology and many more.

Etymologically speaking, astrology is «the discourse on the stars», which focuses to a greater extent on the sun, the moon and the planets of the solar system and, to a lesser extent, on the stars; such as: Spike, Antares and Regulus, and in galaxies like Andromeda.

History

The Caracol observatory in the ancient city of Chichén Itzá in Mexico. A spiral staircase located in the interior, and which resembles a sort of shell, leads to different windows that are oriented towards the position of the different planets of the firmament at different times of the year.

Many cultures, such as the Hindu, Chinese, Mayan, and others, have attached importance to astronomical events and have developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events based on observations of the celestial vault. In the West, astrology very often consists of a system of horoscopes —a diagram that represents the sky at the moment of some event—, and in the interpretation or reading of the astral chart —a graph that represents the firmament at the moment of a person's birth. —, which allows most professional astrologers to understand the past, know the present and predict the future, seeking to explain the characteristics of an individual's personality based on the positions of the sun, moon and other celestial bodies.

Astrology is estimated to have existed since at least the 2nd millennium BC and its roots appear to be agricultural calendars used to predict seasonal changes and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communication. form of astrology was practiced during the first Mesopotamian dynasty (1950-1651 BCE). Chinese astrology developed during the Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BC). After 332 B.C. C., Hellenistic astrology was mixed with Decanic astrology, of Egyptian origin, specifically from Alexandria, creating what is known as the astrological horoscope. The conquest of Asia Minor by Alexander the Great allowed the spread of astrology to ancient Greece and Rome. In the latter, astrology was associated with "Chaldean wisdom." After the Muslim conquest of Alexandria in the VII century AD. C., astrology was studied by Islamic scholars, who translated Hellenistic texts into pre-classical Arabic and Middle Persian. During the XII century d. C. Arabic texts were imported into Europe and translated into Latin, helping to start the European Renaissance of that century, when leading astronomers such as Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) and Johannes Kepler (1571-1630), served as astrologers for the respective royal courts of their countries. In Renaissance literature astrological references appear in the works of poets such as Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) and Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) and playwrights such as Lope de Vega (1562-1635), Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681).

Throughout its history, astrology was accepted in political and academic contexts as a scholarly tradition and was an integral part of other studies such as astronomy, alchemy, meteorology, and medicine. By the end of the century XVII d. C., new concepts such as the heliocentrism of astronomy and the Newtonian mechanics of physics, questioned the foundations of astrology, thereby making it lose its academic and theoretical position, and for this reason the common belief in it was has been greatly reduced.

Antiquity

Top of a clay tablet, the opposite principle and the end of the reverse are missing. It contains astrological prognosis. It is a copy of the so-called Venus Tablilla of Ammisaduqa, of the Neo-Assyrian period. British Museum.

Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for logic or meaning in the sky. The first evidence of this search dates back 25,000 years and consists of marks on bones and cave walls, which they show that lunar cycles had been studied by humans in a conscious attempt to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes. This was the first step in recording the moon's influence on tides and rivers; and a first step for the creation of a common calendar for these two types of influences. The agricultural problems were solved with the increase in knowledge of the moments in which the constellations appear during the different seasons of the year, which allowed relating the presentation in the sky of certain groups of stars with the annual floods or the seasonal moments propitious for certain activities. By the third millennium BC, several civilizations had a sophisticated knowledge of the celestial cycles that they used to orient the temples of in such a way that they were aligned with the heliacal rising of the stars.

There is scattered evidence to suggest that the immemorial and well-known astrological references are copies of even more ancient texts written during antiquity. There are reports made during the reign of King Sargon I of Acad (2334-2279 B.C.) that the Ammisaduqa Venus Tablet was compiled in Babylon in about 1700 B.C. A series of scrolls, the Texts of Old Testament Times (German: Texte aus der umwelt des Alten Testaments), document the early use of elective astrology, doubtfully attributed to the rule of Gudea of Lagash (c. 2144- 2124 BC), in which he describes how the gods revealed to him in a dream which constellations would be most favorable for him to build his planned temple. However, there is controversy as to whether these scrolls accurately record the facts or whether they were simply attributed to those rulers in later times. The most remote and indisputable evidence of the use of astrology as an integrated system of knowledge is, therefore, that attributed to the records of the first Mesopotamian dynasty (1950-1651 BC). This astrology had some parallelism with the Hellenistic one —known today as western astrology—, including the zodiac, a vernal point near the 9° of Aries, the trine aspect, the planetary exaltations and the twelve divisions of 30° each (dodecatemoria). However, the Babylonians considered celestial events as possible signs rather than as causes of physical events.

The Chinese astrological system was devised during the Zhou dynasty (1046-256 B.C.) and flourished during the Han dynasty (centuries ii a.. C. al ii d. C). In this system all the elements known in the Chinese tradition: the doctrine of yin and yang, the theory of the five elements, Heaven and Earth, Confucian morality; they were united to formalize the philosophical principles of traditional Chinese medicine, feng shui, which in ancient China was a kind of geomancy, Chinese astrology and alchemy.

Hellenistic Egypt

The zodiac of Dendera, solar eclipse of March 7th, 51st C. Louvre Museum; Paris, France.

