Brief History of Astrology
As Above, So Below
Astrology is an ancient way of knowledge. Since the beginnings of society, humans have looked up to the stars as a source of inspiration and guidance. Over time ancient seers noticed and recorded correspondences between the movements of the heavenly bodies and the patterns of human life
on the Earth. The ancient astrological maxim was "as above, so below" which emphasized the connection between different levels, a holistic relationship between life on earth and the surrounding cosmos.
Relationship between life and the Sun, Moon and planets
Although some might now think that establishing meaningful relationships between earthly life
and the movements of the Sun, Moon, and planets is implausible, we can notice "synchronistic" correspondences between them. This was validated by the founder of depth psychology, Carl Jung, and many others in modern times. An open quest for knowledge does not dismiss any evidence, no matter what preconceptions may be thought to apply, for scientific method cannot measure everything!
Astrology as a Basic Way of Knowledge
The major tenets of Western Astrology, as practiced by modern Humanistic astrologers, in the tradition of Allen Leo, Mark Edmund
Jones, Dane Rudhyar and others, began with the codification of existing astrological knowledge by Ptolemy, near the end of the
Greek era. During the period preceding the rise of Christianity, Astrology was widely recognized as a basic way of knowledge.
With the middle ages and the supremacy of the Church in Europe and the beginning of the scientific world view, Astrology fell
into some disrepute, from which it is still struggling to re-emerge today. Even so, famous scientists such as Brahe, Kepler
and Galileo were astrologers as well as practitioners of so-called "hard" sciences. In recent times, there has been a division
into camps, with most astronomers and other scientists disregarding or ridiculing astrology, while popular revivals of shamanic traditions and perennial philosophy have been reviving a serious interest in Astrology as a tool for understanding the mysteries of one's existence.
The Humanistic Movement
After the basic principles were laid down in the pre-Christian millennium, few changes came until the modern era. With the
discovery of Uranus in 1781, the four major asteroids in the early 1800's, Neptune in 1846, Pluto in 1930 and Chiron in 1977,
new material was calling out to be integrated. The Humanistic movement in modern western Astrology came mainly as a result of
these discoveries, flowering in the latter part of this century, parallel to the rise of the humanistic movement in psychology,
and was fathered by Dane Rudhyar, philosopher, musician, and astrologer -- whose seminal work entitled The Astrology of Personality
was published in 1936.
Still today, innovation goes on, with more modern developments such as Cosmobiology, Uranian Astrology, and further explorations of the Humanistic Astrology that has shown so much promise in this latter half century.
