Most people’s first exposure to astrology is through reading their horoscope in a newspaper or magazine (or now days online) that will that tell a person what their week should be like based soley on their sun sign. While some astrologers today may get frustrated at the simplicity of sun sign astrology, it has helped to revitalize astrology to what it has become today. By the end of the 1800s, astrology in the western world was close to its extinction. This was mostly because of widespread Christianity and their fear of any kind of “magic” or competing belief systems. The biggest objection to the astrology of the time period was the idea that people lacked free will and their lives were predetermined.
The Resurgence of Astrology and How it became Modern
Alan Leo is the man who is said to be the father of modern astrology because of his sun sign astrology column that was the first to appear in a newspaper. Astrology was suddenly reaching the masses. Another person who deserves credit for re-popularizing astrology would be Carl Jung, a psychologist who helped to re-legitimize astrology because of his scientific background. He changed how astrology functioned compared to how it was used in ancient times, by using astrology to describe the inner personality and psychology of a person. He used the planets to describe the personality traits a person has and to get a better look into the minds and temperaments of his clients. At this point in time, people in western societies lacked access to most ancient astrological texts, so they did the best that they could do to preserve the tradition.
During the 1960s, astrology had a huge resurgence and book sales were off the charts! Many people were fascinated with this ability to learn more about themselves and how they operated and related to others. It has been said that these books may have oversimplified astrology, however it was these simplifications that allowed for people to start do-it-yourself astrology, which was another thing that made astrology appeal to the masses. Most the astrology books of this time period simplified the house meanings by equating them with the sign meanings (where houses 1 to 12 have the same meanings as signs Aries through Pisces, in that order).
Modern astrology also does not really factor in planetary dignities, or whether or not a planet is in a favorable sign or position in the chart, and instead claim that all the planets in signs are equally favorable. The most notable difference in modern astrology is the change in rulers of the signs Aquarius, Pisces, and Scorpio. They were given to the planets that were discovered only after the invention of the telescope. With their incorporation into astrology, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars each lost rulership of one of their planets in the modern astrology scheme.
The History of Traditional Western Tropical Astrology
The earliest evidence of a written system of astrology is dated to the 2nd millenium BCE in ancient Mesopotamia, which is currently the Middle East. At its beginning, astrology was only used in its mundane form: to determine events like when to plant crops, when natural disasters would occur, and for predicting the outcomes of wars between empires. Astrology only started being used for individual people (natal astrology) in the 6th century BCE. It was only the leaders and the very wealthy who could afford to have their birth charts read by astrologers.
Over the millenia, Astrology would prove to survive when empires did not. With each new culture that it spread to, all the astrological concepts had to be translated and with the translations some meanings would be slightly altered. Those same concepts would also be adapted to the local cultural beliefs and traditions. Trade among different civilizations was also commonplace during this time period and with it was the mass spread of information.
Ancient Egypt
In 525 BCE the Mesopotamians overtook Egypt and also brought astrology to the region, where it began to take on Egyptian influence. They started using decans to split the zodiac signs into 3 sections that each had a secondary planetary ruler. Egypt was again conquered in 332 BCE, this time by the Greek Empire. The greeks acquired all of the Egyptian knowledge including astrology, and they began to make it their own, beginning the Hellenistic period of astrology. The Greek Empire lasted until 146 BCE and expanded most of Europe. They spread the use of astrology across its entire civilization and to others.
The Roman empire (27 BCE–476 AD) then inherited the land previously controlled by the Greeks and continued using and developing astrological concepts and spreading astrology throughout their entire empire. Astrology flourished until the Western Empire fell into the ‘Dark Ages’ partially because of natural disasters, pandemics, and the Germanic Barbarians. Astrology would be lost in this part of the world until the dawning of the Renaissance Period.
The eastern part of the Roman empire remained a power through the Middle Ages until 1453 AD, although historians often refer to the Eastern Roman Empire as the Byzantine Empire. Astrological knowledge was traded between the Arabs, the Persians, and the Indians. With the Renaissance period, astrology in the West returned. It was tied to astronomy and was taught to many scientists. Medical astrology flourished and surgeries were routinely scheduled according to planetary alignments. By the end of the 17th century, astrology in the west was again in decline due to the rise of Christianity and their condemnation of many things including astrology. Almost all western astrological texts were destroyed.
