A Brief Historical Treatise Concerning the Roots of
Stargazing and Modern Sky Lore
A very, very long time ago, before anyone invented writing, but certainly after humans discovered fire and developed language, people gazed up at the magnificence of shimmering lights in the dark heaven.
It is a safe speculation that some early humans felt a sense of awe worth communicating to others and may have done so in story and song. At least some were enticed enough by the stars, planets, Moon and Sun to observe them regularly, to study their movements, to become learned in sky lore. They may have scratched notches on wood or bone for counting movement in celestial cycles. Of course, without surviving written language revealing their practices along with suviving artifacts, much of this speculation remains speculative about where and when.
At some point, humans noticed a correlation between the time of certain celestial phenomenon, "signs," and certain seasonal events. Stargazers made predictions season by season, Moon by Moon. Some reverenced the luminaries of the night, all the starry multitudes, for their wonderful and predictable passage. From these rhythms materialized the concept of measuring time. The sky set the order of time, which mirrored seasonal events on Earth.
Long-term observation can establish the period of celestial cycles with remarkable accuracy.
In the fertile crescent of Mesopotamia, people organized and systemized their observations and ideas about the heavenly bodies visible to the naked eye. Ancient Sumer was the cradle of modern western astronomy-astrology. The ancient Sumerians first divided the circle into 12 segments.
The oldest known recording of stars grouped into visual patterns, or constellations, originated around 3000 bce, during the Age of Taurus, in the Tigres-Euphrates valley. Apparently the visual star patterns, called constellations, that were perceived by peoples in the development of Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations were connected with both seasonal events and mythological figures.
Around 1600 bce, the Babylonians completed their first star catalogs with planetary motions. They painstakingly observed and recorded the motions of Sun, Moon, and five visible planets, or "wandering stars," from atop the ziggarats and the retrograde motions of those seven "wandering stars." According to Babylonian traditions, each celestial body was controlled by a power or deity. In this Babylonian or Chaldean system, each deity and her or his heavenly orb1 ruled a day in a seven-day week. (See Planets, Magic, and Myths) Each heavenly orb ruled the first hour of her or his day. The observation of the stars by astronomer-astrologer priests upon the ziggarats was supported by the Babylonian kings as far back as the reign of Hamurabi. The sky lore that the priests gathered was necessary for the Babylonian calendar and the prediction of upcoming events. For example, during Babylonian times, the Sun rose on the autumn equinox in the zodiac constellation which was perceived as resembling a scorpion. Hence, Scorpio signified the autumn equinox, which heralded the approach of the winter seasons, just as Taurus2 signaled the new year in spring. These early astronomer-astrologers imagined star patterns depicting beasts and humans and their knowledge of sky lore and descriptions passed through many generations.
The Babylonian version of the creation myth, the Enuma Elish, was read each vernal equinox at the beginning of the new year. In the Enuma Elish, the universe was created by Marduk. He shaped the constellations and set the duties of the seven sky luminaries. It was in 1800 bce that the Age of Taurus was replaced by the Age of Aries. See Astronomical-Astrological Ages. The Babylonian version of the Epic of Gilgamesh, circa 1200 bce, recounted the slaying of the Bull of Heaven.
Any predictions made by Babylonians from stargazing usually related to major events, effecting the fortunes of their city states--weather, war, etc.
According to tradition, this Sumerian/Babylonean/Chaldean system was introduced to Greece by a "Chaldean priest" or "mage" by the name of Berosus in the fourth century bce during the Age of Aries. It is true that in the third century bce the Greeks had completely adopted the Chaldean Order of the heavenly bodies of the cosmos.
The Greek world view perceived their universe as a harmonious kosmos and embraced the concept, "as above, so below," as proof of the movement of celestial bodies effecting events on Earth. In Greek tradition, the seven "wandering stars" were controlled by Selene, Hermes, Aphrodite, Helios, Ares, Zeus, and Chronos.
