Astrology is the study of the movements and positions of celestial objects as having influence on human affairs and the events on earth.
Astrology is not really a future-teller as the common belief is but it tries to define a person's character as per the position and movements of the heavenly bodies like the Sun, Moon and the planets.
Astrology as a subject is vast and horoscope is only a part of it. A horoscope is a diagram of the planetary positions at the time of an individual's birth. The interplay between these positions has an influence on the individuals life: past, present and future.
There is a lot of controversy around this topic, a number of debates are on going with regards to it's scientific acceptibility, however, astrology has an interesting trend that probably few of us know about.
Man probably started studying the sky as early as 25,000 to 10,000 B.C. Reindeer bones and tusks of mammoths of Ice age were found with carvings of phases of moon to prove this. The path of stars were recorded as early as 6000 B.C. Imhotep, the architect of the great Step pyramid of Saqqarah in Egypt casted a horoscope as early as 2767 B.C. which still exists.
In ancient societies, religion and astrology were inextricably linked. Infact many of the astrologers were the priests. Some of the important religious symbols were that of star, moon and the Sun while Sun was considered as the most powerful God by some.
Sooner or later, many of the existing faiths, had studied the sky and formed a system of astrology. The Hindus were the first to discover the 12 signs of zodiac which are followed by the West today.
The Chinese have a slightly different system of horoscope in which the signs of zodiac are represented by various animals. The Babylonian had the sky divided into 12 parts representing a month each. They worshipped the Sun, moon and Venus as these shepherds and farmers observed the relation between the cycles of the planets and the growth of their crops and food.
Jews, Greeks and Romans folowed astrology very closely. Infact, Julius Ceaser and Augustus all had personal astrologers to guide their leaderships and victories. It was with the fall of Roman Empire that astrology faded.
Nevertheless, astrology was back in 1200 A.D. It was considered a science in the Arab world and practiced widely even after its fall with the Roman Empire. In 16th Century one of the imprisoned woman facing death had her horoscope read by Dr. John Dee who told her she would not only live but become a Queen, and she was Queen Elizabeth I, Dr. Dee continued to be her adviser.
Similarly a lot of accurate predictions like the Great Fire of London have been made by astrologers. The discovery of planets Uranus, Neptune and Pluto have seen the revolution in human psychology and great progress has been made in modern therapeutics for the field of psychology.
Astrology is all about guiding an individual in a way that could be beneficial to him by providing him with the insight on the possible opportunities and ways for progress in all aspects of his life. The application of astrology helps to understand a person's life and his relation to all his fellows and the surrounding.
Scientifically, it can be argued that astrology till date can not be proven by the basic steps of scientific theory. The hypothesis can not be tested and have no reproducible results. It is based on people's feelings, exepriences, beliefs and visions perhaps. Scientific concepts can be improved on and modified by, while astrology has almost been unchanged since time immemorial.
Is there something fishy about the pieces?
Is there something fishy about the pieces?
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