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{{short description|Divination based on the movements of the stars}}
{{Distinguish|Astronomy}}
{{Hatnote group|{{About-distinguish-text|the divinatory pseudoscience|[[Astronomy]], the scientific study of celestial objects}}{{Other uses}}}}
{{POV|date=September 2011}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Unreliable sources|date=September 2011}}
{{good article}}
{{Globalize|date=September 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Ast box}}
{{Use British English|date= September 2016}}
{{Astrology sidebar}}
{{Paranormal}}
{{Esotericism}}
<!-- "Astrology" is an uncountable noun, and it is used as such throughout the lead. It is not meant to suggest a connection between unrelated astrological systems (e.g. Chinese and Mayan), each of which could be referred to as "astrology". -->


'''Astrology''' is a range of [[Divination|divinatory]] practices, recognized as [[pseudoscientific]] since the 18th century,<ref> {{cite book |last=Hanegraaff |first=Wouter J. |author-link=Wouter Hanegraaff |title=Esotericism and the Academy: Rejected Knowledge in Western Culture |year=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-19621-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=02bfnhO0H8sC&pg=171 |page=171 |access-date=19 July 2022 |archive-date=26 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230126022539/https://books.google.com/books?id=02bfnhO0H8sC&pg=171 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{sfn|Thagard|1978|p=229}} that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of [[Celestial objects in astrology|celestial objects]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | publisher = Oxford University Press | title = astrology | encyclopedia = Oxford Dictionary of English | access-date = 11 December 2015 | url = https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/astrology| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120719044917/http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/astrology| archive-date = 19 July 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | publisher = Merriam-Webster Inc. | title = astrology| encyclopedia = Merriam-Webster Dictionary | access-date = 11 December 2015 | url = http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/astrology}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title= The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy |first1= Nicholas |last1= Bunnin |first2= Jiyuan |last2= Yu |publisher= John Wiley & Sons |year= 2008 |page= 57 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=LdbxabeToQYC&q=dictionary+philosophy+astrology&pg=PA57|isbn= 978-0-470-99721-5 |doi=10.1002/9780470996379 }}</ref><ref name="Thagard">{{cite journal|last=Thagard|first=Paul R.|author-link=Paul Thagard|year=1978|title=Why Astrology is a Pseudoscience|url=https://philpapers.org/rec/THAWAI|journal=Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association|volume=1|issue=1 |pages=223–234|doi=10.1086/psaprocbienmeetp.1978.1.192639|s2cid=147050929|access-date=14 November 2018|archive-date=28 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328142123/https://philpapers.org/rec/THAWAI|url-status=live| issn = 0270-8647}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Jarry |first1=Jonathan |title=How Astrology Escaped the Pull of Science |url=https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/pseudoscience/how-astrology-escaped-pull-science |website=Office for Science and Society |publisher=McGill University |access-date=2 June 2022 |date=9 October 2020 |archive-date=13 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220813034228/https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/pseudoscience/how-astrology-escaped-pull-science |url-status=live }}</ref> Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in [[Calendrical calculation|calendrical]] systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications.<ref name="Koch-Westenholz 1995 Foreword, 11">{{cite book |last= Koch-Westenholz |first= Ulla |title= Mesopotamian astrology: an introduction to Babylonian and Assyrian celestial divination |year= 1995 |publisher= Museum Tusculanum Press |location= Copenhagen |isbn= 978-87-7289-287-0 |pages= Foreword, 11}}</ref> Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the [[Hindu astrology|Hindus]], [[Chinese astrology|Chinese]], and the [[Maya civilization|Maya]]—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. [[Western astrology]], one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE [[Mesopotamia]], from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the [[Astrology in medieval Islam|Islamic world]], and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of [[horoscope]]s that purport to explain aspects of a person's personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.{{sfn|Bennett|2007|p=83}}
'''Astrology''' may refer to any of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between visible astronomical phenomena and events in the human world. In the West, astrology most commonly means a system of [[horoscope]]s that claim to predict aspects of an individual's personality or life history based on the positions of the sun, moon, and planetary objects at the time of their birth. Many other cultures have attached importance to astronomical events, and the [[Hindu astrology|Indian]], [[Chinese astrology|Chinese]], and [[Mayan astrology|Mayan]] cultures developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations.


Throughout its history, astrology has had its detractors, competitors and skeptics who opposed it for moral, religious, political, and empirical reasons.{{r|"Massimo1"}}{{r|"Beanato1"}}{{r|Hughes}} Nonetheless, prior to the Enlightenment, astrology was generally considered a scholarly tradition and was common in learned circles, often in close relation with [[astronomy]], [[Astrometeorology|meteorology]], [[Medical astrology|medicine]], and [[alchemy]].<ref name="Kassell">{{cite journal |last= Kassell |first= Lauren |title= Stars, spirits, signs: towards a history of astrology 1100–1800 |journal= Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences |date= 5 May 2010 |volume= 41 |issue= 2 |pages= 67–69 |doi= 10.1016/j.shpsc.2010.04.001|pmid= 20513617 }}</ref> It was present in political circles and is mentioned in various works of literature, from [[Dante Alighieri]] and [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] to [[William Shakespeare]], [[Lope de Vega]], and [[Pedro Calderón de la Barca]]. During [[the Enlightenment]], however, astrology lost its status as an area of legitimate scholarly pursuit.<ref name=Porter /><ref name =Rutkin /> Following the end of the 19th century and the wide-scale adoption of the [[scientific method]], researchers have successfully challenged astrology on both theoretical{{sfn|Biswas|Mallik|Vishveshwara|1989|p=249}}<ref name="AsquithNSF" /> and experimental grounds,<ref name=Carlson>{{cite journal | last= Carlson | first= Shawn |title= A double-blind test of astrology |journal= Nature |year= 1985 |volume= 318 |pages= 419–425 |url= http://muller.lbl.gov/papers/Astrology-Carlson.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://muller.lbl.gov/papers/Astrology-Carlson.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live |doi= 10.1038/318419a0 |issue= 6045 | bibcode = 1985Natur.318..419C| s2cid= 5135208 }}</ref>{{sfn|Zarka|2011}} and have shown it to have no scientific validity or [[explanatory power]].{{sfn|Bennett|2007}} Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing in the western world, and common belief in it largely declined, until a continuing resurgence starting in the 1960s.<ref name="Brit">{{cite encyclopedia |author1= David E. Pingree |author2= Robert Andrew Gilbert |title= Astrology - Astrology in modern times |url= https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/39971/astrology/35979/Astrology-in-modern-times |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica |access-date= 7 October 2012 | quote = In countries such as India, where only a small intellectual elite has been trained in Western physics, astrology manages to retain here and there its position among the sciences. Its continued legitimacy is demonstrated by the fact that some Indian universities offer advanced degrees in astrology. In the West, however, Newtonian physics and Enlightenment rationalism largely eradicated the widespread belief in astrology, yet Western astrology is far from dead, as demonstrated by the strong popular following it gained in the 1960s.}}</ref>
Astrology’s origins in Indo-European cultures trace to the third millennium [[BCE]], with roots in [[Calendrical calculation|calendrical]] systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications.<ref>[[#Reference-Koch-Westenholz-1995|Koch-Westenholz (1995)]] Foreword and p.11.</ref> Through most of its history it was considered a scholarly tradition. It was accepted in political and academic contexts, and its concepts were built into other studies, such as [[astronomy]], [[alchemy]], [[meteorology]], and [[medicine]].<ref>[[#Reference-Kassell-Ralley-2010|Kassell and Ralley (2010)]] ‘Stars, spirits, signs: towards a history of astrology 1100–1800'; pp.67-69.</ref> At the end of the 17th century, new scientific concepts in astronomy - such as [[heliocentrism]] - began to damage the credibility of astrology, which subsequently lost its academic and theoretical standing. Astrology saw a popular revival in the 19th and 20th centuries as part of a general revival of [[spiritualism]] and later [[New Age]] philosophy, and through the influence of mass media such as newspaper horoscopes.<ref name="pop">[[#Reference-Campion-2009|Campion (2009)]] pp.259-263, for the popularizing influence of newspaper astrology; pp. 239-249: for association with New Age philosophies.</ref>

While astrology may bear a superficial resemblance to science, it is a [[pseudoscience]] because it makes little attempt to develop solutions to its problems, shows no concern for the evaluation of competing theories, and is selective in considering confirmations and dis-confirmations.<ref>Kelly, I.W., R. Culver and P.J. Loptson, 1989: Astrology and science: an examination of the evidence. In ''Cosmic perspectives: essays dedicated to the memory of M.K.V. Bappu'', S.K. Biswas, D.C.V. Mallik, and C.V. Vishveshwara, eds., Cambridge University Press, 249 pp.</ref><ref>[[#Reference-Thagard-1978|Asquith and Hacking (1978)]] '[http://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/bnccde/PH29A/thagard.html Why Astrology is a Pseudoscience]' by Paul R. Thagard. See also [[National Science Board|National Science Board (2006)]] ''Science and Engineering Indicators''; ch 7: 'Science and Technology. Public Attitudes and Understanding: [http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/c7/c7s2.htm#c7s2l3 Belief in Pseudoscience]'. National Science Foundation (2006); retrieved 19 April 2010:"About three-fourths of Americans hold at least one pseudoscientific belief; i.e., they believed in at least 1 of the 10 survey items[29]" ..." Those 10 items were extrasensory perception (ESP), that houses can be haunted, ghosts/that spirits of dead people can come back in certain places/situations, telepathy/communication between minds without using traditional senses, clairvoyance/the power of the mind to know the past and predict the future, astrology/that the position of the stars and planets can affect people's lives, that people can communicate mentally with someone who has died, witches, reincarnation/the rebirth of the soul in a new body after death, and channeling/allowing a "spirit-being" to temporarily assume control of a body."</ref>


== Etymology ==
== Etymology ==
[[File:Marcantonio Raimondi - Two Women with the Signs of Libra and Scorpio.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Marcantonio Raimondi engraving: 15th cent.]]
[[File:Marcantonio Raimondi - Two Women with the Signs of Libra and Scorpio.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Marcantonio Raimondi]] engraving, 15th century]]


The word ''[[wikt:astrology|astrology]]'' comes from the early [[Latin]] word ''[[wikt:astrologia|astrologia]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=astrology |title = astrology |first = Douglas |last = Harper |author-link = Douglas Harper |work = [[Online Etymology Dictionary]] |access-date = 6 December 2011 |quote = Differentiation between astrology and astronomy began late 1400s and by 17c. this word was limited to "reading influences of the stars and their effects on human destiny." |archive-date = 27 June 2017 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170627115223/http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=astrology |url-status = live }}</ref> which derives from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] {{lang|grc|[[wikt:ἀστρολογία|ἀστρολογία]]}}—from [[wikt:ἄστρον#Ancient Greek|ἄστρον]] ''astron'' ("star") and [[wikt:-λογία#Ancient Greek|-λογία]] ''-logia'', ("study of"—"account of the stars"). The word entered the English language via Latin and [[medieval French]], and its use overlapped considerably with that of ''astronomy'' (derived from the Latin ''[[wikt:astronomia|astronomia]]''). By the [[17th century]], ''astronomy'' became established as the scientific term, with ''astrology'' referring to divinations and schemes for predicting human affairs.<ref>{{cite book |title = Oxford English Dictionary |chapter = astrology, n. |chapter-url = http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/12267 |edition = Third |date = December 2021 |publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] |quote = In medieval French, and likewise in Middle English, ''astronomie'' is attested earlier, and originally covered the whole semantic field of the study of celestial objects, including divination and predictions based on observations of celestial phenomena. In early use in French and English, ''astrologie'' is generally distinguished as the 'art' or practical application of astronomy to mundane affairs, but there is considerable semantic overlap between the two words (as also in other European languages). With the rise of modern science from the Renaissance onwards, the modern semantic distinction between ''astrology'' and ''astronomy'' gradually developed, and had become largely fixed by the 17th cent. [...] The word is not used by Shakespeare. |title-link = Oxford English Dictionary |access-date = 14 December 2011 |archive-date = 19 February 2015 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150219052208/http://www.oed.com/viewdictionaryentry/Entry/12267 |url-status = live }}</ref>
The word [[wikt:astrology|astrology]] comes from the [[Latin]] ''[[wikt:astrologia|astrologia]]'',<ref>[http://www.myetymology.com/latin/astrologia.html Myetymology.com (2008)] ''Etymology of the Latin word astrologia''.</ref> deriving from the [[Ancient Greek|Greek]] noun {{lang|grc|[[wikt:αστρολογία|αστρολογία]]}}, which combines {{lang|grc|[[wikt:ἄστρο|ἄστρο]]}} ''astro'', 'star, celestial body' with {{lang|grc|[[wikt:-λογία|λογία]]}} ''logia'', 'study of, theory, discourse (about)'.<ref>[[#Reference-Partridge-1960|Partridge (1960)]] p.911.</ref>


== History ==
Historically, the word ''star'' has had a loose definition, by which it can refer to planets or any luminous celestial object.<ref>[[#Reference-ODE|Soanes (2006)]] [http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/star 'Star'] sense 1. Retrieved 16 July 2011.</ref> The notion of it signifying all heavenly bodies is evident in early [[Babylonian astrology]] where cuneiform depictions for the determinative ''MUL'' (star) present a symbol of stars alongside planetary and other stellar references to indicate deified objects which reside in the heavens.{{Ref label|A|a|none}} The word ''planet'' (based on the Greek verb {{lang|grc|[[wikt:πλανάω|πλανάω]]}} ''planaō'' 'to wander/stray'), was introduced by the Greeks as a reference to how seven notable 'stars' were seen to 'wander' through others which remained static in their relationship to each other, with the distinction noted by the terms {{lang|grc|[[wikt:ἀστήρ|ἀστέρες]]}} {{lang|grc|[[wikt:άτλαντας|ἀπλανεῖς]]}} ''asteres aplaneis'' ‘fixed stars’, and {{lang|grc|[[wikt:ἀστήρ|ἀστέρες]]}} {{lang|grc|[[wikt:πλανήτης|πλανῆται]]}} ''asteres planetai'', ‘wandering stars’.<ref>[[#Reference-WWH|Merriam-Webster (1989)]] p.369. Online at [http://www.wordsources.info/words-mod-planets.html wordsources.info], retrieved 5th August 2011.</ref> Initially, texts such as [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Tetrabiblos]]'' referred to the planets as 'the star of Saturn', 'the star of Jupiter', ''etc.,'' rather than simply 'Saturn' or 'Jupiter',<ref>[[#Reference-Robbins_Tet|''Tetrabiblos'' (Robbins ed. 1940)]] [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Ptolemy/Tetrabiblos/1B*.html#4 I.4, p.35, footnote 3].</ref> but the names became simplified as the word planet assumed astronomical formality over time.<ref>[[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]] (77 AD) illustrated the irony of the use of the term 'planet' since the planetary cycles were known to be regular and predictable: "...the seven stars, which owing to their motion we call planets, though no stars wander less than they do". [[#Reference-Pliny-77|Pliny the Elder (77)]] II.iv, p.177.</ref>
{{Main|History of astrology}}


[[File:P. 26 'The Zodiac Man' a diagram of a human body and astrological symbols with instructions explaining the importance of astrology from a medical perspective.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Zodiac Man'', a diagram of a human body and astrological symbols with instructions explaining the importance of astrology from a medical perspective. From a 15th-century Welsh manuscript]]
The seven [[Classical planets]] therefore comprise the [[Sun]] and [[Moon]] along with the solar-system planets that are visible to the naked eye: [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], [[Venus]], [[Mars]], [[Jupiter]], and [[Saturn]]. This remained the standard definition of the word 'planet' until the discovery of [[Uranus]] in 1781 created a need for revision.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/planet|title=Definition of planet|publisher=Merriam-Webster OnLine|accessdate=2007-07-23}}</ref> Although the modern [[IAU definition of planet]] does not include the Sun and the Moon, astrology retains historical convention in its description of those astronomical bodies, and also generally maintains reference to Pluto as being an astrological planet.{{Ref label|B|b|none}}


Many cultures have attached importance to astronomical events, and the [[Hindu astrology|Indians]], [[Chinese astrology|Chinese]], and [[Maya civilization|Maya]] developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. A form of astrology was practised in the [[Old Babylonian Empire|Old Babylonian]] period of [[Mesopotamia]], {{Circa|1800 BCE}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rochberg |first=Francesca |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dSELAAAAIAAJ |title=Babylonian Horoscopes |date=1998 |publisher=American Philosophical Society |isbn=978-0-87169-881-0 |page=ix |language=en |author-link=Francesca Rochberg}}</ref><ref name="Koch-Westenholz 1995 Foreword, 11"/> ''Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa'' is one of earliest known Hindu texts on [[astronomy]] and astrology (''[[Jyotisha]]''). The text is dated between 1400 BCE to final centuries BCE by various scholars according to astronomical and linguistic evidences. Chinese astrology was elaborated in the [[Zhou dynasty]] (1046–256 BCE). [[Hellenistic astrology]] after 332 BCE mixed [[Babylonian astrology]] with Egyptian [[Decans|Decanic astrology]] in [[Alexandria]], creating [[horoscopic astrology]]. [[Alexander the Great|Alexander the Great's]] conquest of [[Asia]] allowed astrology to spread to [[Ancient Greece]] and [[Ancient Rome|Rome]]. In Rome, astrology was associated with "[[Chaldea]]n wisdom". After the conquest of Alexandria in the 7th century, astrology was taken up by Islamic scholars, and Hellenistic texts were translated into Arabic and Persian. In the 12th century, Arabic texts were imported to Europe and [[Latin translations of the 12th century|translated into Latin]]. Major astronomers including [[Tycho Brahe]], [[Johannes Kepler]] and [[Galileo]] practised as court astrologers. Astrological references appear in literature in the works of poets such as [[Dante Alighieri]] and [[Geoffrey Chaucer]], and of playwrights such as [[Christopher Marlowe]] and [[William Shakespeare]].
== Varieties of astrology ==
{{main|Western astrology|Hindu astrology|Chinese astrology}}
Western astrology is founded on the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies such as the [[Sun]], [[Moon]], and [[Planets in astrology|planets]], which are analyzed by their [[Astrological aspect|aspects]] (angles) relative to one another. These are usually considered by their placement in [[House (astrology)|houses]] (spatial divisions of the sky), and their movement through [[Astrological sign|signs]] of the [[zodiac]] (spatial divisions of the [[ecliptic]]). Western astrology is largely [[horoscopic astrology|horoscopic]], that is, it is a form of [[divination]] based on the construction of a [[horoscope]] for an exact moment, such as a person's birth, in which various cosmic bodies are said to have an influence.<ref>[[#Reference-Campion-2008|Campion (2008)]] p.1.</ref><ref>[[#Reference-ODE|Soanes (2006)]] [http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/astrology 'Astrology'] "The study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs and the natural world". Retrieved 16 July 2011. Also [[#Reference-DHI|Weiner (1973)]] [http://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/view?docId=DicHist/uvaBook/tei/DicHist1.xml;chunk.id=dv1-20 'Astrology'] by David Pingree. "...the study of the impact of the celestial bodies". Retrieved 2nd December 2009.</ref>


Throughout most of its history, astrology was considered a scholarly tradition. It was accepted in political and academic contexts, and was connected with other studies, such as [[astronomy]], [[alchemy]], [[meteorology]], and medicine.<ref name="Kassell"/> At the end of the 17th century, new scientific concepts in astronomy and physics (such as [[heliocentrism]] and [[classical mechanics|Newtonian mechanics]]) called astrology into question. Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing, and common belief in astrology has largely declined.<ref name="Brit"/>
Hindu astrology is founded on the notion of [[bandhu]] of the [[Vedas]], (scriptures), which is the connection between the [[microcosm and macrocosm]]. The two methods differ in their focus on [[sidereal and tropical astrology]], with Hindu astrology relying on sidereal zodiac (and thus uses an ''[[ayanamsa]]'' adjustment to account for the [[sidereal time|gradual precession]] of the [[Great Year|vernal equinox]]) while Western (Hellenistic) astrology uses the tropical zodiac. Hindu astrology also includes several sub-systems of interpretation and prediction with elements not found in Hellenistic astrology, such as its system of [[lunar mansion]]s (''[[nakshatra]]s'').


=== Ancient world ===
Chinese astrology has a close relation with [[Chinese philosophy]] (theory of the three harmonies, heaven, earth and water) and different principles to Western: the [[Wu Xing]] teachings, [[yin and yang]], astronomy: five planet, the 10 [[Celestial stem]]s, the 12 [[Earthly Branches]], the [[Chinese calendar|lunisolar calendar]] (moon calendar and sun calendar), the time calculation after year, month, day and [[Chinese units of measurement#Time|shíchén]] (時辰, a form of timekeeping used for religious purposes). The zodiac of twelve [[Astrological sign#Chinese zodiac signs|animal signs]] is alleged to represents twelve different types of personality. The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the Rat, and goes on to 12 other animals such as the Tiger, Pig and Snake.<ref>Theodora Lau, ''The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes'', pp2-8, 30-5, 60-4, 88-94, 118-24, 148-53, 178-84, 208-13, 238-44, 270-78, 306-12, 338-44, Souvenir Press, New York, 2005</ref>
{{further|Babylonian astrology|Worship of heavenly bodies}}


Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky.{{sfn|Campion|2009|pp=2, 3}} Early evidence for humans making conscious attempts to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by reference to astronomical cycles, appears as markings on bones and cave walls, which show that [[lunar cycle]]s were being noted as early as 25,000 years ago.<ref name=Marshack>{{cite book|last=Marshack |first=Alexander |title=The roots of civilization: the cognitive beginnings of man's first art, symbol and notation|year=1991 |publisher=Moyer Bell |isbn=978-1-55921-041-6 |edition=Rev. and expanded |pages=81ff}}</ref> This was a first step towards recording the Moon's influence upon tides and rivers, and towards organising a communal calendar.<ref name=Marshack/> Farmers addressed agricultural needs with increasing knowledge of the [[constellations]] that appear in the different seasons—and used the rising of particular star-groups to herald annual floods or seasonal activities.<ref name="homerica">{{Cite book |title=Works and Days |author=Homer |date=2017-03-23 |publisher=[[Heinemann (publisher)|Heinemann]] |isbn=978-0-674-99063-0 |edition=1st |location=[[London]], [[England]] |publication-date=1914-09-09 |pages=51–53 |language=en-uk |author2=Hesiod |others=Additional Research from [[:de:Alois Rzach|Prof. Alois Rzach]] |editor-last1=Page |editor-first1=T.E. (Litt.D.) |editor-link1=Thomas Ethelbert Page |series=[[Homeric Hymns]] |chapter=#1 — Hesiod's ''Works and Days'' |type=Collection (Didactic Poetry; Hymns; Epigrams) |lccn=16000741 |oclc=3125044 |ol=23303325M |author-link1=Homer |author-link2=Hesiod |access-date=2024-08-26 |editor-last2=Rouse |editor-first2=W.H.D. (Litt.D.) |editor-link2=W. H. D. Rouse |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/hesiodhomerichym00hesi_0/page/50/mode/2up?q=poseidon |via=[[s:Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns and Homerica|Wikisource — ''The Homeric Hymns and Homerica'']] |ol-access=free |translator-last=Evelyn-White |translator-first=Hugh Gerard |translator-link=Hugh Evelyn-White |title-link=Works and Days |df=dmy |quote=Fifty days after the solstice, when the season of wearisome heat is come to an end, is the right time for men to go sailing. Then you will not wreck your ship, nor will the sea destroy the sailors, unless Poseidon the Earth-Shaker be set upon it, or Zeus, the king of the deathless gods, wish to slay them; for the issues of good and evil alike are with them.}}</ref> By the 3rd millennium BCE, civilisations had sophisticated awareness of celestial cycles, and may have oriented temples in alignment with [[heliacal rising]]s of the stars.<ref name="archaeoastronomy">{{Cite book |title=Exploring Ancient Skies: An Encyclopedic Survey of Archæoastronomy |last1=Kelley |first1=David H. |publisher=[[Springer Publishing]] |location=[[NYC]] |isbn=978-0-387-26356-4 |format=eBook |publication-date=2005-12-06 |page=268 |language=en-us |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cgEJu3iUwM0C |last2=Milone |first2=Eugene F. |others=Foreword by [[Anthony Aveni|Anthony F. Aveni]] |doi=10.1007/b137471 |lccn=2001032842 |oclc=62767201 |ol=7448852M |quote=…that the [[Dendera Temple complex|temple]] was aligned on the [[heliacal rising]] of [[Sirius]] ([[Sopdet]]) at the [[New Year]], as [[Norman Lockyer|Lockyer]] pointed out. |date=2022-03-19 |author-link1=David H. Kelley |author-link2=Eugene Milone |access-date=2024-08-26 |url-access=limited |doi-access=free |ol-access=free |chapter=Chapter 8.1.5: African Cultures — Egypt and Nubia – Alignments |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/exploringancient0000kell/page/268/mode/2up |df=dmy}}</ref>
==Core principles==


Scattered evidence suggests that the oldest known astrological references are copies of texts made in the ancient world. The [[Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa]] is thought to have been compiled in [[Babylon]] around 1700 BCE.<ref>Russell Hobson, ''The Exact Transmission of Texts in the First Millennium B.C.E.'', Published PhD Thesis. Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies. University of Sydney. 2009 [http://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/5404/1/r-hobson-2009-thesis.pdf PDF File] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502104018/https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/2123/5404/1/r-hobson-2009-thesis.pdf |date=2 May 2019 }}</ref> A scroll documenting an early use of [[electional astrology]] is doubtfully ascribed to the reign of the [[Sumer]]ian ruler [[Gudea of Lagash]] ({{Circa|2144}} – 2124 BCE). This describes how the gods revealed to him in a dream the constellations that would be most favourable for the planned construction of a temple.<ref>From scroll A of the ruler Gudea of Lagash, I 17 – VI 13. O. Kaiser, ''Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments'', Bd. 2, 1–3. Gütersloh, 1986–1991. Also quoted in A. Falkenstein, 'Wahrsagung in der sumerischen Überlieferung', ''La divination en Mésopotamie ancienne et dans les régions voisines''. Paris, 1966.</ref> However, there is controversy about whether these were genuinely recorded at the time or merely ascribed to ancient rulers by posterity. The oldest undisputed evidence of the use of astrology as an integrated system of knowledge is therefore attributed to the records of the first dynasty of [[Babylon]] (1950–1651 BCE). This astrology had some parallels with [[Hellenistic]] Greek (western) astrology, including the [[zodiac]], a norming point near 9 degrees in Aries, the trine aspect, planetary exaltations, and the dodekatemoria (the twelve divisions of 30 degrees each).<ref name="Rochberg-Halton">{{cite journal | title=Elements of the Babylonian Contribution to Hellenistic Astrology | author=Rochberg-Halton, F. | s2cid=163678063 | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | year=1988 | volume=108 | issue=1 | pages=51–62 | jstor=603245 | doi=10.2307/603245}}</ref> The Babylonians viewed celestial events as possible signs rather than as causes of physical events.<ref name="Rochberg-Halton"/>
[[File:Vitruvian macrocosm.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Robert Fludd|Robert Fludd's]] 16th century illustration of man the microcosm within the universal macrocosm]]
A central principle of astrology is integration within the cosmos. The individual, Earth, and its environment are viewed as a single organism, all parts of which are correlated with each other.<ref>[[#Reference-Goold-1977|Manilius (77)]] p.87-89 (II.64-67): “the entire universe is alive in mutual concord of its elements and is driven by the pulse of reason, since a single spirit dwells in all its parts and, speeding through all things, nourishes it like a living creature”.</ref> Cycles of change that are observed in the heavens are therefore reflective (not causative) of similar cycles of change observed on earth and within the individual.<ref>[[#Reference-Alkindi|Alkindi (9th cent.)]] is clarifying this point where he says in his text ''On the Stellar Rays'', ch.4: “... we say that one thing acts with its elemental rays on another, but according to the exquisite truth it does not act but only the celestial harmony acts”.</ref> This relationship is expressed in the [[Hermeticism|Hermetic]] maxim "as above, so below; as below, so above", which postulates symmetry between the individual as a [[Macrocosm and microcosm|microcosm]] and the celestial environment as a macrocosm.<ref name="Houlding 2000 p.28">[[#Reference-Houlding-2000|Houlding (2000)]] p.28: “The doctrine of the Pythagoreans was a combination of science and mysticism… Like Anaximenes they viewed the Universe as one integrated, living organism, surrounded by Divine Air (or more literally ‘Breath’), which permeates and animates the whole cosmos and filters through to individual creatures… By partaking of the core essence of the Universe, the individual is said to act as a microcosm in which all the laws in the macrocosm of the Universe are at work”.</ref> Accordingly, the natal horoscope depicts a stylized map of the universe at the time of birth, specifically focussed on the individual at its centre, with the Sun, Moon, and celestial bodies considered to be that individual’s personal planets or stars, which are uniquely relevant to that individual alone.<ref>[[#Reference-McRitchie-2006|McRitchie (2006)]] p.7. As one of the five 'organizational principles' of astrology that McRitchie proposes, he includes: “Nativity — ... Each individual, whether it is a person, thing, or an event, is a microcosm born at the center of its own macrocosmic universe. Each individual has its own planets, is identified with its native circumstances, and has a sensitive dependence on its initial configuration within the world of experience that is known and shared in common among other individuals. The circumstances of birth show what has begun.”</ref>


