ASTROLOGY

ASTROLOGY . When astrology, a product of Hellenistic civilization, appeared at the end of the third century bce, its origins were ascribed to the revelations of the Egyptian god Hermes (Thoth). However, its practitioners were usually called "Chaldeans," a formula devoid of any actual historical reference to Mesopotamia. Hellenistic astrology was actually a combination of Chaldean and Egyptian astral religion and Greek astronomy and methods of computation. Even though Hellenistic astrology and the astrology of late antiquity took on the features of different local traditions when exported to India, China, or Islamic countries, their basic ingredients are, in all places, Greek science and Chaldean and Egyptian astral lore.

The actual contribution of the latter to Greek astrology is debatable, for the Chaldean and Egyptian traditions were widely divergent on some points. However, the idea of two malefic planets—Mars and Saturn—is genuinely Chaldean; genuinely Egyptian, but no older than the third century bce (although based on a more ancient doctrine of the chronokratores, the "rulers of time") is the invention of the thirty-six decans of the zodiac. The latter was called zōidiakos (from zōidion, "carved figure") by the fifth-century Greeks, after the shapes of figures that they imagined were in the heavenly constellations. One of the oldest astrological treatises, a Hellenistic compilation dating from the second century bce, is also said to be Egyptian in origin. It is attributed to the mythical Egyptian pharoah Nechepsos as well as to the priest Petosiris, who may be the same as the Petosiris whose mummy was found in a fourth-century bce tomb discovered at Eshumen in Upper Egypt.

Eudoxus of Cnidus (408–355 bce), the father of Greek astronomy, was also versed in the principles of universal and meteorological astrology. The great astronomer Hipparchus (fl. 146–127 bce) studied the correspondences of planetary signs with the people and the geographic features of the earth; he was also acquainted with astral melothesy (the study of the correspondences between the human body and planets, signs, and decans) and Hermetic astrology.

Hermetic lay astrology was concerned with the study of universal astrology (genika ), world periods and cycles (apokatastaseis ), planetary lots (klēroi ), and the horoscope of the world traced according to the position of the planets in the signs at the time the earth was formed (thema mundi ). It was also concerned with the interpretation of signs as manifested in the omens given by thunder (brontologia ) and the prognoses given at the New Year (apotelesmata ). In addition, Hermetic astrology involved the study of correspondences between astral phenomena and the human body or material objects, as in the study of individual or medical (iatrological) astrology; astrological medicine (iatromathēmatika ), based on a complicated astral melothesy; and the study of the correspondences between stars, precious stones, plants, and metals. Most of the texts of Hermetic astrology are no longer extant, but they were frequently quoted by writers of late antiquity and the Renaissance.

The development of astrology was decisively influenced by the great astronomer Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus, c. 100–178 ce), the author of the Apotelesmatika (also known as Tetrabiblos or Quadripartitum ), who made popular the pseudepigraphon Karpos, or Centiloquium. Other important astrologers of late antiquity were Vettius Valens, author of the Anthologeuon biblia (written between 152 and 188 ce), and Firmicus Maternus, who wrote the Matheseos libri VIII around 335, before he became a Christian.

After the closing of the philosophical school of Athens in 529 ce, several Greek scholars emigrated to Persia, where they were granted asylum by the emperor Khosrow I (531–579). There they translated several Greek texts, some of which were astrological treatises, into Pahlavi (Middle Persian). These treatises were later translated from Pahlavi into Arabic by Abū Maʿshar (787–886), known also as Albumasar, a scholar in the court of the caliph al-Maʾmūn of Baghdad. Many texts entered the corpus of Arabic works on astrology through Persia: the Arab Masala (c. 770–820), in his compilation of a catalog of books on astrology, listed forty-six titles of Persian provenance. By around 750 ce the Arabs had developed a considerable interest in astrology. Arabic translations of astrological texts greatly influenced the thought of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Greek astrology reached India between the first and third centuries ce, introduced possibly by a Buddhist monk. The most important Indian astrologer was the sixth-century philosopher Varāhamihira, the author of astrological treatises and of the Pañca-siddhāntikā, a work that contained what was then known of Indian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman astronomy. However, Indian astrology, despite its subsequent development and later influence, was unoriginal. Chinese astrology may have derived from Indian astrology, but it is based primarily on an impressive indigenous system of correspondences between the microcosm and macrocosm.

The role of astrology in the cultural and political life of Europe from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries is only partially known. Astrology had a prominent place in Renaissance science, but it gradually lost this position when the church disassociated itself from astrology at the end of the sixteenth century during the Reformation. Only the names of a few of the greatest astrologers of the Renaissance are still known today: Johann Müller (known as Regiomontanus), Guido Bonato of Forli, and Luca Gaurico, bishop of Civitate (Naples), who worked for Catherine de Médicis.