Vedic Sidereal Astrology
The original astrology from Mesopotamia had also spread to India, around the time that it spread to Egypt. In India they use the sidereal zodiac, meaning that they read the position of the zodiac by the actual placement of the constellations as they occur in the sky today. In contrast, Western tropical astrology fixes the zodiac by the equinoxes, where the first day of spring (the first day when their is more light than dark) marked the beginning of the sun being in Aries. Around 2000 years ago the two zodiacs would have aligned but have drifted apart due to a phenomenon call the procession of the equinoxes. Essentially because of the tilt of the earth gradually shifting over time, the stars in the sky appear to have drifted backwards. This drift happens at a rate of roughly 1 degree every 72 years.
Vedic astrology has been mostly preserved from its traditional roots, having been passed down from master to master over time. It is very much focused on making specific predictions and is also used to determine arranged marriages. The style of the birth chart is different, taking the form of a square or rectangle (see image below). They also rely heavily upon the use of 27 (28 in some older traditions) different Nakshatras, or lunar mansions of the moon (somewhat similar to Egyptian decans). The Vedic zodiac is currently 24 degrees behind the Tropical zodiac which means that your birth chart will be very different between the two systems.
Other Ancient Forms of Astrology
Ancient civilizations across the globe have studied the stars and used them to bring meaning to their lives. The Chinese have their own form of astrology and have what is thought to be the oldest preserved star map dating back to 700 AD. In Mesoamerica the Mayans, the Aztecs, and the Incas studied the stars and have built incredible temples (including the largest temple in the world in Cholula, Mexico) that lined up with astronomical events like the equinoxes. The Mayans also developed a very sophisticated circular calendar that notably “ended” in 2012, or signified the beginning of a new cycle (perhaps the Age of Aquarius?). The ancient Polynesians also used the stars for navigation between islands.
A Traditional Time Capsule
In 1993 a group formed called Project Hindsight who began translating many ancient texts found in Egypt from the Hellenistic time period into English. Through translating these documents, they have helped to fill in a lot of the holes in our understanding of Hellenistic astrology. They uncovered what is called the Thema Mundi, a diagram that helps to explain planetary rulerships and the nature of each of the aspects. When aspecting the luminaries Venus makes a sextile, Mars makes a Square, Jupiter makes a trine, and Saturn makes an opposition. There have also been some ancient timing techniques that had otherwise been lost like Zodiacal Releasing.
How to Decide what works for You
It can be extremely difficult to navigate the astrological community. You will constantly find conflicting information and different people will speak with certainty that their kind of astrology is the correct one. So how do you decide? My quick and easy answer would be to follow what I teach, however that answer is a little too easy. You have to stick with what feel right for you. Always follow what resinates with you in your gut. Find astrologers that you respect and always at least be open to what they believe. Stay humble in your learning journey and always be respectful to what other astrologers believe.
Modern astrology tends to focus on the psychology of a person and their personality. The birth chart is more so their point of view in life or their subjective experience and less so about the external world. There is implied free will among individuals. There is also less doom and gloom as there are no inherently doomed charts. The planets are meant to describe personality traits and Mars and Saturn do not carry malefic intents or manifestations. Other things that belong to modern astrology are the use of asteroids, midpoints, and minor aspects.
There has been a recent huge resurgence of people studying Hellenistic astrology and bringing some of these ancient techniques back into frequent use. One of my favorite thing about using traditional planetary rulers is the beautiful symmetry that you get in that each planet has a female and a male expression. It helps you understand the ‘other side’ of those otherwise one sided planets. Saturn becomes rebellious in his masculine form in Aquarius, Jupiter is spiritual expansion in feminine Pisces, and Mars in Scorpio is the feminine expression of anger and action (which can lay deeper and beneath the surface).
There are not many astrologers, however, who are championing the idea of continuing to ignore the outer planets. That means that there cannot be purely “traditional astrologers” these days. And by observation, the outer planets are VERY influential by transits and tend to describe collective subconscious energy. Also when the 3 outermost planets conjunct a personal planet they become personalized through the other planet. Read my article here about sun or moon conjunct an outer planet.
Fate vs Freewill
As for the question of fate vs freewill, I think the answer is a beautiful marriage of the two. I see this as being analogous to the ocean: fate is the waves that can come and can kill you. Astrology can be a tool that helps you navigate how to swim or surf those waves. Learning your lessons in life so that you don’t have to keep repeating those same lessons will help a lot too. When you accept the universe and that it is trying to help; when you can humble yourself enough to accept that help; you will be on a path to bettering yourself and actually liking yourself. This will allow you to be happy and get out of your own way of the things that you want. We cannot stop fate but we can learn to harness its power by respecting it.