The system of [[Chinese astrology]] was elaborated during the [[Zhou dynasty]] (1046–256 BCE) and flourished during the [[Han dynasty]] (2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE), during which all the familiar elements of traditional Chinese culture – the Yin-Yang philosophy, theory of the five elements, Heaven and Earth, Confucian morality – were brought together to formalise the philosophical principles of Chinese medicine and divination, astrology, and [[Chinese alchemy|alchemy]].{{sfn|Sun|Kistemaker|1997|pp=3, 4}}
At the heart of astrology is the [[Metaphysics|metaphysical]] principle that mathematical relationships express qualities or ‘tones' of energy which manifest in numbers, visual angles, shapes and sounds – all connected within a pattern of proportion. [[Pythagoras]] first identified that the pitch of a musical note is in proportion to the length of the string that produces it, and that intervals between harmonious sound frequencies form simple numerical ratios.<ref>[[#Reference-Weiss-2008|Weiss and Taruskin (2008)]] [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=q1eobgND8H4C&lpg=PA4&vq=Pythagoras&dq=Weiss%2C%20Piero%2C%20and%20Richard%20Taruskin%2C%20eds.%20Music%20in%20the%20Western%20World%3A%20A%20History%20in%20Documents&pg=PA3#v=onepage&q&f=false p.3].</ref> In a theory known as the [[Harmony of the Spheres]], Pythagoras proposed that the Sun, Moon and planets all emit their own unique hum based on their orbital revolution,<ref>[[#Reference-Pliny-77|Pliny the Elder (77)]] pp.277-8, (II.xviii.xx): "…occasionally Pythagoras draws on the theory of music, and designates the distance between the Earth and the Moon as a whole tone, that between the Moon and Mercury as a semitone, .... the seven tones thus producing the so-called diapason,'' i.e''. a universal harmony". {{-}}[[NASA]] has recently confirmed that the Sun, Moon and planets emit sounds in their orbits, each very different due to their various speeds and distances. After the sound files recorded by NASA are compressed many thousands of times, their ‘melodies’ become clearly perceptible to the human ear. The NASA sound files have been made available on YouTube: see for example '[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toSMu632QhM&feature=related Jupiter Sounds]'; retrieved 7 August 2011.</ref> and that the quality of life on Earth reflects the tenor of celestial sounds which are physically imperceptible to the human ear.<ref name="Houlding 2000 p.28"/> Subsequently, Plato described astronomy and music as "twinned" studies of sensual recognition: astronomy for the eyes, music for the ears, and both requiring knowledge of numerical proportions.<ref>[[#Reference-Davis-1901|Davis (1901)]] p.252. Plato’s ''Republic'' VII.XII reads: “As the eyes, said I, seem formed for studying astronomy, so do the ears seem formed for harmonious motions: and these seem to be twin sciences to one another, as also the Pythagoreans say”.</ref>


The ancient Arabs that inhabited the [[Arabian Peninsula]] [[Pre-Islamic Arabia|before the advent of Islam]] used to profess a widespread belief in [[fatalism]] (''ḳadar'') alongside a fearful consideration for the sky and the stars, which they held to be ultimately responsible for every phenomena that occurs on Earth and for the destiny of humankind.<ref name="Al-Abbasi 2020">{{cite journal |last=al-Abbasi |first=Abeer Abdullah |date=August 2020 |title=The Arabsʾ Visions of the Upper Realm |url=https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0004/article/view/8301/8105 |journal=[[Marburg Journal of Religion]] |publisher=[[University of Marburg]] |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=1–28 |doi=10.17192/mjr.2020.22.8301 |issn=1612-2941 |access-date=23 May 2022 |archive-date=23 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523183640/https://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de/ep/0004/article/view/8301/8105 |url-status=live }}</ref> Accordingly, they shaped their entire lives in accordance with their interpretations of astral configurations and phenomena.<ref name="Al-Abbasi 2020"/>
Later philosophers retained the close association between astronomy, optics, music and astrology, including Ptolemy, who wrote influential texts on all these topics.<ref>[[#Reference-Smith-1996|Smith (1996)]] [http://books.google.com/books?id=mhLVHR5QAQkC&lpg=PA14&dq=smith%20Ptolemy%20Optics&pg=PA2#v=onepage&q&f=false p.2].</ref> [[Alkindi]], in the 9th century, developed Ptolemy's ideas in ''De Aspectibus'' which explores many points of relevance to astrology and the use of planetary aspects.<ref>[[#Reference-Hackett-1997|Hackett (1997)]] [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Gy3Vp7TurVUC&lpg=PA245&dq=Alkindi%20de%20aspectibus%20astrology&pg=PA245#v=onepage&q&f=false p.245] and [[#Reference-Smith-1996|Smith (1996)]] [http://books.google.com/books?id=mhLVHR5QAQkC&pg=PA56&dq=Ptolemy's+theory+of+visual+Aspectibus&hl=en&ei=7Yk-TuLMHtCq8AOr8ryVCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false p.56].</ref> In the 17th century, Kepler, also influenced by arguments in Ptolemy’s ''Optics'' and ''Harmonica'',<ref>An English translation of the ''Harmonica'' was recently published by Andrew Barker, in his ''Greek Musical Writings vol. II'' (Cambridge University Press, 2004). The work was also discussed by James Frederick Mountford in his article ‘The Harmonics of Ptolemy and the Lacuna in II, 14’ (Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 57. 1926; pp.71-95). Mountford refers to Ptolemy’s ''Harmonica'' as "the most scientific and best arranged treatise on the theory of musical scales which we possess in Greek".</ref> compiled his [[Harmonices Mundi]] ('Harmony of the World'), which presented his own analysis of optical perceptions, geometrical shapes, musical [[Consonance and dissonance|consonance]]s and planetary harmonies. Kepler regarded this text as the most important work of his career, and the fifth part, concerning the role of planetary harmony in [[Creation]], the crown of it.<ref>[[#Reference-Kepler-1619|Kepler (1619)]] 'Introduction', p.xix. “Kepler did not ascribe any direct physical influence to the celestial bodies but supposed the astrological effects to be the result of instinctive responses of individual souls to the harmonies of certain configurations or aspects. A soul was also ascribed to the Earth itself, whose response to the aspects explained their influence on the weather”. In his ''Tertius Interveniens'', 1610, Kepler defined the horoscope as the celestial imprint imparted at birth: Ch,7: "When a human being's life is first ignited, when he now has his own life, and can no longer remain in the womb - then he receives a character and an imprint of all the celestial configurations (or the images of the rays intersecting on earth), and retains them unto his grave". See translated excerpts by Dr. Kenneth G. Negus on [http://cura.free.fr/docum/15kep-en.html Cura]. Retrieved 15 August 2011.</ref> His premise was that, as an integral part of Universal Law, mathematical harmony is the key that binds all parts together: one theoretical proposition from his work introduced the [[Astrological_aspect#Minor_aspects|minor planetary aspects]] into astrology; another introduced [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion|Kepler’s third law of planetary motion]] into astronomy.<ref>[[#Reference-Kepler-1619|Kepler (1619)]] [[Kepler's laws of planetary motion|Kepler's Third Law]] used to be known as the ''harmonic law''. It captures the relationship between the distance of planets from the Sun, and their orbital periods. ''"The square of the orbital period is proportional to the cube of the mean distance from the Sun "''[http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Skeplaws.htm]. See also {{cite book |title=Physics, the Human Adventure |author=Gerald James Holton, Stephen G. Brush |page=45 |url=http://books.google.com/?id=czaGZzR0XOUC&pg=PA45&dq=Kepler+%22harmonic+law%22 |isbn=0813529085 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |year=2001}}</ref>


==== Ancient objections ====
Another core principle is exemplified by an astrological maxim used by the leader of early modern science, [[Francis Bacon]]: "The last rule (which has always been held by the wiser astrologers) is that there is no fatal necessity in the stars; but that they rather incline than compel".<ref name="bacon">[[#Reference-bacon|Bacon (1623)]] ''De Augmentis'', [http://books.google.com/books/about/The_works_of_Francis_Bacon.html?id=XQF-bwn5hXIC p.351]. The maxim that the stars impel but do not compel was used by [[St Thomas Aquinas|Thomas Aquinas]] in the thirteenth century, "following the same line of argument as St Augustine and others before him" (''A history of magic'' by Richard Cavendish; p.66., Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977).</ref> Bacon advocated an emphasis on what he called "sane astrology" based on the study of subtle influences that "lie concealed in the depths of Physic".<ref>[[#Reference-bacon|Bacon (1623)]] ''De Augmentis'', [http://books.google.com/books/about/The_works_of_Francis_Bacon.html?id=XQF-bwn5hXIC p.351].</ref> His arguments reflect how astrology has always involved consideration of the psyche, a more recent expression of which can be found in the writings of [[Carl Jung]] and the development of modern [[psychological astrology]]. {{-}}
[[File:Cicero - Musei Capitolini.JPG|thumb|upright|The Roman orator [[Cicero]] objected to astrology.]]


The [[Hellenistic philosophy|Hellenistic]] schools of [[philosophical skepticism]] criticized the rationality of astrology.{{clarification needed|reason=It implies philosophical skeptics were concerned primarily with rationality and not with epistemology|date=August 2023}} Criticism of astrology by [[Academic skepticism|academic skeptics]] such as [[Cicero]], [[Carneades]], and [[Favorinus]]; and [[Pyrrhonism|Pyrrhonists]] such as [[Sextus Empiricus]] has been preserved.
==History==
{{Main|History of astrology}}


[[Carneades]] argued that belief in fate denies [[free will]] and [[morality]]; that people born at different times can all die in the same accident or battle; and that contrary to uniform influences from the stars, tribes and cultures are all different.<ref name=Hughes>{{cite book | title=Lament, Death, and Destiny | publisher=Peter Lang | author=Hughes, Richard | year=2004 | page=87}}</ref>
===Ancient world===
Astrology, before its differentiation from astronomy, began when humans started to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by reference to astronomical cycles.<ref>[[#Reference-Campion-2008|Campion (2008)]] pp.2-3.</ref> Early evidence of this appears as markings on bones and cave walls, which show [[Lunar phase|lunar cycles]] were being noted as early as 25,000 years ago. These were the first steps towards recording the Moon’s influence upon tides and rivers, and towards organizing a communal calendar.<ref>[[#Reference-Marshack-1972|Marshack (1972)]] p.81ff.</ref> Agricultural needs were also met by increasing knowledge of constellations, whose appearances change with the seasons, allowing the rising of particular star-groups to herald annual floods or seasonal activities.<ref>[[#Reference-Hesiod|Hesiod (c. 8th cent. BCE)]]. [[Hesiod|Hesiod’s]] poem [[Works and Days]] shows how the [[heliacal rising]] of constellations were used as a calendar for agricultural events, which started to acquire astrological associations, ''e.g.'': “Fifty days after the solstice, when the season of wearisome heat is come to an end, is the right time to go sailing. Then you will not wreck your ship, nor will the sea destroy the sailors, unless Poseidon the Earth-Shaker be set upon it, or Zeus, the king of the deathless gods” (II. 663-677).</ref> By the third millennium BCE, widespread civilizations had developed sophisticated awareness of celestial cycles, and are believed to have consciously oriented their temples to create alignment with the heliacal risings of the stars.<ref>[[#Reference-Kelley-Milone-2005|Kelley and Milone (2005)]] p.268.</ref>


[[Cicero]], in ''[[De Divinatione]]'', leveled a critique of astrology that some modern philosophers consider to be the first working definition of [[pseudoscience]] and the answer to the [[demarcation problem]].<ref name="Beanato1">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.shpsa.2020.04.002 |title=Cicero's demarcation of science: a report of shared criteria |journal=[[Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A]] |year=2020 |last1=Fernandez-Beanato |first1=Damian |volume=83 |pages=97–102 |pmid=32958286 |bibcode=2020SHPSA..83...97F |s2cid=216477897 }}</ref> Philosopher of Science [[Massimo Pigliucci]], building on the work of Historian of Science, Damien Fernandez-Beanato, argues that Cicero outlined a "convincing distinction between astrology and astronomy that remains valid in the twenty-first century."<ref name="Massimo1">{{Cite journal |last=Pigliucci |first=Massimo |author-link=Massimo Pigliucci |date=January–February 2024 |title=Pseudoscience:An Ancient Problem |journal=Skeptical Inquirer |volume=48 |issue=1 |pages=18, 19}}</ref> [[Cicero]] stated the twins objection (that with close birth times, personal outcomes can be very different), later developed by [[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]].{{sfn|Long|2005|page=173}} He argued that since the other planets are much more distant from the Earth than the Moon, they could have only very tiny influence compared to the Moon's.{{sfn|Long|2005|pages=173–174}} He also argued that if astrology explains everything about a person's fate, then it wrongly ignores the visible effect of inherited ability and parenting, changes in health worked by medicine, or the effects of the weather on people.{{sfn|Long|2005|page=177}}
There is scattered evidence to suggest that the oldest known astrological references are copies of texts made during this period. Two, from the [[Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa]] (compiled in [[Babylon]] round 1700 BCE) are reported to have been made during the reign of king [[Sargon of Akkad]] (2334-2279 BCE).<ref>Two texts which refer to the 'omens of Sargon' are reported in E. F. Weidner, ‘Historiches Material in der Babyonischen Omina-Literatur’ ''Altorientalische Studien'', ed. Bruno Meissner, (Leipzig, 1928-9), v. 231 and 236.</ref> Another, showing an early use of [[electional astrology]], is ascribed to the reign of the [[Sumerian]] ruler [[Gudea of Lagash]] (ca. 2144-2124 BCE). This describes how the gods revealed to him in a dream the constellations that would be most favorable for the planned construction of a temple.<ref>From scroll A of the ruler Gudea of Lagash, I 17 – VI 13. O. Kaiser, ''Texte aus der Umwelt des Alten Testaments'', Bd. 2, 1-3. Gütersloh, 1986-1991. Also quoted in A. Falkenstein, ‘Wahrsagung in der sumerischen Überlieferung’, ''La divination en Mésopotamie ancienne et dans les régions voisines''. Paris, 1966.</ref> However, there is controversy about whether they were genuinely recorded at the time or merely ascribed to ancient rulers by posterity. The oldest undisputed evidence of the use of astrology as an integrated system of knowledge is therefore attributed to the records of the first dynasty of [[Mesopotamia]] (1950-1651 BCE).


[[Favorinus]] argued that it was absurd to imagine that stars and planets would affect human bodies in the same way as they affect the tides,{{sfn|Long|2005|page=184}} and equally absurd that small motions in the heavens cause large changes in people's fates.
===Byzantine and early medieval Islamic astrology===
[[File:Translation of Albumasar Venice 1515 De Magnis Coniunctionibus.jpg|thumb|alt=Image of a Latin astrological text |[[Latin]] translation of Abū Maʿshar's ''De Magnis Coniunctionibus'' (‘Of the great [[Conjunction (astronomy and astrology)|conjunctions]]’), [[Venice]], 1515.]]Astrology was taken up enthusiastically by Islamic scholars following the collapse of [[Alexandria]] to the Arabs in the 7th century, and the founding of the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid empire]] in the 8th. The second Abbasid [[caliph]], [[Al Mansur]] (754-775) founded the city of [[Baghdad]] to act as a centre of learning, and included in its design a library-translation centre known as ''Bayt al-Hikma'' ‘Storehouse of Wisdom’, which continued to receive development from his heirs and was to provide a major impetus for Arabic-Persian translations of Hellenistic astrological texts.<ref>[[#Reference-Houlding-2010|Houlding (2010)]] Ch. 8: 'The medieval development of Hellenistic principles concerning aspectual applications and orbs'; pp.12-13.</ref> The early translators included [[Mashallah ibn Athari|Mashallah]], who helped to elect the time for the foundation of Baghdad,<ref>[[#Reference-Albiruni-chronology|Albiruni, Chronology (11th c.)]] Ch.VIII, ‘On the days of the Greek calendar’, ''re''. 23 Tammûz; Sachau.</ref> and [[Sahl ibn Bishr]] (a.k.a ''Zael''), whose texts were directly influential upon later European astrologers such as [[Guido Bonatti]] in the 13th century, and [[William Lilly]] in the 17th century.<ref>[[#Reference-Houlding-2010|Houlding (2010)]] Ch. 6: 'Historical sources and traditional approaches'; pp.2-7.</ref> Knowledge of Arabic texts started to become imported into Europe during the [[Latin translations of the 12th century]], the effect of which was to help initiate the European [[Renaissance]].


[[Sextus Empiricus]] argued that it was absurd to link human attributes with myths about the signs of the zodiac,{{sfn|Long|2005|page=186}} and wrote an entire book, ''[[Against the Astrologers]]'' (Πρὸς ἀστρολόγους, ''Pros astrologous''), compiling arguments against astrology. ''Against the Astrologers'' was the fifth section of a larger work arguing against philosophical and scientific inquiry in general, ''Against the Professors'' (Πρὸς μαθηματικούς, ''Pros mathematikous'').
Other important Arabic astrologers include [[Ja'far ibn Muhammad Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi|Albumasur]] and [[Al Khwarizmi]], the Persian mathematician, astronomer and astrologer, who is considered the father of [[algebra]] and the [[algorithm]]. The Arabs greatly increased the knowledge of astronomical cycles, and many of the [[List of traditional star names|star names]] that remain in common use today, such as [[Aldebaran]], [[Altair]], [[Betelgeuse]], [[Rigel]] and [[Vega]] retain the legacy of their language.


[[Plotinus]], a [[neoplatonist]], argued that since the fixed stars are much more distant than the planets, it is laughable to imagine the planets' effect on human affairs should depend on their position with respect to the zodiac. He also argues that the interpretation of the Moon's [[conjunction (astronomy)|conjunction]] with a planet as good when the moon is full, but bad when the moon is waning, is clearly wrong, as from the Moon's point of view, half of its surface is always in sunlight; and from the planet's point of view, waning should be better, as then the planet sees some light from the Moon, but when the Moon is full to us, it is dark, and therefore bad, on the side facing the planet in question.{{sfn|Long|2005|page=174}}
===Modern era===
Early in the 20th century, [[Carl Jung]], the founder of analytical psychology, developed sophisticated theories concerning astrology.<ref>Jung, Carl G. ''Letters 1906–1950,'' ed. Gerhard Adler, et al.(Princeton University Press: Bollingen, 1992), Letter from Jung to Freud, 12 June 1911. ISBN 9780691098951 “I made horoscopic calculations in order to find a clue to the core of psychological truth.”</ref> These included concepts such as [[archetype]]s, the [[collective unconscious]]<ref>[[#Reference-Campion-2009|Campion (2009)]] p.251–256: “At the same time, in Switzerland, the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) was developing sophisticated theories concerning astrology...”</ref> and with the collaboration of pioneer theoretical physicist (and Nobel laureate), [[Wolfgang Pauli]], [[synchronicity]].<ref>Gieser, Suzanne. ''The Innermost Kernel, Depth Psychology and Quantum Physics. Wolfgang Pauli’s Dialogue with C.G.Jung'', (Springer, Berlin, 2005) p.21 ISBN 3-540-20856-9</ref> Astrologers like [[Dane Rudhyar]]<ref>Campion, Nicholas. "''Prophecy, Cosmology and the New Age Movement. The Extent and Nature of Contemporary Belief in Astrology.''"( Bath Spa University College, 2003) via Campion, Nicholas, ''History of Western Astrology'', (Continuum Books, London & New York, 2009) p.248 p.256 ISBN 9781847252241</ref> pursued a similar path to Jung and others such as [[Liz Greene]]<ref>Holden, James, ''A History of Horoscopic Astrology: From the Babylonian Period to the Modern Age'', (AFA 1996) p.202 ISBN 0-86690-463-8</ref><ref>[[#Reference-Campion-2009|Campion (2009)]] p.258: "Jungian Analyst, Liz Greene."</ref> and [[Stephen Arroyo]]<ref>Hand, Robert, ''Horoscope Symbols'' (Para Research 1981) p.349 ISBN 0-914918-16-8</ref> were influenced by the Jungian model leading to the development of [[psychological astrology]].<ref>Hyde, Maggie. ''Jung and Astrology.'' (Aquarian/Harper Collins, 1992) p.105 ISBN 185538115X http://www.skyscript.co.uk/synchronicity.html</ref>


=== Hellenistic Egypt ===
In the middle of the 20th century, [[Alfred Witte]] and, following him, [[Reinhold Ebertin]] pioneered the use of midpoints, called [[Midpoint (astrology)|midpoint astrology]] in horoscopic analysis.<ref name="Harding-Harvey">Harding, M & Harvey, C, ''Working with Astrology, The Psychology of Midpoints, Harmonics and Astro*Carto*Graphy'', (Penguin Arkana 1990) (3rd edition pp.8–13) ISBN 1873948034</ref> A new kind of [[locational astrology]] began in 1957–58, when Donald Bradley published a hand-plotted geographic astrology map. In the 1970s, American astrologer [[Jim Lewis (astrologer)|Jim Lewis]] developed this technique under the name of [[Astrocartography|Astro*Carto*Graphy]].<ref>Davis, Martin, ''From Here to There, An Astrologer’s Guide to Astromapping'', (Wessex Astrologer, England, 2008) Ch1. History, p.2 ISBN 9781902405278</ref> The world map displays lines where the Sun, Moon, planets and other celestial points appear to be on any of the [[Angle (astrology)|Four Angles]] ([[Ascendant|Rising]], [[Descendant (astrology)|Setting]], [[Midheaven|MC]] and [[Imum coeli|IC]]) at a given moment in time. By comparing these lines with the horoscope, an astrologer attempts to identify the potential in any location.<ref>Lewis, Jim & Irving, Ken, ''The Psychology of Astro*Carto*Graphy'', (Penguin Arkana 1997) ISBN 1357918642</ref>
{{Main|Hellenistic astrology}}
<!-- Commenting out old content whilst this section is under revision
===Traditions===
{{See also|List of astrological traditions, types, and systems}}


[[File:Quadritpartitum.jpg|thumb|upright|1484 copy of first page of [[Ptolemy|Ptolemy's]] ''Tetrabiblos'', translated into Latin by [[Plato of Tivoli]]|alt=Ptolemy's ''Tetrabiblos'', the Hellenistic text that founded Western astrology]]
Historically, alchemy in the [[Western World]] was particularly allied and intertwined with traditional Babylonian-Greek style astrology; in numerous ways they were built to complement each other in the search for [[occult]] or hidden knowledge.<ref>Weor, Samael Aun ''Astrotheurgy'', The Esoteric Treatise of Hermetic Astrology, pp. 60–117, Glorian Publishing 2006, ISBN 978-1-934206-06-5</ref> Astrology has used the concept of the four [[astrology and the classical elements|classical elements]] of alchemy from antiquity up until the present day. Traditionally, each of the seven planets in the solar system known to the ancients was associated with, held dominion over, and "ruled" a certain metal.<ref>Weor, Samael Aun ''Astrotheurgy'', The Zodiacal Course, pp.3–58, Glorian Publishing, 2006, ISBN 978-1-934206-06-5</ref>
In 525 BCE, [[Egypt]] was conquered by the Persians. The 1st century BCE Egyptian [[Dendera Zodiac]] shares two signs – the Balance and the Scorpion – with Mesopotamian astrology.{{sfn|Barton|1994|page=24}}


With the occupation by [[Alexander the Great]] in 332 BCE, Egypt became [[Hellenistic]]. The city of [[Alexandria]] was founded by Alexander after the conquest, becoming the place where [[Babylonian astrology]] was mixed with Egyptian [[Decans|Decanic astrology]] to create [[Horoscopic astrology]]. This contained the Babylonian zodiac with its system of planetary [[exaltation (astrology)|exaltation]]s, the triplicities of the signs and the importance of eclipses. It used the Egyptian concept of dividing the zodiac into thirty-six decans of ten degrees each, with an emphasis on the rising decan, and the Greek system of planetary Gods, sign rulership and [[four elements]].{{sfn|Holden|2006|pages=11–13}} 2nd century BCE texts predict positions of planets in zodiac signs at the time of the rising of certain decans, particularly Sothis.{{sfn|Barton|1994|page=20}} The [[astrologer]] and astronomer [[Ptolemy#Astrology|Ptolemy]] lived in Alexandria. Ptolemy's work the ''[[Tetrabiblos]]'' formed the basis of Western astrology, and, "...enjoyed almost the authority of a Bible among the astrological writers of a thousand years or more."{{sfn|Robbins|1940|loc='Introduction'|page=xii}}
===Horoscopic astrology===
{{Main|Horoscopic astrology}}


=== Greece and Rome ===
''Horoscopic astrology'' is a system that some claim to have developed in the [[Mediterranean Basin|Mediterranean]] region and specifically [[Hellenistic Egypt]] around the late 2nd or early 1st century BCE.<ref>David Pingree – ''From Astral Omens to Astrology from Babylon to Bikaner'', Roma: Istituto Italiano per L'Africa e L'Oriente, 1997. p. 26.</ref> The tradition deals with two-dimensional diagrams of the heavens, or horoscopes, created for specific moments in time.


The conquest of [[Asia]] by [[Alexander the Great]] exposed the Greeks to ideas from [[Syria]], Babylon, Persia and central Asia.{{sfn|Campion|2008|p=173}} Around 280 BCE, [[Berossus]], a priest of [[Marduk|Bel]] from Babylon, moved to the Greek island of [[Kos]], teaching astrology and Babylonian culture.{{sfn|Campion|2008|p=84}} By the 1st century BCE, there were two varieties of astrology, one using [[horoscope]]s to describe the past, present and future; the other, [[theurgic]], emphasising the [[soul|soul's]] ascent to the stars.{{sfn|Campion|2008|pp=173–174}} Greek influence played a crucial role in the transmission of astrological theory to [[Ancient Rome|Rome]].<ref name=B32>Barton, 1994. p. 32.</ref>
===Origins===
Many{{who|date=February 2011}} believe that the origins of much of the astrological doctrine and method that would later develop in [[Asia]], [[Europe]], and the [[Middle East]] are found among the ancient [[Babylonians]] and their system of celestial omens that began to be compiled around the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE.<ref>[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02018e.htm ''Namar Beli'' (Bel's Illumination), considered by those who do not acknowledge the antiquity of purported Vedic documents to be the oldest astrological document in the world]</ref> They believe this system of celestial omens later spread, either directly or indirectly through the Babylonians and Assyrians, to other areas such as the [[Middle East]], and [[Greece]], where it merged with pre-existing indigenous forms of astrology.<ref>[[Alexandra David-Neel]] ''Magic and Mystery in Tibet'', p. 290, Dover Publications Inc., 1971 ISBN 0-486-22682-4; 1st French ed. 1929</ref>


The first definite reference to astrology in Rome comes from the orator [[Cato the Elder|Cato]], who in 160 BCE warned farm overseers against consulting with Chaldeans,<ref>Barton, 1994. p.&nbsp;32–33.</ref> who were described as Babylonian 'star-gazers'.<ref name=Campion227>{{harvnb|Campion|2008|pp=227–228}}.</ref> Among both Greeks and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], Babylonia (also known as [[Chaldea]]) became so identified with astrology that 'Chaldean wisdom' became [[synonym]]ous with [[divination]] using planets and stars.{{sfn|Parker|Parker|1983|p=16}} The 2nd-century Roman poet and satirist [[Juvenal]] complains about the pervasive influence of Chaldeans, saying, "Still more trusted are the Chaldaeans; every word uttered by the astrologer they will believe has come from [[Jupiter (mythology)|Hammon's]] fountain."<ref>{{cite wikisource |author = Juvenal |author-link = Juvenal |translator-last = Ramsay |translator-first = George Gilbert |translator-link = George Gilbert Ramsay |title = Satire VI: The Ways of Women |wslink = Juvenal and Persius/The Satires of Juvenal/Satire 6 |date = c. 100 |publisher = [[G. P. Putnam's Sons]] |publication-date = 1918}}</ref>
===Before the modern era===
The differentiation between astronomy and astrology varied from place to place; they were strongly linked in ancient India,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mathemajik.googlepages.com/astronomy.htm |title=Ancient India's Contribution to Astronomy |accessdate=2009-01-27}}</ref> ancient Babylonia and [[Middle Ages|medieval Europe]], but separated to an extent in the [[Hellenistic civilization|Hellenistic world]]. The first [[semantics|semantic]] distinction between [[astrology and astronomy]] was probably given by [[Isidore of Seville]]<ref>S. Pines (September 1964), "The Semantic Distinction between the Terms Astronomy and Astrology according to al-Biruni", ''Isis'' '''55''' (3): 343–349</ref>.