Some astrologers who are almost unknown today were once famous for having prophesied public events. Their predictions were associated with the theory suggesting the universal influence of Great Conjunctions of planets and signs upon religious and political matters. This theory dates to antiquity and was much discussed by the Arab thinkers al-Kindi and Abū Maʿshar. One of the best-known prophesies stated that Luther and the Reformation were the consequences of the conjunction of the superior planets Jupiter and Saturn in Scorpio during November of 1484. Interpreting this conjunction, Johann Lichtenberger predicted that a German reformer would be born who would become a monk and would have another monk as a counselor. The prediction was later rediscovered and associated with Luther (b. 1483) and Philipp Melanchthon.

During the sixteenth century, the theory of conjunctions played an important role in the works of Cyprianus von Leowitz and of the Englishman Richard Harvey. At the beginning of the seventeenth century, the theory was used by Johannes Kepler in his astrological calculations concerning a star that had appeared in 1604. On the basis of the appearance of this nova, Kepler claimed to be able to calculate the precise date of the nativity of Jesus Christ, who, because he was a great prophet, was to have been born at the time of a Great Conjunction. His birth was also to have been announced by a nova, the star of the Magi. These calculations fostered the hope that a general reformation of faith would change the deplorable conditions of contemporary humanity. This hope was also expressed by the followers of Johann Valentin Andreae (1586–1654), the author of the Rosicrucian manifestos. The dates of the last two Great Conjunctions figure importantly in the apocryphal history of the founder of the Rosicrucian order.

Astrological predictions were feared by the authorities for their possible deleterious political consequences. Astrology was often condemned or suppressed during antiquity and the Renaissance. For example, to counteract the effect of the prophecy concerning the church reformer born under the 1484 conjunction, Innocent VIII issued the bull Summis desiderantes affectibus, which had some effect on the great witch craze of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Eventually astrology was officially condemned by the church at the end of the sixteenth century, as a consequence of other disastrous predictions. However, the liberal trends at the beginning of the seventeenth century were in great measure dependent upon astrological predictions. Astrology seems to continue to exert a certain influence on the political and cultural life of modern Europe, although it is much less influential than it was during the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries.

Confutations of astrology have a common pattern, which usually consists of denying the possibility that the stars could influence human affairs. Some of these confutations are famous, such as those of Girolamo Savonarola, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, and John Calvin. Although Pico's Disputationes astrologiam adversus divinatricem was left unprinted because of his sudden death in 1494, it is very possible that this semiofficial treatise was meant to put forth the antiastrological policies of Innocent VIII and his successor, and to obtain for Pico a full pardon for his past errors and prepare the way for a high ecclesiastical career.

The Methods of Astrology

Greek astrology was based on Greek astronomy, which was abstruse and difficult to practice. This is one of the principal reasons why many of the authors of astrological treatises in antiquity and late antiquity made inadvertent mistakes in astrological formulations that were by their very nature almost impossible to apply. Another reason for the varied and even contradictory astrological systems of late antiquity was the weight of tradition. Traditionally complex numerical systems of astrology were inevitably altered in their transmission and were rarely interpreted in the same way by any two different authors. For example, the numerical systems of specific astrological tables could be interpreted in various ways: the horia (fines, termini ), or portions of a sign distributed among the five planets; the tables of hupsōmata, or "exaltations" of the planets in different signs; the tables of tapeinōmata (deiectiones ), or "depressions" of the planets; the tables of the so-called partes vacuae or vacantes, the "empty spaces" of the zodiac; and so on. Ptolemy tried to eliminate discrepancies among different traditions by replacing corrupt or unintelligible traditions with numerical series linked by logical, arithmetical operations.

Astrology superimposes two different complex systems: that of the heavens and that of the collective and individual destinies of the human beings on earth. Through the observation of the heavens (and the interpretation of those observations according to a framework of theoretical, nonobservational assumptions), these systems attempt to account for the changes within the human system, which are otherwise unpredictable, unobservable, and unsystematic. It is true that from a scientific viewpoint there is no real connection between the two systems, and thus Greek astrology has been perceived as an attempt to give mathematical justification to absurd theoretical assumptions. However, instead of emphasizing the arbitrary nature and incorrect theoretical basis of astrology, one might consider its contributions from a psychological point of view. The choice of an analogous system for human fate reflects a deep insight into the transience and singularity of human lives and human events.

Astrological systems are multiple-choice systems based on several informational operators that are capable of accounting for an almost unrestricted number of operations. This astrological "computer program" was used to store information in the memory by several mnemotechnical systems.

