ASTROLOGY BRIEF HISTORY

ASTROLOGY IN HISTORY

What astronomers call the ZODIAC refers to the following of constellations across the sky over a year’s time, from what was once thought to be the path of the Sun across the sky. In addition to the stars followed, Astrology also considers the planets and the earth’s moon . The horoscope then divides this path into twelve equal zones of constellations.

The name “zodiac” comes to the Romans and Hebrews via the Greeks, the term meaning  “circle of animals”. The Romans had observed the stars following practices derived from Babylonian astronomy and earlier Hellenistic astronomy.  By the second century AD, Ptolomy constructed and described something close to our contemporary popular concept of astronomy. This system is the foundation of what is considered Horoscopic Astrology today.

EARLY ASTROLOGY CONCEPTS

Around  the first millenium BC, Babylonians divided this path into 12 equal zones, assigning each month a constellation, starting with Aries. Later on, Horoscopic Astrology appears in Egypt, during Ptolomy’s time. 

During the second and first millenia BC, Greeks influence extended to Hindus, resulting in an Hindu zodiac. In the second century AD, the Greek astronomer Ptolemy laid the foundation to our Western current tradition. He adopted the use of the  “tropical coordinate system” as opposed to the fixed celestial sphere “ sidereal coordinate system”, a convention that is questioned to this day. 

The Middle Ages and the Renaissance periods brought renewed interest in astrology, magic and Kaballah practices, interest that continues to this day. 

MODERN PRACTICES

Nowadays, astronomers tend to use an equatorial coordinate system over the sidereal coordinate system. Astronomers clearly distinguish between the zodiacal signs and their corresponding constellations, as their paths and durations are better understood. 

The zodiacal signs traditionally have been set to last the same duration,  at 1/12 of a year, in an arbitrary fashion. And consider, there is a thirteenth constellation,  Ophiuchus... even Ptolemy’s writing show knowledge of this constellation that exists between Scorpius and Sagittarius. In practice, we understand that some constellations are much bigger than others, and their horoscopic time periods should be longer. All of these consideration show to show how arbitrary the horoscope conventions are.