One of the first astrologers to bring [[Hermetic astrology]] to Rome was [[Thrasyllus of Mendes|Thrasyllus]], astrologer to the [[emperor]] [[Tiberius]],<ref name="B32"/> the first emperor to have had a court astrologer,<ref>Barton, 1994. p. 43.</ref> though his predecessor [[Augustus]] had used astrology to help legitimise his [[Imperialism|Imperial]] rights.<ref>Barton, 1994. p. 63.</ref>
Astrology was not without criticism before the modern era; it was often challenged by Hellenistic skeptics, church authorities, and medieval [[Islamic astronomy|Muslim astronomers]], such as [[Al-Farabi]] (Alpharabius), [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (Alhazen), [[Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī]], [[Avicenna]] and [[Averroes]]. Their reasons for refuting astrology were often due to both scientific (the methods used by astrologers being [[conjectural]] rather than [[empirical]]) and religious (conflicts with orthodox [[Ulema|Islamic scholars]]) reasons.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Saliba |first=George |authorlink=George Saliba |year=1994b |title=A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam |publisher=[[New York University Press]] |isbn=0814780237 |pages=60, 67–69}}</ref> [[Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya]] (1292–1350), in his ''Miftah Dar al-SaCadah'', used empirical arguments in astronomy in order to refute astrology and [[divination]].<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah: A Fourteenth Century Defense against Astrological Divination and Alchemical Transmutation |first=John W. |last=Livingston |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=91 |issue=1 |year=1971 |pages=96–103 |doi=10.2307/600445 |jstor=600445}}</ref>


=== Notable personalities ===
=== Medieval world ===


==== Hindu ====
Many thinkers, philosophers and scientists, such as [[Pythagoras]], [[Hippocrates]], [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], [[Ptolemy]], [[Galen]], [[Paracelsus]], [[Girolamo Cardan]], [[Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf|Taqi al-Din]], [[Manilius]], [[Tycho Brahe]], [[Galileo Galilei]], [[Johannes Kepler]], and almost all great scholars during the Renaissance significantly contributed to astrology.<ref name="eysenck-nias">Eysenck, H.J., Nias, D.K.B., Astrology: Science or Superstition? (Penguin Books, 1982) Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Galen:p.6 Paracelsus, Cardan, Brahe, Kepler:p.7 Manilius, Ptolemy:p.23 ISBN 0140223975</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Were They Astrologers? – Big League Scientists and Astrology |author=Bruce Scofield |publisher=The Mountain Astrologer magazine |url=http://www.mountainastrologer.com/standards/editor's%20choice/articles/science_ast.html |accessdate=2007-08-16}}</ref> Recent scholars that devoted much effort to astrological questions include [[Carl Jung]], [[Paul Feyerabend]], [[Gordon Willard Allport]], [[Leonard D. Goodstein]], [[Karen L. Brazis]], [[Lawrence E. Jerome]] and [[T. Rockwell]].<ref name=eysenck-nias/><ref>Psychology of scientist: XXX. Credibility of psychologists: An empirical study. Goodstein, Leonard D.; Brazis, Karen L. Psychological Reports, Vol 27(3), Dec 1970, 835-838</ref><ref>Jerome, L.E., ''Astrology Disproved'', ISBN 9780879750671. Prometheus Books, 1977.</ref><ref>Theodore Rockwell, Robert Rockwell, W Teed Rockwell, ''Irrational rationalists: A critique of The Humanist's crusade against parapsychology'', Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (1978) Volume: 72, Issue: 1, Pages: 23-34</ref> -->
{{main|Hindu astrology}}
{{-}}


The main texts upon which classical Indian astrology is based are early medieval compilations, notably the ''[[Bṛhat Parāśara Horāśāstra|{{IAST|Bṛhat Parāśara Horāśāstra}}]]'', and ''[[Sārāvalī]]'' by {{IAST|Kalyāṇavarma}}.
==World traditions of astrology==
The ''Horāshastra'' is a composite work of 71 chapters, of which the first part (chapters 1–51) dates to the 7th to early 8th centuries and the second part (chapters 52–71) to the later 8th century. The ''Sārāvalī'' likewise dates to around 800 CE.<ref>[[David Pingree]], ''{{IAST|Jyotiḥśāstra}}'' (J. Gonda (Ed.) ''A History of Indian Literature'', Vol VI Fasc 4), p.81</ref> English translations of these texts were published by N.N. Krishna Rau and V.B. Choudhari in 1963 and 1961, respectively.
Although most cultural systems of astrology share common roots in ancient philosophies that influenced each other, many have unique methodologies which differ from those developed in the west. Outside of western astrology, the two most significant of these are [[Hindu astrology]] (also known as "Indian astrology" and in modern times referred to as "Vedic astrology") and [[Chinese astrology]]. Both of these systems have yielded great influence upon the world's cultural history.


===Western===
==== Islamic ====
{{main|Astrology in medieval Islam}}
{{Main|Western astrology}}
Western astrology is largely [[horoscopic astrology|horoscopic]], that is, it is a form of [[divination]] based on the construction of a [[horoscope]] for an exact moment, such as a person's birth, in which various cosmic bodies are said to have an influence.
Astrology in western [[popular culture]] is often reduced to [[sun sign astrology]], which considers only the individual's date of birth (i.e. the "position of the Sun" at that date).


[[File:Translation of Albumasar Venice 1515 De Magnis Coniunctionibus.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Image of a Latin astrological text |[[Latin]] translation of [[Albumasar|Abū Maʿshar's]] ''De Magnis Coniunctionibus'' ('Of the great [[Conjunction (astronomy and astrology)|conjunctions]]'), [[Venice]], 1515]]
===Hindu===

Astrology was taken up by Islamic scholars<ref>{{cite book |title=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Science, and Technology in Islam |first1=Salim |last1=Ayduz |first2=Ibrahim |last2=Kalin |first3=Caner |last3=Dagli |publisher=Oxford University Press |year= 2014 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=or-6BwAAQBAJ&q=philosophy+astrology+university&pg=RA1-PA515|isbn=978-0-19-981257-8 }}</ref> following the collapse of [[Alexandria]] to the Arabs in the 7th century, and the founding of the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid empire]] in the 8th. The second Abbasid [[caliph]], [[Al Mansur]] (754–775) founded the city of [[Baghdad]] to act as a centre of learning, and included in its design a library-translation centre known as ''Bayt al-Hikma'' 'House of Wisdom', which continued to receive development from his heirs and was to provide a major impetus for Arabic-Persian translations of Hellenistic astrological texts. The early translators included [[Mashallah ibn Athari|Mashallah]], who helped to elect the time for the foundation of Baghdad,<ref name=Biruni>{{cite book|author=Bīrūnī, Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad|title=The chronology of ancient nations|year=1879|publisher=London, Pub. for the Oriental translations fund of Great Britain & Ireland by W. H. Allen and co.|lccn=01006783|chapter=VIII}}</ref> and [[Sahl ibn Bishr]], (''a.k.a.'' ''Zael''), whose texts were directly influential upon later European astrologers such as [[Guido Bonatti]] in the 13th century, and [[William Lilly]] in the 17th century.<ref>{{cite book | author=Houlding, Deborah | title=Essays on the History of Western Astrology | publisher=STA| year=2010 | pages=2–7 | chapter=6: Historical sources and traditional approaches}}</ref> Knowledge of Arabic texts started to become imported into Europe during the [[Latin translations of the 12th century]].

==== Europe ====

[[File:Meister von San Vitale in Ravenna 004.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Dante Alighieri]] meets the Emperor [[Justinian I|Justinian]] in the Sphere of [[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]], in Canto 5 of the ''[[Paradiso (Dante)|Paradiso]].'']]

{{See also|Christian views on astrology}}

[[File:Isidor von Sevilla.jpeg|thumb|upright|right|The medieval theologian [[Isidore of Seville]] criticised the predictive part of astrology.]]

In the seventh century, [[Isidore of Seville]] argued in his ''[[Etymologiae]]'' that astronomy described the movements of the heavens, while astrology had two parts: one was scientific, describing the movements of the Sun, the Moon and the stars, while the other, making predictions, was theologically erroneous.{{sfn|Wood|1970|p=5}}<ref name=Isidore>{{cite book | title=Etymologiae | author=Isidore of Seville | year=c. 600 | pages=L, 82, col. 170}}</ref>

The first astrological book published in Europe was the ''Liber Planetis et Mundi Climatibus'' ("Book of the Planets and Regions of the World"), which appeared between 1010 and 1027 AD, and may have been authored by [[Gerbert of Aurillac]].<ref name=Campion44>{{harvnb|Campion|1982|p=44}}.</ref> [[Ptolemy|Ptolemy's]] second century AD ''[[Tetrabiblos]]'' was translated into Latin by [[Plato Tiburtinus|Plato of Tivoli]] in 1138.<ref name=Campion44/> The [[Dominican order|Dominican]] theologian [[Thomas Aquinas]] followed [[Aristotle]] in proposing that the stars ruled the imperfect 'sublunary' body, while attempting to reconcile astrology with Christianity by stating that God ruled the soul.<ref name=Campion45>{{harvnb|Campion|1982|p=45}}.</ref> The thirteenth century mathematician [[Campanus of Novara]] is said to have devised a system of astrological houses that divides the [[prime vertical]] into 'houses' of equal 30° arcs,<ref name=Campion46>{{harvnb|Campion|1982|p=46}}.</ref> though the system was used earlier in the East.<ref>{{cite book | author=North, John David | year= 1986 | title=Horoscopes and history | publisher=Warburg Institute | pages=175–176 | chapter=The eastern origins of the Campanus (Prime Vertical) method. Evidence from al-Bīrūnī}}</ref> The thirteenth century [[astronomer]] [[Guido Bonatti]] wrote a textbook, the ''Liber Astronomicus'', a copy of which King [[Henry VII of England]] owned at the end of the fifteenth century.<ref name=Campion46/>

In ''[[Paradiso (Dante)|Paradiso]]'', the final part of the ''[[Divine Comedy]]'', the Italian poet [[Dante Alighieri]] referred "in countless details"<ref name=Durling>{{cite journal | title=Dante's Christian Astrology. by Richard Kay. Review | author=Durling, Robert M. | journal=Speculum |date=January 1997 | volume=72 | issue=1 | pages=185–187 | quote=Dante's interest in astrology has only slowly been gaining the attention it deserves. In 1940 Rudolf Palgen published his pioneering eighty-page "Dantes Sternglaube: Beiträge zur Erklärung des Paradiso", which concisely surveyed Dante's treatment of the planets and of the sphere of fixed stars; he demonstrated that it is governed by the astrological concept of the "children of the planets" (in each sphere the pilgrim meets souls whose lives reflected the dominant influence of that planet) and that in countless details the imagery of the Paradiso is derived from the astrological tradition.&nbsp;... Like Palgen, he [Kay] argues (again, in more detail) that Dante adapted traditional astrological views to his own Christian ones; he finds this process intensified in the upper heavens. | jstor=2865916 | doi=10.2307/2865916}}</ref> to the astrological planets, though he adapted traditional astrology to suit his Christian viewpoint,<ref name=Durling/> for example using astrological thinking in his prophecies of the reform of [[Christendom]].<ref>{{cite journal | title=Dante and the Doctrine of the Great Conjunctions | author=Woody, Kennerly M. | journal=Dante Studies, with the Annual Report of the Dante Society | year=1977 | volume=95 | issue=95 | pages=119–134 | quote=It can hardly be doubted, I think, that Dante was thinking in astrological terms when he made his prophecies. [The attached footnote cites Inferno. I, lOOff.; Purgatorio. xx, 13-15 and xxxiii, 41; Paradiso. xxii, 13-15 and xxvii, 142-148.] | jstor=40166243}}</ref>

[[John Gower]] in the fourteenth century defined astrology as essentially limited to the making of predictions.{{sfn|Wood|1970|p=5}}<ref>{{cite book | url=http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=3197718&pageno=9 | title=Confessio Amantis | author=Gower, John | year=1390 | pages=VII, 670–84 | quote=Assembled with Astronomie / Is ek that ilke Astrologie / The which in juggementz acompteth / Theffect, what every sterre amonteth, / And hou thei causen many a wonder / To tho climatz that stonde hem under. | access-date=2 July 2013 | archive-date=24 September 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924093459/http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=3197718&pageno=9 | url-status=live }}</ref> The influence of the stars was in turn divided into natural astrology, with for example effects on tides and the growth of plants, and judicial astrology, with supposedly predictable effects on people.{{sfn|Wood|1970|p=6}}<ref name=Allen148>{{cite book | title=Star-crossed Renaissance | publisher=Duke University Press | author=Allen, Don Cameron | year=1941 | page=148}}</ref> The fourteenth-century sceptic [[Nicole Oresme]] however included astronomy as a part of astrology in his ''Livre de divinacions''.{{sfn|Wood|1970|pp=8–11}} Oresme argued that current approaches to prediction of events such as plagues, wars, and weather were inappropriate, but that such prediction was a valid field of inquiry. However, he attacked the use of astrology to choose the timing of actions (so-called interrogation and election) as wholly false, and rejected the determination of human action by the stars on grounds of free will.{{sfn|Wood|1970|pp=8–11}}<ref name=Coopland>{{cite book | title=Nicole Oresme and the Astrologers: A Study of his Livre de Divinacions | publisher=Harvard University Press; Liverpool University Press | author=Coopland, G. W. | year=1952}}</ref> The friar [[Laurens Pignon]] (c. 1368–1449)<ref>{{cite book | title=Laurens Pignon, O.P.: Confessor of Philip the Good | publisher=Jean Mielot | author=Vanderjagt, A.J. | year=1985 | location=Venlo, The Netherlands}}</ref> similarly rejected all forms of divination and determinism, including by the stars, in his 1411 ''Contre les Devineurs''.{{sfn|Veenstra|1997|pp=5, 32, passim}} This was in opposition to the tradition carried by the Arab astronomer [[Albumasar]] (787–886) whose ''Introductorium in Astronomiam'' and ''De Magnis Coniunctionibus'' argued the view that both individual actions and larger scale history are determined by the stars.{{sfn|Veenstra|1997|p=184}}

In the late 15th century, [[Giovanni Pico della Mirandola]] forcefully attacked astrology in ''Disputationes contra Astrologos'', arguing that the heavens neither caused, nor heralded earthly events.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Dijksterhuis |first1=Eduard Jan |title=The mechanization of the world picture |date=1986 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, NJ}}</ref> His contemporary, [[Pietro Pomponazzi]], a "rationalistic and critical thinker", was much more sanguine about astrology and critical of Pico's attack.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Martin |first1=Craig |title=Pietro Pomponazzi |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pomponazzi/ |encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy |year=2021 |publisher=Stanford University |access-date=27 February 2019 |archive-date=17 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190317225213/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pomponazzi/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== Renaissance and Early Modern ===
{{see also|Renaissance magic}}
[[File:Robert Fludd's An Astrologer Casting a Horoscope 1617.jpg|thumb|right|'An Astrologer Casting a Horoscope' from [[Robert Fludd|Robert Fludd's]] ''Utriusque Cosmi Historia'', 1617]]

[[Renaissance]] scholars commonly practised astrology. [[Gerolamo Cardano]] cast the horoscope of king [[Edward VI of England]], while [[John Dee]] was the personal astrologer to queen [[Elizabeth I of England]]. [[Catherine de Medici]] paid [[Michael Nostradamus]] in 1566 to verify the prediction of the death of her husband, king [[Henry II of France]] made by her astrologer Lucus Gauricus. Major astronomers who practised as court astrologers included [[Tycho Brahe]] in the royal court of Denmark, [[Johannes Kepler]] to the [[Habsburgs]], [[Galileo Galilei]] to the [[Medici]], and [[Giordano Bruno]] who was burnt at the stake for heresy in Rome in 1600.<ref name=Campion47>{{harvnb|Campion|1982|p=47}}.</ref> The distinction between astrology and astronomy was not entirely clear. Advances in astronomy were often motivated by the desire to improve the accuracy of astrology.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Pico+and+the+historiography+of+Renaissance+astrology.-a0251858267|title=Pico and the historiography of Renaissance astrology|work=Explorations in Renaissance Culture|author=Rabin, Sheila J.|date=2010|access-date=10 February 2016|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224144607/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Pico+and+the+historiography+of+Renaissance+astrology.-a0251858267|url-status=live}}</ref> Kepler, for example, was driven by a belief in harmonies between Earthly and celestial affairs, yet he disparaged the activities of most astrologers as "evil-smelling dung".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Caspar |first=Max |title=Kepler |date=1993 |publisher=Dover Publications |isbn=0-486-67605-6 |location=New York |pages=181–182 |translator-last=Hellman |translator-first=C. Doris |oclc=28293391 |translator-link=C. Doris Hellman}}</ref>

[[Ephemeris|Ephemerides]] with complex astrological calculations, and [[almanac]]s interpreting celestial events for use in medicine and for choosing times to plant crops, were popular in Elizabethan England.<ref name=Harkness105>{{cite book | title=The Jewel House. Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution | publisher=Yale University Press | author=Harkness, Deborah E. | year=2007 | page=105 | isbn=978-0-300-14316-4}}</ref> In 1597, the English [[mathematician]] and [[physician]] [[Thomas Hood (mathematician)|Thomas Hood]] made a set of paper instruments that used revolving overlays to help students work out relationships between fixed stars or constellations, the midheaven, and the twelve [[House (astrology)|astrological houses]].<ref name=Harkness133>{{cite book | title=The Jewel House. Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution | publisher=Yale University Press | author=Harkness, Deborah E. | year=2007 | page=133 | isbn=978-0-300-14316-4}}</ref> Hood's instruments also illustrated, for pedagogical purposes, the supposed relationships between the signs of the zodiac, the planets, and the parts of the human body adherents believed were governed by the planets and signs.<ref name=Harkness133/><ref>{{cite AV media | title=Astronomical diagrams by Thomas Hood, Mathematician | publisher=British Library | date=c. 1597 | medium=Vellum, in oaken cases | location=British Library }}</ref> While Hood's presentation was innovative, his astrological information was largely standard and was taken from [[Gerard Mercator|Gerard Mercator's]] astrological disc made in 1551, or a source used by Mercator.<ref>{{cite conference | url=http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/staff/saj/hood-astrology | title=The astrological instruments of Thomas Hood | access-date=12 June 2013 | author=Johnston, Stephen | book-title=XVII International Scientific Instrument Symposium |date=July 1998 | location=Soro}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | title=Dee, Mercator, and Louvain Instrument Making: An Undescribed Astrological Disc by Gerard Mercator (1551) | author=Vanden Broeke, Steven | journal=Annals of Science | year=2001 | volume=58 | issue=3 | pages=219–240 | doi=10.1080/00033790016703 | s2cid=144443271 }}</ref> Despite its popularity, Renaissance astrology had what historian Gabor Almasi calls "elite debate", exemplified by the polemical letters of Swiss physician [[Thomas Erastus]] who fought against astrology, calling it "vanity" and "superstition." Then around the time of the [[SN 1572|new star of 1572]] and the [[Great Comet of 1577|comet of 1577]] there began what Almasi calls an "extended epistemological reform" which began the process of excluding religion, astrology and [[anthropocentrism]] from scientific debate.<ref name="Almasi">{{Cite journal |last=Almasi |first=Gabor |date=February 11, 2022 |title=Astrology in the crossfire: the stormy debate after the comet of 1577 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00033790.2022.2030409 |journal=Annals of Science |volume=79 |issue=2 |pages=137–163 |doi=10.1080/00033790.2022.2030409 |pmid=35147491 |s2cid=246749889 |access-date=7 June 2023 |archive-date=7 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230607031259/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00033790.2022.2030409 |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1679, the yearly publication [[Connaissance des Temps|La Connoissance des temps]] eschewed astrology as a legitimate topic.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cambridge Concise History of Astronomy |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-521-57291-0 |editor-last=Hoskin |editor-first=Michael |location=Cambridge |page=220}}</ref>

=== Enlightenment period and onwards ===
[[File:Seven spiritualists 1906.jpg|thumb|[[Middle-class]] Chicago women discuss spiritualism (1906).]]
During [[the Enlightenment]], intellectual sympathy for astrology fell away, leaving only a popular following supported by cheap almanacs.<ref name=Porter>{{cite book | title=Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World | publisher=Penguin | last=Porter|first= Roy|author-link=Roy Porter | year=2001 | pages=151–152 | isbn=978-0-14-025028-2 | quote=he did not even trouble readers with formal disproofs!}}</ref><ref name=Rutkin>{{cite book|last= Rutkin|first= H. Darell|year= 2006|chapter= Astrology|editor1= K. Park|editor2= L. Daston|title= Early Modern Science|series= The Cambridge History of Science|volume= 3|pages= 541–561|publisher= [[Cambridge University Press]]|chapter-url= https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-science/astrology/17E3D5BB41AE55616C6B9AB7949FE0F1|isbn= 0-521-57244-4|quote= As is well known, astrology finally disappeared from the domain of legitimate natural knowledge during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, although the precise contours of this story remain obscure.|access-date= 6 June 2022|archive-date= 22 December 2022|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20221222192125/https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-history-of-science/astrology/17E3D5BB41AE55616C6B9AB7949FE0F1|url-status= live}}</ref> One English almanac compiler, Richard Saunders, followed the spirit of the age by printing a derisive ''Discourse on the Invalidity of Astrology'', while in France [[Pierre Bayle|Pierre Bayle's]] ''Dictionnaire'' of 1697 stated that the subject was puerile.<ref name=Porter/> The [[Anglo-Irish]] [[satire|satirist]] [[Jonathan Swift]] ridiculed the [[Whiggism|Whig]] political astrologer [[John Partridge (astrologer)|John Partridge]].<ref name=Porter/>

In the second half of the 17th century, the [[Society of Astrologers]] (1647–1684), a trade, educational, and social organization, sought to unite London's often fractious astrologers in the task of revitalizing astrology. Following the template of the popular "Feasts of Mathematicians" they endeavored to defend their art in the face of growing religious criticism. The Society hosted banquets, exchanged "instruments and manuscripts", proposed research projects, and funded the publication of sermons that depicted astrology as a legitimate biblical pursuit for Christians. They commissioned sermons that argued Astrology was divine, Hebraic, and scripturally supported by Bible passages about the [[Biblical Magi|Magi]] and the sons of [[Seth]]. According to historian Michelle Pfeffer, "The society's public relations campaign ultimately failed." Modern historians have mostly neglected the Society of Astrologers in favor of the still extant [[Royal Society]] (1660), even though both organizations initially had some of the same members.<ref name = "Pfeffer">{{Cite journal |last=Pfeffer |first=Michelle |title=The Society of Astrologers (c.1647–1684): sermons, feasts and the resuscitation of astrology in seventeenth-century London |journal=The British Journal for the History of Science |date=2021 |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=133–153 |doi=10.1017/S0007087421000029 |pmid=33719982 |s2cid=232232073 |url=https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:630ab701-eb53-4efc-b1f3-05146f9e8957 |access-date=2 January 2023 |archive-date=26 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230326031907/https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:630ab701-eb53-4efc-b1f3-05146f9e8957 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Astrology saw a popular revival starting in the 19th century, as part of a general revival of [[Spiritualism (beliefs)|spiritualism]] and—later, [[New Age]] philosophy,{{sfn|Campion|2009|pp=239–249}} and through the influence of mass media such as newspaper horoscopes.{{sfn|Campion|2009|pp=259–263}} Early in the 20th century the psychiatrist [[Carl Jung]] developed some concepts concerning astrology,<ref>{{cite book | author=Jung, C.G. | title=C.G. Jung Letters: 1906–1950. | publisher=Princeton University Press | location=Princeton, NJ | isbn=978-0-691-09895-1 | author2=Hull | editor-first=Gerhard | editor-last=Adler | others=in collaboration with Aniela Jaffé; translations from the German by R.F.C. | year=1973 | quote=Letter from Jung to Freud, 12 June 1911 "I made horoscopic calculations in order to find a clue to the core of psychological truth." | url=https://archive.org/details/letters0001jung }}</ref> which led to the development of [[psychological astrology]].<ref>{{harvnb|Campion|2009|pp=251–256}}: "At the same time, in Switzerland, the psychologist Carl Gustav Jung (1875–1961) was developing sophisticated theories concerning astrology&nbsp;..."</ref><ref>Gieser, Suzanne. ''The Innermost Kernel, Depth Psychology and Quantum Physics. Wolfgang Pauli's Dialogue with C.G.Jung'', (Springer, Berlin, 2005) p. 21 {{ISBN|3-540-20856-9}}</ref><ref>Campion, Nicholas. "''Prophecy, Cosmology and the New Age Movement. The Extent and Nature of Contemporary Belief in Astrology.''"(Bath Spa University College, 2003) via {{harvnb|Campion|2009|pp=248, 256}}.</ref>

== Principles and practice ==
Advocates have defined astrology as a symbolic language, an [[art]] form, a [[science]], and a method of divination.<ref>''The New Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica'', v.5, 1974, p. 916</ref><ref>Dietrich, Thomas: ''The Origin of Culture and Civilization'', Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists, 2005, p. 305</ref> Though most cultural astrology systems share common roots in ancient philosophies that influenced each other, many use methods that differ from those in the West. These include Hindu astrology (also known as "Indian astrology" and in modern times referred to as "Vedic astrology") and Chinese astrology, both of which have influenced the world's cultural history.

=== Western ===
[[Western astrology]] is a form of [[divination]] based on the construction of a [[horoscope]] for an exact moment, such as a person's birth.<ref>{{cite book |editor=[[Philip P. Wiener]] |title=Dictionary of the history of ideas |year=1974 |publisher=Scribner |location=New York |isbn=978-0-684-13293-8 |url=http://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/view?docId=DicHist/uvaBook/tei/DicHist1.xml;brand=default; |access-date=16 July 2011 |archive-date=25 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110925152742/http://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/view?docId=DicHist/uvaBook/tei/DicHist1.xml;brand=default; |url-status=live }}</ref> It uses the tropical zodiac, which is aligned to the [[Equinox|equinoctial points]].<ref>James R. Lewis, 2003. ''The Astrology Book: the Encyclopedia of Heavenly Influences''. Visible Ink Press. Online at Google Books.</ref>

Western astrology is founded on the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies such as the Sun, Moon and planets, which are analysed by their movement through [[Astrological sign|signs]] of the [[zodiac]] (twelve spatial divisions of the [[ecliptic]]) and by their [[Astrological aspect|aspects]] (based on geometric angles) relative to one another. They are also considered by their placement in [[House (astrology)|houses]] (twelve spatial divisions of the sky).<ref>{{cite book |last=Hone |first=Margaret |title=The Modern Text-Book of Astrology |year=1978 |publisher=L. N. Fowler |location=Romford |isbn=978-0-85243-357-7 |pages=21–89}}</ref> Astrology's modern representation in western popular media is usually reduced to [[sun sign astrology]], which considers only the zodiac sign of the Sun at an individual's date of birth, and represents only 1/12 of the total chart.<ref>{{cite book |last=Riske |first=Kris |title=Llewellyn's Complete Book of Astrology |year=2007 |publisher=Llewellyn Publications |location=Minnesota, US |isbn=978-0-7387-1071-6 |pages=5–6; 27}}</ref>

The horoscope visually expresses the set of relationships for the time and place of the chosen event. These relationships are between the seven 'planets', signifying tendencies such as war and love; the twelve signs of the zodiac; and the twelve houses. Each planet is in a particular sign and a particular house at the chosen time, when observed from the chosen place, creating two kinds of relationship.<ref name=Kremer>{{cite journal | title=Horoscopes and History. by J. D. North; A History of Western Astrology. by S. J. Tester | author=Kremer, Richard | journal=Speculum | year=1990 | volume=65 | issue=1 | pages=206–209 | jstor=2864524 | doi=10.2307/2864524}}</ref> A third kind is the aspect of each planet to every other planet, where for example two planets 120° apart (in 'trine') are in a harmonious relationship, but two planets 90° apart ('square') are in a conflicted relationship.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Pelletier, Robert |author2=Cataldo, Leonard | title=Be Your Own Astrologer | pages=57–60 | publisher=Pan | year=1984}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Fenton, Sasha | title=Rising Signs | pages=137–9 | publisher =Aquarian Press | year=1991}}</ref> Together these relationships and their interpretations are said to form "...the language of the heavens speaking to learned men."<ref name=Kremer/>

Along with [[tarot divination]], astrology is one of the core studies of [[Western esotericism]], and as such has influenced systems of [[magic (paranormal)|magical]] belief not only among Western esotericists and [[Hermeticism|Hermeticists]], but also belief systems such as [[Wicca]], which have borrowed from or been influenced by the Western esoteric tradition. [[Tanya Luhrmann]] has said that "all magicians know something about astrology," and refers to a [[table of correspondences]] in [[Starhawk|Starhawk's]] ''[[The Spiral Dance]]'', organised by [[planets in astrology|planet]], as an example of the astrological lore studied by magicians.<ref name="Luhrmann">{{cite book | title=Persuasions of the witch's craft: ritual magic in contemporary England | publisher=Harvard University Press | author=Luhrmann, Tanya | year=1991 | pages=147–151 | isbn=978-0-674-66324-4}}</ref>

=== Hindu ===
{{Main|Hindu astrology}}
{{Main|Hindu astrology}}
Hindu astrology uses a different [[zodiac]] than [[Western astrology]] and is a branch of [[Vedic science]].<ref>"In countries such as India, where only a small intellectual elite has been trained in Western physics, astrology manages to retain here and there its position among the sciences." David Pingree and Robert Gilbert, "Astrology; Astrology In India; Astrology in modern times". [[Encyclopædia Britannica]], 2008</ref><ref>Mohan Rao, Female foeticide: where do we go? Indian Journal of Medical Ethics Oct-Dec2001-9(4) [http://www.issuesinmedicalethics.org/094co123.html]</ref> In [[India]], there is a long-established widespread belief in astrology, and it is commonly used for daily life, foremost with regard to marriages, and secondarily with regard to career and electional and [[karmic astrology]].<ref name="wideind">{{Cite news|title=BV Raman Dies |publisher=New York Times, December 23, 1998 |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/23/world/bangalore-venkata-raman-indian-astrologer-dies-at-86.html |accessdate= 2009-05-12 |first=Michael T. |last=Kaufman |date=1998-12-23}}</ref><ref name="fof">{{Cite web|title=Fame and Fortune |author=Dipankar Das, May 1996 |url=http://www.lifepositive.com/mind/predictive-sciences/astrology.asp |accessdate=2009-05-12}}</ref> In the 1960s, [[Distinguished Iyers|H.R. Seshadri Iyer]], introduced a system including the concepts of yogi and avayogi. It generated interest with research oriented astrologers in the West. From the early 1990s, Western Vedic astrologer and author [[V.K. Choudhry]] created and developed the [[Systems' Approach (astrology)|Systems' Approach for Interpreting Horoscopes]], a simplified system of Jyotish (predictive astrology)<ref>[[V.K. Choudhry]] and K. Rajesh Chaudhary, 2006, ''Systems' Approach (astrology) Systems' Approach for Interpreting Horoscopes'', Fourth Revised Edition, Sagar Publications, [[New Delhi]], India. ISBN 81-7082-017-0</ref> The system, also known as "SA", helps those who are trying to learn Jyotisha. The late K.S. Krishnamurti developed the Krishnamurti Paddhati system based on the analysis of the stars ([[nakshatra]]s), by sub-dividing the stars in the ratio of the [[dasha (astrology)|dasha]] of the concerned planets. The system is also known as "KP" and "sub theory". In 2001, Indian scientists and politicians debated and critiqued a proposal to use state money to fund research into astrology.<ref name="BBC_India">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/highlights/010531_vedic.shtml Indian Astrology vs Indian Science]</ref> In February, 2001, the science of vedic astrology, Jyotir Vigyan, was introduced into the curriculum of Indian universities.<ref name="UGC">{{cite web|title=Guidelines for Setting up Departments of Vedic Astrology in Universities Under the Purview of University Grants Commission|url=http://www.education.nic.in/circulars/astrologycurriculum.htm|publisher=Government of India, Department of Education|accessdate=March 26, 2011|quote=There is an urgent need to rejuvenate the science of Vedic Astrology in India, to allow this scientific knowledge to reach to the society at large and to provide opportunities to get this important science even exported to the world,}}</ref>


[[File:Brooklyn Museum - Page from an Astrological Treatise.jpg|upright|thumb|Page from an Indian astrological treatise, c. 1750]]
The astrology commonly used in [[Sri Lanka]] derives from Vedic astrology, with some modifications to bring it in line with [[Buddhism|Buddhist]] teachings. [[Tibetan astrology]] is also largely based on Vedic astrology with some modifications relating to Buddhism.