Claudius Ptolemy (70-125 ce) was one of the most influential Greek writers about astronomy-astrology and geography of his time. Ptolemy, like Plato, Eudoxus, Aristotle, and Hipparchus, propounded the model of the geocentric cosmos. This Ptolemic system remained in use for 14 centuries, well into the Christian era. Ptolemy was the first to design a complete system to describe and predict planetary motions. His most famous work was the Mathematical Composition of Claudius Ptolemy. Interestingly, it is often referred to by its Arabic name, Almagest. In his Tetrabiblios, Ptolemy explained that astronomy-astrology could be used to calculate past, present, and future planetary positions to cast horoscopes. Tetrabiblios established traditional horoscope interpretations, some of which are still used by modern Western practioners of astrology. It was Greek scholars of philosophy, astronomy, and astrology that developed the concept that each human, not just leaders, were effected by the influence of the stars.
In the second century bce, during the Age of Aries, the Romans absorbed the Greek geocentric cosmology along with the practice of astronomy-astrology. The Romans renamed the seven celestial bodies after their Roman gods: Luna, Mercury, Apollo (Sol) 3, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn.
Although much of this system orginated with earlier civilizations, the Romans put their indelible mark on it.4 Many of the planets in English still have Roman names. The terms, "astronomy" and "astrology," come from the Latin terms astronomia and astrologia. These Latin terms were used interchangeably up into the Middle Ages. Horoscopes were cast for important individuals in Roman times, but the average citizen could purchase one too. Horoscopes were drawn up over important events, like expensive business ventures. Indeed, at one point during the Roman empire, it became illegal to have someone cast a horoscope about the emperor. People interested in pulling a coup might request such a horoscope about the emperor.
This Roman cosmology, which derived from the Ptolemic system, fitted in with Saint Thomas Aquinas's synthesis of Christian and Aristotelian physics. The Catholic Church didn't exactly approve of the use of astronomy-astrology to foretell the future. Making predictions denied the sovereign will of God. Yet, some church scholars argued otherwise.
During early Renaissance, around 1400 ce, sundry Arabic works were being translated and old Greek and Roman texts were re-examined. This intellectual activity spurred arguements for and against the practice of using heavenly bodies for divination. It also eventually led to discussions about the nature and form of the universe.
It must be remembered, however, the geocentric Ptolemic system was still in use as the Catholic Church sanctioned cosmology. The Ptolemic system was a useful system to mathematically calculate planetary positions among the zodiac.
The Pagan astronomer-astrologer Aristarchus, during the third century bce, had already proposed a heliocentric cosmology, rather than geocentric. Aristarchus stated that the Earth rotated on its axis and revolved around the Sun. There is no direct record that Aristarchus worked out the mathematical details of a heliocentric cosmos the way Ptolemy had worked them out for a geocentric cosmos.
In any case, the heliocentric cosmos contradicted common sense. Anyone from the Sumerians onward could look up and see it was the objects in the sky that moved. The Babylonians had tracked these movements with meticulous precision. Furthermore, a heliocentric system contradicted Aristotelian physics. Aristotle gave several reasons which explained why the Earth must not move, and was fixed stationary in the center of the universe.
One reason was if the Earth moved, heavy objects such as stones could not be expected to fall back to their point of departure if they are thrown exactly straight up. Yet, "heavy objects, if thrown forcibly upwards in a straight line come back to their starting place."
Aristotle considered and rejected the heliocentric universe because if the Earth moved in a circle around the Sun, the stars would display an annual parallax or heliocentric parallax. As this change was not observed, the Earth must be in the center.5
It's true that the theories of Aristotle and Ptolemy were wrong, but they were based on accumulated knowledge, logic, and aesthetics. One feature of Aristotlian physics was that the Earth must be spherical, because the sphere shape was perfect and was therefore "the primary shape in nature."
In the 16th century ce, Copernicus devised a heliocentric system of the universe. Of course, even Copernicus assumed all the planets moved in circular orbits, rather than the eliptical orbits which they actually move in, because circles were a perfect shape. He also speculated the geocentric system was flawed, because it was too complicated to be aesthetically pleasing to the mind.
