Editing Astrology (section)

== History ==
{{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]]

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"/> ''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]].

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-2010"/> 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="Pingree-2025"/>

=== Ancient world ===

==== Ancient applications ====

{{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-1991">{{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-1991"/> 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>{{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>{{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>

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-1988">{{cite journal | title=Elements of the Babylonian Contribution to Hellenistic Astrology | last=Rochberg-Halton |first=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-1988"/>

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]].<ref>{{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 |pages=3, 4}}</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"/>

==== Ancient objections ====

[[File:M. Tullius Cicero, Capitoline Museum, Rome.jpg|thumb|upright|The Roman orator [[Cicero]] objected to astrology.]]

The [[Hellenistic philosophy|Hellenistic]] schools of [[philosophical skepticism]] criticized astrology, alongside all other beliefs.<ref>Diogenes Laërtius 9:80–88</ref> Criticism of astrology by [[Academic skepticism|academic skeptics]] such as [[Carneades]],{{sfn|Hughes|2004|p=87}} [[Cicero]],{{sfn|Fernandez-Beanato|2020}} and [[Favorinus]];{{sfn|Long|2005|page=184}} [[Pyrrhonism|Pyrrhonists]] such as [[Sextus Empiricus]];{{sfn|Long|2005|page=186}} and [[neoplatonist]]s such as [[Plotinus]],<ref>{{cite book | last=Long | first=A. A. | title=Science and Speculation. Studies in Hellenistic Theory and Practice | publisher=Cambridge University Press | year=2005 |<!--165–191-->page=174 |editor1=Barnes, Jonathan |editor2=Brunschwig, J. | chapter=6: Astrology: arguments pro and contra |isbn=978-0-521-02218-7}}</ref>{{sfn|Long|2005|page=174}} 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.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hughes |first=Richard |title=Lament, Death, and Destiny |publisher=[[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]] |year=2004 |page=87}}</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]].{{sfn|Fernandez-Beanato|2020}} The philosopher of science [[Massimo Pigliucci]], building on the work of the 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>{{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}} The historian Stefano Rapisarda notes that the text is formally "equally balanced between ''pro'' and ''contra'', and no final or definite answer is given."<ref>{{cite book |last=Rapisarda |first=Stefano |title=Prognostication in the Medieval World |chapter=Traditions and Practices in the Medieval Western Christian World |publisher=De Gruyter |date=2020-11-09 |isbn=978-3-11-049977-3 |doi=10.1515/9783110499773-021 |pages=429–445}}</ref>

[[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, and equally absurd that small motions in the heavens cause large changes in people's fates.{{sfn|Long|2005|page=184}}

[[Sextus Empiricus]] argued that it was absurd to link human attributes with myths about the signs of the zodiac, 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'').{{sfn|Long|2005|page=186}}

[[Plotinus]], a [[neoplatonist]], had a lasting interest in astrology, including the question of how the world of humans could be affected by the stars, and (if so) whether astrology could predict events on Earth.<ref>{{cite book |last=Adamson |first=Peter |title=Oxford Studies In Ancient Philosophy |chapter=Plotinus On Astrology |publisher=Oxford University PressOxford |date=6 November 2008 |isbn=978-0-19-955779-0 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780199557790.003.0009 |pages=265–292}}</ref> He 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}}

=== Hellenistic Egypt ===

{{Main|Hellenistic astrology}}

[[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]]
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.<ref>{{cite book | last=Barton | first= Tamsyn | title=Ancient Astrology | year=1994 | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-0-415-11029-7 |page=24}}</ref>

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]].<ref>{{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 |pages=11–13}}</ref> 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."<ref>{{cite book | editor-last=Robbins | editor-first=Frank E. | title=Ptolemy Tetrabiblos | year=1940 | publisher=Harvard University Press (Loeb Classical Library) | isbn=978-0-674-99479-9 | url-access=registration | url=https://archive.org/details/tetrabiblos0000ptol |page=xii "Introduction"}}</ref>

=== Greece and Rome ===

The conquest of [[Asia]] by [[Alexander the Great]] exposed the Greeks to ideas from [[Syria]], Babylon, Persia and central Asia.<ref>{{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 |p=173}}</ref> 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]].{{sfn|Barton|1994|p=32}}

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,{{sfn|Barton|1994|p=32–33}} who were described as Babylonian 'star-gazers'.{{sfn|Campion|2008|pp=227–228}} 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.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parker |first1=Derek |last2=Parker |first2=Julia |title=A History of Astrology | year=1983 |publisher=Deutsch |isbn=978-0-233-97576-4 |page=16}}</ref> 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>

One of the first astrologers to bring [[Hermetic astrology]] to Rome was [[Thrasyllus of Mendes|Thrasyllus]], astrologer to the [[emperor]] [[Tiberius]],{{sfn|Barton|1994|p=32}} the first emperor to have had a court astrologer,{{sfn|Barton|1994|p=43}} though his predecessor [[Augustus]] had used astrology to help legitimise his [[Imperialism|Imperial]] rights.{{sfn|Barton|1994|p=63}}

=== Medieval world ===

==== Hindu ====
{{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}}.
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.

==== Islamic ====
{{main|Astrology in medieval Islam}}

[[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]]

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>{{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>{{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>{{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 |last=North |first=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-1997">{{cite journal |title=Dante's Christian Astrology. by Richard Kay. Review |last=Durling |first=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-1997"/> 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><ref>{{cite book |last=Wedel |first=Theodore Otto |chapter=Astrology in Gower and Chaucer |pages=132–156 |title=The Medieval Attitude Toward Astrology: Particularly in England |url=https://archive.org/stream/medivalattitud00wede |url-access=registration |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1920}}</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>{{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>{{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''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Veenstra |first=J. R. |title=Magic and Divination at the Courts of Burgundy and France: Text and Context of Laurens Pignon's 'Contre les Devineurs' (1411) |publisher=Brill  |year=1997 |isbn=978-90-04-10925-4 |pp=5, 32, passim}}</ref> 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 |last=Martin |first=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>{{cite book | last=Campion | first=Nicholas | title=An Introduction to the History of Astrology | publisher=ISCWA | year=1982 |isbn=978-0-9508412-0-5 |page=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>{{cite book | title=The Jewel House. Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution | publisher=Yale University Press |last=Harkness |first=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="Harkness-2007">{{cite book | title=The Jewel House. Elizabethan London and the Scientific Revolution | publisher=Yale University Press |last=Harkness |first=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="Harkness-2007"/><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>{{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-2001">{{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-2006">{{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-2001"/> The [[Anglo-Irish]] [[satire|satirist]] [[Jonathan Swift]] ridiculed the [[Whiggism|Whig]] political astrologer [[John Partridge (astrologer)|John Partridge]].<ref name="Porter-2001"/>

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>{{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>