The earliest [[Veda|Vedic]] text on astronomy is the ''[[Vedanga Jyotisha]]''; Vedic thought later came to include astrology as well.<ref name=Subbarayappa>{{cite book|last=Subbarayappa|first=B. V.|editor=Biswas, S. K. |editor2=Mallik, D. C. V. |editor3=[[C. V. Vishveshwara|Vishveshwara, C. V.]] | title=Cosmic Perspectives | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PFTGKi8fjvoC&pg=FA25 | date=14 September 1989 | publisher=Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-34354-1 | pages=25–40 | chapter=Indian astronomy: An historical perspective | quote=In the Vedic literature Jyotis[h]a, which connotes 'astronomy' and later began to encompass astrology, was one of the most important subjects of study... The earliest Vedic astronomical text has the title, Vedanga Jyotis[h]a...}}</ref>
===Chinese===


Hindu natal astrology originated with Hellenistic astrology by the 3rd century BCE,{{sfn|Pingree|1978|p=361}}<ref name=Pingree2001>{{cite journal | title=From Alexandria to Baghdād to Byzantium. The Transmission of Astrology | author=Pingree, David | journal=International Journal of the Classical Tradition | year=2001 | volume=8 | issue=1 | pages=3–37 | jstor=30224155 | doi=10.1007/bf02700227| bibcode=2003IJCT...10..487G | s2cid=162030487 }}</ref> though incorporating the Hindu lunar mansions.<ref>{{cite journal | jstor=620756 | title=The Circle of Stars: An Introduction to Indian Astrology by Valerie J. Roebuck. Review | author=Werner, Karel |author-link=Karel Werner | journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies | year=1993 | pages=645–646|doi=10.1017/s0041977x00008326 | volume=56| issue=3 | s2cid=162270467 }}</ref> The names of the signs (e.g. Greek 'Krios' for Aries, Hindi 'Kriya'), the planets (e.g. Greek 'Helios' for Sun, astrological Hindi 'Heli'), and astrological terms (e.g. Greek 'apoklima' and 'sunaphe' for declination and planetary conjunction, Hindi 'apoklima' and 'sunapha' respectively) in Varaha Mihira's texts are considered conclusive evidence of a Greek origin for Hindu astrology.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Notes on Hindu Astronomy and the History of Our Knowledge of It | author=Burgess, James | journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |date=October 1893 | pages=717–761 | jstor=25197168}}</ref> The Indian techniques may also have been augmented with some of the Babylonian techniques.{{sfn|Pingree|1963|p=231}}
{{Main|Chinese astrology}}


=== Chinese and East Asian ===
Chinese astrology has a close relation with [[Chinese philosophy]] (theory of the three harmony, heaven, earth and water) and different "principles" to Western: the [[wu xing]] teachings, [[yin and yang]], astronomy: five planet, the 10 [[Celestial stems]], the 12 [[Earthly Branches]], the [[Chinese calendar|lunisolar calendar]] (moon calendar and sun calendar), the time calculation after year, month, day and [[shichen]] (時辰).
{{Further|Chinese zodiac}}
[[Chinese astrology]] has a close relation with [[Chinese philosophy]] (theory of the three harmonies: heaven, earth and man) and uses concepts such as [[yin and yang]], the [[Wuxing (Chinese philosophy)|Five phases]], the 10 [[Celestial stem]]s, the 12 [[Earthly Branches]], and [[Chinese units of measurement|shichen]] (時辰 a form of timekeeping used for religious purposes). The early use of Chinese astrology was mainly confined to [[History of astrology|political astrology]], the observation of unusual phenomena, identification of [[Omen|portent]]s and the selection of auspicious days for events and decisions.{{sfn|Sun|Kistemaker|1997|pp=22, 85, 176}}


The constellations of the Zodiac of western Asia and Europe were not used; instead the sky is divided into [[Chinese constellations|Three Enclosures]] (三垣 sān yuán), and [[Twenty-Eight Mansions]] (二十八宿 èrshíbā xiù) in twelve Ci ([[:zh:分野|十二次]]).<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Stephenson|first1=F. Richard|title=Chinese roots of modern astronomy|date=1980-06-26|journal=[[New Scientist]]|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/New_Scientist/zqkoAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0&bsq=Chinese%20roots%20of%20modern%20astronomy%20Stephenson,%20F.%20Richard|volume=86|issue=1207|pages=380–383}}</ref> The Chinese zodiac of twelve [[Astrological sign#Chinese zodiac signs|animal signs]] is said to represent twelve different types of [[personality]]. It is based on cycles of years, lunar months, and two-hour periods of the day (the shichen). The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the [[Rat (zodiac)|Rat]], and the cycle proceeds through 11 other animal signs: the [[Ox (zodiac)|Ox]], [[Tiger (zodiac)|Tiger]], [[Rabbit (zodiac)|Rabbit]], [[Dragon (zodiac)|Dragon]], [[Snake (zodiac)|Snake]], [[Horse (zodiac)|Horse]], [[Goat (zodiac)|Goat]], [[Monkey (zodiac)|Monkey]], [[Rooster (zodiac)|Rooster]], [[Dog (zodiac)|Dog]], and [[Pig (zodiac)|Pig]].<ref>Theodora Lau, ''The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes'', pp&nbsp;2–8, 30–5, 60–4, 88–94, 118–24, 148–53, 178–84, 208–13, 238–44, 270–78, 306–12, 338–44, Souvenir Press, New York, 2005</ref> Complex systems of predicting fate and destiny based on one's birthday, birth season, and birth hours, such as ''ziping'' and [[Zi wei dou shu|Zi Wei Dou Shu]] ({{zh|s=紫微斗数|t=紫微斗數|p=zǐwēidǒushù}}) are still used regularly in modern-day Chinese astrology. They do not rely on direct observations of the stars.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=raKRY3KQspsC&q=astrology+in+China+Springer&pg=PA76 | title=Astrology in China | publisher=Springer | encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures | year=1997 | access-date=22 July 2012 | editor=Selin, Helaine|editor-link=Helaine Selin| isbn=978-0-7923-4066-9 }}</ref>
The Chinese zodiac of twelve [[Astrological sign#Chinese zodiac signs|animal signs]] represents twelve different types of personality. The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the Rat, and there are many stories about the [[Origins of the Chinese Zodiac]] which explain why this is so (see below). The following are the twelve zodiac signs in order and their characteristics.<ref>Theodora Lau, ''The Handbook of Chinese Horoscopes'', pp2-8, 30-5, 60-4, 88-94, 118-24, 148-53, 178-84, 208-13, 238-44, 270-78, 306-12, 338-44, Souvenir Press, New York, 2005</ref>


The [[Korean zodiac]] is identical to the Chinese one. The [[Vietnamese zodiac]] is almost identical to the Chinese, except for second animal being the ''[[Water buffalo (zodiac)|Water Buffalo]]'' instead of the ''[[Ox (zodiac)|Ox]]'', and the fourth animal the ''[[Cat (zodiac)|Cat]]'' instead of the ''[[Rabbit (zodiac)|Rabbit]]''. The<!--'''Japanese zodiac''' includes the ''boar'' instead of the ''[[Pig (zodiac)|Pig]]'',{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} and the--> Japanese have since 1873 celebrated the beginning of the new year on 1 January as per the [[Gregorian calendar]]. The Thai zodiac <!--includes a ''[[naga (mythology)|Naga]]'' in place of the ''[[Dragon (zodiac)|Dragon]]''{{citation needed|date=July 2012}} and -->begins, not at [[Chinese New Year]], but either on the first day of the fifth month in the [[Thai lunar calendar]], or during the [[Songkran (Thailand)|Songkran]] festival (now celebrated every 13–15 April), depending on the purpose of the use.<ref>{{cite web|title=การเปลี่ยนวันใหม่ การนับวัน ทางโหราศาสตร์ไทย การเปลี่ยนปีนักษัตร โหราศาสตร์ ดูดวง ทำนายทายทัก ('The transition to the new astrological dates Thailand. Changing zodiac astrology horoscope prediction')|url=http://www.myhora.com/%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A8%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C/%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%87%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A8%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C-004.aspx|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110103152835/http://www.myhora.com/%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A8%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C/%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%9A%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%87%E0%B9%82%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A8%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%A3%E0%B9%8C-004.aspx|archive-date=3 January 2011|df=dmy-all}} (in Thai)</ref>
==Cultural influence==
{{Globalize|section|date=October 2011}}
[[File:Aquarius Saint-Austremoine Issoire.jpg|thumb|left|Aquarius: one of the twelve zodiac signs on the church of Saint-Austremonius, Auvergne, France.]]
{{Main|Cultural influence of astrology}}


== Theological viewpoints ==
Belief in astrology holds firm today in many parts of the world: in one poll, 31% of Americans expressed belief in astrology and according to another study 39% considered it scientific.<ref name="taylor">{{Cite web|title=The Religious and Other Beliefs of Americans 2003 |author=Humphrey Taylor |url= http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=359 |accessdate=2007-01-05}} Also see {{Cite web|title=Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding |publisher=National Science Foundation |url=http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/c7/c7s2.htm#c7s2l3 |accessdate=2007-01-05}}</ref> According to Gallup opinion polls, around 25% of adults in the UK and US accept that astrology or the position of the stars and planets affect people’s lives, whilst other sources report the figure to be much higher.<ref>[[The Gallup Organization|Gallup]] (2005): [http://www.gallup.com/poll/19558/paranormal-beliefs-come-supernaturally-some.aspx Paranormal Beliefs] by Linda Lyons, retrieved 20 July 2011. For the view that belief in astrology could be much higher than Gallup reports see [[#Reference-Campion-1997|Campion (1997)]], ‘British Public Perceptions of Astrology: An Approach from the Sociology of Knowledge’ by John Bauer and Martin Durant, which reports a figure of 73%.</ref>
{{see also|Christian views on astrology|Jewish views on astrology|Muslim views on astrology}}
{{POV|what=section|date=August 2023}}


=== Ancient ===
Astrology has had an influence on both language and literature. For example, [[influenza]], from medieval Latin ''influentia'' 'influence', was so named because doctors once believed epidemics to be caused by unfavourable celestial influences.<ref>http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=influenza Online Etymology Dictionary</ref> The word disaster comes from the Greek δυσαστρία, ''disastria'', derived from the negative prefix δυσ-, ''dis''- and αστήρ, ''aster'' 'star', meaning not-starred or badly-starred.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.xhmikos.gr/ZOLWTAS-ELLHNIKA-AGGLIKA.pdf|title= Ελληνικές λέξεις στην αγγλική|author= Ζωλότας Ξενοφών|date= |work= |publisher= |accessdate=3 January 2011}}</ref> The adjectives lunatic (Luna/[[Moon]]), mercurial ([[Mercury (planet)|Mercury]]), venereal ([[Venus]]), martial ([[Mars]]), jovial ([[Jupiter]]/Jove), and saturnine ([[Saturn]]) are all used to describe personal qualities thought to be influenced by the astrological characteristics of predominating personal planets.
[[Augustine of Hippo|Augustine]] (354{{ndash}}430) believed that the determinism of astrology conflicted with the Christian doctrines of man's free will and responsibility, and God not being the cause of evil,{{sfn|Veenstra|1997|pp=184–185}} but he also grounded his opposition philosophically, citing the failure of astrology to explain twins who behave differently although conceived at the same moment and born at approximately the same time.<ref name=Hess>{{cite book |last=Hess |first=Peter M.J. |title=Catholicism and science |year=2007 |publisher=Greenwood |location=Westport |isbn=978-0-313-33190-9 |page=11 |edition=1st |author2=Allen, Paul L.}}</ref>


=== Medieval ===
In literature many writers, such as [[Geoffrey Chaucer|Chaucer]] and [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], used astrological symbolism to add subtlety and nuance to the description of their characters' motivations.<ref>For discussions of Chaucer's astrological references see {{cite news|title=Astrology and English literature |author=A. Kitson |publisher=Contemporary Review, October 1996 |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2242/is_n1569_v269/ai_18920172 |accessdate=2006-07-17 | year=1996}} {{Cite web|title=Essential Chaucer: Science, including astrology |author=M. Allen, J.H. Fisher |publisher=[[University of Texas]], San Antonio |url=http://colfa.utsa.edu/chaucer/ec22.html |accessdate=2006-07-17}} {{Cite web|title=Astronomy and Astrology in the Works of Chaucer |author=A.B.P. Mattar et al. |publisher=[[University of Singapore]] |url=http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/gem-projects/hm/astronomy_and_astrology_in_the_works_of_chaucer.pdf |accessdate=2006-07-17}} For discussions of Shakespeare's astrological references see {{Cite web|title=Shakespeare, Astrology, and Alchemy: A Critical and Historical Perspective |author=P. Brown |publisher=The Mountain Astrologer, February/March 2004 |url= http://www.astrofuturetrends.com/id19.html}} {{Cite web|title=Shakespeare's Astrology |author=F. Piechoski |url=http://starcats.com/anima/shakespeare.html}}</ref> More recently, Michael Ward has proposed that [[C.S. Lewis]] imbued his ''[[Chronicles of Narnia]]'' with the characteristics and symbols of the seven planets that govern the heavens in medieval astrology.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Secret theme behind Narnia Chronicles is based upon the stars, says new research|author=Alastair Jamieson|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/3536716/Secret-theme-behind-Narnia-Chronicles-is-based-upon-the-stars-says-new-research.html|date=2008-11-30|accessdate=2011-07-24|publisher=The Telegraph, London}}</ref> In 1978, notes from [[Margaret Mitchell]]’s library revealed that she had based each character from her classic prize-winning novel, ''[[Gone with the Wind]]'' (1936), including the central [[star-crossed]] lovers, [[Scarlett O'Hara|Scarlett]] ([[Aries (astrology)|Aries]]) and [[Rhett Butler|Rhett]] ([[Leo (astrology)|Leo]]), around an [[archetype]] of the [[zodiac]].<ref>Spencer, Neil. ''Stargazers? But of course.'' The Observer. (12 November 2000) [http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2000/nov/12/fiction.features] "Gone With the Wind, is a thinly disguised astrological allegory. Margaret Mitchell based the characters of her torrid epic on the zodiac, leaving a blatant trail of clues which were only picked up in 1978 when US astrologer Darrell Martinie was shown photocopies of notes from Mitchell's library."</ref> In 2010, a detailed personal horoscope analyzed and illustrated by [[J K Rowling|J.K. Rowling]] at the time she was writing her first [[Harry potter|Harry Potter novel]], came up for sale. The auctioneer commented that Rowling “displays a detailed knowledge of Western astrology which was later to play an important part in her books".<ref>{{Cite news|title=Rare JK Rowling work on the market for £25,000|author=|url=http://news.scotsman.com/entertainment/Rare-JK-Rowling-work-on.6449408.jp|date=30 July 2010|publisher=The Scotsman, Edinburgh}}
[[File:Avicenna.jpg|thumb|upright|A drawing of [[Avicenna]]]]
{{Cite web|title=Astrology and J K Rowling|author=Robert Currey |url=http://www.astrology.co.uk/news/jkrowlingastrology.htm|accessdate= 3 August 2011|publisher=www.astrology.co.uk}}
Some of the practices of astrology were contested on theological grounds by medieval Muslim astronomers such as [[Al-Farabi]] (Alpharabius), [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (Alhazen) and [[Avicenna]]. They said that the methods of astrologers conflicted with orthodox religious views of [[Ulema|Islamic scholars]], by suggesting that the Will of God can be known and predicted.<ref name="Saliba">{{Cite book | last=Saliba |first=George | author-link=George Saliba | year=1994b | title=A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam | publisher=[[New York University Press]] | isbn=978-0-8147-8023-7 | pages=60, 67–69}}</ref> For example, Avicenna's 'Refutation against astrology', ''Risāla fī ibṭāl aḥkām al-nojūm'', argues against the practice of astrology while supporting the principle that planets may act as agents of divine causation. Avicenna considered that the movement of the planets influenced life on earth in a deterministic way, but argued against the possibility of determining the exact influence of the stars.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Belo|first=Catarina|title=Chance and Determinism in Avicenna and Averroes|date=2007-02-23|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|isbn=978-90-474-1915-0|doi=10.1163/ej.9789004155879.i-252|page=228}}</ref> Essentially, Avicenna did not deny the core dogma of astrology, but denied our ability to understand it to the extent that precise and fatalistic predictions could be made from it.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last = Saliba |first = George |author-link = George Saliba |encyclopedia = [[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |title = AVICENNA viii. Mathematics and Physical Sciences |date = 17 August 2011 |orig-date = First published 15 December 1987 |volume = 3 |url = https://iranicaonline.org/articles/avicenna-viii |access-date = 26 May 2023 |pages = 88–92 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200220161012/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avicenna-viii |archive-date = 20 February 2020 |url-status = live}}</ref> [[Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya]] (1292–1350), in his ''Miftah Dar al-SaCadah'', also used [[physics|physical]] arguments in astronomy to question the practice of judicial astrology.<ref name=Livingston>{{Cite journal | title=Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah: A Fourteenth Century Defense against Astrological Divination and Alchemical Transmutation | first=John W. | last=Livingston | journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society | volume=91 | issue=1 | year=1971 | pages=96–103 | doi=10.2307/600445| jstor=600445}}</ref> He recognised that the [[star]]s are much larger than the [[planet]]s, and argued: <blockquote>And if you astrologers answer that it is precisely because of this distance and smallness that their influences are negligible, then why is it that you claim a great influence for the smallest heavenly body, Mercury? Why is it that you have given an influence to {{lang|ar|al-Ra's}} [the head] and {{lang|ar|al-Dhanab}} [the tail], which are two imaginary points [[Orbital nodes|[ascending and descending nodes]]]?<ref name=Livingston/></blockquote>
{{Cite web|title=An incredibly rare unpublished work by J.K.Rowling|author=Paul Fraser|url=http://www.paulfrasercollectibles.com/section.asp?catid=78&docid=1888|date=26 May 2010|publisher=Paul Fraser Collectibles}}</ref> Often, an understanding of astrological symbolism is needed to fully appreciate such literature.


=== Modern ===
In music the best known example of astrology's influence is in the orchestral suite ''[[The Planets]]'' by British composer [[Gustav Holst]], the framework of which is based on the astrological tones and signatures of the planets.<ref>[[#Reference-Campion-2009|Campion (2009)]] pp.244–245.</ref>


[[File:Martin Luther by Cranach-restoration.jpg|thumb|upright|Martin Luther]]
<!--next para should eventually go in modern era section when it has been edited -->
[[Martin Luther]] denounced astrology in his [[Table Talk (Luther)|''Table Talk'']]. He asked why twins like [[Jacob and Esau|Esau and Jacob]] had two different natures yet were born at the same time. Luther also compared astrologers to those who say their dice will always land on a certain number. Although the dice may roll on the number a couple of times, the predictor is silent for all the times the dice fails to land on that number.<ref name="TableTalkBook">{{Cite book |last=Luther |first=Martin |title=Martin Luther's Table Talk |publisher=Gideon House Books |year=2017 |isbn=978-1-64007-960-1 |page=502}}</ref>
In politics, in 1981, after [[John Hinckley|John Hinckley's]] attempted assassination of [[President Reagan]], first lady [[Nancy Reagan]] commissioned astrologer [[Joan Quigley]] to act as the secret White House astrologer. However, Quigley's role ended in 1988 when it became public through the memoirs of former chief of staff, [[Donald Regan]].<ref name="Q1">Regan, Donald T., (1988) ''For the Record: From Wall Street to Washington,'' Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York ISBN 0151639663</ref><ref name="Q2">Quigley, Joan (1990), ''What does Joan say? My Seven Years as White House Astrologer to Nancy and Ronald Reagan'', Birch Lane Press, New York ISBN 1-55972-032-8</ref><ref name="Q3">Gorney, Cynthia (May 11, 1988) ''The Reagan Chart Watch; Astrologer Joan Quigley, Eye on the Cosmos'', Washington Post [http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73606295.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+11%2C+1988&author=Cynthia+Gorney&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&edition=&startpage=c.01&desc=The+Reagan+Chart+Watch%3B+Astrologer+Joan+Quigley%2C+Eye+on+the+Cosmos]</ref>
{{-}}


{{blockquote|What is done by God, ought not to be ascribed to the stars. The upright and true Christian religion opposes and confutes all such fables.<ref name=TableTalkBook/>|Martin Luther, ''Table Talk''}}
==Scientific appraisal==


The [[Catechism of the Catholic Church]] maintains that divination, including predictive astrology, is incompatible with modern [[Catholicism|Catholic]] beliefs<ref>{{cite book|editor-last=Stravinskas |editor-first=Peter M.J. |title=Our Sunday visitor's Catholic encyclopedia|year=1998|publisher=Our Sunday Visitor Pub.|location=Huntington, Ind.|isbn=978-0-87973-669-9|edition=Rev.|page=111}}</ref> such as free will:<ref name=Hess />


{{blockquote|All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.<ref>{{cite web|title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - Part 3|url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c1a1.htm|access-date=8 July 2012|archive-date=25 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925062519/http://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p3s2c1a1.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>|Catechism of the Catholic Church}}
Contemporary scientists consider astrology a pseudoscience.<ref>{{Cite news|title=The Real Romance in the Stars |author=Richard Dawkins |publisher=The Independent, December 1995 |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/the-real-romance-in-the-stars-1527970.html |location=London |date=31 December 1995}}. See also {{Cite web|title=Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List |publisher=Astronomical Society of the Pacific |url=http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib.html}}</ref> Criticisms include that astrology is [[conjectural]] and supplies no [[hypotheses]], proves difficult to [[Falsify#Inductive_categorical_inference|falsify]], and describes natural events in terms of scientifically untestable supernatural causes such as divination.<ref name="Hartmann">{{cite journal|last=Hartmann|first=P|coauthors=Reuter M, Nyborga H|title=The relationship between date of birth and individual differences in personality and general intelligence: A large-scale study|journal=Personality and Individual Differences|year=2006|month=May|volume=40|issue=7|pages=1349–1362|doi=10.1016/j.paid.2005.11.017}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=July 2011}} It has also been suggested that much of the continued faith in astrology could be [[Psychology|psychologically]] explained as a matter of [[cognitive bias]].<ref name="Eysenck">[[#Reference-Eysenck-1982|Eysenck, H.J., and Nias, D.K.B. (1982)]] pp.42-48.</ref> Skeptics{{who|date=October 2011}} say that the practice of western astrologers allows them to avoid making verifiable predictions, and gives them the ability to attach significance to arbitrary and unrelated events, in a way that suits their purpose,<ref>About.com: [http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/skepticism/blfaq_astro_sci_pseudo.htm Is Astrology a Pseudoscience? Examining the Basis and Nature of Astrology]</ref> although science also provides methodologies to separate verifiable significance from arbitrary predictions in research experiments, as demonstrated by [[Astrology#Gauquelin's research|Gauquelin's research]] and [[Astrology#Carlson's experiment|Carlson's experiment]].{{fact|date=October 2011}}


== Scientific analysis and criticism ==
Astrology has been criticized for failing to provide a [[Physical property|physical mechanism]] that links the movements of celestial bodies to their purported effects on human behavior. In 1975, amid increasing popular interest in astrology, ''The Humanist'' magazine presented a rebuttal of astrology in a statement put together by [[Bart J. Bok]], Lawrence E. Jerome, and [[Paul Kurtz]].<ref name="humanist1">[http://thehumanist.org/the-humanist-archive/ The Humanist], volume 35, no.5 (September/October 1975); pp. 4-6. The statement is reproduced in 'The Strange Case of Astrology' by Paul Feyerabend, published in [[#Reference-Grim|Grim (1990)]] [http://fisa.altervista.org/cialtrones.pdf pp.19-23].</ref> The statement, entitled ‘Objections to Astrology’, was signed by 186 astronomers, physicists and leading scientists of the day. They said that there is no scientific foundation for the tenets of astrology and warned the public against accepting astrological advice without question. Their criticism focused on the fact that there was no mechanism whereby astrological effects might occur:
{{main|Astrology and science}}
{{quote|We can see how infinitesimally small are the gravitational and other effects produced by the distant planets and the far more distant stars. It is simply a mistake to imagine that the forces exerted by stars and planets at the moment of birth can in any way shape our futures.<ref name="humanist2">{{Cite web|title=Objections to Astrology: A Statement by 186 Leading Scientists |publisher=The Humanist, September/October 1975 |url=http://web.archive.org/web/20090318140638/http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/astrology.html}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Philosophy of Science and the Occult|chapter=Objections to Astrology: A Statement by 186 Leading Scientists|year=1982|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany|isbn=0873955722|pages=14–18|author=Bok, Bart J.|coauthors=Lawrence E. Jerome, Paul Kurtz|editor=Patrick Grim}}</ref>}}
{{Paranormal|main}}
Astronomer Carl Sagan declined to sign the statement. For this reason, his words have been quoted by those who argue that astrology retains some sort of scientific validity.<ref name="Das">See for example [[#Reference-Das|Das (2009)]] Introduction, [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Z05l2sFZ0HYC&lpg=PR17&dq=Sagan%20astrology%20science&pg=PR17#v=onepage&q&f=false p.xvii].</ref> Sagan said he took this stance not because he thought astrology had any validity at all, but because he thought that the tone of the statement was authoritarian, and that dismissing astrology because there was no mechanism (while "certainly a relevant point") was not in itself convincing. In a letter published in a follow-up edition of ''The Humanist'', Sagan confirmed that he would have been willing to sign such a statement had it described and refuted the principal tenets of astrological belief. This, he argued, would have been more persuasive and would have produced less controversy.<ref name="Humanist_letter">[http://thehumanist.org/the-humanist-archive/ The Humanist], volume 36, no.5 (1976).</ref>
[[File:Karl Popper.jpg|thumb|upright|Popper proposed falsifiability as something that distinguishes science from non-science, using astrology as the example of an idea that has not dealt with falsification during experiment.]]