The first operator in the zodiac, or wheel, composed of the twelve constellations (more or less arbitrary groups of stars) through which the planets circulate. In addition to these constellations, there are several others that are not in the path of the planets; as extrazodiacal signs (paranatellonta ) that rise together with the signs of the zodiac, they can also figure in astrological computations and analyses. Beginning from the sign rising at the spring equinox, the twelve constellations are the Ram (Krios, Aries), the Bull (Tauros, Taurus), the Twins (Didumoi, Gemini), the Crab (Karkinos, Cancer), the Lion (Leōn, Leo), the Virgin (Parthenos, Virgo), the Scales (Zugos, Libra), the Scorpion (Skorpios, Scorpio), the Archer (Toxotēs, Sagittarius), the Goat (Aigokerōs, Capricorn), the Waterbearer (Hudrochoos, Aquarius), and the Fish (Ichthues, Pisces). The twelve signs of the zodiac are further grouped into triangles according to their form, sex, quality (cold, warm, wet, or dry), and the element to which they belong. Thus Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius constitute the fire triangle; Taurus, Virgo, and Capricorn, the earth triangle; Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius, the air triangle; and Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces, the water triangle.

Each of the twelve signs occupies 30 degrees of a 360-degree circle. Each sign is further divided into three decans (dekanoi) of 10 degrees each; they are sometimes divided into single degrees (monomoiriai). To each sign are assigned constant features according to its element, quality, sex, shape, and position. The zodiac revolves on an ideal plane divided into topoi ("places" or "houses"). There are two systems of topoi: (1) a system of eight houses (oktōtopos ), which is described only by Marcus Manilius and Firmicus Maternus, and (2) a more general system of twelve houses (dōdekatopos ). The twelve houses are life (vita ), wealth (lucrum ), brothers and sisters (fratres), parents (parentes), sons (filii), health (valetudo ), marriage (nuptiae ), death (mors ), travels (peregrinationes ), honors (honores ), friends (amici ), and enemies (inimici). According to a medieval mnemonic couplet, these are

Vita, lucrum, fratres, genitor, nati, valetudo Uxor, mors, pietas, regnum benefactaque, carcer.

The revolution of the zodiac within the houses makes possible many significant combinations; however, the great variability of the system is due to the movements of the planets. According to the geocentric system, there are seven "planets," arranged according to their distance from the earth and by the length of their respective revolutions: the moon, Mercury, Venus, the sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. These were further classified according to sex and quality. Mars and Saturn were specifically designated as "malefics," a feature inherited from Babylonian astrology.

Ptolemy stated that the planets have two kinds of "aspects": (1) the aspect determined both by their positions in the zodiac and by their positions relative to one another and (2) the aspect determined only by their positions relative to one another. The most important position of the first aspect is the so-called idioprosōpos, the position of a planet when it is located at the same circular distance from the sun and moon that its domicile is from the domiciles of the sun and moon. The domiciles (oikoi) are the signs ruled by each planet. The sun and moon each rule only one sign, Leo and Cancer, respectively; the other planets each rule two signs. Mercury rules Gemini and Virgo; Venus, Taurus and Libra; Mars, Aries and Scorpio; Jupiter, Sagittarius and Pisces; and Saturn, Capricorn and Aquarius. In addition to the domiciles, each planet has an "exaltation" at a special place in one sign, and a "depression" (or "exile") in another.

Of the second kind of aspect, Ptolemy cites only two positions: the sunaphē, "contact," or kollēēsis, "sticking" (Lat., contactus, coniunctio, applicatio, or glutinatio ), positions that occur when two planets meet on the same meridian. The conjunction is followed by a separation or aporroia (Lat., defluxio ). Several other positions were successively added to these two, but they were not based on the relative positions of planets but on their aktinobolia (emissio radiorum ), or power to emit rays. When these rays meet under certain conditions they form "figures" (schēmata ), called adspectus in Latin because of the way the planets are "looking" (adspicio ) at one another. The term aktinobolia itself was usually employed to indicate a negative aspect in which a planet could be "blocked" or "sieged" (Gr., perischesis or emperischesis ; Lat., detentio or obsidio, etc.). While conjunction with the malefic planets is usually maleficent, there are two aspects that are always benefic (120° and 60°) and two others (opposition, or 180°, and square, or 90°) that are always negative.

Signs, decans, and planets are said to rule both the zones of the earth and the human body. The correspondences between them are classified according to astrological chorography, or the distribution of the sidereal influences of the oikoumenē, and melothesy, or the doctrine of the correspondences between stars and the human body. There are three kinds of melothesy, which consider the influence of the signs, decans, or planets respectively. The seven planets are ascribed correspondences with metals, stones, plants, and animals. These are used in astrological medicine, or iatromathēmatikē, a complicated science of ascribing drugs or other remedies according to the momentary position and influence of the planets, especially the moon.