In the 17th century ce, Galileo had begun observing our solar system through a telescope. He observed lots of things that didn't quite fit with contemporary scientific theory. For example, he observed the Moon's surface was rough, not smooth as it was assumed to be. He published his Dialog on the Two Chief World Systems, which supported the Copernian heliocentric system as opposed to the Ptolemic geocentric system. In spite of the fact that most histories like to paint that the Enlightenment began taking root in the 1600's, the Church still supported a Ptolemic geocentric system. Copies of the book were seized. Galileo was hauled before the inquisition. He publicly recanted his scientific beliefs. Galileo was not executed as a heretic, but he was placed under perpetual house arrest.
It was during the Enlightenment that the two practices of astronomy and astrology finally split. Astrology became solely a system for divination. European universities ceased to teach anything about using the sky luminaries in divination practices.
Nevertheless the practice of astrology and its ancient legacy continued through sundry esoteric schools of thought. In the 1800's, there was an astrological revival. Robert C. Smith and Aleister Crowley both wrote about it. Alice Baily (1880-1949) wrote A Treatise on the Seven Rays, a three volume work which was very influential. In fact, you will still read references to the rays of heavenly bodies affecting people in some astrology sources.
In the 20th century, Carl Jung also embraced astrological imagery as another wellspring of archtypal symbology, along with the mythology and legends.
Critics of the modern practice of astrology, observing the stars for divination purposes, often claim that astrology is stuck in the geocentric Ptolemic system, and therefore, all modern astrologers are still stuck in the Middle Ages. Actually, part of the practice of modern astrology is stuck in the Age of Aries. Look at any astrology page in the newspaper and you will see a list of Sun signs relating to one's birthdate.
| March 21 - April 19: | Aries |
| April 20 - May 20: | Taurus |
| May 21 - June 21: | Gemini |
| June 22 - July 22: | Cancer |
| July 23 - Aug 22: | Leo |
| Aug 23 - Sep 22: | Virgo |
| Sep 23 - Oct 23: | Libra |
| Oct 24 - Nov 21: | Scorpio |
| Nov 22 - Dec 21: | Sagitarius |
| Dec 22 - Jan 19: | Capricorn |
| Jan 20 - Feb 18: | Aquarius |
| Feb 19 - March 20: | Pisces |
Observe the dates. These dates mark a year in a zodiac calendar that starts in March on the vernal equinox in the Age of Aries. The zodiac calendar year moves through all 12 Houses of the zodiac.
However, as we are in the Age of Pisces, the Sun now rises in the constellation of Pisces. See Astronomical-Astrological Ages. Thus, the dates of the zodiac calendar need to be adjusted.
| March 21 - April 19: | Pisces |
| April 20 - May 20: | Aries |
| May 21 - June 21: | Taurus |
| June 22 - July 22: | Gemini |
| July 23 - Aug 22: | Cancer |
| Aug 23 - Sep 22: | Leo |
| Sep 23 - Oct 23: | Virgo |
| Oct 24 - Nov 21: | Libra |
| Nov 22 - Dec 21: | Scorpio |
| Dec 22 - Jan 19: | Sagitarius |
| Jan 20 - Feb 18: | Capricorn |
| Feb 19 - March 20: | Aquarius |
Some modern astrologers have adjusted their system to match the correct zodiac calendar year in the Age of Pisces. Some argue that the Houses of the zodiac Sun signs were always an artificial division. The Sun sign Houses never accurately indicated all the time where the Sun rose throughout the year. The actual constellations of the zodiac are different sizes. Therefore, the Sun spends a different amount of time in each zodiac constellation or sign. These modern astrologers still continue to start the zodiac at Aries 0 degree on the vernal equinox. Like Jung, they claim certain personality types are associated symbolically with certain signs.
It poses an interesting conundrum.
Some skeptics complain that such statements actually smack of prejudice--insisting that a person born at a certain time of year has certain personality traits. They have an intriguing argument.
Nevertheless the charge that modern astrologers are stuck in a geocentric universe is false. Numerous modern books on astrology clearly describe the nine, not seven, planets, including Earth, as orbiting the Sun. The motions of the planets Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto have been absorbed into the practice of astrology. Astrologers have assigned these planets various meanings. Modern adherents of astrology definitely know our planet orbits the Sun with the other planets of our solar system. They also know the universe is not heliocentric. Our Sun is only one star in the spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. Our galaxy is only one of many galaxies. Modern practitioners of astrology are aware of these facts and do not dispute them.