The scientific community rejects astrology as having no explanatory power for describing the universe, and considers it a [[pseudoscience]].<ref name="SandPSandAstroSoc">{{cite encyclopedia|author1=Sven Ove Hansson|author2=Edward N. Zalta|title=Science and Pseudo-Science|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/pseudo-science/|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|access-date=6 July 2012|quote=[...] advocates of pseudo-sciences such as astrology and homeopathy tend to describe their theories as conformable to mainstream science.}}</ref><ref name="astrosociety.org">{{cite web|title=Astronomical Pseudo-Science: A Skeptic's Resource List|url=http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib.html|publisher=Astronomical Society of the Pacific|access-date=13 January 2007|archive-date=30 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111230053308/http://www.astrosociety.org/education/resources/pseudobib.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Hartmann|Reuter|Nyborga|2006|p=1350}}: "To optimise the chances of finding even remote relationships between date of birth and individual differences in personality and intelligence we further applied two different strategies. The first one was based on the common chronological concept of time (e.g. month of birth and season of birth). The second strategy was based on the (pseudo-scientific) concept of astrology (e.g. Sun Signs, The Elements, and astrological gender), as discussed in the book ''Astrology: Science or superstition?'' by {{harvnb|Eysenck|Nias|1982}}".</ref> Scientific testing of astrology has been conducted, and no evidence has been found to support any of the premises or purported effects outlined in astrological traditions.{{sfn|Zarka|2011|p=424}}<ref>{{cite book |title=Astrology True or False?: A Scientific Evaluation |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=1988 |first1=Roger B. |last1=Culver |first2=Philip A. |last2=Ianna |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OhoRAQAAIAAJ|isbn=978-0-87975-483-9 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=McGrew |first1=John H. |last2=McFall |first2=Richard M. |title=A Scientific Inquiry into the Validity of Astrology |journal=Journal of Scientific Exploration |volume=4 |number=1 |pages=75–83 |year=1990 |url=http://www.skepticalmedia.com/astrology/Scientific%20Inquiry%20into%20Astrology.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://www.skepticalmedia.com/astrology/Scientific%20Inquiry%20into%20Astrology.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}{{unreliable source?|date=February 2020}}</ref> There is no proposed [[Scientific modelling|mechanism of action]] by which the positions and motions of stars and planets could affect people and events on Earth that does not contradict basic and well understood aspects of biology and physics.{{sfn|Biswas|Mallik|Vishveshwara|1989|p=249}}<ref name=AsquithNSF>{{cite book | editor=Peter D. Asquith |title=Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, vol. 1 |year=1978 |publisher=Reidel |location=Dordrecht |isbn=978-0-917586-05-7 |url=http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/Articles/astrology.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/http://cogsci.uwaterloo.ca/Articles/astrology.pdf |archive-date=2022-10-09 |url-status=live}}; {{cite web |title=Chapter 7: Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding |url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/c7/c7s2.htm |work=science and engineering indicators 2006 |publisher=National Science Foundation |access-date=2 August 2016 |quote=About three-fourths of Americans hold at least one pseudoscientific belief; i.e., they believed in at least 1 of the 10 survey items[29]"...&nbsp;" Those 10 items were extrasensory perception (ESP), that houses can be haunted, ghosts/that spirits of dead people can come back in certain places/situations, telepathy/communication between minds without using traditional senses, clairvoyance/the power of the mind to know the past and predict the future, astrology/that the position of the stars and planets can affect people's lives, that people can communicate mentally with someone who has died, witches, reincarnation/the rebirth of the soul in a new body after death, and channeling/allowing a "spirit-being" to temporarily assume control of a body. |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201220040/https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind06/c7/c7s2.htm |archive-date=1 February 2013 |df=dmy}}</ref> Those who have faith in astrology have been characterised by scientists including Bart J. Bok as doing so "...in spite of the fact that there is no verified scientific basis for their beliefs, and indeed that there is strong evidence to the contrary".<ref name="Humanist">{{cite web|title=Objections to Astrology: A Statement by 186 Leading Scientists|publisher=The Humanist, September/October 1975|url=http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/astrology.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090318140638/http://www.americanhumanist.org/about/astrology.html|archive-date=18 March 2009}}; [http://thehumanist.org/the-humanist-archive/ The Humanist] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007094955/http://thehumanist.org/the-humanist-archive/ |date=7 October 2011 }}, volume 36, no.5 (1976); {{cite book |title=Philosophy of Science and the Occult |chapter=Objections to Astrology: A Statement by 186 Leading Scientists |year=1982 |publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany |isbn=978-0-87395-572-0 |pages=14–18 |author=Bok, Bart J. |author2=Lawrence E. Jerome |author3=Paul Kurtz |author-link3=Paul Kurtz |editor=Patrick Grim}}</ref>
In a lecture in 2001, [[Stephen Hawking]] stated "The reason most scientists don't believe in astrology is because it is not consistent with our theories that have been tested by experiment."<ref>{{Cite web|title=British Physicist Debunks Astrology in Indian Lecture |publisher=Associated Press |url=http://www.beliefnet.com/story/63/story_6346_1.html}}</ref> [[Astrophysicist]] [[Neil deGrasse Tyson]] asserted that "astrology was discredited 600 years ago with the birth of modern [[science]]. 'To teach it as though you are contributing to the fundamental knowledge of an informed electorate is astonishing in this, the 21st century'. Education should be about knowing how to think, 'And part of knowing how to think is knowing how the laws of nature shape the world around us. Without that knowledge, without that capacity to think, you can easily become a victim of people who seek to take advantage of you{{'"}}. The founder of the Astrological Institute to which Tyson's criticism was directed responded "It's quite obvious that he hasn't studied the subject."<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20010827/aponline135357_000.htm | work=The Washington Post | date=2001-08-27 | title=Ariz. Astrology School Accredited}}</ref>


[[Confirmation bias]] is a form of [[cognitive bias]], a [[Psychology|psychological]] factor that contributes to belief in astrology.<ref>{{harvnb|Allum|2010|p=344}}: "This underlies the ''Barnum effect''. Named after the 19th-century showman Phileas T. Barnum—whose circus provided 'a little something for everyone'—it refers to the idea that people believe a statement about their personality that is vague or trivial if they think it derives from some systematic procedure tailored especially for them (Dickson & Kelly, 1985; Furnham & Schofield, 1987; Rogers & Soule, 2009; Wyman & Vyse, 2008). For example, the more birth detail is used in an astrological prediction or horoscope, the more credulous people tend to be (Furnham, 1991). However, confirmation bias means that people do not tend to pay attention to other information that might disconfirm the credibility of the predictions."</ref>{{sfn|Nickerson|1998|pp=180–181}}{{sfn|Eysenck|Nias|1982|pp=42–48}}<ref>{{cite book |editor1-first=Jean-Paul |editor1-last=Caverni |editor2-first=Jean-Marc |editor2-last=Fabre |editor3-first=Michel |editor3-last=Gonzalez |title=Cognitive biases |year=1990 |publisher=North-Holland |location=Amsterdam |isbn=978-0-444-88413-8 |page=553}}</ref>{{efn|see [[Heuristics in judgement and decision making]]}} Astrology believers tend to selectively remember predictions that turn out to be true, and do not remember those that turn out false. Another, separate, form of confirmation bias also plays a role, where believers often fail to distinguish between messages that demonstrate special ability and those that do not.{{sfn|Nickerson|1998|pp=180–181}} Thus there are two distinct forms of confirmation bias that are under study with respect to astrological belief.{{sfn|Nickerson|1998|pp=180–181}}
[[File:Mars effect12.jpg|thumb|right|The initial [[Mars effect]] finding, showing the relative frequency of the [[diurnal motion|diurnal position]] of Mars in the birth charts (N = 570) of "eminent athletes" (red solid line) compared to the expected results [after [[Michel Gauquelin]] 1955]<ref name=Gauquelin-1955>{{cite book|last=Gauquelin|first=Michel|title=L'influence des astres : étude critique et expérimentale|year=1955|publisher=Éditions du Dauphin|location=Paris}}</ref>]]


=== Carlson's experiment ===
=== Demarcation ===


Under the criterion of [[falsifiability]], first proposed by the [[philosopher of science]] [[Karl Popper]], astrology is a pseudoscience.<ref name=PopperStanford>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Stephen Thornton |editor=Edward N. Zalta |title=Karl Popper|url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/popper/|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|year=2018}}</ref> Popper regarded astrology as "pseudo-empirical" in that "it appeals to observation and experiment," but "nevertheless does not come up to scientific standards."<ref name=Popper>{{cite book |last=Popper |first=Karl |title=Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge |year=2004 |publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-28594-0 |edition=Reprinted}}{{rp|44}}
A different approach to testing astrology quantitatively uses [[blind experiment]]. The most renowned<ref>{{cite web|last=Muller|first=Richard|title=Web site of Richard A. Muller, Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California at Berkeley,|accessdate=2011-08-02|year=2010|url=http://muller.lbl.gov/homepage.html}}''My former student Shawn Carlson published in Nature magazine the definitive scientific test of Astrology.''<br>
* The relevant piece is also in {{cite book |last=Schick|first=Theodore Jr.|title=Readings in the Philosophy of Science: From Positivism to Postmodernism|year=2000|publisher=Mayfield Pub|location=Mountain View, CA|isbn=978-0-7674-0277-4 |pages=33–39 |ref=none}}</ref> In contrast to scientific disciplines, astrology has not responded to falsification through experiment.<ref name=Cogan>{{cite book |last=Cogan |first=Robert |title=Critical Thinking: Step by Step |year=1998 |publisher=University Press of America |location=Lanham, Md. |isbn=978-0-7618-1067-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/criticalthinking0000coga }}</ref>{{rp|206}}
{{cite web|last=Maddox|first=Sir John|title=John Maddox, editor of the science journal Nature, commenting on Carlson's test|year=1995|accessdate=2011-08-02|url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:fqwVx-Bt9BMJ:www.randi.org/encyclopedia/astrology.html+maddox+perfectly+convincing+and+lasting+demonstration&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&source=www.google.com}} ''" ... a perfectly convincing and lasting demonstration."''</ref> of these is [[Shawn Carlson|Shawn Carlson's]] double-blind chart matching tests in which he challenged 28 astrologers to match over 100 natal charts to psychological profiles generated by the [[California Psychological Inventory]] (CPI) test. When Carlson's study was published in ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' in 1985, his conclusion was that predictions based on natal astrology were no better than chance, and that the testing "clearly refutes the astrological hypothesis".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Carlson|first=Shawn|title=A double-blind test of astrology|journal=Nature|year=1985|volume=318|pages=419–425|url=http://muller.lbl.gov/papers/Astrology-Carlson.pdf|doi=10.1038/318419a0|issue=6045|bibcode = 1985Natur.318..419C }}</ref>


In contrast to Popper, the philosopher [[Thomas Kuhn]] argued that it was not lack of falsifiability that makes astrology unscientific, but rather that the process and concepts of astrology are non-empirical.<ref name=Wright>{{cite journal |last=Wright |first=Peter |title=Astrology and Science in Seventeenth-Century England |journal=Social Studies of Science |year=1975 |pages=399–422 | doi = 10.1177/030631277500500402 |pmid=11610221 |volume=5|issue=4 |s2cid=32085403 }}</ref>{{rp|401}} Kuhn thought that, though astrologers had, historically, made predictions that categorically failed, this in itself does not make astrology unscientific, nor do attempts by astrologers to explain away failures by saying that creating a horoscope is very difficult. Rather, in Kuhn's eyes, astrology is not science because it was always more akin to [[Medieval medicine of Western Europe|medieval medicine]]; astrologers followed a sequence of rules and guidelines for a seemingly necessary field with known shortcomings, but they did no research because the fields are not amenable to research,<ref name=Kuhn />{{rp|8}} and so "they had no puzzles to solve and therefore no science to practise."<ref name=Wright />{{rp|401;}}<ref name=Kuhn>{{cite book |last=Kuhn |first=Thomas |title=Proceedings of the International Colloquium in the Philosophy of Science [held at Bedford College, Regent's Park, London, from July 11th to 17th 1965] |year=1970 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-09623-2 |edition=Reprint |editor=[[Imre Lakatos]] |editor2=[[Alan Musgrave]] |url=https://archive.org/details/criticismgrowth00laka }}</ref>{{rp|8}} While an astronomer could correct for failure, an astrologer could not. An astrologer could only explain away failure but could not revise the astrological [[hypothesis]] in a meaningful way. As such, to Kuhn, even if the stars could influence the path of humans through life, astrology is not scientific.<ref name=Kuhn />{{rp|8}}
=== Gauquelin's research ===


The philosopher [[Paul Thagard]] asserts that astrology cannot be regarded as falsified in this sense until it has been replaced with a successor. In the case of predicting behaviour, psychology is the alternative.<ref name=Thagard />{{rp|228}} To Thagard a further criterion of demarcation of science from pseudoscience is that the state-of-the-art must progress and that the community of researchers should be attempting to compare the current theory to alternatives, and not be "selective in considering confirmations and disconfirmations."<ref name=Thagard />{{rp|227–228}} Progress is defined here as explaining new phenomena and solving existing problems, yet astrology has failed to progress having only changed little in nearly 2000 years.<ref name=Thagard />{{rp|228}}<ref name=Hurley />{{rp|549}} To Thagard, astrologers are acting as though engaged in [[normal science]] believing that the foundations of astrology were well established despite the "many unsolved problems", and in the face of better alternative theories (psychology). For these reasons Thagard views astrology as pseudoscience.<ref name=Thagard /><ref name=Hurley>{{cite book |last=Hurley|first=Patrick|title=A concise introduction to logic |year=2005 |publisher=Wadsworth |location=Belmont, Calif.|isbn=978-0-534-58505-1|edition=9th}}</ref>{{rp|228}}
In 1955, [[Michel Gauquelin]] stated that although he had failed to find evidence to support such indicators as the [[Astrological signs|zodiacal signs]] and [[Astrological aspects|planetary aspects]] in astrology, he had found positive correlations between the [[Diurnal motion|diurnal positions]] of some of the [[Planets in astrology|planets]] and success in professions (such as doctors, scientists, athletes, actors, writers, painters, etc.) which astrology traditionally associates with those planets.<ref name="Gauquelin-1955" /> The best-known of Gauquelin's findings is based on the positions of Mars in the [[natal chart]]s of successful athletes and became known as the "[[Mars effect]]".<ref name="gauquelin-last">{{cite journal|last=Gauquelin|first=Michel|title=Is There Really a Mars Effect?|journal=Above & Below Journal of Astrological Studies|year=1988|month=Fall|issue=11|pages=4–7|url=http://www.theoryofastrology.com/gauquelin/mars_effect.htm}}</ref>


For the philosopher Edward W. James, astrology is irrational not because of the numerous problems with mechanisms and falsification due to experiments, but because an analysis of the astrological literature shows that it is infused with fallacious logic and poor reasoning.<ref name=EdwardJ />{{rp|34}}
Gauquelin and other supporters claim that the Mars effect is not due to astronomical or demographic [[Artifact (error)|artifacts]],<ref>{{cite journal|last=Jerome|first=L.|title=Astrology and Modern Science: A Critical Analysis|journal=Leonardo|year=1973|volume=6|pages=121–129|doi=10.2307/1572687|issue=2}}</ref> that the [[Methodology|methodologies]] were free from error,<ref>{{cite book|last=Gauquelin|first=M.F. and M. in Foreward by J. Porte|title=Méthodes pour étudier la Répartition des Astres dans le mouvement diurne|year=1957|location=Paris}}</ref> that studies of independently collected data demonstrated the effect,<ref>{{cite book|last=Gauquelin|first=M.|title=Les Hommes et les Astres|year=1960|publisher=Denoël|location=Paris}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Comité Para|title=Considérations critiques sur une recherche faite par M.M. Gauquelin dans le domaine des influences planétaires|journal=Nouvelles Brèves|year=1976|issue=43|pages=327–343}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Gauquelin|first=M.|title=Planetary effect at the time of birth of successful professionals, an experimental control made by scientists|journal=Journal of Interdisciplinary Cycle Research|year=1972|volume=3|issue=2|pages=381–389}}</ref> that birth-time shuffle tests supported the presence of the effect,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dommanget|first=J.|title=Preliminary Report of the Para Committee|year=1970}}</ref> that the Mars effect is not found in ordinary people,<ref>{{cite journal|last=Abell|first=G.|coauthors=P. Kurtz, M. Zelen|title=The Abell-Kurtz-Zelen 'Mars effect' experiments: A Reappraisal|journal=The Skeptical Inquirer|date=Spring 1983|issue=7|pages=77–82}}</ref> and that the effect cannot be explained by data [[selection bias]].<ref name="gauquelin-last" /><ref name="ertel-hurdle">{{cite journal|last=Ertel|first=Suitbert|title=Raising the Hurdle for the Athletes' Mars Effect|journal=Journal of Scientific Exploration|year=1988|volume=2|issue=4|pages=53–82|url=http://www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_02_1_ertel.pdf}}</ref>


{{blockquote|What if throughout astrological writings we meet little appreciation of coherence, blatant insensitivity to evidence, no sense of a hierarchy of reasons, slight command over the contextual force of critieria, stubborn unwillingness to pursue an argument where it leads, stark naivete concerning the efficacy of explanation and so on? In that case, I think, we are perfectly justified in rejecting astrology as irrational.&nbsp;... Astrology simply fails to meet the multifarious demands of legitimate reasoning.|Edward W. James<ref name=EdwardJ>{{cite book|last=James|first=Edward W.|title=Philosophy of science and the occult.|year=1982|publisher=State University of New York Press|location=Albany|isbn=978-0-87395-572-0|editor=Patrick Grim}}</ref>{{rp|34}}|title=|source=}}
Astrologers for their part prefer not to attempt to explain astrology,<ref name="Harding-prejudice">{{Cite web|title=Prejudice in Astrological Research |author=M. Harding |publisher=Correlation, Vol 19(1) |url=http://www.astrozero.co.uk/astroscience/harding.htm}}</ref> or give it supernatural explanations such as [[divination]] or synchronicity.<ref>Jung, C.G., (1952), ''Synchronicity - An Acausal Connecting Principle'' (London: RKP English edition, 1972), p.36. "synchronicity ...(is)...a coincidence in time of two or more casually unrelated events which have the same or similar meaning, in contrast to 'synchronism', which simply means the simultaneous occurrence of two events".</ref><ref>Maggie Hyde, ''Jung and Astrology''; p.24–26; 121ff. (London: The Aquarian Press, 1992). "As above, so below. Early in his studies, Jung came across the ancient macrocosm-microcosm belief with its enduring theme of the organic unity of all things"; p.121.</ref><ref>[[#Reference-Cornelius-2003|Cornelius (2003)]]. Cornelius’s thesis is - although divination is rarely addressed by astrologers, it is an obvious descriptive tag "despite all appearances of objectivity and natural law. It is divination despite the fact that aspects of symbolism can be approached through scientific method, and despite the possibility that some factors in horoscopy can arguably be validated by the appeal to science." ('Introduction', p.xxii).</ref> Others have proposed conventional causal agents such as electro-magnetism within an intricate web of planetary fields and resonances in the solar system.<ref name="Seymour">Dr. P. Seymour, ''Astrology: The Evidence of Science.'' Penguin Group (London, 1988) ISBN 0-14-019226-3<br>''The Scientific Proof of Astrology. A scientific investigation into how the stars influence human life.'' [http://www.tmgnow.com/repository/solar/percyseymour1.html] Quantum, Foulsham (Slough 1997) ISBN 0-572-02906-3</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Pineal Gland and the Ancient Art of Iatromathematica |author=Frank McGillion |url=http://www.astrology-research.net/researchlibrary/Iatr/pineal.htm}}</ref> Scientists dismiss magnetism as an implausible explanation, since the magnetic field of a large but distant planet such as Jupiter is far smaller than that produced by ordinary household appliances.<ref>[http://www.astrologer.com/tests/seymour.htm]</ref>


== Theological criticism ==
=== Effectiveness ===
Some of the practices of astrology were contested on theological grounds by medieval Muslim astronomers such as [[Al-Farabi]] (Alpharabius), [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (Alhazen) and [[Avicenna]]. They said that the methods of astrologers conflicted with orthodox religious views of [[Ulema|Islamic scholars]] through the suggestion that the Will of God can be known and predicted in advance.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saliba |first=George |authorlink=George Saliba |year=1994b |title=A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam |publisher=[[New York University Press]] |isbn=0814780237 |pages=60 & 67–69 |postscript=.}}</ref> Such arguments mainly concerned [[Judicial astrology|"judicial branches"]] (such as [[Horary astrology]]), rather than the more "natural branches" such as Medical and Meteorological astrology, these being seen as part of the natural sciences of the time.


Astrology has not demonstrated its effectiveness in [[Experiment|controlled studies]] and has no scientific validity.{{sfn|Bennett|2007|p=85}}{{sfn|Zarka|2011}} Where it has made [[falsifiable]] predictions under [[Scientific control|controlled conditions]], they have been falsified.{{sfn|Zarka|2011|p=424}} One famous experiment included 28 astrologers who were asked to match over a hundred natal charts to psychological profiles generated by the [[California Psychological Inventory]] (CPI) questionnaire.<ref name=Muller>{{cite web |last=Muller |first=Richard |title=Web site of Richard A. Muller, Professor in the Department of Physics at the University of California at Berkeley |access-date=2 August 2011 |year=2010 |url=http://muller.lbl.gov/homepage.html |archive-date=12 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190312032922/http://muller.lbl.gov/homepage.html |url-status=live }}''My former student Shawn Carlson published in Nature magazine the definitive scientific test of Astrology.''<br />{{cite web |last=Maddox |first=Sir John |title=John Maddox, editor of the science journal Nature, commenting on Carlson's test |year=1995 |access-date=2 August 2011 |url=http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/astrology.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120912144554/http://www.randi.org/encyclopedia/astrology.html |archive-date=12 September 2012 |df=dmy }} ''"...&nbsp;a perfectly convincing and lasting demonstration."''</ref><ref name="CritThink">{{cite book |last=Smith |first=Jonathan C. |title=Pseudoscience and Extraordinary Claims of the Paranormal: A Critical Thinker's Toolkit |year=2010 |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |location=Malden, MA|isbn=978-1-4051-8123-5}}</ref> The [[Blind experiment#Double-blind trials|double-blind]] experimental protocol used in this study was agreed upon by a group of physicists and a group of astrologers{{sfn|Zarka|2011}} nominated by the [[National Council for Geocosmic Research]], who advised the experimenters, helped ensure that the test was fair<ref name=Carlson/>{{rp|420;}}<ref name=CritThink />{{rp|117}} and helped draw the central proposition of [[natal astrology]] to be tested.<ref name="Carlson" />{{rp|419}} They also chose 26 out of the 28 astrologers for the tests (two more volunteered afterwards).<ref name=Carlson/>{{rp|420}} The study, published in [[Nature (journal)|''Nature'']] in 1985, found that predictions based on natal astrology were no better than chance, and that the testing "...clearly refutes the astrological hypothesis."<ref name=Carlson />
For example, Avicenna’s 'Refutation against astrology' ''Resāla fī ebṭāl aḥkām al-nojūm'', argues against the practice of astrology while supporting the principle of planets acting as the agents of divine causation which express God's absolute power over creation. Avicenna considered that the movement of the planets influenced life on earth in a deterministic way, but argued against the capability of determining the exact influence of the stars.<ref>Catarina Belo, Catarina Carriço Marques de Moura Belo,
''Chance and determinism in Avicenna and Averroës'', p.228. Brill, 2007. ISBN 9004155872.</ref> In essence, Avicenna did not refute the essential dogma of astrology, but denied our ability to understand it to the extent that precise and fatalistic predictions could be made from it.<ref>[[George Saliba]], ''Avicenna'': 'viii. Mathematics and Physical Sciences'. Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition, 2011, available at http://www.iranica.com/articles/avicenna-viii</ref>


In 1955, the astrologer and psychologist Michel Gauquelin stated that though he had failed to find evidence that supported indicators like [[Astrological signs|zodiacal signs]] and [[Astrological aspects|planetary aspects]] in astrology, he did find positive correlations between the [[Diurnal motion|diurnal positions]] of some [[Planets in astrology|planets]] and success in professions that astrology traditionally associates with those planets.<ref name=Pont>{{cite journal |last=Pont |first=Graham |title=Philosophy and Science of Music in Ancient Greece |journal=Nexus Network Journal |year=2004 |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=17–29 |doi=10.1007/s00004-004-0003-x|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Gauquelin-1955">{{cite book |last=Gauquelin |first=Michel |title=L'influence des astres: étude critique et expérimentale |year=1955 |publisher=Éditions du Dauphin |location=Paris}}</ref> The best-known of Gauquelin's findings is based on the positions of Mars in the [[natal chart]]s of successful athletes and became known as the ''[[Mars effect]]''.<ref name=Carroll>{{cite book |last=Carroll|first=Robert Todd|title=The Skeptic's Dictionary: A Collection of Strange Beliefs, Amusing Deceptions, and Dangerous Delusions |year=2003 |publisher=Wiley |location=Hoboken, NJ |isbn=978-0-471-27242-7}}</ref>{{rp|213}} A study conducted by seven French scientists attempted to replicate the claim, but found no statistical evidence.<ref name=Carroll />{{rp|213–214}} They attributed the effect to selective bias on Gauquelin's part, accusing him of attempting to persuade them to add or delete names from their study.<ref name=Benski>{{cite book |last=Benski |first=Claude|others=with a commentary by [[Jan Willem Nienhuys]] |title=The "Mars Effect: A French Test of over 1,000 Sports Champions |year=1995 |publisher=Prometheus Books |location=Amherst, NY |isbn=978-0-87975-988-9|display-authors=etal}}</ref>
[[Ibn Qayyim Al-Jawziyya]] (1292–1350), in his ''Miftah Dar al-SaCadah'', also used [[physics|physical]] arguments in astronomy to question the practice of judicial astrology.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah: A Fourteenth Century Defense against Astrological Divination and Alchemical Transmutation|first=John W.|last=Livingston|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=91|issue=1|year=1971|pages=96–103|doi=10.2307/600445|jstor=600445|postscript=.}}</ref> He recognized that the [[star]]s are much larger than the [[planet]]s, and argued:<ref name=Livingston>{{Cite journal|title=Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah: A Fourteenth Century Defense against Astrological Divination and Alchemical Transmutation|first=John W.|last=Livingston|journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume=91|issue=1|year=1971|pages=96–103 [99]|doi=10.2307/600445|jstor=600445|postscript=.}}</ref>


Geoffrey Dean has suggested that the effect may be caused by self-reporting of birth dates by parents rather than any issue with the study by Gauquelin. The suggestion is that a small subset of the parents may have had changed birth times to be consistent with better astrological charts for a related profession. The number of births under astrologically undesirable conditions was also lower, indicating that parents choose dates and times to suit their beliefs. The sample group was taken from a time where belief in astrology was more common. Gauquelin had failed to find the Mars effect in more recent populations, where a nurse or doctor recorded the birth information.<ref name=CritThink/>{{rp|116}}
{{quote|And if you astrologers answer that it is precisely because of this distance and smallness that their influences are negligible, then why is it that you claim a great influence for the smallest heavenly body, Mercury? Why is it that you have given an influence to al-Ra's and al-Dhanab, which are two imaginary points [ascending and descending nodes]?}}


Dean, a scientist and former astrologer, and psychologist Ivan Kelly conducted a large scale scientific test that involved more than one hundred [[cognitive]], [[behavioural]], [[physiology|physical]], and other variables—but found no support for astrology.<ref name=FailToPredict>{{cite news |last=Matthews |first=Robert |title=Astrologers fail to predict proof they are wrong |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1439101/Astrologers-fail-to-predict-proof-they-are-wrong.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1439101/Astrologers-fail-to-predict-proof-they-are-wrong.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=13 July 2012 |newspaper=The Telegraph |date=17 August 2003 |location=London}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name=Geoffrey /> Furthermore, a [[meta-analysis]] pooled 40 studies that involved 700 astrologers and over 1,000 birth charts. Ten of the tests—which involved 300 participants—had the astrologers pick the correct chart interpretation out of a number of others that were not the astrologically correct chart interpretation (usually three to five others). When date and other obvious clues were removed, no significant results suggested there was any preferred chart.<ref name=Geoffrey>{{cite journal |title=Is Astrology Relevant to Consciousness and Psi? |author=Dean G. |author2=Kelly, I. W. |journal=Journal of Consciousness Studies |year=2003 |volume=10 |issue=6–7 |pages=175–198}}</ref>{{rp|190}}
==Education==
Education in astrology is offered in a number of countries of the world:


=== Lack of mechanisms and consistency ===
===United States===
Testing the validity of astrology can be difficult, because there is no consensus amongst astrologers as to what astrology is or what it can predict.{{sfn|Bennett|2007|p=83}} Most professional astrologers are paid to predict the future or describe a person's personality and life, but most horoscopes only make vague untestable statements that can apply to almost anyone.{{sfn|Bennett|2007}}{{sfn|Eysenck|Nias|1982|p=83}}
In the United States, astrological education is offered at institutions such as [[Kepler College]], a liberal arts college with an emphasis on astrology in Lynnwood, Washington, near Seattle, which opened in 2001<ref>{{cite news|last=McClure|first=Robert|title=Astrology school sets off controversy|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/local/32348_astrology23.shtml|accessdate=March 26, 2011|newspaper=Seattle Post-Intelligencer|date=July 23, 2001}}</ref> and awarded its first 8 Bachelor of Arts degrees in Astrological Studies in 2004.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kepler College First Graduation, October 10, 2004|url=http://www.stariq.com/pagetemplate/article.asp?PageID=5789|publisher=StarIQ.Com|accessdate=March 26, 2011}}</ref> Students attending Kepler College after March 9, 2010, however, unless they are completing a course of study,<ref>{{cite web|title=Degree-Granting Authorization|url=http://www.kepler.edu/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=17:kepler-college-authorization&catid=38:about-kepler-college&Itemid=153|publisher=Kepler College|accessdate=March 26, 2011|quote=Kepler College Authorization Degree-Granting Authorization Kepler College is authorized by the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board and through March 9, 2010, the College met the requirements and minimum standards established for degree-granting institutions under the Degree Authorization Act. Students attending the college between March 9, 2000 and March 9, 2010 (and extended to March 9, 2012 to include students completing the teach-out of their degrees) earned Washington State authorized degrees in: Associate of Arts Bachelor of Arts Master of Arts in: Eastern and Western Traditions The History, Philosophy and Transmission of Astrology}}</ref> are not awarded degrees but certificates of completion of a course of study.<ref>{{cite web|title=Certificate Program Information|url=http://www.kepler.edu/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=100&Itemid=212|publisher=Kepler College|accessdate=March 26, 2011}}</ref> The degrees granted by Kepler are not recognized by national or regional accrediting agencies.<ref>{{cite web|title=Was your degree program accredited?|url=http://www.kepler.edu/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=142:are-you-accredited&catid=7:general-information&Itemid=121|publisher=Kepler College|accessdate=March 26, 2011}}</ref> Other [[List of Astrological organizations|astrological organizations]] offer study programs and correspondence courses to certify astrologers.