After the occupation of Alexander the Great in 332 B.C. C., the culture in Egypt became Hellenistic. After his conquest, he founded the city of Alexandria, becoming the place where Babylonian astrology mixed with Egyptian decanic astrology and generated horoscopic astrology. The latter encompassed the Babylonian zodiac with its system of planetary exaltations, the triplicities of signs, and the importance of eclipses. The Egyptian concept of dividing the zodiac into thirty-six decans of ten degrees each was used, with emphasis on the ascending decan and the Greek system of planetary gods, sun sign, and the four elements. ="font-variant:small-caps;text-transform:lowercase">II a. C. predicted the positions of the planets in the signs of the zodiac at the time of the departure of some decans, particularly Sotis, goddess of the star Sirius. The Tetrabiblos, the work of the astrologer, astronomer, chemist, geographer and mathematician Claudius Ptolemy (90 or 100-168 or 170 BC) who lived in Alexandria; it formed the basis of Western astrology and was considered a reference work among astrological writers for over a thousand years. During the I century a. C. the Dendera zodiac shared two signs with Babylonian astrology: Libra and Scorpio. In 525 B.C. C., Egypt was conquered by the Persians.

Greece and Rome

Emperor of ancient Rome. The Caesar Augustus was capricornian. He trusted so much in the astrology that he published his horoscope and made coins of silver and gold with the representation of his zodiacal sign.

Alexander the Great's conquest of Asia Minor exposed the Greeks to ideas from Syria, Babylon, Persia, and Central Asia. C., Berossus the Chaldean, priest of Bel in Babylon, moved to the Greek island of Cos to teach the astrology of the Babylonian culture. By the century I a. C., there were two varieties of astrology; the one who used horoscopes to describe the past, present and future; and theurgic astrology which emphasized the ascension of the soul towards the stars. Greek influence played a crucial role in the transmission of astrological theory to Rome.

The first clear reference to astrology in Rome comes from the orator Cato the Elder (234-149 B.C.), who in 160 B.C. He warned farm foremen not to consult the Chaldeans whom he described as "stargazers". Babylonia—also known as Chaldea—was so identified with astrology that among the Greeks and Romans the expression "wisdom Chaldea" became synonymous with divination by observing the planets and stars.

Cicero's De divinatione (44 BCE), which rejects astrology and other supposedly divinatory techniques, is a rich historical source for understanding the conception of scientificity in classical Roman antiquity.

Roman poet and satirist Juni Juvenal Tenth century II d. C., complained about the permanent influence of the Chaldeans, saying «[...] But in the Chaldeans the confidence will be greater: everything an astrologer says will believe that it has been brought from the source of Ammon, [...]".

One of the first astrologers to bring Hermetic astrology to Rome was the Egyptian Greek-language grammarian and literary commentator Thrasilus of Mendes (c. second half of the century I BC-First half of the century I AD), astrologer to the Emperor Tiberius (42 BC–AD 37), who was the first to have an astrologer at his court, although his predecessor Caesar Augustus (63 BC. -14 AD) relied on astrology to legitimize their imperial rights.

Ancient Objections

First Greek edition Tetrabiblos by Ptolomeo, published in Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany in 1535. In the photo the first page of the first chapter.

The jurist, politician, philosopher, writer, and orator Cicero (106-43 B.C.) raised the objection of twins, who are born a short time apart but have very different personalities. This postulate was later developed by Saint Augustine. Cicero argued that the influence of planets beyond the Moon could have only a very small influence on Earth compared to its satellite. He also argued that if astrology explains everything about the destiny of a person, then the visible effect of inherited capacities and child rearing on the destiny of individuals is mistakenly omitted; changes in health thanks to medicines or the effects of weather on people.

The sophistic Greek philosopher Favourinus (80-160) argued that it was absurd to imagine that the stars and planets affect human bodies in the same way that they affect the tides, and it is equally absurd that small movements in the heavens cause great changes in the destiny of people. The Greek physician and philosopher of Pyrrhonian skepticism Sextus Empiricus (c.160-c.210) argued that it was absurd to link human attributes with myths about the signs of the zodiac. The Greek philosopher and orator Carnéades (c. 214-c. 129 BC) claimed that belief in fate denies free will and morality; that people born at different times may all die in the same accident or battle; and that, contrary to the uniform influences of the stars, tribes and cultures are all different.

The Neoplatonic Greek philosopher Plotinus (205-270) argued that, since the fixed stars are so much more distant than the planets, it is laughable to imagine that the effect of the planets on humanity must depend on their position with respect to the zodiac. He also maintained that the interpretation that affirms that the conjunctions of the Moon with the planets are as beneficial as the Moon is full, and malefic as it is waning, is false; according to Plotinus this is evidently false, since from the point of view of the Moon, half of its surface will always be illuminated by sunlight. Due to the perspective from Earth, waning should be better, as Earth receives some moonlight, but when from our perspective it is full, the side facing Earth is dark, so it should be bad.