Astrological predictions are of two kinds: (1) general or catholic (katholikos, "universal") predictions, which are based on portentous events such as eclipses, comets, meteors, Great Conjunctions, the aurora borealis, and so on; and (2) particular, or genethliac, predictions, which are concerned with the position and influence of the stars at one's birth. The astrologer draws a "birth theme" (Lat., thema, or diathema tēs geneseōs ; Lat., constellatio ) by determining first the hōroskopos (Lat., ascendens ), or "indicator," of the sign or planet rising at the eastern horizon at the precise moment of the client's birth. After the ascendant, three other points are determined on the zodiac: the zenith (Gr., mesouranēma ; Lat., medium coelum ), the nadir (Gr., antimesouranēma or hupogeion ; Lat., imum caelum ), and the western horizon (Gr., dusis ; Lat., occasus ).

The meridian line is not perpendicular to the horizon line, and thus the problem of the "ascensions" (anaphorai) of each sign is not a simple one; their oblique ascension, according to the real inclination of the zodiac, has to be translated on the equatorial plane, and their angular speed depends on the latitude of the geographic location where the calculations are made. During antiquity, tables were drawn for "seven climates" or latitudes. The astrologer is supposed to calculate with accuracy the ascensions of the signs and planets, and to exhaust, on a birth theme, all possible combinations of the constituents of the system.

See Also

Divination; Occultism; Sky, article on The Heavens as Hierophany.

Bibliography

The best work on Greek and Roman astrology is Auguste Bouché-Leclercq's L'astrologie grecque (Paris, 1899). It should be supplemented now with Wilhelm Gundel and Hans Georg Gundel's Astrologumena: Die astrologische Literatur in der Antike und ihre Geschichte, "Sudhoffs Archiv," no. 6 (Wiesbaden, 1966). The latter also contains valuable information on the history of astrology outside Greece and Rome. An excellent popular work on astrology is Wilhelm Gundel's Sternglaube, Sternreligion und Sternorakel: Aus der Geschichte der Astrologie, 2d ed. (Heidelberg, 1959). Another valuable popular work is Franz Johannes Boll and Carl Bezold's Sternglaube und Sterndeutung: Die Geschichte und das Wesen der Astrologie, edited by Wilhelm Gundel (Leipzig, 1926).

Numerous original Greek astrological works have been collected in the Catalogus codicum astrologorum graecorum, edited by Franz Cumont and Franz Johannes Boll (Brussels, 1898–).

There is no catalog of Renaissance works on astrology. Some general information is provided in Wayne Shumaker's The Occult Sciences in the Renaissance (Berkeley, 1972). Some details on Renaissance astrology are found in Will-Erich Peuckert's Astrologie (Stuttgart, 1960).

Information on Renaissance astrology can also be found in the writings of little-known astrologers such as Richard Argentine, Lucio Bellanti, Petrus Buccius, Joachim Camerarius, Johann Clario, A. Couillard, Claude Dariot, L. Digges, John Eschuid, Oger Ferrier of Toulouse, Thomas Finck, Oronce Fine, Giovanni Maria Fiornovelli, Jacques Fontaine, Marcus Frytschius, Alonso de Fuentes, W. Fulke, Giovanni Paolo Gallucci, Jean Ganivet, J. Garcaeus, A. P. Gasser, Francesco Giuntini, Bernardo de Granollachs of Barcelona, Joseph Grünbeck, J. Guido, A Guillermin, Richard Harvey, Jacob Koebel, Edmond Le Maistre, Cyprianus von Leowitz, Johann Lichtenberger, R. Lindenberg, G. Marstallerus, Giacomo Marzari, Antoine Mizauld, Sebastian Münster, V. Nabod, Paolo Nicoletto of Venice, Augustinus Niphus, Caspar Peucer, Alessandro Piccolomini, Annibale Raimondo, Henricus Rantzovius (governor of Holstein and owner of a 7,000-volume library), Gregorius Reisch, J. F. Ringelbergius of Anvers, Cornelius Scepperus, Johann Schöner, Jac. Schonheintsz, Joh. Stadius, Joh. Taisnier, Georg Taunstetter-Collimitus, Johannes Virdung of Hasfurt, et al.

For works discussing theories of Great Conjunctions, see Abū Maʿshar's De Magnis Conjunctionibus Annorum revolutionibus ac eorum perfectionibus octo continens tractatus (Venice, 1515), Johann Lichtenberger's Prognosticatio Latina Anno LXXXIII/1483 ad magnam coniunctionem Saturni et Jovis quae fuit anno LXXXIIII/1484 ac eclipsis solis anni sequentis sc. LXXXV/1485 confecta ac nunc de nouo emendata (Moguntiae, 1492); Cyprianus von Leowitz's De Conjunctionibus magnis insignibus superiorum planetarum, Solis defectionibus et Cometis (1564); and Richard Harvey's An Astrological Discourse upon the great and notable Conjunction of the two superior planets, Saturn and Jupiter, which shall happen the 28th day of April, 1583 (London, 1583).

Ioan Petru Culianu (1987)