Many astrologers believe that astrology is scientific,<ref name=ChrisFrench>{{cite news |last=Chris |first=French |title=Astrologers and other inhabitants of parallel universes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/feb/07/astrologers-parallel-universes |work=The Guardian |date=7 February 2012 |access-date=8 July 2012 |location=London |archive-date=28 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190128233226/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/feb/07/astrologers-parallel-universes |url-status=live }}</ref> while some have proposed conventional [[Causality|causal agents]] such as [[electromagnetism]] and [[gravity]].<ref name=ChrisFrench/> Scientists reject these mechanisms as implausible<ref name=ChrisFrench /> since, for example, the magnetic field, when measured from Earth, of a large but distant planet such as Jupiter is far smaller than that produced by ordinary household appliances.<ref name=Shermer>{{cite book |editor-first=Michael |editor-last=Shermer |title=The Skeptic encyclopedia of pseudoscience |year=2002 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |location=Santa Barbara, Cal. |isbn=978-1-57607-653-8 |page=241}}</ref>
===United Kingdom===
In the United Kingdom, astrological education is offered at [[List of Astrological organizations|a number of institutions]], some offering a diploma upon completion of the course and an examination. In addition, the [[University of Wales Trinity Saint David]] at Lampeter offers an MA in [[Cultural astronomy|Cultural Astronomy and Astrology]].<ref>{{cite web|title=MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology|url=http://www.tsd.ac.uk/en/Sophia|publisher=Trinity Saint David, The University of Wales|accessdate=April 26, 2011}}</ref>


Western astrology has taken the earth's [[Precession#Axial precession (precession of the equinoxes)|axial precession (also called precession of the equinoxes)]] into account since Ptolemy's ''[[Almagest]]'', so the "first point of Aries", the start of the astrological year, continually moves against the background of the stars.{{sfn|Tester|1999|p=161}} The tropical zodiac has no connection to the stars; tropical astrologers distinguish the constellations from their historically associated [[Astrological sign|sign]], thereby avoiding complications involving precession.<ref name=Charpak /> Charpak and Broch, noting this, referred to astrology based on the tropical zodiac as being "...empty boxes that have nothing to do with anything and are devoid of any consistency or correspondence with the stars."<ref name=Charpak/> Sole use of the tropical zodiac is inconsistent with references made, by the same astrologers, to the [[Age of Aquarius]], which depends on when the vernal point enters the constellation of Aquarius.{{sfn|Zarka|2011}}
===India===

In February, 2001, vedic astrology, Jyotish Vigyan, was introduced into the curriculum of Indian universities. Undergraduate (called "graduate" in India) post-graduate and research courses of study were established. "Beneficiaries of these courses would be students, teachers, professionals from modern streams like doctors, architects, marketing, financial, economic and political analysts, etc."<ref name="UGC"/> In April 2001 the Andhra Pradesh High Court declined to consider a petition to overturn the curriculum guideline on the ground that astrology was a pseudoscience, a decision affirmed by the Supreme Court in 2004 which declined as a matter of law to interfere with educational policy. The court noted that astrology studies were optional and that courses in astrology were offered by institutions of higher education in other countries.<ref name = "Indian Supreme Court">[http://www.hindu.com/2004/05/06/stories/2004050602931400.htm "Introduction of Vedic astrology courses in varsities upheld."] ''[[The Hindu]]'', May 06, 2004</ref>
Astrologers usually have only a small knowledge of astronomy, and often do not take into account basic principles—such as the precession of the equinoxes, which changes the position of the sun with time. They commented on the example of [[Élizabeth Teissier]], who wrote that, "The sun ends up in the same place in the sky on the same date each year", as the basis for the idea that two people with the same birthday, but a number of years apart, should be under the same planetary influence. Charpak and Broch noted that, "There is a difference of about twenty-two thousand miles between Earth's location on any specific date in two successive years", and that thus they should not be under the same influence according to astrology. Over a 40-year period there would be a difference greater than 780,000 miles.<ref name=Charpak>{{cite book |last1=Charpak |first1=Georges |last2=Broch |first2=Henri |year=2004 |orig-date=2002 |title=Debunked!: ESP, Telekinesis, and Other Pseudoscience |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DpnWcMzeh8oC&pg=PA6 |others=Translated by Bart K. Holland |location=Baltimore |publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-7867-1 |at="Astrology in a Vacuum", pp. 6–7}}</ref>

=== Reception in the social sciences ===

The general consensus of astronomers and other natural scientists is that astrology is a pseudoscience which carries no predictive capability, with many philosophers of science considering it a "paradigm or prime example of pseudoscience."{{sfn|Grim|1990|page=15}} Some scholars in the social sciences have cautioned against categorizing astrology, especially ancient astrology, as "just" a pseudoscience or projecting the distinction backwards into the past.{{sfn|Beck|2007}} Thagard, while demarcating it as a pseudoscience, notes that astrology "should be judged as not pseudoscientific in classical or Renaissance times...Only when the historical and social aspects of science are neglected does it become plausible that pseudoscience is an unchanging category."{{sfn|Thagard|1978}} Historians of science such as Tamsyn Barton, [[Roger Beck]], [[Francesca Rochberg]], and [[Wouter J. Hanegraaff]] argue that such a wholesale description is anachronistic when applied to historical contexts, stressing that astrology was not pseudoscience before the 18th century and the importance of the discipline to the development of medieval science.{{sfn|Barton|1994}}{{sfn|Hanegraaff|2012}}{{sfn|Beck|2007}}{{sfn|Rochberg|2018}}<ref name="Taub 1997 pp. 74–87">{{cite journal | last=Taub | first=Liba | title=The Rehabilitation of Wretched Subjects | journal=Early Science and Medicine | publisher=Brill | volume=2 | issue=1 | year=1997 | issn=1383-7427 | doi=10.1163/157338297x00023 | pages=74–87| pmid=11618896 }}</ref> R. J. Hakinson writes in the context of [[Hellenistic astrology]] that "the belief in the possibility of [astrology] was, at least some of the time, the result of careful reflection on the nature and structure of the universe."<ref name="Hankinson 1988 p. ">{{cite journal | last=Hankinson | first=R.J. | title=Stoicism, Science and Divination | journal=Apeiron | publisher=Walter de Gruyter GmbH | volume=21 | issue=2 | year=1988 | issn=2156-7093 | doi=10.1515/apeiron.1988.21.2.123 | page=| s2cid=170134327 }}</ref>

[[Nicholas Campion]], both an astrologer and academic historian of astrology, argues that [[Cultural astronomy|Indigenous astronomy]] is largely used as a synonym for astrology in academia, and that modern Indian and Western astrology are better understood as modes of cultural astronomy or [[ethnoastronomy]].{{sfn|Campion|2014}} Roy Willis and [[Patrick Curry]] draw a distinction between propositional ''[[Wiktionary:ἐπιστήμη|episteme]]'' and metaphoric ''[[Wiktionary:μῆτις|metis]]'' in the ancient world, identifying astrology with the latter and noting that the central concern of astrology "is not knowledge (factual, let alone scientific) but {{em|wisdom}} (ethical, spiritual and pragmatic)".<ref>{{cite book | last1=Willis | first1=Roy | last2=Curry | first2=Patrick | title=Astrology, Science and Culture | publisher=Routledge | date=2020-05-19 | isbn=978-1-003-08472-3 | doi=10.4324/9781003084723| s2cid=242002348 }}</ref> Similarly, historian of science Justin Niermeier-Dohoney writes that astrology was "more than simply a science of prediction using the stars and comprised a vast body of beliefs, knowledge, and practices with the overarching theme of understanding the relationship between humanity and the rest of the cosmos through an interpretation of stellar, solar, lunar, and planetary movement." Scholars such as [[Assyriologist]] Matthew Rutz have begun using the term "astral knowledge" rather than astrology "to better describe a category of beliefs and practices much broader than the term 'astrology' can capture."<ref name="Niermeier-Dohoney 2021 p=117">{{cite journal | last=Niermeier-Dohoney | first=Justin | title=Sapiens Dominabitur Astris: A Diachronic Survey of a Ubiquitous Astrological Phrase | journal=Humanities | publisher=MDPI AG | volume=10 | issue=4 | date=2021-11-02 | issn=2076-0787 | doi=10.3390/h10040117 | page=117| doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Astral Knowledge in an International Age: Transmission of the Cuneiform Tradition, ca. 1500–1000 B.C. 2016 pp. 18–54">{{cite book | title=The Circulation of Astronomical Knowledge in the Ancient World | chapter=Astral Knowledge in an International Age: Transmission of the Cuneiform Tradition, ca. 1500–1000 B.C. | publisher=BRILL | date=2016-01-01 | doi=10.1163/9789004315631_004 | pages=18–54| isbn=978-90-04-31563-1 | last1=Rutz | first1=Matthew T. }}</ref>

== Cultural impact ==

=== Western politics and society ===

In the West, political leaders have sometimes consulted astrologers. For example, the British intelligence agency [[MI5]] employed [[Louis de Wohl]] as an astrologer after it was reported that [[Adolf Hitler]] used astrology to time his actions. The War Office was "...interested to know what Hitler's own astrologers would be telling him from week to week."<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JrdVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6779,6948658&dq=hitler-astrologer&hl=en | title=The Strange Story of Britain's "State Seer" | newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald | date=30 August 1952 | access-date=21 July 2012 | archive-date=25 February 2021 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225130002/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JrdVAAAAIBAJ&pg=6779,6948658&dq=hitler-astrologer&hl=en | url-status=live }}</ref> In fact, de Wohl's predictions were so inaccurate that he was soon labelled a "complete charlatan", and later evidence showed that Hitler considered astrology "complete nonsense".<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/mar/04/nationalarchives.secondworldwar | title=Star turn: astrologer who became SOE's secret weapon against Hitler | newspaper=The Guardian | date=4 March 2008 | access-date=21 July 2012 | location=London | first=Richard | last=Norton-Taylor | archive-date=2 September 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902040137/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2008/mar/04/nationalarchives.secondworldwar | url-status=live }}</ref> After [[John Hinckley|John Hinckley's]] [[Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan|attempted assassination]] of US President [[Ronald Reagan]], first lady [[Nancy Reagan]] commissioned astrologer [[Joan Quigley]] to act as the secret White House astrologer. However, Quigley's role ended in 1988 when it became public through the memoirs of former chief of staff, [[Donald Regan]].<ref>{{cite book | last=Regan | first=Donald T. | title=For the record: from Wall Street to Washington | year=1988 | publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich | location=San Diego | isbn=978-0-15-163966-3 | edition=first | url=https://archive.org/details/forrecordfromwal00rega }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | author=Quigley, Joan | title=What does Joan say?: my seven years as White House astrologer to Nancy and Ronald Reagan | year=1990 | publisher=Birch Lane Press | location=Secaucus, NJ | isbn=978-1-55972-032-8 | url=https://archive.org/details/whatdoesjoansaym00quig }}</ref><ref>{{cite news | author=Gorney, Cynthia | title=The Reagan Chart Watch; Astrologer Joan Quigley, Eye on the Cosmos | url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73606295.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+11%2C+1988&author=Cynthia+Gorney&pub=The+Washington+Post+%28pre-1997+Fulltext%29&edition=&startpage=c.01&desc=The+Reagan+Chart+Watch%3B+Astrologer+Joan+Quigley%2C+Eye+on+the+Cosmos | access-date=17 July 2012 | newspaper=The Washington Post | date=11 May 1988 | archive-date=24 July 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120724212326/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/73606295.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&date=May+11%2C+1988&author=Cynthia+Gorney&pub=The+Washington+Post+(pre-1997+Fulltext)&edition=&startpage=c.01&desc=The+Reagan+Chart+Watch%3B+Astrologer+Joan+Quigley%2C+Eye+on+the+Cosmos }}</ref>

There was a boom in interest in astrology in the late 1960s. The sociologist [[Marcello Truzzi]] described three levels of involvement of "Astrology-believers" to account for its revived popularity in the face of scientific discrediting. He found that most astrology-believers did not think that it was a scientific explanation with predictive power. Instead, those superficially involved, knowing "next to nothing" about astrology's 'mechanics', read newspaper astrology columns, and could benefit from "tension-management of anxieties" and "a cognitive belief-system that transcends science."<ref name=Truzzi>{{cite journal | title=The Occult Revival as Popular Culture: Some Random Observations on the Old and the Nouveau Witch | author=Truzzi, Marcello | journal=The Sociological Quarterly | year=1972 | volume=13 | issue=1 | pages=16–36 | jstor=4105818 | doi=10.1111/j.1533-8525.1972.tb02101.x}}</ref> Those at the second level usually had their horoscopes cast and sought advice and predictions. They were much younger than those at the first level, and could benefit from knowledge of the language of astrology and the resulting ability to belong to a coherent and exclusive group. Those at the third level were highly involved and usually cast horoscopes for themselves. Astrology provided this small minority of astrology-believers with a "''meaningful'' view of their universe and [gave] them an ''understanding'' of their place in it."{{efn|Italics in original.}} This third group took astrology seriously, possibly as an overarching religious worldview (a ''sacred canopy'', in [[Peter L. Berger]]'s phrase), whereas the other two groups took it playfully and irreverently.<ref name=Truzzi/>

In 1953, the sociologist [[Theodor W. Adorno]] conducted a study of the astrology column of a Los Angeles newspaper as part of a project examining mass culture in capitalist society.<ref name=Nederman>{{cite journal|title=Popular Occultism and Critical Social Theory: Exploring Some Themes in Adorno's Critique of Astrology and the Occult|journal=Sociological Analysis|date=Winter 1981|volume=42|author1=Cary J. Nederman |author2=James Wray Goulding |name-list-style=amp }}</ref>{{rp|326}} Adorno believed that popular astrology, as a device, invariably leads to statements that encouraged conformity—and that astrologers who go against conformity, by discouraging performance at work etc., risk losing their jobs.<ref name=Nederman />{{rp|327}} Adorno concluded that astrology is a large-scale manifestation of systematic [[irrationalism]], where individuals are subtly led—through flattery and vague generalisations—to believe that the author of the column is addressing them directly.<ref name=Adorno>{{cite journal|title=The Stars Down to Earth: The Los Angeles Times Astrology Column|author=Theodor W. Adorno | journal=Telos |date=Spring 1974 | volume=1974 | issue=19 | pages=13–90 | doi=10.3817/0374019013|s2cid=143675240 }}</ref> Adorno drew a parallel with the phrase [[opium of the people]], by Karl Marx, by commenting, "occultism is the metaphysic of the dopes."<ref name=Nederman />{{rp|329}}

A 2005 [[Gallup (company)|Gallup]] poll and a 2009 survey by the [[Pew Research Center]] reported that 25% of US adults believe in astrology,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gallup.com/poll/16915/Three-Four-Americans-Believe-Paranormal.aspx |title=Three in Four Americans Believe in Paranormal |last=Moore |first=David W. |publisher=[[Gallup (company)|Gallup]] |date=16 June 2005 |access-date=29 September 2013 |archive-date=19 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170919195101/https://news.gallup.com/poll/16915/three-four-americans-believe-paranormal.aspx |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pewforum.org/2009/12/09/many-americans-mix-multiple-faiths/#eastern-or-new-age-beliefs-evil-eye |work=Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths |title=Eastern or New Age Beliefs, 'Evil Eye' |date=9 December 2009 |publisher=[[Pew Research Center|Pew Research Center's]] Religion & Public Life Project |access-date=29 September 2013 |archive-date=30 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930025708/http://www.pewforum.org/2009/12/09/many-americans-mix-multiple-faiths/#eastern-or-new-age-beliefs-evil-eye |url-status=live }}</ref> while a 2018 Pew survey found a figure of 29%.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gecewicz |first=Claire |title='New Age' beliefs common among both religious and nonreligious Americans |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/01/new-age-beliefs-common-among-both-religious-and-nonreligious-americans/ |access-date=2022-06-06 |website=Pew Research Center |date=October 2018 |language=en-US |archive-date=6 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606230114/https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/10/01/new-age-beliefs-common-among-both-religious-and-nonreligious-americans/ |url-status=live }}</ref> According to data released in the [[National Science Foundation|National Science Foundation's]] 2014 ''Science and Engineering Indicators'' study, "Fewer Americans rejected astrology in 2012 than in recent years."<ref name=NSF>{{cite web |url=https://www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/index.cfm/chapter-7/c7h.htm |title=Science and Engineering Indicators: Chapter 7.Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Understanding |publisher=National Science Foundation |access-date=24 April 2014 |archive-date=24 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424094559/http://nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/index.cfm/chapter-7/c7h.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> The NSF study noted that in 2012, "slightly more than half of Americans said that astrology was 'not at all scientific,' whereas nearly two-thirds gave this response in 2010. The comparable percentage has not been this low since 1983."<ref name=NSF /> Astrology [[Mobile app|apps]] became popular in the late 2010s, some receiving millions of dollars in [[Silicon Valley]] [[venture capital]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Griffith |first=Erin |date=2019-04-15 |title=Venture Capital Is Putting Its Money Into Astrology |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/style/astrology-apps-venture-capital.html |access-date=2022-06-06 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=6 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606031807/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/15/style/astrology-apps-venture-capital.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== India and Japan ===

[[File:Bdrates of Japan since 1950.svg|thumb|right|Birth (in blue) and death (in red) rates of Japan since 1950, with the sudden drop in births during hinoeuma year (1966)]]

In India, there is a long-established and widespread belief in astrology. It is commonly used for daily life, particularly in matters concerning marriage and career, and makes extensive use of [[electional astrology|electional]], [[horary astrology|horary]] and [[karmic astrology]].<ref name="wideind">{{Cite news |title=BV Raman Dies |publisher=New York Times, 23 December 1998 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/23/world/bangalore-venkata-raman-indian-astrologer-dies-at-86.html |access-date=12 May 2009 |first=Michael T. |last=Kaufman |date=23 December 1998 |archive-date=16 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116014608/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/23/world/bangalore-venkata-raman-indian-astrologer-dies-at-86.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="fof">{{cite web |title=Fame and Fortune |author=Dipankar Das |url=https://www.lifepositive.com/fame-and-fortune/ |access-date=2 August 2016 |archive-date=16 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160816094857/https://www.lifepositive.com/fame-and-fortune/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Indian politics have also been influenced by astrology.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/428081.stm | title=Soothsayers offer heavenly help | work=BBC News | access-date=21 July 2012 | date=2 September 1999 | archive-date=3 March 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303201858/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/428081.stm | url-status=live }}</ref> It is still considered a branch of the [[Vedanga]].<ref>"In countries such as India, where only a small intellectual elite has been trained in Western physics, astrology manages to retain here and there its position among the sciences." David Pingree and Robert Gilbert, "Astrology; Astrology in India; Astrology in modern times". [[Encyclopædia Britannica]], 2008</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last = Rao |first = Mohan |date = October–December 2001 |title = Female foeticide: where do we go? |url = http://issuesinmedicalethics.org/094co123.html |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101103000514/http://issuesinmedicalethics.org/094co123.html |archive-date = 3 November 2010 |journal = [[Indian Journal of Medical Ethics]] |publisher = Forum for Medical Ethics Society |volume = 9 |issue = 4 |pages = 123–124 |pmid = 16334916}}</ref> In 2001, Indian scientists and politicians debated and critiqued a proposal to use state money to fund research into astrology,<ref name="BBC_India">{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/highlights/010531_vedic.shtml |title=Indian Astrology vs Indian Science |work=BBC |date=31 May 2001 |access-date=17 June 2009 |archive-date=7 April 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190407182922/http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/sci_tech/highlights/010531_vedic.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref> resulting in permission for [[List of universities in India|Indian universities]] to offer courses in Vedic astrology.<ref name="UGC">{{cite web|title=Guidelines for Setting up Departments of Vedic Astrology in Universities Under the Purview of University Grants Commission |url=http://www.education.nic.in/circulars/astrologycurriculum.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110512154221/http://www.education.nic.in/circulars/astrologycurriculum.htm |archive-date=12 May 2011|publisher=Government of India, Department of Education |access-date=26 March 2011 |quote=There is an urgent need to rejuvenate the science of Vedic Astrology in India, to allow this scientific knowledge to reach to the society at large and to provide opportunities to get this important science even exported to the world}}</ref>

In February 2011, the [[Bombay High Court]] reaffirmed astrology's standing in India when it dismissed a case that challenged its status as a science.<ref>{{Cite news|date=3 February 2011|first=Hetal |last=Vyas |title=Astrology is a science: Bombay HC |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/astrology-is-a-science-bombay-hc/articleshow/7418795.cms |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110206024139/http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Astrology-is-a-science-Bombay-HC/articleshow/7418795.cms |archive-date = 6 February 2011 |access-date = 1 January 2023 |url-status = live |work=[[The Times of India]] |language=en}}</ref>

In [[Japan]], strong belief in astrology has led to dramatic changes in the fertility rate and the number of abortions in the years of [[Fire (wuxing)|Fire]] [[Horse (zodiac)|Horse]]. Adherents believe that women born in [[Bingwu|''hinoeuma'']] years are unmarriageable and bring bad luck to their father or husband. In 1966, the number of babies born in Japan dropped by over 25% as parents tried to avoid the stigma of having a daughter born in the hinoeuma year.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1bTGN21ev2MC&q=hinoeuma&pg=PA22 | title=Japanese childrearing: two generations of scholarship | year=1996 | access-date=22 July 2012| isbn=978-1-57230-081-1 | last1=Shwalb | first1=David W. | last2=Shwalb | first2=Barbara J. | publisher=Guilford Publications }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uAOrAAAAIAAJ&q=hinoeuma&pg=PA22 | title=The Political Economy of Japan: Cultural and social dynamics | year=1992 | access-date=22 July 2012| isbn=978-0-8047-1991-9 | last1=Kumon | first1=Shumpei | last2=Rosovsky | first2=Henry | publisher=Stanford University Press }}</ref>

=== Literature and music ===
[[File:Woman in the Moon.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Title page of [[John Lyly|John Lyly's]] astrological play, ''The Woman in the Moon'', 1597]]

The fourteenth-century English poets [[John Gower]] and [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] both referred to astrology in their works, including Gower's ''[[Confessio Amantis]]'' and Chaucer's ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]''.<ref name=Wedel/> Chaucer commented explicitly on astrology in his ''Treatise on the Astrolabe'', demonstrating personal knowledge of one area, judicial astrology, with an account of how to find the ascendant or rising sign.{{sfn|Wood|1970|pp=12–21}}

In the fifteenth century, references to astrology, such as with [[simile]]s, became "a matter of course" in English literature.<ref name=Wedel>{{cite book | title=Mediæval Attitude Toward Astrology, Particularly in England | publisher=Kessinger | author=Wedel, Theodore Otto | year=2003 | orig-date=1920 | pages=131–156 | chapter=9: Astrology in Gower and Chaucer | isbn=978-0-7661-7998-1 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V9lVQVyb9M4C&q=%22Confessio+Amantis%22+Gower+astrology&pg=PA133 | quote=The literary interest in astrology, which had been on the increase in England throughout the fourteenth century, culminated in the works of Gower and Chaucer. Although references to astrology were already frequent in the romances of the fourteenth century, these still retained the signs of being foreign importations. It was only in the fifteenth century that astrological similes and embellishments became a matter of course in the literature of England.<br />Such innovations, one must confess, were due far more to Chaucer than to Gower. Gower, too, saw artistic possibilities in the new astrological learning, and promptly used these in his retelling of the Alexander legend—but he confined himself, for the most part, to a bald rehearsal of facts and theories. It is, accordingly, as a part of the long encyclopaedia of natural science that he inserted into his ''Confessio Amantis'', and in certain didactic passages of the ''Vox Clamantis'' and the ''Mirour de l'Omme'', that Astrology figures most largely in his works&nbsp;... Gower's sources on the subject of astrology&nbsp;... were Albumasar's ''Introductorium in Astronomiam'', the Pseudo-Aristotelian ''Secretum Secretorum'', Brunetto Latini's ''Trésor'', and the ''Speculum Astronomiae'' ascribed to Albert the Great.}}</ref>

[[File:Astrologo Fingido Calderon de la Barca title page 1641.jpg|thumb|upright|right|Title page of [[Pedro Calderón de la Barca|Calderón de la Barca]]'s ''Astrologo Fingido'', Madrid, 1641]]

In the sixteenth century, John Lyly's 1597 play, ''The Woman in the Moon'', is wholly motivated by astrology,<ref name=DeLacy>{{cite journal | title=Astrology in the Poetry of Edmund Spenser | author=De Lacy, Hugh | journal=The Journal of English and Germanic Philology |date=October 1934 | volume=33 | issue=4 | pages=520–543 | jstor=27703949}}</ref> while [[Christopher Marlowe]] makes astrological references in his plays ''[[Doctor Faustus (play)|Doctor Faustus]]'' and ''[[Tamburlaine]]'' (both c. 1590),<ref name=DeLacy/> and [[Sir Philip Sidney]] refers to astrology at least four times in his [[Romance (heroic literature)|romance]] ''[[The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia]]'' (c. 1580).<ref name=DeLacy/> [[Edmund Spenser]] uses astrology both decoratively and causally in his poetry, revealing "...unmistakably an abiding interest in the art, an interest shared by a large number of his contemporaries."<ref name=DeLacy/> [[George Chapman|George Chapman's]] play, ''[[The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron|Byron's Conspiracy]]'' (1608), similarly uses astrology as a causal mechanism in the drama.<ref name=Camden>{{cite journal | title=Astrology in Shakespeare's Day | author=Camden Carroll Jr. | journal=Isis |date=April 1933 | volume=19 | issue=1 | pages=26–73 | jstor=225186 | doi=10.1086/346721| s2cid=144020750 }}</ref> [[William Shakespeare|William Shakespeare's]] attitude towards astrology is unclear, with contradictory references in plays including ''[[King Lear]]'', ''[[Antony and Cleopatra]]'', and ''[[Richard II (play)|Richard II]]''.<ref name=Camden/> Shakespeare was familiar with astrology and made use of his knowledge of astrology in nearly every play he wrote,<ref name=Camden/> assuming a basic familiarity with the subject in his commercial audience.<ref name=Camden/> Outside theatre, the physician and mystic [[Robert Fludd]] practised astrology, as did the quack doctor Simon Forman.<ref name=Camden/> In Elizabethan England, "The usual feeling about astrology&nbsp;... [was] that it is the most useful of the sciences."<ref name=Camden/>

In seventeenth century Spain, [[Lope de Vega]], with a detailed knowledge of astronomy, wrote plays that ridicule astrology. In his pastoral romance ''La Arcadia'' (1598), it leads to absurdity; in his novela ''Guzman el Bravo'' (1624), he concludes that the stars were made for man, not man for the stars.<ref>{{cite journal | title=The Attitude of Lope de Vega toward Astrology and Astronomy | author=Halstead, Frank G. | journal=Hispanic Review | volume=7 |issue=3 |date=July 1939 |pages=205–219 |jstor=470235 | doi=10.2307/470235}}</ref> [[Pedro Calderón de la Barca|Calderón de la Barca]] wrote the 1641 comedy ''Astrologo Fingido'' (The Pretended Astrologer); the plot was borrowed by the French playwright [[Thomas Corneille]] for his 1651 comedy ''Feint Astrologue''.<ref>{{cite journal | title=Calderon's Astrologo Fingido in France |author=Steiner, Arpad | journal=Modern Philology | volume=24 |issue=1 |date=August 1926 |pages=27–30 |jstor=433789 | doi=10.1086/387623|s2cid=161217021 }}</ref>

{{listen
| type = music

| filename = Holst- mars.ogg
| title = Mars, the Bringer of War

| filename2 = Holst- venus.ogg
| title2 = Venus, the Bringer of Peace

| filename3 = Holst The Planets Mercury.ogg
| title3 = Mercury, the Winged Messenger

| filename4 = Holst The Planets Jupiter.ogg
| title4 = Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity

| filename5 = Holst- uranus.ogg
| title5 = Uranus, the Magician
| description5 = All performed by the [[US Air Force Band]]
}}
The most famous piece of music influenced by astrology is the orchestral suite ''[[The Planets]]''. Written by the British composer [[Gustav Holst]] (1874–1934), and first performed in 1918, the framework of ''The Planets'' is based upon the astrological symbolism of the planets.{{sfn|Campion|2009|pp=244–245}} Each of the seven movements of the suite is based upon a different planet, though the movements are not in the order of the planets from the Sun. The composer [[Colin Matthews]] wrote an eighth movement entitled ''Pluto, the Renewer'', first performed in 2000, as the suite was written prior to Pluto's discovery.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=6045052 | title='Pluto the Renewer' is no swan song | publisher=National Public Radio (NPR) | date=10 September 2006 | access-date=13 June 2013 | author=Adams, Noah | archive-date=26 October 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131026063146/http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=6045052 | url-status=live }}</ref> In 1937, another British composer, [[Constant Lambert]], wrote a ballet on astrological themes, called ''[[Horoscope (ballet)|Horoscope]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ashtonarchive.com/ballets/1938.htm |title=Frederick Ashton and His Ballets 1938 |publisher=Ashton Archive |year=2004 |access-date=2 August 2016 |author=Vaughan, David |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050514074649/http://www.ashtonarchive.com/ballets/1938.htm |archive-date=14 May 2005 |df=dmy }}</ref> In 1974, the New Zealand composer [[Edwin Carr (composer)|Edwin Carr]] wrote ''The Twelve Signs: An Astrological Entertainment'' for orchestra without strings.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://sounz.org.nz/works/show/10611 | title=The Twelve Signs: An Astrological Entertainment | publisher=Centre for New Zealand Music | access-date=13 June 2013 | archive-date=5 November 2013 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131105110414/http://sounz.org.nz/works/show/10611 | url-status=live }}</ref> [[Camille Paglia]] acknowledges astrology as an influence on her work of literary criticism ''[[Sexual Personae]]'' (1990).<ref>Paglia, Camille. ''Sex, Art, and American Culture: Essays''. Penguin Books, 1992, p. 114.</ref> The American comedian [[Harvey Sid Fisher]] is best known for his comedic songs about astrology.<ref>{{Cite news |date=March 19, 2004 |title=SXSW Picks & Sleepers |url=https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/2004-03-19/202808/ |access-date=2024-12-15 |newspaper=Austin Chronicle |language=en-US}}</ref>

Astrology features strongly in [[Eleanor Catton]]'s ''[[The Luminaries]]'', recipient of the [[2013 Man Booker Prize]].<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Catton |first1=Eleanor |author-link=Eleanor Catton |title=Eleanor Catton on how she wrote The Luminaries |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/11/eleanor-catton-luminaries-how-she-wrote-booker-prize |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |access-date=10 December 2015 |date=2014-04-11 |archive-date=22 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222082427/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/apr/11/eleanor-catton-luminaries-how-she-wrote-booker-prize |url-status=live }}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Astrology and science]]
* [[Astrology software]]
* [[Barnum effect]]
* [[Glossary of astrology]]
* [[List of astrological traditions, types, and systems]]
* [[List of topics characterized as pseudoscience|List of topics characterised as pseudoscience]]
* [[Jewish astrology]]
* [[Scientific skepticism]]
* [[Worship of heavenly bodies]]


