It’s a question many people ask: Is astrology true? Is astrology real? Or is it just for fun?
To explore the question, it is important to understand that Astrology has been around for a very long time, even longer than Christianity.
For thousands of years, the skies were studied for events that would affect human lives. The idea at the heart of astrology is that complex patterns of the sky correspond to the complex patterns of life and that yours begins at the moment you were born.
How does the human story tie into the stars?
At night before there were light bulbs, clocks, and calendars, humans would have lain awake at night looking at the sky. As humans do, we would have started to pick out patterns. Not only in terms of shapes, but also in terms of repeated occurrences.
The sun and moon were obviously the most obvious occurrences. But, inevitably we would have associated stars being in certain parts of the sky with important seasonal changes: when this pattern of stars in here, droughts occur, when the stars are here: heavy rains, etc.
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If the stars can predict changes in our environment what else do they predict? Ancient thinkers and observers would have paid attention to this for our very survival.
According to scholar Benson Bobrick,
“It is an applied science, insofar as it is based on astronomy; an exact science, insofar as its judgements are based on mathematical calculations; and an empirical science, insofar as its deductions are based on data gathered over the course of time.” The Fated Sky, Astrology in History
The things that stuck were the mythology behind the stars and the patterns. This is critical to understanding the real importance of astrology. Stories and myths help humanity understand ourselves and those around us better. Not do those stories only play a strong role in history, they continue to play a strong role today. We see archetypes and story plots in our books, movies, and TV shows. These archetypes have become embedded in our culture and our collective unconscious.
These stories can show us our potential power just as much as help us avoid common human pitfalls. Astrologers believe that we are not necessarily doomed to make the same mistakes over and over. They believe astrology can help us avoid making the same historical mistakes and help us become better more well-rounded, balanced people.
Five important lights in the sky
But inevitably they would have seen that a few stars – five of them – moved independently from the rest of the universe. They may have been brighter or different colors. When we look up at the sky today, they are still there: five stars that appear to have their own agenda. They each move at different speeds and in different directions.
Humans are essentially magical thinkers. We need to ascribe meaning even to those things we can’t possibly understand. It is not much of a leap to look at those five stars and see them as being important and powerful and without any other knowledge believe that perhaps they have much more power over our world than we know.
The Planets as Gods
Unless you study the night sky or astronomy you might not know that the planets move independently to the background of the rest of the stars that we see in our Universe.
The ancients believed this meant they were powerful gods, that, although were larger than life, had the same kind of inclinations that humans do. They believed that the patterns of movement and location of these events in the sky were synchronized with life forces and explained much that happened on earth.
Those gods would have developed an affinity with or been influenced by whatever sign that happened to be in the time. Combined with the sun and moon, these patterns and events would help explain the various moods and shifts that occurred.
What are those five perceived independent lights in the sky? The planets. Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Astrology is the origin of science itself
From astrology came astronomy, the calculation of time, mathematics, medicine, botany, modern chemistry, and so on. Its terms are found in our language, even the pharmaceutical ℞ symbol is derived from the Roman God Jupiter who was based on an Egyptian god who was said to have magical healing powers.
We can trace Christianity back to its origins but the traces of astrology are so old we’re not sure how the signs began. But the stories and ideas that arose are essentially human and have over time been entrenched in our cultural history, language, and attitudes. Carl Jung was a famous and influential psychologist who died in the 20th century wrote a lot about archetypes and the collective unconscious and how it relates to us psychologically.
Today modern astrologers believe the planets signify basic drives, unconscious impulses, or moderators of energy that signify aspects of human experience.
Birth Charts show us hidden areas of our lives
Whether or not that you believe that you are talkative because you are a Gemini or honest to a fault because you are Sagittarius, astrology essentially is and has always been about interpretation. Looking at your birth chart as a whole allows you see explore potential areas you might nurture and develop that you may not otherwise see. It is a starting point to understand yourself, and those around you.
Create your own personalized astrology chart
Create your own birth chart to see what signs the planets were in at your time of birth. Check out our Birth Chart and Interpretation page.