Astrology is unique.
It's the only science -- or art, if you prefer -- that millions of scientists claim has no validity, and therefore has no scientific basis. It's the only way of thinking that people believe in without knowing anything about it, while others disbelieve it, knowing the same amount. It's also the only subject that everyone once universally accepted, but later labeled "occultism."
How did this last change take place? Well, for hundreds of years, people were under the influence of the planets and stars, and they knew it. There were some people called astrologers who knew even more about it, and who gave "horoscopes," or profiles and predictions of the probable future, to kingdoms and their highest leaders. Later, in Greece, these horoscopes became personalized; that is, astrologers gave them to individuals.
At this time there were astronomers as well as astrologers, but usually, if someone was one of these, he was also the other. The roots for these words, incidentally, are as follows: "Astro-" has to do with space and heavenly bodies, "-logy" comes from "logos" meaning divine law, and "-nomy" comes from "nomos" meaning human made law. As it turns out, the followers of both of these subjects think that the other is an offspring of their own. The truth remains, however, that they first developed and coexisted as one.
Unfortunately, there was a rather large mistaken belief held by those who studied both subject matters; they all thought that all of the planets, stars, and sun orbited the Earth. This made for some pretty wild astronomical theories, such as a complete chart of the planets' movements, suggesting that Mercury and Venus sometimes just stop moving and go the opposite way when entering "Retrograde." Astrological theories, however, were turning out to be remarkably accurate, and could be proved when the predicted events happened, whereas the "freelance planet" hypothesis could not be disproved for centuries.
Johannes Kepler was the one who first discovered the correct shape of the planets' orbits. He realized what he had discovered, and "theorized," or so he thought, that if the earth and the other planets revolved around the sun, then astrology might not work. However, he kept quiet about his discovery, knowing that people wouldn't like to hear that their entire belief system might be wrong. But the crashing blow came in the 16th century, when Nicolaus Copernicus worked this out in detail over thirty years, and published a book about it. In this book, he tried to say that astrology had no validity.
Please don't misunderstand the tone of these words. Copernicus's thinking on this was, in fact, potentially logical; since the earth had been "demoted" from the center of the universe to just another planet, it was possible to believe that other planets wouldn't now have any effect on us. But what he failed to think about, along with many others in that time, was one simple fact. Astrology worked. It had worked, and had been working for many centuries. Even with the false knowledge that all of the heavens revolved around the earth, astrologers had predicted events that had come true as forseen. Isaac Newton knew this. While some astronomers try to say that Newton further verified Kepler, and astrology subsequently started to lose ground, there is a very famous quote that proves otherwise. Newton was once speaking with Edmund Halley who said, "I don't believe in astrology!" To this, Mr. Newton replied simply, "I have studied the subject, sir. You have not."
However, not everyone was as enlightened as the Father of Modern Science. Over the next three hundred years, astronomers convinced the public at large that because we revolved around the sun, of course the other planets could not influence human lives. This is how astrology became known as "occultism," because those who did believe in it, still a very large number of people, now believed in a silly, old school fortune-telling pseudo-science that had no real world value other than entertainment. Astronomy, during this time, began to flourish, now finally having room to grow. It began to consist of complex metaphysics of time, space, and motion that most logical, rational minded people couldn't even comprehend, let alone talk about or discuss.
Though a few newspapers had horoscopes and people sometimes talked about the subject, many people thought that astrology had indeed been proven false, and no one ever really thought about it. Fortunately for astrology, in 1930, a London newspaper, in a story about Princess Margaret's birth, Elisabeth's younger sister, also printed her horoscope, and interest in the subject began to return. Then, fifteen years later, two scientists named Burke and Franklin made an astounding discovery. They found that there were very distinct long and short radio waves coming to Earth from the planet Jupiter. As they looked into this further, they found that, in fact, there were radio-like transmissions being "broadcast" from all of the planets, as well as the sun and each planets' natural satellites. This, they saw, might be used as proof that heavenly bodies do affect us. Several years later, a scientist named Michel Gauquelin was inspired by this finding and started his own research, which shall be explored further later.
When the word "astrologer" is put through a computer thesaurus, it provides the following synonyms: "fortune-teller, diviner, oracle, prophet, soothsayer, seer, and mystic." This is how many people think of astrology, as a bunch of imaginary balderdash that can do nothing but confuse and disillusion people. But, as Grant Lewi, author of Astrology for the Millions writes, he doesn't know of anyone who has looked into it, studied it, and then said that they don't believe in it. Dr. Richard Garnett, one-time curator of the British Museum, said that it was a mistake to confuse astrology with fortune-telling, and maintained that it was a "physical science just as much as geology?" and grossly misinterpreted by being connected to magic. (Note: Well... we'll let this one go...)