== Notes ==
== Notes ==
{{notelist}}


== References ==
<div class="references-small">
{{Reflist|30em}}
<ol type="a">
<li>{{Note label|A|a|none}}Babylonian planet names took a multitude of deity forms, most drawn from one basic deity association; for example, the basic association of Mars was with the war-god [[Nergal]], for whom it expressed representation as the ‘the star of Nergal’.<ref>[[#Reference-Brown-2000|Brown (2000)]] pp.63-72.</ref></li>
<li>{{Note label|B|b|none}}Some 'traditional astrologers' prefer to work only with the seven [[Classical planets]], but most modern astrologers include reference to Uranus (discovered in 1781), Neptune (1846) and Pluto (1930).</li>
It is therefore conventional for astrology texts to refer to ten planets, which does not include the Earth. These, with their astrological symbols, are as follows:{{-}}
[[File:Sun symbol.svg|14px|{{unicode|☉}}]] [[Sun (astrology)|Sun]] | [[File:Moon symbol crescent.svg|14px|{{unicode|☽}}]] [[Moon (astrology)|Moon]] | [[File:Mercury symbol.svg|14px|{{unicode|☿}}]] [[Mercury (astrology)|Mercury]] | [[File:Venus symbol.svg|14px|{{unicode|♀}}]] [[Venus (astrology)|Venus]] | [[File:Mars symbol.svg|14px|{{unicode|♂}}]] [[Mars (astrology)|Mars]] | [[File:Jupiter symbol.svg|14px|{{unicode|♃}}]] [[Jupiter (astrology)|Jupiter]] | [[File:Saturn symbol.svg|14px|{{unicode|♄}}]] [[Saturn (astrology)|Saturn]] | [[File:Uranus's astrological symbol.svg|14px|{{unicode|♅}}]] [[Uranus (astrology)|Uranus]] | [[File:Neptune symbol.svg|14px|{{unicode|♆}}]] [[Neptune (astrology)|Neptune]] | [[File:Pluto symbol.svg|14px|{{unicode|♇}}]] [[Pluto_(astrology)#Pluto|Pluto]]
</li>
</ol></div>
<!-- to add new note - copy and place this as the reference:
{{Ref label|C|c|none}}
And add this after the last </li> (before the </ol> tag) above, inserting your note text after the note table:
<li>{{Note label|C|c|none}}</li>
- The next note will be note c, please change this instruction so the next note will be d -->


==References==
=== Works cited ===
{{refbegin}}
{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}
* {{cite journal |last=Allum |first=Nick |title=What Makes Some People Think Astrology Is Scientific? |journal=Science Communication |date=13 December 2010 |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=341–366 |doi=10.1177/1075547010389819|url=https://repository.essex.ac.uk/6076/1/allum-astrology2009.pdf }}
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* {{cite book | last=Barton | first= Tamsyn | title=Ancient Astrology | year=1994 | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-0-415-11029-7}}
* {{cite book | last=Beck | first=Roger | title=A Brief History of Ancient Astrology | publisher=Blackwell Pub | publication-place=Malden, MA | date=2007 | isbn=978-0-470-77377-2 | oclc=214281257}}
* {{cite book |first=Jeffrey O. |last=Bennett |title=The Cosmic Perspective |url=https://archive.org/details/astronomymediawo04lopr |url-access=registration |year=2007 |publisher=Pearson/Addison-Wesley |location=San Francisco |isbn=978-0-8053-9283-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/astronomymediawo04lopr/page/82 82–84] |edition=4th}}
* {{cite book |editor3-last=Vishveshwara |editor3-first=C. V. |editor1-last=Biswas |editor1-first=S. K. |editor2-last=Mallik |editor2-first=D. C. V. |title=Cosmic Perspectives: Essays Dedicated to the Memory of M. K. V. Bappu |year=1989 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-34354-1 |edition=1st}}
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* {{cite book | last=Campion | first=Nicholas | title=An Introduction to the History of Astrology | publisher=ISCWA | year=1982}}{{ISBN?}}
* {{cite book | last=Campion | first=Nicholas | title=A History of Western Astrology |volume=I: The Ancient World | place=London |publisher=Continuum | year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4411-2737-2 }}
* {{cite book |last=Campion |first=Nicholas |title=A History of Western Astrology |volume=II: The Medieval and Modern Worlds |year=2009 |place=London |publisher=Continuum |isbn=978-1-4411-8129-9 |edition=1st}}
* {{cite book | last=Campion | first=Nicholas | title=Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy | chapter=Astrology as Cultural Astronomy | publisher=Springer New York | publication-place=New York, NY | date=2014-07-07 | pages=103–116 | doi=10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_16| isbn=978-1-4614-6140-1}}
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* {{cite book |last1=Eysenck |first1=H. J. |last2=Nias |first2=D. K. B. |title=Astrology: Science or Superstition? |year=1982 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=978-0-312-05806-7}}
<!--G-->
* {{cite book | last=Grim | first=Patrick | title=Philosophy of Science and the Occult | publisher=State University of New York Press | publication-place=Albany | date=1990 | isbn=0-7914-0204-5 | oclc=21196067}}
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* {{cite journal |last1=Hartmann |first1=P. |last2=Reuter |first2=M. |last3=Nyborga |first3=H. |date=May 2006 |title=The relationship between date of birth and individual differences in personality and general intelligence: A large-scale study |journal=Personality and Individual Differences |volume=40 |issue=7 |pages=1349–1362 |doi=10.1016/j.paid.2005.11.017}}
* {{cite book | last=Holden | first= James Herschel | title=A History of Horoscopic Astrology | publisher=AFA | year=2006 | edition=2nd | isbn=978-0-86690-463-6}}
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* {{cite book | last=Long | first=A. A. | title=Science and Speculation. Studies in Hellenistic theory and practice | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2005 | pages=165–191 |editor1=Barnes, Jonathan |editor2=Brunschwig, J. | chapter=6: Astrology: arguments pro and contra}}{{missing ISBN}}
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* {{cite journal |first1=Raymond S. |last1=Nickerson |title=Confirmation Bias: A Ubiquitous Phenomenon in Many Guises |journal=Review of General Psychology|year=1998 |volume=2 |series=2 |pages=175–220 |doi=10.1037/1089-2680.2.2.175 |issue=2 |citeseerx=10.1.1.93.4839|s2cid=8508954}}
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* {{cite journal |last=Pingree |first=David |title=Indian Astronomy |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |date=18 December 1978 |volume=122 |series=American Philosophical Society |issue=6 |pages=361–364 |jstor=986451}}
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* {{cite book | last1=Sun |first1=Xiaochun | last2=Kistemaker |first2=Jacob | title=The Chinese Sky During the Han: Constellating Stars and Society | year=1997 | publisher=Brill | location=Leiden | isbn=978-90-04-10737-3 |doi=10.1163/9789004488755 | bibcode=1997csdh.book.....S}}
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* {{cite book | last=Tester | first= S. J. | title=A History of Western Astrology | year=1999 | publisher=Boydell & Brewer}}{{missing ISBN}}
<!--V-->
* {{cite book | title=Magic and Divination at the Courts of Burgundy and France: Text and Context of Laurens Pignon's 'Contre les Devineurs' (1411) | publisher=Brill | last=Veenstra | first = J. R. | year=1997 | isbn=978-90-04-10925-4}}
<!--W-->
* {{cite book | last=Wood | first= Chauncey | title=Chaucer and the Country of the Stars: Poetical Uses of Astrological Imagery | publisher=Princeton University Press | year=1970 |url=https://archive.org/details/chausercountryof0000unse |url-access=registration |isbn=978-0-691-06172-6 |oclc=1148223228}}
<!--Z-->
* {{cite journal |last=Zarka |first=Philippe |title=Astronomy and Astrology |journal=Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union |year=2011 |volume=5 |issue=S260 |pages=420–425 |doi=10.1017/S1743921311002602 |bibcode=2011IAUS..260..420Z |url=https://zenodo.org/record/890932 |doi-access=free |access-date=16 September 2019 |archive-date=18 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200818112236/https://zenodo.org/record/890932 |url-status=live}}
{{refend}}


== Further reading ==
==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
<div class="references-small">
*{{cite book |last=Crowley |first=Aleister |author-link=Aleister Crowley |editor=Beta, Hymenaeus |others=with Evangeline Adams |title=The General Principles of Astrology |orig-date=1917 |place=Boston |publisher=Weiser Books |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-87728-908-1 |ref=none}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Alkindi | reference= Alkindi, c.9th cent. '' De Radiis Stellicis'' (On the Stellar Rays), translated by Robert Zoller. London: New Library, 2004. (3rd digital ed.)}}
* {{cite book | last=Kay | first= Richard | title=Dante's Christian Astrology | publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press | series=Middle Ages Series | year=1994 |ref=none}}{{ISBN?}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Thagard-1978 | reference= Asquith, Peter, and Hacking, Ian., 1978. '' Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association, vol. 1''. Philosophy of Science Association. ISBN 9780917586057.}}
* {{cite book | last1=Ruggles | first1=C. L. N. | last2=Saunders | first2=Nicholas J. | title=Astronomies and cultures: papers derived from the third "Oxford" International Symposium on Archaeoastronomy, St. Andrews, UK, September 1990 | publisher=University Press of Colorado | publication-place=Niwot, Colo. | date=1993 | isbn=0-87081-319-6 | oclc=28929580 |ref=none}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Brown-2000 | reference= Brown, David, 2000. '' Mesopotamian planetary astronomy-astrology''. Cuneiform Monographs 18. Groningen: Styx Publications. ISBN 9056930362.}}
* {{cite book | last=Wedel | first= Theodore Otto | title=The Medieval Attitude Toward Astrology: Particularly in England | url=https://archive.org/stream/medivalattitud00wede | publisher=Yale University Press | year=1920 |ref=none}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Campion-1997 | reference= Campion, Nicholas, (ed.) 1997. [http://www.cultureandcosmos.org Culture and Cosmos]. Sophia Centre Press. Vol. 1, no. 1. ISSN 13686534.}}
{{refend}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Campion-2008 | reference= Campion, Nicholas, 2008. '' A History of Western Astrology, Vol. 1, The Ancient World'' (first published as ''The Dawn of Astrology: a Cultural History of Western Astrology''. London: Continuum. ISBN 9781441181299.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Campion-2009 | reference= Campion, Nicholas, 2009. '' A History of Western Astrology, Vol. 2, The Medieval and Modern Worlds.'' London: Continuum. ISBN 9781441181299.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Cornelius-2003 | reference= Cornelius, Geoffrey, 2003. ''The Moment of Astrology: Origins in Divination''. Bournemouth: Wessex. (Originally published by Penguin Arkana, 1994). ISBN 902405110.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Davis-1901 | reference= Davis, Henry, 1901. ''The Republic The Statesman of Plato''. London: M. W. Dunne 1901; Nabu Press reprint, 2010. ISBN 9781146979726.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Evans-Berggren-2006 | reference= Evans, James, and Berggren, J. Lennart, 2006. '' Geminos's introduction to the phenomena''. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691123394.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Eysenck-1982 | reference= Eysenck, H.J., and Nias, D.K.B., 1982 '' Astrology: Science or Superstition?'' Penguin Books. ISBN 0140223975.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Eysenck-1986 | reference= Eysenck, H.J., 1986 '' Astrological Journal'' 'Critique of 'A double-blind test of astrology'; vol xviii (3), April 1986.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Hackett-1997 | reference=Hackett, Jeremiah, 1997. '' Roger Bacon and the sciences: commemorative essays''. Brill. ISBN 9789004100152.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Hesiod | reference=Hesiod (c. 8th cent. BCE) . '' Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica'' translated by Evelyn-White, Hugh G., 1914. Loeb classical library; revised edition. Cambridge: Harvard Press, 1964. ISBN 9780674990630.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Houlding-2000 | reference= Houlding, Deborah, 2000. ''The Traditional Astrologer''. London: Ascella. Issue 19 (January 2000). ISSN 13694826.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Houlding-2010 | reference= Houlding, Deborah, 2010. '' Essays on the history of western astrology''. Nottingham: STA. ISBN 1899503559.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Kassell-Ralley-2010 | reference= Kassell, Lauren, and Ralley, Robert, 2010. [http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/issue/6072-2010-999589997-2083749 Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences]. Volume 41, issue 2 (June 2010). ISSN: 13698486}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Kelley-Milone-2005 | reference= Kelley, David, H. and Milone, E.F., 2005. '' Exploring ancient skies: an encyclopedic survey of archaeoastronomy''. Heidelberg / New York: Springer. ISBN 9780387953106.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Kepler-1619 | reference= Kepler, Johannes, 1619.'' The Harmony of the World'', translated by E.J. Aiton, A.M. Duncan and J.V. Field (1997). Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. ISBN 0871692090.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Koch-Westenholz-1995 | reference= Koch-Westenholz, Ulla, 1995. ''Mesopotamian astrology''. Volume 19 of CNI publications. Museum Tusculanum Press. ISBN 9788772892870.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Goold-1977 | reference= Manilius, Marcus, c.10 AD.'' Astronomica''. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674995163.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Marshack-1972 | reference= Marshack, Alexander, 1972. '' The roots of civilization: the cognitive beginnings of man's first art, symbol and notation''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 9781559210416.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = McRitchie-2006 | reference= McRitchie, Ken, 2006. ''Correlation: Journal of Research in Astrology'' ‘Astrology and the social sciences: looking inside the black box of astrology theory’ Correlation: (2006), Vol 24(1), pp. 5-20. Online at [http://www.theoryofastrology.com/black_box/blackbox.htm www.theoryofastrology.com].}}
*{{Wikicite | id = WWH | reference= Merriam-Webster, 1989.'' Webster's word histories''. Springfield, Massachusetts, US: Merriam-Webster. ISBN 9780877790488.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Partridge-1960 | reference= Partridge, Eric, 1960.'' Origins: a short etymological dictionary of modern English'' (2nd edition). London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. ISBN 0674993640.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Pliny-77 | reference= Pliny the Elder, 77AD.'' Natural History'', books I-II, translated by H. Rackham (1938). Harvard University Press. ISBN 0674993640.}}
* {{Wikicite | id= Robbins_Tet | reference= Robbins, Frank E. (ed.) 1940. ''Ptolemy Tetrabiblos''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press (Loeb Classical Library). ISBN 0-674-99479-5}}.
*{{Wikicite | id = Bacon | reference= Rawley, William, 1858. '' The Works of Francis Bacon''. Longmans 1858. Boston: Adamant Media. ISBN 9781402182211. Digitized by Harvard University, 2006; online at [http://books.google.com/books?id=XQF-bwn5hXIC&source=gbs_navlinks_s Google books].)}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Rawlins-1981 | reference= Rawlins, Dennis, 1981. '' Fate Magazine'' 'sTARBABY'; pp.67-98. No.34, October 1981. Reproduced on the [http://cura.free.fr/xv/14starbb.html Cura website], retrieved 11 August 2011.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Schuon | reference= Schuon, Frithjof, 1959. '' Gnosis: divine wisdom''. J. Murray and Sons. Republished: World Wisdom Inc 2006. ISBN 9781933316185.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Smith-1996 | reference= Smith, Mark A., 2006.'' Ptolemy's theory of visual perception: an English translation of the Optics''. Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society. ISBN 9780871698629.}}
*{{Wikicite |id= ODE | reference= Soanes, Catherine, (ed.) 2006. [http://oxforddictionaries.com The Oxford Dictionary of English] 2nd ed. Oxford University Press: Oxford. ISBN 3411021446.}}
*{{Wikicite | id = Thomas-1978 | reference= Thomas, Keith, 1978. '' Religion and the decline of magic''. London: Peregrine Books. ISBN 9780140551501.}}
*{{Wikicite |id= DHI | reference= Wiener, Phillip P., (ed.) 1973. [http://xtf.lib.virginia.edu/xtf/view?docId=DicHist/uvaBook/tei/DicHist1.xml;brand=default; The Dictionary of the History of Ideas] vol.I. Scribner: New York. ISBN 0684132931.}}
*{{Wikicite |id= Weiss-2008 | reference= Weiss, Piero and Taruskin, Richard, 2008. ''Music in the Western World: a history in documents''. Cengage Learning. ISBN 9780534585990.}}
</div>


==External links==
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Latest revision as of 16:23, 21 December 2024

Astrology is a range of divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century,[1][2] that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions of celestial objects.[3][4][5][6][7] Different cultures have employed forms of astrology since at least the 2nd millennium BCE, these practices having originated in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications.[8] Most, if not all, cultures have attached importance to what they observed in the sky, and some—such as the Hindus, Chinese, and the Maya—developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. Western astrology, one of the oldest astrological systems still in use, can trace its roots to 19th–17th century BCE Mesopotamia, from where it spread to Ancient Greece, Rome, the Islamic world, and eventually Central and Western Europe. Contemporary Western astrology is often associated with systems of horoscopes that purport to explain aspects of a person's personality and predict significant events in their lives based on the positions of celestial objects; the majority of professional astrologers rely on such systems.[9]

Throughout its history, astrology has had its detractors, competitors and skeptics who opposed it for moral, religious, political, and empirical reasons.[10][11][12] Nonetheless, prior to the Enlightenment, astrology was generally considered a scholarly tradition and was common in learned circles, often in close relation with astronomy, meteorology, medicine, and alchemy.[13] It was present in political circles and is mentioned in various works of literature, from Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer to William Shakespeare, Lope de Vega, and Pedro Calderón de la Barca. During the Enlightenment, however, astrology lost its status as an area of legitimate scholarly pursuit.[14][15] Following the end of the 19th century and the wide-scale adoption of the scientific method, researchers have successfully challenged astrology on both theoretical[16][17] and experimental grounds,[18][19] and have shown it to have no scientific validity or explanatory power.[20] Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing in the western world, and common belief in it largely declined, until a continuing resurgence starting in the 1960s.[21]

Etymology

Marcantonio Raimondi engraving, 15th century

The word astrology comes from the early Latin word astrologia,[22] which derives from the Greek ἀστρολογία—from ἄστρον astron ("star") and -λογία -logia, ("study of"—"account of the stars"). The word entered the English language via Latin and medieval French, and its use overlapped considerably with that of astronomy (derived from the Latin astronomia). By the 17th century, astronomy became established as the scientific term, with astrology referring to divinations and schemes for predicting human affairs.[23]

History

The Zodiac Man, a diagram of a human body and astrological symbols with instructions explaining the importance of astrology from a medical perspective. From a 15th-century Welsh manuscript

Many cultures have attached importance to astronomical events, and the Indians, Chinese, and Maya developed elaborate systems for predicting terrestrial events from celestial observations. A form of astrology was practised in the Old Babylonian period of Mesopotamia, c. 1800 BCE.[24][8] Vedāṅga Jyotiṣa is one of earliest known Hindu texts on astronomy and astrology (Jyotisha). The text is dated between 1400 BCE to final centuries BCE by various scholars according to astronomical and linguistic evidences. Chinese astrology was elaborated in the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE). Hellenistic astrology after 332 BCE mixed Babylonian astrology with Egyptian Decanic astrology in Alexandria, creating horoscopic astrology. Alexander the Great's conquest of Asia allowed astrology to spread to Ancient Greece and Rome. In Rome, astrology was associated with "Chaldean wisdom". After the conquest of Alexandria in the 7th century, astrology was taken up by Islamic scholars, and Hellenistic texts were translated into Arabic and Persian. In the 12th century, Arabic texts were imported to Europe and translated into Latin. Major astronomers including Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler and Galileo practised as court astrologers. Astrological references appear in literature in the works of poets such as Dante Alighieri and Geoffrey Chaucer, and of playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare.

Throughout most of its history, astrology was considered a scholarly tradition. It was accepted in political and academic contexts, and was connected with other studies, such as astronomy, alchemy, meteorology, and medicine.[13] At the end of the 17th century, new scientific concepts in astronomy and physics (such as heliocentrism and Newtonian mechanics) called astrology into question. Astrology thus lost its academic and theoretical standing, and common belief in astrology has largely declined.[21]

Ancient world

Astrology, in its broadest sense, is the search for meaning in the sky.[25] Early evidence for humans making conscious attempts to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by reference to astronomical cycles, appears as markings on bones and cave walls, which show that lunar cycles were being noted as early as 25,000 years ago.[26] This was a first step towards recording the Moon's influence upon tides and rivers, and towards organising a communal calendar.[26] Farmers addressed agricultural needs with increasing knowledge of the constellations that appear in the different seasons—and used the rising of particular star-groups to herald annual floods or seasonal activities.[27] By the 3rd millennium BCE, civilisations had sophisticated awareness of celestial cycles, and may have oriented temples in alignment with heliacal risings of the stars.[28]

Scattered evidence suggests that the oldest known astrological references are copies of texts made in the ancient world. The Venus tablet of Ammisaduqa is thought to have been compiled in Babylon around 1700 BCE.[29] A scroll documenting an early use of electional astrology is doubtfully ascribed to the reign of the Sumerian ruler Gudea of Lagash (c. 2144 – 2124 BCE). This describes how the gods revealed to him in a dream the constellations that would be most favourable for the planned construction of a temple.[30] However, there is controversy about whether these were genuinely recorded at the time or merely ascribed to ancient rulers by posterity. The oldest undisputed evidence of the use of astrology as an integrated system of knowledge is therefore attributed to the records of the first dynasty of Babylon (1950–1651 BCE). This astrology had some parallels with Hellenistic Greek (western) astrology, including the zodiac, a norming point near 9 degrees in Aries, the trine aspect, planetary exaltations, and the dodekatemoria (the twelve divisions of 30 degrees each).[31] The Babylonians viewed celestial events as possible signs rather than as causes of physical events.[31]

The system of Chinese astrology was elaborated during the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE) and flourished during the Han dynasty (2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE), during which all the familiar elements of traditional Chinese culture – the Yin-Yang philosophy, theory of the five elements, Heaven and Earth, Confucian morality – were brought together to formalise the philosophical principles of Chinese medicine and divination, astrology, and alchemy.[32]

The ancient Arabs that inhabited the Arabian Peninsula before the advent of Islam used to profess a widespread belief in fatalism (ḳadar) alongside a fearful consideration for the sky and the stars, which they held to be ultimately responsible for every phenomena that occurs on Earth and for the destiny of humankind.[33] Accordingly, they shaped their entire lives in accordance with their interpretations of astral configurations and phenomena.[33]

Ancient objections

The Roman orator Cicero objected to astrology.

The Hellenistic schools of philosophical skepticism criticized the rationality of astrology.[clarification needed] Criticism of astrology by academic skeptics such as Cicero, Carneades, and Favorinus; and Pyrrhonists such as Sextus Empiricus has been preserved.

Carneades argued that belief in fate denies free will and morality; that people born at different times can all die in the same accident or battle; and that contrary to uniform influences from the stars, tribes and cultures are all different.[12]

Cicero, in De Divinatione, leveled a critique of astrology that some modern philosophers consider to be the first working definition of pseudoscience and the answer to the demarcation problem.[11] Philosopher of Science Massimo Pigliucci, building on the work of Historian of Science, Damien Fernandez-Beanato, argues that Cicero outlined a "convincing distinction between astrology and astronomy that remains valid in the twenty-first century."[10] Cicero stated the twins objection (that with close birth times, personal outcomes can be very different), later developed by Augustine.[34] He argued that since the other planets are much more distant from the Earth than the Moon, they could have only very tiny influence compared to the Moon's.[35] He also argued that if astrology explains everything about a person's fate, then it wrongly ignores the visible effect of inherited ability and parenting, changes in health worked by medicine, or the effects of the weather on people.[36]

Favorinus argued that it was absurd to imagine that stars and planets would affect human bodies in the same way as they affect the tides,[37] and equally absurd that small motions in the heavens cause large changes in people's fates.

Sextus Empiricus argued that it was absurd to link human attributes with myths about the signs of the zodiac,[38] and wrote an entire book, Against the Astrologers (Πρὸς ἀστρολόγους, Pros astrologous), compiling arguments against astrology. Against the Astrologers was the fifth section of a larger work arguing against philosophical and scientific inquiry in general, Against the Professors (Πρὸς μαθηματικούς, Pros mathematikous).

Plotinus, a neoplatonist, argued that since the fixed stars are much more distant than the planets, it is laughable to imagine the planets' effect on human affairs should depend on their position with respect to the zodiac. He also argues that the interpretation of the Moon's conjunction with a planet as good when the moon is full, but bad when the moon is waning, is clearly wrong, as from the Moon's point of view, half of its surface is always in sunlight; and from the planet's point of view, waning should be better, as then the planet sees some light from the Moon, but when the Moon is full to us, it is dark, and therefore bad, on the side facing the planet in question.[39]

Hellenistic Egypt

Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, the Hellenistic text that founded Western astrology
1484 copy of first page of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, translated into Latin by Plato of Tivoli

In 525 BCE, Egypt was conquered by the Persians. The 1st century BCE Egyptian Dendera Zodiac shares two signs – the Balance and the Scorpion – with Mesopotamian astrology.[40]

With the occupation by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE, Egypt became Hellenistic. The city of Alexandria was founded by Alexander after the conquest, becoming the place where Babylonian astrology was mixed with Egyptian Decanic astrology to create Horoscopic astrology. This contained the Babylonian zodiac with its system of planetary exaltations, the triplicities of the signs and the importance of eclipses. It used the Egyptian concept of dividing the zodiac into thirty-six decans of ten degrees each, with an emphasis on the rising decan, and the Greek system of planetary Gods, sign rulership and four elements.[41] 2nd century BCE texts predict positions of planets in zodiac signs at the time of the rising of certain decans, particularly Sothis.[42] The astrologer and astronomer Ptolemy lived in Alexandria. Ptolemy's work the Tetrabiblos formed the basis of Western astrology, and, "...enjoyed almost the authority of a Bible among the astrological writers of a thousand years or more."[43]

Greece and Rome

The conquest of Asia by Alexander the Great exposed the Greeks to ideas from Syria, Babylon, Persia and central Asia.[44] Around 280 BCE, Berossus, a priest of Bel from Babylon, moved to the Greek island of Kos, teaching astrology and Babylonian culture.[45] By the 1st century BCE, there were two varieties of astrology, one using horoscopes to describe the past, present and future; the other, theurgic, emphasising the soul's ascent to the stars.[46] Greek influence played a crucial role in the transmission of astrological theory to Rome.[47]

The first definite reference to astrology in Rome comes from the orator Cato, who in 160 BCE warned farm overseers against consulting with Chaldeans,[48] who were described as Babylonian 'star-gazers'.[49] Among both Greeks and Romans, Babylonia (also known as Chaldea) became so identified with astrology that 'Chaldean wisdom' became synonymous with divination using planets and stars.[50] The 2nd-century Roman poet and satirist Juvenal complains about the pervasive influence of Chaldeans, saying, "Still more trusted are the Chaldaeans; every word uttered by the astrologer they will believe has come from Hammon's fountain."[51]

One of the first astrologers to bring Hermetic astrology to Rome was Thrasyllus, astrologer to the emperor Tiberius,[47] the first emperor to have had a court astrologer,[52] though his predecessor Augustus had used astrology to help legitimise his Imperial rights.[53]

Medieval world

Hindu

The main texts upon which classical Indian astrology is based are early medieval compilations, notably the Bṛhat Parāśara Horāśāstra, and Sārāvalī by Kalyāṇavarma. The Horāshastra is a composite work of 71 chapters, of which the first part (chapters 1–51) dates to the 7th to early 8th centuries and the second part (chapters 52–71) to the later 8th century. The Sārāvalī likewise dates to around 800 CE.[54] English translations of these texts were published by N.N. Krishna Rau and V.B. Choudhari in 1963 and 1961, respectively.

Islamic

Image of a Latin astrological text
Latin translation of Abū Maʿshar's De Magnis Coniunctionibus ('Of the great conjunctions'), Venice, 1515

Astrology was taken up by Islamic scholars[55] following the collapse of Alexandria to the Arabs in the 7th century, and the founding of the Abbasid empire in the 8th. The second Abbasid caliph, Al Mansur (754–775) founded the city of Baghdad to act as a centre of learning, and included in its design a library-translation centre known as Bayt al-Hikma 'House of Wisdom', which continued to receive development from his heirs and was to provide a major impetus for Arabic-Persian translations of Hellenistic astrological texts. The early translators included Mashallah, who helped to elect the time for the foundation of Baghdad,[56] and Sahl ibn Bishr, (a.k.a. Zael), whose texts were directly influential upon later European astrologers such as Guido Bonatti in the 13th century, and William Lilly in the 17th century.[57] Knowledge of Arabic texts started to become imported into Europe during the Latin translations of the 12th century.

Europe

Dante Alighieri meets the Emperor Justinian in the Sphere of Mercury, in Canto 5 of the Paradiso.
The medieval theologian Isidore of Seville criticised the predictive part of astrology.

