WHEN DID ASTROLOGY BEGIN?  

by Monica Ann Wallach

www.MonicaWallach.com     MW@MonicaWallach.com 

          No one really knows when astrology started, but it seems likely mankind has always looked to the sky for guidance.  What information we do have from antiquity shows all ancient civilizations had developed astrology to a high degree.  In every early agricultural society (Sumerian, Egyptian, Mayan, Chinese, and Indian), astrologer/priests who watched the heavens to determine the timing of events.  Look into the design of most ancient temples, and you will find them built on astrological foundations.  The two shafts leading from the king’s chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza are in exact alignment with the North Star and the stars on the belt of the Orion constellation.[1]  In fact, when viewed from an overhead position, the three pyramids of Giza look just like the stars on Orion’s belt.   Stonehenge, a megalithic monument near Salisbury, England, orients its main access ramp toward the position of the Sun on the horizon at the summer solstice.  Astronomer G.S. Hawkins of the Harvard College Observatory showed Stonehenge could be used to predict eclipses of the Sun and Moon.[2] 

          As the ancients watched the stars, they began to see a correlation between the movement of the planets above and events on Earth below.  They observed the position of the planets at the time of a person's birth indicated certain personality traits.  They saw that as the planets transited key points in relation to the birth planet positions, the person might experience certain things.  They began to make predictions based on these observations, just as astrologers do today.

          For most of its existence, astrology has been a respected science.  In fact, until the past few hundred years, astronomy and astrology were used together.  Claudius Ptolemy and Tycho Brahe, both well-known astronomers, also were practicing astrologers.  Johann Kepler cast horoscopes.  Kepler is the man regarded as the father of modern astronomy.  He discovered the three laws of planetary motion upon which Isaac Newton based his work.  Kepler stated, “the belief in the effect of the constellations derives in the first place from experience, which is so convincing that it can be denied only by those who have not examined it.”[3]  

    Throughout history, those who have studied astrology have found it to hold incredible truth and validity.  In our modern age, people have begun to recognize astrology for its true value and worth.