Astrology has played very different roles in different societies. Many of the major religions, such as Christianity, Judaism, and the Muslim religion, have claimed that it goes against the basic beliefs of their theologies, and therefore have found it evil. Of course, one thing not taken into account by people of these faiths is that traces of astrology are at the heart of their own belief systems. The three wise men, for example, were Pagan magi, some of the first historical users of applied astrology. Other countries base their entire societies upon it, letting it guide everything from gardening to marriage.
Michel Gauquelin, whom I mentioned earlier, set out to give astrology some legitimacy in the eyes of critics. He did this by looking at the birth charts, or maps of the planets locations at the time of birth, for many successful people of the same profession -- he first picked sportsmen -- to look for similarities in the positions of the planets. What he found amazed him. He discovered that for all those he looked at, the planet Mars was in one of four distinct places in the sky. These "zones" -- later called the "Gauquelin zones" -- refer to when a planet has just risen, when it is at its peak in the sky, when it is setting, and when it is directly beneath the person at the time of their birth. When Mars was in one of the first two zones, he discovered, the athlete was more successful, and the planet had affected the person more, so to speak. He called all of this the "Mars effect," and found it present in 1,550 successful athletic competitors. He submitted this information to the Belgian Comit� Para, a scientific organization. They observed the Mars effect at work in 535 more sports champions, and conceded that this could not statistically be mere coincidence. After Gauquelin did much more research and found the same kind of effect in Jupiter with actors, Saturn with scientists, and the moon with writers, people who knew about it really started to consider his position.
Astrology, as a study, is very useful because one does not need to be a genius to understand it well. Also, if someone looks into it, it can truly help that person in his or her daily life. One of the most basic components of astrology is the birth sign. Your birth sign refers to one of the twelve zodiacal constellations which the sun "occupied" at your time of birth. When we say that the sun occupies a constellation, we actually mean that from the earth's perspective at that time of the year, we see that constellation behind the sun. As we revolve around the sun, we see a different constellation behind it, and 30 days later another, and so on throughout the year. It has been observed for thousands of years that a person practically invariably has the personality of their birth sign. Each person's basic personality is clearly influenced by their birth sign, and is also affected by their individual rising signs and moon signs, as well as all of the other individual planets.
The personalities of the different sun signs are briefly as follows. People under Aries the ram are pioneers, leaders, and competitors. People born under Taurus the bull are earthy, stable, and practical. Those born under Gemini, the twins, are often dual, lively, and versatile. People born under Cancer the crab are protective and traditional. Lions born under Leo are dramatic, flamboyant, and warm. Those born under the sign of Virgo are conscientious and analytical. Libras of the scales are refined, fair, and sociable. Scorpios are intense, secretive, and ambitious. Those born under Sagittarius the archer are usually friendly and expansive. Capricorns, or goats, are often cautious and materialistic. Waterbearers of Aquarius are inquisitive and unpredictable. And those born under the sign of the fish, Pisces, are responsive, dependent, and fanciful.
But astrology has sides relating to everyday matters, too. The moon plays an integral role in our lives. For example, who hasn't felt the effects of a full moon on the emotions of himself and people he meets that day? It's much easier to see how the moon would influence us, because it actually does revolve around us, and effects such things as the tides. Since our bodies are 85% water, one may draw a natural conclusion that we are affected by it, but to understand how the moon effects us, we must once again turn to the zodiac. As the sun revolves around us, and we revolve around the sun, a certain zodiacal constellation -- as with the sun -- can be seen behind the moon. For example, if you look on a certain night, you'll be able to see the sign Leo behind the moon. That constellation will stay behind the moon as the earth revolves, and we see everything going across the sky. But if you look a couple of days later, the moon will be in front of Virgo, because the moon has now moved to that position, from our perspective. When the moon is in a sign, our emotions are slightly affected to be a little more like someone of that sign. This alteration is very subtle, but it's there. For example, when the moon is in Leo, everyone yearns more for love and attention, and is annoyed if he or she doesn't get it. As mentioned earlier, the sign the moon is in on your birthday determines your general emotions for life.
Astrology, contrary to what many astronomers would have you believe, has validity as a science, and, whether we realize it or not, influences our lives more than we think. If we learn to work with it, our lives can be better and fuller because of it.