Medieval

Indian

The main texts on which classical Indian astrology is based are early medieval compilations, especially the Brihat Parashara Hora Sastra (AITS: Bṛhat Parāśara Horā Śāstra) and the Saravali (AITS: Sārāvalī), the latter was written by Kalyanavarman (AITS: Kalyāṇavarman). The Hora Sastra is a work composed of 71 chapters, of which the first part, chapters 1 to 51, dates between the VI d. C. through early VII d. c.; and the second part, chapters 52 to 71, dates from the 8th century d. C. onwards. Likewise the Saravali can be dated around the year 800 AD. C. English translations of these texts were published by N. N. Krishna Rau and V. B. Choudhari in 1963 and 1961, respectively.

Muslim World

This composite-style manuscript was copied in a Yalayeri model by a Persian painter, Qanbar 'Ali Naqash Shirazi, probably under the Mamluks. The thirty-six sections it contains correspond to the decanatos of the signs of the zodiac.

After the conquest of Alexandria by the Arabs in the VII century AD. C. and the founding of the Abbasid Caliphate in the 8th century d. C., astrology was studied by Arab scholars. The second Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur (712-775), founded the city of Baghdad to be a center of learning, including in his design a library of translations that became known as the "House of Wisdom" (in Arabic in Arabic, بيت الحكمة‎ /Bayt al-Hikmah/), who was in charge of further developing the cultural heritage and widely promoted the translation of Hellenistic astrological texts into pre-classical Arabic and Middle Persian. Early translators include Mashallah ibn Athari, who helped choose the right time for the founding of Baghdad, and Sahl ibn Bishr, also known as "Zael", whose texts had a direct influence on later European astrologers such as Guido Bonatti of the 18th century. XIII d. C. and William Lilly from the 17th century d. C.. The knowledge found in Arabic texts reached Europe thanks to translations into Latin in the 12th century AD. C.. This knowledge was one of the drivers of the European Renaissance.

Europe

The first astrological book published in Europe was the Liber Mundi Planetis et Climatibus (Book of the Planets and Regions of the World), which appeared between 1010 and 1027, and may have been written by Gerbert of Aurillac (c. 945-1003), Pope Sylvester II. Claudius Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos was translated into Latin by Plato of Tivoli in 1138. The Dominican theologian Thomas Aquinas (1224 or 1225-1274) followed Aristotle's proposal that the stars govern the imperfect "sublunary" body, in an attempt to reconcile astrology with Christianity that God governs the soul. The mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, and physician is said to have Italian 13th century d. C., Campano de Novara (1220-1296), was the one who devised the system of astrological houses that divides the vertical prime into "houses", all of them in equal arcs of 30°, although this system was already being used in the Orient. The astronomer of the 13th century d. C. Guido Bonatti wrote the Liber Astronomicus (Astronomical Book), of which Henry VII of England owned a copy towards the end of the century XV d. C..

In the canticle of Paradise, which is the final part of the medieval poem the Divine Comedy, the Italian poet Dante Alighieri makes reference to the astrological planets in great detail, although adapting traditional astrology to his view of Christianity. For example: he uses astrological thinking in his prophecies about the reformation of Christianity.

Medieval Objections

Rodolphi Goclenii Iun D. Aula Isenburgic of ordinary medicine (1603). Horoscope; paper xilography; German photo gallery, Dresden, Saxony, Germany.

In the VIIth century d. C., Isidore of Seville (c.556-636) in his Etymologies (Etymologiae or Originum sive etymologiarum libri viginti) argued that astronomy describes the movements of the heavens, while astrology had two parts: a scientific era, which describes the movements of the Sun, Moon, and stars; and the other that makes predictions is theologically wrong. In contrast, in the 14th century d. C. John Gower (1330-1408) defined astrology as essentially limited to the elaboration of predictions. The influence of the stars was divided in turn into natural astrology, for example: the effects on the tides and the growth of plants, and judiciary astrology, with its predictions of supposed effects on people. /span> d. C. Nicholas Oresme (c. 1323-1382), included astronomy as part of astrology in his Livre de divinations (Book of Divinations). Oresme argued that the approaches of his day to prediction of plagues, wars, and weather, were inadequate, but that such predictions were a valid field of inquiry. However, he attacked the use of astrology to choose the moment of actions – the so-called judiciary astrology – as totally false, and rejected that human action is subject to the determination of the stars due to the existence of free will. The friar Laurens Pignon (c. 1368-1449) likewise rejected all forms of divination and determinism, including the astral, in his work Contre les devineurs (Against Fortunetellers; 1411). This was in opposition to the tradition carried on by the Arab astronomer Albumasar (787-886) whose works Introductorium in astronomian (Introduction to Astronomy) and De magnis coniunctionibus (On the great conjunction), held the view that both individual actions and large-scale history are determined by the stars.

Renaissance

Various Renaissance scholars practiced astrology for kings and nobles, to whom they mainly gave medical and political advice. Gerolamo Cardano (1501-1576) cast the horoscope of King Edward VI of England (1537-1553); in turn John Dee (1527-1608 or 1609) was the personal astrologer of Elizabeth I of England (1533-1603). In 1566, Catherine de' Medici (1519-1589) paid Nostradamus (1503-1566) to verify the prediction made by her astrological consultant, Bishop Luca Gaurico (1475-1558), about the death of her husband the king. Henry II of France (1519-1559). Leading astronomers serving as astrologers for the royal courts include Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) for the royal court of Denmark, Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) for the Habsburgs, and Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) for the Medici. The spiritual astronomer and astrologer Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) was burned at the stake in Rome in 1600 accused of heresy;; have favorable opinions about metempsychosis and about the transmigration of the spirit into other human beings after death; and for engaging in matters of magic and divination". The distinction between astrology and astronomy was not entirely clear at this time. Advances in astronomy were often driven by a desire to improve the accuracy of astrology.