It is true that modern practitioners and adherents of astrology use observations of the heavenly bodies for divination. This form of divination is extremely complicated. It often uses the concept of "synchronicity." The term, synchronicity, was coined by Jung, and related to the theory that two seemingly random and unrelated events are linked simply because they take place at the same time. In the case of modern astrology, the appearance of sundry sky luminaries mirrored events on Earth in a form of preset cosmic harmony. This concept harks back to the ancient Greek idea of the kosmos, "as above, so below." 6
Astrology is based on ancient religious and magical roots. For example, the seven heavenly bodies were originally associated with Babylonian deities, Sin, Nebo, Ishtar, Shammas, Nergal, Marduk, Ninib.7 The characteristics of these Babylonian deities were passed along with various sky lore even though these heavenly bodies were reassigned Roman deities, Luna, Mercury, Venus, Apollo (Sol), Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
The same applied to the constellations of the zodiac, which were first ordered in ancient Sumer and later carefully charted by the Babylonians.
An understanding of these historical roots provides a fuller and richer understanding of the subject.
--copyright June 2006 Myth Woodling
Sources:
Michael Zeilik, Astronomy: The Evolving Universe, 1976
Liz Greene, Star Signs for Lovers, 1980
2 Taurus was referred to as the "Bull in Front" by the Babylonians. This constellation was the Bull at the beginning of the year. See Astonomical-Astrological Ages.
3Sol is the Latin word for Sun. Apparently the Romans did not originally have a Sun God. There were several Roman deities with solar or light-bringing attributes. Some scholars have speculated that the Roman Diana may have once been connected to both the Moon and Sun. In any case, the Romans adopted Phoebus Apollo into their pantheon in the fifth century bce to avert a plague. Phoebus Apollo was a deity of medicine, healing, music, and the Sun.
4 Another example of how the Romans added their own layer of symbolism involves the planet Mars. This planet was known as Nergal in the Babylonian tradition. Nergal was an ancient Sumero-Babylonian God of the netherworld. Generally, he was an evil deity who brought war, pestilence, fever and devastation. The Greeks identified Nergal with their own tempestuous God of war, Ares. Mars, on the other hand, was a benificent deity. He was a guardian of agriculture and cattle. He was called Mars Gardivius from gandiri, meaning, "to grow, to become big." As Rome became more militaristic, his protective nature eventually extended to protecting the people of Rome and legions of Rome as a warrior. Hence the planet Mars in modern astrology not only relates to war, but to self-defense, honor, loyalty and male virility. Therefore, the symbology associated with the Roman Mars overlaid the symbology of the Greek Ares and the Sumero-Babylonian Nergal.
5 Aristotle was mistaken about the size of the cosmos, which he viewed as finite. Since he believed the fixed stars were much closer than they were, large portions of the visibile cosmos should disappear from sight as the Earth moved around the Sun, while other portions would become visible again. Aristotle did not see this annual parallax or heliocentric parallax.
6 Another explanation used by some modern astrologers was that certain forces emanate from other planets as they along with the planet Earth dance around the Sun. These forces are described as gravity, magnetism, or rays, or a combination thereof.
Many modern astrologers describe their divination system as both a learned skill and an intuitive artform. The skill involved learning a well-ordered system of calculation, including drawing up a natal horoscope.
To provide a reading, the astrologer must blend together the calculations and other information about the sky luminaries using an intuitive approach to the art of interpreting this data. It is also assumed the stars impell, they do not compell.
7 At least one source of Sumero-Babylonian mythology states Ninib's name is more correctly spelled in English as Ninureta. He was a hunter God associated with rain, fertility, thunderstorms, wells, canals, floods, the plow, and war. Humanity owed to him the healthy livestock and fertile fields.
Archaeoastronomy
Astrological-Astronomical Ages
Astronomy: Planets and Myths
Planets, Magic, and History
Weekdays