Essay, Research Paper: Astrology

Astrology From the dawn of civilisation, humans have looked with wonder and awe at the heavens, seeking to understand the nature of the sun moon and planets. Astrology and astronomy are sometimes confused, but they are both very different from each other. Astrology and astronomy started off as being the same as they had both developed a set of principals the originated more than 2000 years ago. But during the 1500's and 1600's several astronomers made discoveries about the heavenly bodies that conflicted with the principles of astrology. As a result astronomy and astrology became extremely different in their methods and purposes. Astrology is the study of the positions and movements of astronomical bodies, which are basically concentrated on the sun, moon, and planets. including their effects on our lies and events on earth. Astrology was studied in great detail amongst the ancient Egyptians, Hindus, Chinese, Estrucans and chaledeans of babilonia. The chaledeans are credited with the origin of astrology in a primitive form. They observed the influence of the heavenly bodies, and the important significance of the sun ruling the seasons and determining the crops, they also believed that the power that ordered a human life resided in the heavens and that it's message could be read there. Later on the spread of Christianity altered the character of astrology. The Arabs found astrology less important yet still accepted it, but to the Christians it was less acceptable, although it was frequently practised during the middle ages. In the sixteenth century astronomers like The great Nicholas Copernicus and Galileo weakened the foundations of astrology and proved that the idea of an earth centred universe was no longer valid and as astronomy became closer to
being an exact science, astrology became less acceptable. Many people throughout the world believed in astrology, these people would base very important decisions on the advice of astrologers, while others claimed that astrology had no scientific value and considered it to be merely a form of entertainment. Astrological advice and forecasts can be found in many daily newspapers, and several magazines and books are published on the subject every year. Most of this advice appears in a from known as horoscope. which was originally an elaborate chart drawn up to indicate what influences the heavenly bodies would have on the life of an individual born at a particular time. Horoscopes are drawn according to twelve birth sings. An individual's astrological horoscope is determined by the position of all the planets at the exact moment of birth. Astrologers divide a year in to twelve equal sections called the zodiac, which was originally corresponded to twelve constellations which lay around the great belt of the heavens. Each constellation was regarded as a house of a particular planet. Each planet was believed to have either a strong or weak influence on a persons life, depending on it's positions in the heavens. The divisions of the zodiac are called signs because ancient astrologers assigned descriptive names, mostly of animals, to various constellations and devised abstract symbols to fit these names, the position of the sun in one of these twelve constellations at the moment of birth determines an individuals sign. A person who is born at the time of change from one sign to another is called a cusp meaning a sharer of the qualities of both signs. No one has ever been able to prove the scientific accuracy of astrological predictions, and attempts to measure and define this skill have remained inconclusive.