During the Elizabethan era in England, ephemeris, which contain complex astrological and astronomical calculations, were very popular; and the almanacs, which interpreted celestial events for use in medicine and for choosing the propitious moments for planting. In 1597, the English mathematician and physician Thomas Hood (1799-1845) made a set of paper instruments that he used to superimpose the orbits of the celestial bodies, these instruments allowed students to know the relationships of the fixed stars or constellations with the midheaven and the twelve astrological houses. Hood's tools also illustrate, for educational purposes, the relationships between the signs of the zodiac, the planets, and the parts of the human body believed to be governed by planets and signs. While Hood's presentation was innovative, his astrological information was largely that which was already known, which was o either taken from the astrological disc of Gerardus Mercator (1512-1594) which the latter produced in 1551, or from a source used by Mercator.

In England, astrology reached its zenith in the 17th century d. C.. The astrologers were the theorists, researchers and engineers of the society, they also gave personal advice to each monarch. Among other things, they advised on the best time to make a trip or harvest the harvest, diagnosed physical or mental illnesses and made medical prescriptions; and predicted natural disasters. All of this was supported by a system in which the Whole—people, the world, the universe—is interconnected. Astrology coexisted peacefully with religion, magic, and science.

Enlightenment and Modern Age

Astrology was considered by Enlightenment thinkers to be the archetypal example of superstition, the belief in occult and higher forces. For them, the fight against astrology seemed to be a general battle, as well as a political commitment to secularism and rationalism against obscurantism. Paradoxically, critical arguments against astrology seem more rhetorical than logical, using mainly polemical or authoritative arguments, rather than a reasoned approach.

Towards the end of the 18th century d. C., the time of rationalist triumph, is when the final divorce between astronomy and astrology occurs. The 19th century d. C. is a scientist. In France, astrology remained limited to clandestine esoteric circles such as spiritualists, cabalists, theosophists, and others. In the British Empire, its status evolved with theosophist Alan Leo (1860-1917), who made a more categorical analysis for predictions, on the basis that character makes fate. By contrast, an English compiler of almanacs, Richard Saunders, followed the spirit of the times and printed a tongue-in-cheek Discourse on the invalidity of astrology. invalidity of astrology); while in France the Pierre Bayle Dictionary of 1967 argued that the subject was childish.

In the 20th century d. C., astrology underwent a popular revival as part of spiritualism and later, as part of new age philosophy, and through almanacs, magazines, and radio and television programs. New versions incorporate statements about values symbols of planets orbiting beyond Saturn and asteroids, as well as new theories, such as statistical astrology. At the beginning of this century, astrology reappeared in the scientific field through depth psychology developed by Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961), during his exploration of ancient symbols, he claimed to discover, despite everything, a strong relationship between astrology and psychology:

Principles and practice

Supporters of astrology have defined it as a symbolic language, an art form, a science, and a method of divination. Although most cultural systems have common roots, they share the ancient astrological philosophies that influenced some and in others; many have unique methodologies that differ from those developed in the West. Such systems include Hindu astrology, also known as Indian astrology and in modern times referred to as Vedic astrology; and Chinese astrology.

Western

Classical Western astrology is the study of the effects of celestial bodies such as the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune; the fixed stars and sometimes the lunar nodes in relation to the "sublunary" world. It presupposes a geocentric and finite universe. The influence of the celestial bodies is variously considered as the absolute determinant of all the movements of the four "sublunary" elements, which Aristotelian physics accepts as the basis for the description of this influence —on the four humours—, somewhat modified by the concepts Neoplatonists. Such influence can be directional, that is, trends can be changed by future astral influences or by the intervention of a supernatural entity, usually by asking or consulting an astrologer or a priest. It can also be merely indicative of the divine will. Thus defined, Western astrology could not have existed before Hellenistic times and is certainly not the same as Babylonian, Egyptian, or Hindu.

Horoscope showing planetary positions and their aspects for the beginning of the third millennium in São Paulo, state of São Paulo, Brazil.

The movements of the celestial bodies are analyzed by their displacement through the signs of the zodiac, which consists of twelve spatial divisions of the ecliptic; and by their aspects, which are the angular relations between these celestial bodies. Its location in some astrological house is also studied, which are the twelve spatial divisions of the sky. The image of astrology in modern times is derived from that made by the mass media, which generally reduce astrology to the sun sign, that is, they only consider the zodiac sign in which the Sun was on the date of birth of an individual. This only represents 8% of the total horoscope.