In the seventh century, Isidore of Seville argued in his Etymologiae that astronomy described the movements of the heavens, while astrology had two parts: one was scientific, describing the movements of the Sun, the Moon and the stars, while the other, making predictions, was theologically erroneous.[58][59]

The first astrological book published in Europe was the Liber Planetis et Mundi Climatibus ("Book of the Planets and Regions of the World"), which appeared between 1010 and 1027 AD, and may have been authored by Gerbert of Aurillac.[60] Ptolemy's second century AD Tetrabiblos was translated into Latin by Plato of Tivoli in 1138.[60] The Dominican theologian Thomas Aquinas followed Aristotle in proposing that the stars ruled the imperfect 'sublunary' body, while attempting to reconcile astrology with Christianity by stating that God ruled the soul.[61] The thirteenth century mathematician Campanus of Novara is said to have devised a system of astrological houses that divides the prime vertical into 'houses' of equal 30° arcs,[62] though the system was used earlier in the East.[63] The thirteenth century astronomer Guido Bonatti wrote a textbook, the Liber Astronomicus, a copy of which King Henry VII of England owned at the end of the fifteenth century.[62]

In Paradiso, the final part of the Divine Comedy, the Italian poet Dante Alighieri referred "in countless details"[64] to the astrological planets, though he adapted traditional astrology to suit his Christian viewpoint,[64] for example using astrological thinking in his prophecies of the reform of Christendom.[65]

John Gower in the fourteenth century defined astrology as essentially limited to the making of predictions.[58][66] The influence of the stars was in turn divided into natural astrology, with for example effects on tides and the growth of plants, and judicial astrology, with supposedly predictable effects on people.[67][68] The fourteenth-century sceptic Nicole Oresme however included astronomy as a part of astrology in his Livre de divinacions.[69] Oresme argued that current approaches to prediction of events such as plagues, wars, and weather were inappropriate, but that such prediction was a valid field of inquiry. However, he attacked the use of astrology to choose the timing of actions (so-called interrogation and election) as wholly false, and rejected the determination of human action by the stars on grounds of free will.[69][70] The friar Laurens Pignon (c. 1368–1449)[71] similarly rejected all forms of divination and determinism, including by the stars, in his 1411 Contre les Devineurs.[72] This was in opposition to the tradition carried by the Arab astronomer Albumasar (787–886) whose Introductorium in Astronomiam and De Magnis Coniunctionibus argued the view that both individual actions and larger scale history are determined by the stars.[73]

In the late 15th century, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola forcefully attacked astrology in Disputationes contra Astrologos, arguing that the heavens neither caused, nor heralded earthly events.[74] His contemporary, Pietro Pomponazzi, a "rationalistic and critical thinker", was much more sanguine about astrology and critical of Pico's attack.[75]

Renaissance and Early Modern

'An Astrologer Casting a Horoscope' from Robert Fludd's Utriusque Cosmi Historia, 1617

Renaissance scholars commonly practised astrology. Gerolamo Cardano cast the horoscope of king Edward VI of England, while John Dee was the personal astrologer to queen Elizabeth I of England. Catherine de Medici paid Michael Nostradamus in 1566 to verify the prediction of the death of her husband, king Henry II of France made by her astrologer Lucus Gauricus. Major astronomers who practised as court astrologers included Tycho Brahe in the royal court of Denmark, Johannes Kepler to the Habsburgs, Galileo Galilei to the Medici, and Giordano Bruno who was burnt at the stake for heresy in Rome in 1600.[76] The distinction between astrology and astronomy was not entirely clear. Advances in astronomy were often motivated by the desire to improve the accuracy of astrology.[77] Kepler, for example, was driven by a belief in harmonies between Earthly and celestial affairs, yet he disparaged the activities of most astrologers as "evil-smelling dung".[78]

Ephemerides with complex astrological calculations, and almanacs interpreting celestial events for use in medicine and for choosing times to plant crops, were popular in Elizabethan England.[79] In 1597, the English mathematician and physician Thomas Hood made a set of paper instruments that used revolving overlays to help students work out relationships between fixed stars or constellations, the midheaven, and the twelve astrological houses.[80] Hood's instruments also illustrated, for pedagogical purposes, the supposed relationships between the signs of the zodiac, the planets, and the parts of the human body adherents believed were governed by the planets and signs.[80][81] While Hood's presentation was innovative, his astrological information was largely standard and was taken from Gerard Mercator's astrological disc made in 1551, or a source used by Mercator.[82][83] Despite its popularity, Renaissance astrology had what historian Gabor Almasi calls "elite debate", exemplified by the polemical letters of Swiss physician Thomas Erastus who fought against astrology, calling it "vanity" and "superstition." Then around the time of the new star of 1572 and the comet of 1577 there began what Almasi calls an "extended epistemological reform" which began the process of excluding religion, astrology and anthropocentrism from scientific debate.[84] By 1679, the yearly publication La Connoissance des temps eschewed astrology as a legitimate topic.[85]

Enlightenment period and onwards

Middle-class Chicago women discuss spiritualism (1906).

During the Enlightenment, intellectual sympathy for astrology fell away, leaving only a popular following supported by cheap almanacs.[14][15] One English almanac compiler, Richard Saunders, followed the spirit of the age by printing a derisive Discourse on the Invalidity of Astrology, while in France Pierre Bayle's Dictionnaire of 1697 stated that the subject was puerile.[14] The Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift ridiculed the Whig political astrologer John Partridge.[14]

In the second half of the 17th century, the Society of Astrologers (1647–1684), a trade, educational, and social organization, sought to unite London's often fractious astrologers in the task of revitalizing astrology. Following the template of the popular "Feasts of Mathematicians" they endeavored to defend their art in the face of growing religious criticism. The Society hosted banquets, exchanged "instruments and manuscripts", proposed research projects, and funded the publication of sermons that depicted astrology as a legitimate biblical pursuit for Christians. They commissioned sermons that argued Astrology was divine, Hebraic, and scripturally supported by Bible passages about the Magi and the sons of Seth. According to historian Michelle Pfeffer, "The society's public relations campaign ultimately failed." Modern historians have mostly neglected the Society of Astrologers in favor of the still extant Royal Society (1660), even though both organizations initially had some of the same members.[86]

Astrology saw a popular revival starting in the 19th century, as part of a general revival of spiritualism and—later, New Age philosophy,[87] and through the influence of mass media such as newspaper horoscopes.[88] Early in the 20th century the psychiatrist Carl Jung developed some concepts concerning astrology,[89] which led to the development of psychological astrology.[90][91][92]

Principles and practice

Advocates have defined astrology as a symbolic language, an art form, a science, and a method of divination.[93][94] Though most cultural astrology systems share common roots in ancient philosophies that influenced each other, many use methods that differ from those in the West. These include Hindu astrology (also known as "Indian astrology" and in modern times referred to as "Vedic astrology") and Chinese astrology, both of which have influenced the world's cultural history.

Western

Western astrology is a form of divination based on the construction of a horoscope for an exact moment, such as a person's birth.[95] It uses the tropical zodiac, which is aligned to the equinoctial points.[96]

Western astrology is founded on the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies such as the Sun, Moon and planets, which are analysed by their movement through signs of the zodiac (twelve spatial divisions of the ecliptic) and by their aspects (based on geometric angles) relative to one another. They are also considered by their placement in houses (twelve spatial divisions of the sky).[97] Astrology's modern representation in western popular media is usually reduced to sun sign astrology, which considers only the zodiac sign of the Sun at an individual's date of birth, and represents only 1/12 of the total chart.[98]

The horoscope visually expresses the set of relationships for the time and place of the chosen event. These relationships are between the seven 'planets', signifying tendencies such as war and love; the twelve signs of the zodiac; and the twelve houses. Each planet is in a particular sign and a particular house at the chosen time, when observed from the chosen place, creating two kinds of relationship.[99] A third kind is the aspect of each planet to every other planet, where for example two planets 120° apart (in 'trine') are in a harmonious relationship, but two planets 90° apart ('square') are in a conflicted relationship.[100][101] Together these relationships and their interpretations are said to form "...the language of the heavens speaking to learned men."[99]

Along with tarot divination, astrology is one of the core studies of Western esotericism, and as such has influenced systems of magical belief not only among Western esotericists and Hermeticists, but also belief systems such as Wicca, which have borrowed from or been influenced by the Western esoteric tradition. Tanya Luhrmann has said that "all magicians know something about astrology," and refers to a table of correspondences in Starhawk's The Spiral Dance, organised by planet, as an example of the astrological lore studied by magicians.[102]

Hindu

Page from an Indian astrological treatise, c. 1750

The earliest Vedic text on astronomy is the Vedanga Jyotisha; Vedic thought later came to include astrology as well.[103]

Hindu natal astrology originated with Hellenistic astrology by the 3rd century BCE,[104][105] though incorporating the Hindu lunar mansions.[106] The names of the signs (e.g. Greek 'Krios' for Aries, Hindi 'Kriya'), the planets (e.g. Greek 'Helios' for Sun, astrological Hindi 'Heli'), and astrological terms (e.g. Greek 'apoklima' and 'sunaphe' for declination and planetary conjunction, Hindi 'apoklima' and 'sunapha' respectively) in Varaha Mihira's texts are considered conclusive evidence of a Greek origin for Hindu astrology.[107] The Indian techniques may also have been augmented with some of the Babylonian techniques.[108]

Chinese and East Asian

Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy (theory of the three harmonies: heaven, earth and man) and uses concepts such as yin and yang, the Five phases, the 10 Celestial stems, the 12 Earthly Branches, and shichen (時辰 a form of timekeeping used for religious purposes). The early use of Chinese astrology was mainly confined to political astrology, the observation of unusual phenomena, identification of portents and the selection of auspicious days for events and decisions.[109]

The constellations of the Zodiac of western Asia and Europe were not used; instead the sky is divided into Three Enclosures (三垣 sān yuán), and Twenty-Eight Mansions (二十八宿 èrshíbā xiù) in twelve Ci (十二次).[110] The Chinese zodiac of twelve animal signs is said to represent twelve different types of personality. It is based on cycles of years, lunar months, and two-hour periods of the day (the shichen). The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the Rat, and the cycle proceeds through 11 other animal signs: the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig.[111] Complex systems of predicting fate and destiny based on one's birthday, birth season, and birth hours, such as ziping and Zi Wei Dou Shu (simplified Chinese: 紫微斗数; traditional Chinese: 紫微斗數; pinyin: zǐwēidǒushù) are still used regularly in modern-day Chinese astrology. They do not rely on direct observations of the stars.[112]

The Korean zodiac is identical to the Chinese one. The Vietnamese zodiac is almost identical to the Chinese, except for second animal being the Water Buffalo instead of the Ox, and the fourth animal the Cat instead of the Rabbit. The Japanese have since 1873 celebrated the beginning of the new year on 1 January as per the Gregorian calendar. The Thai zodiac begins, not at Chinese New Year, but either on the first day of the fifth month in the Thai lunar calendar, or during the Songkran festival (now celebrated every 13–15 April), depending on the purpose of the use.[113]

Theological viewpoints

Ancient

Augustine (354–430) believed that the determinism of astrology conflicted with the Christian doctrines of man's free will and responsibility, and God not being the cause of evil,[114] but he also grounded his opposition philosophically, citing the failure of astrology to explain twins who behave differently although conceived at the same moment and born at approximately the same time.[115]

Medieval

A drawing of Avicenna

Some of the practices of astrology were contested on theological grounds by medieval Muslim astronomers such as Al-Farabi (Alpharabius), Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) and Avicenna. They said that the methods of astrologers conflicted with orthodox religious views of Islamic scholars, by suggesting that the Will of God can be known and predicted.[116] For example, Avicenna's 'Refutation against astrology', Risāla fī ibṭāl aḥkām al-nojūm, argues against the practice of astrology while supporting the principle that planets may act as agents of divine causation. Avicenna considered that the movement of the planets influenced life on earth in a deterministic way, but argued against the possibility of determining the exact influence of the stars.[117] Essentially, Avicenna did not deny the core dogma of astrology, but denied our ability to understand it to the extent that precise and fatalistic predictions could be made from it.[118] Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya (1292–1350), in his Miftah Dar al-SaCadah, also used physical arguments in astronomy to question the practice of judicial astrology.[119] He recognised that the stars are much larger than the planets, and argued:

And if you astrologers answer that it is precisely because of this distance and smallness that their influences are negligible, then why is it that you claim a great influence for the smallest heavenly body, Mercury? Why is it that you have given an influence to al-Ra's [the head] and al-Dhanab [the tail], which are two imaginary points [ascending and descending nodes]?[119]

Modern

Martin Luther

Martin Luther denounced astrology in his Table Talk. He asked why twins like Esau and Jacob had two different natures yet were born at the same time. Luther also compared astrologers to those who say their dice will always land on a certain number. Although the dice may roll on the number a couple of times, the predictor is silent for all the times the dice fails to land on that number.[120]

What is done by God, ought not to be ascribed to the stars. The upright and true Christian religion opposes and confutes all such fables.[120]

— Martin Luther, Table Talk

The Catechism of the Catholic Church maintains that divination, including predictive astrology, is incompatible with modern Catholic beliefs[121] such as free will:[115]

All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future. Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone.[122]

— Catechism of the Catholic Church

Scientific analysis and criticism

Popper proposed falsifiability as something that distinguishes science from non-science, using astrology as the example of an idea that has not dealt with falsification during experiment.

The scientific community rejects astrology as having no explanatory power for describing the universe, and considers it a pseudoscience.[123][124][125] Scientific testing of astrology has been conducted, and no evidence has been found to support any of the premises or purported effects outlined in astrological traditions.[126][127][128] There is no proposed mechanism of action by which the positions and motions of stars and planets could affect people and events on Earth that does not contradict basic and well understood aspects of biology and physics.[16][17] Those who have faith in astrology have been characterised by scientists including Bart J. Bok as doing so "...in spite of the fact that there is no verified scientific basis for their beliefs, and indeed that there is strong evidence to the contrary".[129]

Confirmation bias is a form of cognitive bias, a psychological factor that contributes to belief in astrology.[130][131][132][133][a] Astrology believers tend to selectively remember predictions that turn out to be true, and do not remember those that turn out false. Another, separate, form of confirmation bias also plays a role, where believers often fail to distinguish between messages that demonstrate special ability and those that do not.[131] Thus there are two distinct forms of confirmation bias that are under study with respect to astrological belief.[131]

Demarcation

Under the criterion of falsifiability, first proposed by the philosopher of science Karl Popper, astrology is a pseudoscience.[134] Popper regarded astrology as "pseudo-empirical" in that "it appeals to observation and experiment," but "nevertheless does not come up to scientific standards."[135] In contrast to scientific disciplines, astrology has not responded to falsification through experiment.[136]: 206 

In contrast to Popper, the philosopher Thomas Kuhn argued that it was not lack of falsifiability that makes astrology unscientific, but rather that the process and concepts of astrology are non-empirical.[137]: 401  Kuhn thought that, though astrologers had, historically, made predictions that categorically failed, this in itself does not make astrology unscientific, nor do attempts by astrologers to explain away failures by saying that creating a horoscope is very difficult. Rather, in Kuhn's eyes, astrology is not science because it was always more akin to medieval medicine; astrologers followed a sequence of rules and guidelines for a seemingly necessary field with known shortcomings, but they did no research because the fields are not amenable to research,[138]: 8  and so "they had no puzzles to solve and therefore no science to practise."[137]: 401,  [138]: 8  While an astronomer could correct for failure, an astrologer could not. An astrologer could only explain away failure but could not revise the astrological hypothesis in a meaningful way. As such, to Kuhn, even if the stars could influence the path of humans through life, astrology is not scientific.[138]: 8 

The philosopher Paul Thagard asserts that astrology cannot be regarded as falsified in this sense until it has been replaced with a successor. In the case of predicting behaviour, psychology is the alternative.[6]: 228  To Thagard a further criterion of demarcation of science from pseudoscience is that the state-of-the-art must progress and that the community of researchers should be attempting to compare the current theory to alternatives, and not be "selective in considering confirmations and disconfirmations."[6]: 227–228  Progress is defined here as explaining new phenomena and solving existing problems, yet astrology has failed to progress having only changed little in nearly 2000 years.[6]: 228 [139]: 549  To Thagard, astrologers are acting as though engaged in normal science believing that the foundations of astrology were well established despite the "many unsolved problems", and in the face of better alternative theories (psychology). For these reasons Thagard views astrology as pseudoscience.[6][139]: 228 

For the philosopher Edward W. James, astrology is irrational not because of the numerous problems with mechanisms and falsification due to experiments, but because an analysis of the astrological literature shows that it is infused with fallacious logic and poor reasoning.[140]: 34 

What if throughout astrological writings we meet little appreciation of coherence, blatant insensitivity to evidence, no sense of a hierarchy of reasons, slight command over the contextual force of critieria, stubborn unwillingness to pursue an argument where it leads, stark naivete concerning the efficacy of explanation and so on? In that case, I think, we are perfectly justified in rejecting astrology as irrational. ... Astrology simply fails to meet the multifarious demands of legitimate reasoning.

— Edward W. James[140]: 34 

Effectiveness

Astrology has not demonstrated its effectiveness in controlled studies and has no scientific validity.[141][19] Where it has made falsifiable predictions under controlled conditions, they have been falsified.[126] One famous experiment included 28 astrologers who were asked to match over a hundred natal charts to psychological profiles generated by the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) questionnaire.[142][143] The double-blind experimental protocol used in this study was agreed upon by a group of physicists and a group of astrologers[19] nominated by the National Council for Geocosmic Research, who advised the experimenters, helped ensure that the test was fair[18]: 420,  [143]: 117  and helped draw the central proposition of natal astrology to be tested.[18]: 419  They also chose 26 out of the 28 astrologers for the tests (two more volunteered afterwards).[18]: 420  The study, published in Nature in 1985, found that predictions based on natal astrology were no better than chance, and that the testing "...clearly refutes the astrological hypothesis."[18]

In 1955, the astrologer and psychologist Michel Gauquelin stated that though he had failed to find evidence that supported indicators like zodiacal signs and planetary aspects in astrology, he did find positive correlations between the diurnal positions of some planets and success in professions that astrology traditionally associates with those planets.[144][145] The best-known of Gauquelin's findings is based on the positions of Mars in the natal charts of successful athletes and became known as the Mars effect.[146]: 213  A study conducted by seven French scientists attempted to replicate the claim, but found no statistical evidence.[146]: 213–214  They attributed the effect to selective bias on Gauquelin's part, accusing him of attempting to persuade them to add or delete names from their study.[147]

Geoffrey Dean has suggested that the effect may be caused by self-reporting of birth dates by parents rather than any issue with the study by Gauquelin. The suggestion is that a small subset of the parents may have had changed birth times to be consistent with better astrological charts for a related profession. The number of births under astrologically undesirable conditions was also lower, indicating that parents choose dates and times to suit their beliefs. The sample group was taken from a time where belief in astrology was more common. Gauquelin had failed to find the Mars effect in more recent populations, where a nurse or doctor recorded the birth information.[143]: 116 

Dean, a scientist and former astrologer, and psychologist Ivan Kelly conducted a large scale scientific test that involved more than one hundred cognitive, behavioural, physical, and other variables—but found no support for astrology.[148][149] Furthermore, a meta-analysis pooled 40 studies that involved 700 astrologers and over 1,000 birth charts. Ten of the tests—which involved 300 participants—had the astrologers pick the correct chart interpretation out of a number of others that were not the astrologically correct chart interpretation (usually three to five others). When date and other obvious clues were removed, no significant results suggested there was any preferred chart.[149]: 190 

Lack of mechanisms and consistency

Testing the validity of astrology can be difficult, because there is no consensus amongst astrologers as to what astrology is or what it can predict.[9] Most professional astrologers are paid to predict the future or describe a person's personality and life, but most horoscopes only make vague untestable statements that can apply to almost anyone.[20][150]

Many astrologers believe that astrology is scientific,[151] while some have proposed conventional causal agents such as electromagnetism and gravity.[151] Scientists reject these mechanisms as implausible[151] since, for example, the magnetic field, when measured from Earth, of a large but distant planet such as Jupiter is far smaller than that produced by ordinary household appliances.[152]

Western astrology has taken the earth's axial precession (also called precession of the equinoxes) into account since Ptolemy's Almagest, so the "first point of Aries", the start of the astrological year, continually moves against the background of the stars.[153] The tropical zodiac has no connection to the stars; tropical astrologers distinguish the constellations from their historically associated sign, thereby avoiding complications involving precession.[154] Charpak and Broch, noting this, referred to astrology based on the tropical zodiac as being "...empty boxes that have nothing to do with anything and are devoid of any consistency or correspondence with the stars."[154] Sole use of the tropical zodiac is inconsistent with references made, by the same astrologers, to the Age of Aquarius, which depends on when the vernal point enters the constellation of Aquarius.[19]

Astrologers usually have only a small knowledge of astronomy, and often do not take into account basic principles—such as the precession of the equinoxes, which changes the position of the sun with time. They commented on the example of Élizabeth Teissier, who wrote that, "The sun ends up in the same place in the sky on the same date each year", as the basis for the idea that two people with the same birthday, but a number of years apart, should be under the same planetary influence. Charpak and Broch noted that, "There is a difference of about twenty-two thousand miles between Earth's location on any specific date in two successive years", and that thus they should not be under the same influence according to astrology. Over a 40-year period there would be a difference greater than 780,000 miles.[154]

Reception in the social sciences

The general consensus of astronomers and other natural scientists is that astrology is a pseudoscience which carries no predictive capability, with many philosophers of science considering it a "paradigm or prime example of pseudoscience."[155] Some scholars in the social sciences have cautioned against categorizing astrology, especially ancient astrology, as "just" a pseudoscience or projecting the distinction backwards into the past.[156] Thagard, while demarcating it as a pseudoscience, notes that astrology "should be judged as not pseudoscientific in classical or Renaissance times...Only when the historical and social aspects of science are neglected does it become plausible that pseudoscience is an unchanging category."[157] Historians of science such as Tamsyn Barton, Roger Beck, Francesca Rochberg, and Wouter J. Hanegraaff argue that such a wholesale description is anachronistic when applied to historical contexts, stressing that astrology was not pseudoscience before the 18th century and the importance of the discipline to the development of medieval science.[158][159][156][160][161] R. J. Hakinson writes in the context of Hellenistic astrology that "the belief in the possibility of [astrology] was, at least some of the time, the result of careful reflection on the nature and structure of the universe."[162]

Nicholas Campion, both an astrologer and academic historian of astrology, argues that Indigenous astronomy is largely used as a synonym for astrology in academia, and that modern Indian and Western astrology are better understood as modes of cultural astronomy or ethnoastronomy.[163] Roy Willis and Patrick Curry draw a distinction between propositional episteme and metaphoric metis in the ancient world, identifying astrology with the latter and noting that the central concern of astrology "is not knowledge (factual, let alone scientific) but wisdom (ethical, spiritual and pragmatic)".[164] Similarly, historian of science Justin Niermeier-Dohoney writes that astrology was "more than simply a science of prediction using the stars and comprised a vast body of beliefs, knowledge, and practices with the overarching theme of understanding the relationship between humanity and the rest of the cosmos through an interpretation of stellar, solar, lunar, and planetary movement." Scholars such as Assyriologist Matthew Rutz have begun using the term "astral knowledge" rather than astrology "to better describe a category of beliefs and practices much broader than the term 'astrology' can capture."[165][166]

Cultural impact

Western politics and society

In the West, political leaders have sometimes consulted astrologers. For example, the British intelligence agency MI5 employed Louis de Wohl as an astrologer after it was reported that Adolf Hitler used astrology to time his actions. The War Office was "...interested to know what Hitler's own astrologers would be telling him from week to week."[167] In fact, de Wohl's predictions were so inaccurate that he was soon labelled a "complete charlatan", and later evidence showed that Hitler considered astrology "complete nonsense".[168] After John Hinckley's attempted assassination of US President Ronald Reagan, first lady Nancy Reagan commissioned astrologer Joan Quigley to act as the secret White House astrologer. However, Quigley's role ended in 1988 when it became public through the memoirs of former chief of staff, Donald Regan.[169][170][171]

There was a boom in interest in astrology in the late 1960s. The sociologist Marcello Truzzi described three levels of involvement of "Astrology-believers" to account for its revived popularity in the face of scientific discrediting. He found that most astrology-believers did not think that it was a scientific explanation with predictive power. Instead, those superficially involved, knowing "next to nothing" about astrology's 'mechanics', read newspaper astrology columns, and could benefit from "tension-management of anxieties" and "a cognitive belief-system that transcends science."[172] Those at the second level usually had their horoscopes cast and sought advice and predictions. They were much younger than those at the first level, and could benefit from knowledge of the language of astrology and the resulting ability to belong to a coherent and exclusive group. Those at the third level were highly involved and usually cast horoscopes for themselves. Astrology provided this small minority of astrology-believers with a "meaningful view of their universe and [gave] them an understanding of their place in it."[b] This third group took astrology seriously, possibly as an overarching religious worldview (a sacred canopy, in Peter L. Berger's phrase), whereas the other two groups took it playfully and irreverently.[172]

In 1953, the sociologist Theodor W. Adorno conducted a study of the astrology column of a Los Angeles newspaper as part of a project examining mass culture in capitalist society.[173]: 326  Adorno believed that popular astrology, as a device, invariably leads to statements that encouraged conformity—and that astrologers who go against conformity, by discouraging performance at work etc., risk losing their jobs.[173]: 327  Adorno concluded that astrology is a large-scale manifestation of systematic irrationalism, where individuals are subtly led—through flattery and vague generalisations—to believe that the author of the column is addressing them directly.[174] Adorno drew a parallel with the phrase opium of the people, by Karl Marx, by commenting, "occultism is the metaphysic of the dopes."[173]: 329 

A 2005 Gallup poll and a 2009 survey by the Pew Research Center reported that 25% of US adults believe in astrology,[175][176] while a 2018 Pew survey found a figure of 29%.[177] According to data released in the National Science Foundation's 2014 Science and Engineering Indicators study, "Fewer Americans rejected astrology in 2012 than in recent years."[178] The NSF study noted that in 2012, "slightly more than half of Americans said that astrology was 'not at all scientific,' whereas nearly two-thirds gave this response in 2010. The comparable percentage has not been this low since 1983."[178] Astrology apps became popular in the late 2010s, some receiving millions of dollars in Silicon Valley venture capital.[179]

India and Japan

Birth (in blue) and death (in red) rates of Japan since 1950, with the sudden drop in births during hinoeuma year (1966)

In India, there is a long-established and widespread belief in astrology. It is commonly used for daily life, particularly in matters concerning marriage and career, and makes extensive use of electional, horary and karmic astrology.[180][181] Indian politics have also been influenced by astrology.[182] It is still considered a branch of the Vedanga.[183][184] In 2001, Indian scientists and politicians debated and critiqued a proposal to use state money to fund research into astrology,[185] resulting in permission for Indian universities to offer courses in Vedic astrology.[186]

In February 2011, the Bombay High Court reaffirmed astrology's standing in India when it dismissed a case that challenged its status as a science.[187]

In Japan, strong belief in astrology has led to dramatic changes in the fertility rate and the number of abortions in the years of Fire Horse. Adherents believe that women born in hinoeuma years are unmarriageable and bring bad luck to their father or husband. In 1966, the number of babies born in Japan dropped by over 25% as parents tried to avoid the stigma of having a daughter born in the hinoeuma year.[188][189]

Literature and music

Title page of John Lyly's astrological play, The Woman in the Moon, 1597

The fourteenth-century English poets John Gower and Geoffrey Chaucer both referred to astrology in their works, including Gower's Confessio Amantis and Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales.[190] Chaucer commented explicitly on astrology in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, demonstrating personal knowledge of one area, judicial astrology, with an account of how to find the ascendant or rising sign.[191]

In the fifteenth century, references to astrology, such as with similes, became "a matter of course" in English literature.[190]

Title page of Calderón de la Barca's Astrologo Fingido, Madrid, 1641

In the sixteenth century, John Lyly's 1597 play, The Woman in the Moon, is wholly motivated by astrology,[192] while Christopher Marlowe makes astrological references in his plays Doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine (both c. 1590),[192] and Sir Philip Sidney refers to astrology at least four times in his romance The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia (c. 1580).[192] Edmund Spenser uses astrology both decoratively and causally in his poetry, revealing "...unmistakably an abiding interest in the art, an interest shared by a large number of his contemporaries."[192] George Chapman's play, Byron's Conspiracy (1608), similarly uses astrology as a causal mechanism in the drama.[193] William Shakespeare's attitude towards astrology is unclear, with contradictory references in plays including King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra, and Richard II.[193] Shakespeare was familiar with astrology and made use of his knowledge of astrology in nearly every play he wrote,[193] assuming a basic familiarity with the subject in his commercial audience.[193] Outside theatre, the physician and mystic Robert Fludd practised astrology, as did the quack doctor Simon Forman.[193] In Elizabethan England, "The usual feeling about astrology ... [was] that it is the most useful of the sciences."[193]

In seventeenth century Spain, Lope de Vega, with a detailed knowledge of astronomy, wrote plays that ridicule astrology. In his pastoral romance La Arcadia (1598), it leads to absurdity; in his novela Guzman el Bravo (1624), he concludes that the stars were made for man, not man for the stars.[194] Calderón de la Barca wrote the 1641 comedy Astrologo Fingido (The Pretended Astrologer); the plot was borrowed by the French playwright Thomas Corneille for his 1651 comedy Feint Astrologue.[195]

The most famous piece of music influenced by astrology is the orchestral suite The Planets. Written by the British composer Gustav Holst (1874–1934), and first performed in 1918, the framework of The Planets is based upon the astrological symbolism of the planets.[196] Each of the seven movements of the suite is based upon a different planet, though the movements are not in the order of the planets from the Sun. The composer Colin Matthews wrote an eighth movement entitled Pluto, the Renewer, first performed in 2000, as the suite was written prior to Pluto's discovery.[197] In 1937, another British composer, Constant Lambert, wrote a ballet on astrological themes, called Horoscope.[198] In 1974, the New Zealand composer Edwin Carr wrote The Twelve Signs: An Astrological Entertainment for orchestra without strings.[199] Camille Paglia acknowledges astrology as an influence on her work of literary criticism Sexual Personae (1990).[200] The American comedian Harvey Sid Fisher is best known for his comedic songs about astrology.[201]

Astrology features strongly in Eleanor Catton's The Luminaries, recipient of the 2013 Man Booker Prize.[202]

See also

Notes

References

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  2. ^ Thagard 1978, p. 229.
  3. ^ "astrology". Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford University Press. Archived from the original on 19 July 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
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Works cited

Further reading