Visually, the horoscope is a circular map of the sky, technically called a radix, with the earth in the center that expresses the set of relationships for the time and place in which the chosen event took place. These relationships contemplate the "seven planets", the twelve signs of the zodiac and the twelve houses, which indicate tendencies towards war, love, among others. At the chosen time and observed from the indicated place, each planet will be in a particular sign and house, thus creating two types of relationship. A third type of relationship is established by the aspect between planets where, for example, two planets that are at an angular distance of 120° are in a trine, which is a "harmonious" relationship; when the angular distance is 90° they are in square, which is an "inharmonious" aspect. The set of these relationships and their interpretations supposedly form "the language in which the heavens speak to knowledgeable men ".

Hindu

The earliest Vedic text on astronomy is the Vedanga Jyotisha, which is a collection of Vedic thought, which later also included Hindu astrology.

Hindu natal astrology originated from Hellenistic in the mid III century a. C. although incorporating the Hindu lunar houses. The names of the signs -for example: for Aries, in Greek "Krios", in Hindi "Kriya"-, the planets -for example: for the Sun, in Greek " Helios», in Hindi «Heli»-, and astrological terms —for example, in Greek «apoklima» for the declination and «sunaphe» for the planetary conjunction, in Hindi «apoklima» and «sunapha»-; and which can be found in the texts of the Hindu astronomer, mathematician and astrologer Varaja Mijira (505-587), were considered in 1893 by James Burgess, as conclusive evidence for the Greek origin of Hindu astrology. Indian techniques may also have been augmented with those of Babylon.

China and East Asia

Zodiacal signs of Chinese astrology. Medal suspended from the roof of a temple in Kurashiki, Okayama, Japan.

Chinese astrology is closely related to Chinese philosophy —theory of the three harmonies: heaven, earth and human—, it also makes use of concepts such as yin and yang, the five phases, the ten celestial trunks, the twelve terrestrial branches and the unit of measurement shichen (時辰)—a form of timekeeping used for religious purposes. The early use of astrology in China was mainly limited to political astrology, the observation of unusual phenomena, the identification of portents, and the selection of auspicious days for events and decisions.

The constellations of the western zodiac or the Chinese zodiac are not used; instead heaven is divided into three enclosures (三垣 pinyin: sān yuán) and twenty-eight mansions (二十八宿 pinyin: èrshíbā xiù) which in turn are divided into twelve secondary (十二次 pinyin: Shí'èr cì). The twelve-sign Chinese zodiac represents twelve different types of personality. It is based on the cycles of the lunar years and months, and the two-hour periods of the day: the “shichen”. The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the rat and the cycle continues through the eleven other animals: the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog and pig. The complex systems for forecasting fate and predictions made from the date and time of birth, such as "Ziping" and "Zi Wei Dou Shu" (simplified Chinese: 紫微斗数, Traditional Chinese: 紫微斗數; pinyin: zǐwēidǒushù), are still regularly used in Chinese astrology today; but they are not supported by direct observations of the stars.

The Korean zodiac is the same as the Chinese zodiac; the Vietnamese zodiac is identical to these except that the second animal is the water ox instead of the ox and the fourth animal is the cat instead of the rabbit. Since 1873, the Japanese have celebrated the new year on January 1 according to the Gregorian calendar. The Thai zodiac does not begin with the Chinese New Year, but begins on the first day of the fifth month of the Thai lunar calendar or during the Songkran festival, whose celebration begins on April 13 or 15, depending on the purpose of use.

Theological Views

Antiquity

Saint Augustine (354-430) believed that the determinism of astrology conflicts with Christian doctrines about the free will of human beings and their responsibility for their actions and that God is not the cause of evil. himself, he situated his philosophical position by citing the failure of astrology to explain why twins behave differently even though they are conceived at the same instant and are born at approximately the same time.

Medieval

Some of the practices of astrology were refuted on a theological level by medieval Islamic astronomers, such as Al-Farabi (c. 872-c. 950), Alhacen (965-1040), and Avicenna (c. 980-1037). They said that the methods of astrologers conflict with the orthodox views of Islamic religious scholars, because such methods suggest that God's will can be known and predicted in advance. For example: the work Rebuttal Against Astrology (Risala fi ibtal ahkam al-nojum) by Avicenna, argues against the practice of astrology while supporting the principle that the planets can act as agents of divine causation. Avicenna considered that the movement of the planets influences life on earth in a deterministic way, but argued against the possibility of diagnosing the exact influence of the stars. Basically, Avicenna did not deny the central dogma of astrology, but he did deny our ability to understand the accuracy of fatalistic predictions. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292-1350) in his work Miftah Dar al-SaCadah, also used arguments from astronomical physics to question the practice of judiciary astrology. He recognized that stars are much larger than planets, arguing:

Renaissance

Pope Sixtus V (1521-1590) issued the bull Coeli et terrae creator (Creator of heaven and earth) on January 5, 1586, by which he prohibited the practice of judiciary astrology, allowing only that which can be useful in navigation, agriculture and medicine, as well as natal and mundane astrology.

Pope Urban VIII (1568-1644) promulgated the bull Inscrutabilis Iudiciorum (Inscrutability of Judgment) on April 10, 1631, by which he condemned astrological predictions about the death of princes and of potatoes.

Modern

The catechism of the Catholic Church states that both divination and predictive astrology are incompatible with modern Catholic beliefs, such as free will:

Theoretical Classification of Western Astrology

Ptolomeo and Astronomy (1503); wood engraving by Gregor Reisch. Taken from your book Margarita philosophica. Fribourg of Brisgovia, Baden-Wurtemberg, Germany.

From an epistemological perspective, astrology, in its historical beginnings, is a type of protoscience. It is based on the idea, generally accepted at the time, that celestial bodies exercise a direct influence on earthly events, understood as a universal natural law. Based on this assumption, the first astrologers used mathematical models to demonstrate the regularities in observable natural phenomena. From that moment, astrology occupied a crucial place to predict the occurrence of certain events thanks to the development of detailed tables. To determine the position and orbit of a planet, complex formulas of geometry and trigonometry were necessary. Therefore, it was in these practices, not in superstition, that an early form of science occurred. The search for regularities in natural phenomena and their complete description in a rational way is a typical scientific procedure. This is why that the Prussian-born philosopher of science Ernst Cassirer (1874-1945) saw in astrology a beginning form of scientific thought, making use of statements such as: «those may appear in detail as uncertain and without foundation, but the general type of causal thinking belongs to causal reasoning". Astrology is thus an equal to modern science in its description of the world; but it is based on an entirely different kind of "world view"; therefore a refutation of astrology cannot be seen solely from the epistemological point of view.

Under the criterion of falsifiability, proposed by the Austrian philosopher of science Karl Popper (1902-1994), astrology is a pseudoscience. Popper considered astrology as "pseudoempirical" in which "it is made a call to observation and experimentation”; that it "nevertheless falls short of scientific standards". Unlike the scientific disciplines, astrology has not responded to falsification through experimentation. Unlike Popper, the American philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996) argued that it is not a lack of falsifiability that makes astrology unscientific, but rather its processes and concepts that are non-empirical.

For Kuhn, although astrologers have historically made predictions that "failed categorically", this in itself does not make astrology unscientific, nor do astrologers' attempts to explain failure. affirming that it was due to the difficult elaboration of a horoscope. On the contrary, in Kuhn's eyes, astrology is not a science, since it is more similar to medieval medicine; for at that time, astrologers followed a sequence of rules and guidelines from a field that had, apparently and necessarily, known deficiencies, but did not do any research because these fields were not amenable to research, since " they had no riddles to solve, therefore there was no science to apply". While an astronomer can correct a mistake, an astrologer cannot. An astrologer can only explain the failure, but cannot revise the astrological postulate in any meaningful way. Therefore, for Kuhn, even if the stars influenced the movement of human beings, astrology would still be unscientific.

Canadian philosopher of science Paul R. Thagard (1950) believes that astrology cannot be considered falsified in that sense until it has been superseded by a successor. In the case of behavioral prediction, psychology is the alternative. For Thagard, another criterion of theoretical classification from science to pseudoscience is that the current state of the art in astrology must progress and that the research community should be trying to to compare current theory with alternatives and not be "selective in regard to confirmations and counter-confirmations". Progress is defined here as explaining new phenomena and solving existing problems, however, astrology has failed to progress and has only changed very little in nearly two thousand years. For Thagard, astrologers act as if they were engaged in normal science, believing that the foundations of astrology are well established despite the "many unresolved problems”, and finds itself confronted by better alternative theories such as psychology. For these reasons Thagard sees astrology as a pseudoscience.

For the philosopher Edward W. James, astrology is irrational not because of numerous problems with mechanisms and falsifiability due to experiments, but because an analysis of the astrological literature shows that it is infused with fallacious logic and a poor reasoning.

Scientific criticism of Western astrology

One of the most common criticisms of astrology is that the zodiacal signs do not coincide with the astronomical position of the constellations, so that more than 95% of the population has not actually been born under the influence of the stars that define their sign.

Part of the scientific community has classified astrology as a pseudoscience, arguing that its description of the universe lacks validity or explanatory power. In addition, it does not propose a mechanism of action that satisfactorily explains how the position and movements of stars and planets affect people and events on earth, according to the basic principles of biology and physics. In 1975 a group of 186 scientists from different disciplines "concerned about the increase in the acceptance of astrology in many parts of the world" signed a manifesto, originally published in the American magazine The Humanist, expressing their objections to astrology and warning of the lack "of scientific foundation of its principles". In one study, astrologers who tried to match natal charts to profiles generated from a psychological inventory did not produce significantly significant results. different from those that could have been obtained by chance..

Confirmation bias has also been shown to be a psychological factor contributing to belief in astrology. Confirmation bias is a form of cognitive bias According to the available literature on astrology, its followers tend to to selectively remember those predictions that turned out to be true and to forget those that turned out to be false. A different form of confirmation bias also plays a role in that the convinced often fail to distinguish between messages that demonstrate knack for astrology from those that do not. Thus, there are two distinct forms of confirmation bias. confirmation that are under study with respect to astrological convictions.

Efficiency

An astrological letter of the Hindu manuscript 341, folio 4a, unknown author.

Astrology has not been shown to be effective in controlled studies, so it is not valid from a scientific point of view. In these studies, false predictions were made under controlled conditions. A well-known experiment included 28 astrologers whom they were asked to match over a hundred natal charts with psychological profiles given in the questionnaire, these profiles were generated from the "California psychological inventory". The double-blind experimental protocol used in this study it was agreed upon by a group of physicists and a group of astrologers, the latter being appointed by the US National Geocosmic Research Council (organization of astrologers), which advised on the experiments, helped ensure that the test was fair and helped draft the central proposal to be tested in natal astrology. They also chose 26 of the 28 selected astrologers to ra the tests; later, this group was joined by two other volunteers. clearly the astrological hypothesis".

Psychologist Michel Gauquelin (1928-1991) stated in 1955 that although he had found no evidence to support indicators such as zodiac signs and planetary aspects of astrology, he had found positive correlations between the diurnal positions of some of the planets and success in some professions that astrology traditionally associates with those planets. The best known of Gauquelin's findings is based on the position of Mars in the natal charts of successful athletes, this finding is known such as the Mars effect. However, a study by seven French scientists attempted to replicate his claims, but found no statistical evidence to do so. These scientists attributed the lack of statistical evidence to selective bias on the part of Gauquelin, and they accused of trying to persuade them to add or delete the names of some athletes for their studies.

Former astrologer and analytical chemist PhD Geoffrey Dean suggested that such selective bias may have been due more to the birth dates given by parents than to any problems in Gauquelin's study. His suggestion was that it is possible that a small subgroup of parents had birth records modified to match an astrological moment related to some chosen profession. The sample was taken at a time when belief in astrology was common. Gauquelin could not find the "Mars effect" in more recent populations, which have birth records made by a nurse or by a doctor. The number of births under undesirable astrological conditions was also lower, indicating that there is more evidence that parents chose the date and time of birth registration in accordance with their convictions.

Dean and psychologist Ivan Kelly conducted a large-scale scientific test that included more than a hundred cognitive, behavioral, and physiological variables, among others, but found no support for astrology. In addition, a meta-analysis of forty was performed. studies that included the participation of 700 astrologers and more than a thousand natal charts. In ten of the tests, which had a total of 300 participants, the astrologers were told to choose the correct interpretation of the astrological chart from a series of interpretations in which there were incorrect ones—between 3 and 5. When the date and other obvious data were removed, no significant results were found to suggest that there was preference, on the part of the astrologers, in the charts they chose.

Absence of mechanisms and consistency

Testing the validity of astrology can be difficult as there is no consensus among astrologers as to what it is and what it can predict. Most professional astrologers are paid to predict the future. future or to describe an individual's personality and life, but most horoscopes only make vague, unverifiable statements which can be applied to almost anyone.

Many astrologers claim that astrology is scientific, while some have proposed conventional mechanisms of action as causative agents, such as: electromagnetism and gravity. Scientists reject these mechanisms as implausible, since For example, when the magnetic field of a huge but distant planet like Jupiter is measured from the ground, it turns out to be much smaller than that produced by electrical appliances.

Cultural Impact

Western politics and society

The zodiac balance. Luis Ricardo Falero. Oil on board. Private collection.

In the West, political leaders sometimes consult astrologers. The writer and astrologer Louis de Wohl (1903-1961), provided his astrological knowledge to the British intelligence agency MI5, after it was learned that Adolf Hitler based his actions on astrology. The War Office was very "interested in knowing what Hitler's astrologers would be telling him week after week". Hitler was later shown to regard astrology as "utter nonsense".

In 1953, the German philosopher, sociologist, music theorist, and composer Theodor Adorno (1903-1969) conducted an analysis of the astrological column of a Los Angeles newspaper as part of a mass culture project in the capitalist society. Adorno believed that popular astrology, as a mechanism, invariably led to statements encouraging conformity and that columnist astrologers who went against such conformity—discouraging performance at work, etc.—risked losing their employment. Adorno concluded that astrology was a large-scale manifestation of systematic irrationalism, where individuals are subtly led through flattery and vague generalizations into believing that the author of the column is addressing directly He drew a parallel to Karl Marx's phrase "opium of the people", commenting: "the occult is the metaphysics of idiots".

In the late 1960s there was a boom in interest in astrology. Sociologist Marcelo Truzzi described three levels of participation by "believers in astrology" to account for its revived popularity despite scientific disrepute. He found that most "believers in astrology" did not claim that there was any scientific explanation for the predictive power. In contrast, those who were superficially involved in astrology, knowing "next to nothing" about "astrological mechanics", read the astrological columns in newspapers, which could be beneficial for "management of stress caused by anxieties" and for "a cognitive belief system that transcends science". level, they were generally one of those who request their horoscopes be drawn up in a search for advice and predictions. These were much younger than those on the first level, who could benefit from knowledge of astrological language, resulting in the ability to belong to a coherent and exclusive group. Those on the third level were highly involved and usually made their own horoscopes. Astrology provided this small minority of "believers" with a "meaningful view of their universe and [gave them] an understanding of their place in it". This third group took astrology seriously, possibly as a sacred canopy, while the other two groups took it jokingly and irreverently.

After John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate then-President Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981, his wife, First Lady Nancy Reagan, hired astrologer Joan Quigley to be the White House secret astrologer. However, Quigley's work ended in 1988 when her White House role came to light thanks to the memoirs of Donald Regan, her former chief of staff.

Along with tarot reading, astrology is one of the fundamental studies of Western esotericism, and as such has influenced magical belief systems such as Wicca not only among it but also in Western Hermeticism; the two immediately preceding have borrowed from or been influenced by the Western esoteric tradition. The American psychologist and anthropologist Tanya Luhrmann said that "all magicians know something about astrology" referring to a table of correspondences in the book The Spiral Dance by the writer Starhawk, this table, organized by planets, may be an example of astrological knowledge studied by magicians.

The study Jóvenes españoles 99 carried out in Spain in 1999 by the Santa María Foundation and coordinated by the sociologist Javier Elzo Imas; revealed that 41% of respondents believed in astrology.

Some polls conducted in 2005 and 2009 by Gallup commissioned by the Pew Research Center; reported that 25% of American adults believed in astrology. According to data published by the National Science Foundation in its publication Science and engineering indicators 2014, it can be read that " in 2012, fewer Americans rejected astrology than in recent years". This study notes that in 2012 "slightly more than half of Americans said astrology was "unscientific", while nearly two-thirds gave this answer in 2010. The comparative percentage had not been this low since 1983".

India and Japan

In India there is an established and widespread belief in astrology. It is commonly used for daily life, especially in matters of marriage and career, making extensive use of elective, hourly, and karmic astrology. Politicians in this country have also been influenced by astrology. It is still considered a branch of the Vedanga. In 2001, Indian scientists and politicians debated and criticized a proposal to use state money to fund astrological research, resulting in Indian universities acquiring permission to offer the course of vedic astrology.

In February 2011, the Bombay High Court reaffirmed the position of astrology in India by dismissing a case that challenged its scientific status.

In Japan the strong belief in astrology has led to dramatic changes in the fertility rate and the number of abortions in the years of the fire horse (Hinoeuma). Supporters believe that women born in hinoeuma years are unmarriageable and bring bad luck to father and husband. In 1966, the number of births dropped by more than 25% as parents tried to avoid the stigma of having a daughter born in the hinoeuma year.

Literature and music

The Planets. Seven-motion suite by Gustav Holst. Synphonic Band Arrangement, played by the United States Air Force Music Band
	Mars, the bringer of war Mars, the bearer of the war Venus, the bringer of peace Venus, the bearer of peace Mercury, the winged messenger Mercury, the winged messenger Jupiter, the bringer of jollity Jupiter, the bearer of joviality Uranus, the magician Uranus, the magician
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14th century AD English poets John Gower (1330-1408) and Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400). C., they made references to astrology in their works; of which may be mentioned: Gower's Confessio Amantis and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. Chaucer made explicit comments on astrology in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, demonstrating deep knowledge in one area: judicial astrology, as it explains how to calculate the rising sign.

In the 15th century AD. C., in English literature references to astrology became similes of "a matter of temporal process".

In the 16th century AD. C., the work of John Lyly (1554-1606) The woman in the Moon (1597), is motivated entirely by astrology, while Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) makes references astrological works in his works The Tragic History of Doctor Faust and Tamburlaine (both c. 1590), and Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) refers to astrology, the least four times, in his romance The Arcadian Countess of Pembroke (c. 1580). Edmund Spenser (1552 or 1553-1599) uses astrology both decoratively and casually in his poetry, revealing " [...] undoubtedly a lifelong interest in technique, an interest shared by a large number of his contemporaries". The work of George Chapman (1559-1634), The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron (1608), likewise uses astrology as a casual device in the drama. William Shakespeare's (c. 1564-1616) attitude towards astrology is not It is clear, since it has references against addictive in plays, including: King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and Richard II. Shakespeare was familiar with the astrology and made use of his astrological knowledge in almost every play he wrote, displaying basic knowledge of the subject for his business audience. Outside the theater, the physician and mystic Robert Fludd (1574-1637) practiced astrology, as did the quack Simon Forman. In Elizabethan England, "the usual opinion of astrology... [was] that it is the most useful of sciences".

In the 17th century AD. C., the Spanish poet and playwright Lope de Vega (1562-1635), who possessed a deep knowledge of astronomy, wrote plays in which he ridicules astrology into the absurd in his pastoral novel La Arcadia (1598), and in his short novel Guzmán el Bravo (1624) he concludes that the stars were created for man and not for them. Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681), wrote the comedy Fictive Astrologer (1641), the plot of which was borrowed by the French playwright Thomas Corneille (1625-1709) for his homonymous novel titled in French Feint astrologue (1651).

The most famous piece of music influenced by astrology is the orchestral suite The Planets, written by the British composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934), which was premiered in 1918. The central theme of this piece of music is based on the astrological symbology of the planets. Each of the seven movements in the suite focuses on a different planet, although the movements are not in the planetary order starting from the sun. Composer Colin Matthews (1946), wrote an eighth movement entitled Pluto, the renewer (Pluto, the renewer), premiered in 2000. In 1937, fellow British composer Constant Lambert (1905-1951) wrote a ballet on the subject of astrology called Horoscope. In 1974 New Zealand composer Edwin Carr (1926-2003) wrote his work The twelve signs: an astrological entertainment (The twelve signs: an astrological entertainment), for orchestra without strings.