Astrology:
Roots & Branches

When ancient Middle Eastern nomads first settled into agricultural communities around 11,000 years ago, they found themselves increasingly reliant upon the seasonal planting, growing and harvesting of crops. Clearly they needed an accurate calendar.
       Fortunately these farmers were much better placed than were their predecessors, the hunter-gatherers, to observe the fixed stars, and to plot the movements of the planets (literally: "wandering stars"), year after year. They discovered that the planets, including the Sun and Moon (regarded, in astrological parlance, as honorary planets), are always to be found in a narrow ring around the sky (the Solar System evolved from a thin accretion disc around the Sun). This ring became known as the Zodiac - "Sculptured Animals" - because most of its constellations are of animals. It is likely that many of the ideas built into the Zodiac actually predate civilisation, and reflect early nomadic beliefs about the sacred sky.
       Once you have mapped the stars it is easy to envisage the Sun passing through the constellations of the Zodiac bringing, as it does so, the changing Seasons. This link, between the position of the Sun in relation to the Zodiac, and the perpetual cycle of vegetation's growth, decay and regeneration, is anything but imaginary and is, more to the point, reasonably predictable.
       The sight of the celestial travellers following their allotted path through the heavens, invited comparison with the human experience of the voyage of life here on Earth. But astrology - "study of the stars" - goes much further than simply drawing poetic parallels between Heaven and Earth - it declares that the planets actually wield power over us.

Certainly the Moon's gravitational alignments with the Sun, revealed in its Phases, affects the height of the tides of the sea, and the satellite's rising and setting likewise determines the times of the tides themselves. It's worth noting that in many ancient cosmogonies, marine or salt water is identified with the amniotic fluid wherein the Foetus of Creation floats. The Lunar influence does indeed extend profoundly into this intimate and mysterious sphere, determining both the length of human gestation and the monthly cycle of female fertility.
       With the Sun covering the earth with nurturing heat, and the Moon bathing the world with fecundity, what other forces might the Earth's sibling planets represent? The key to the way in which astrology became a vastly complex system of observation and interpretation, is contained in the words "As above, so below..." from a famous phrase in the writings of Hermes Trismegistus. The axiom enables the extrapolation of information along reasonably logical lines.
       The planet Mars, for example, is distinctly and uniquely red in colour. Due to the colour of blood, and the dangers involved in its spilling, nature has programmed mankind (in common with many other creatures) with instinctive responses to this colour. Mars, therefore, is associated with grave danger and personal risk, circumstances keenly encountered during war. The planet shares the name of the warrior god Roman mythology: Mars. Likewise, in the original Babylonian system both the planet and god of war were named Nergal.
       The other planets combine to represent all the other principal characters in divine society. Mercury, the swiftest moving of all, symbolised the quick-tongued travelling merchant whose activities revolve closely around the Sun's bounty. Venus - waxing and waning herald of dawn and harbinger of night - is the brightest planet, hailed as the most beautiful of all, and regarded as an expression of love - twinkling like an enchantress' eye, alternately romantic and carnal, sensuous and proud.
       Jupiter, while bright, is a relatively slow-moving planet, and relates to the stability of middle age. This secure, home-loving benevolence is personified by the paternal head of the divine family, the undisputed ruler of the known universe. Finally, there was Saturn, dim with distance, and the most slowly moving planet in the ancient cosmos. Symbolically, this is the repository of age and experience distilled to the essence of wisdom. Beyond, there was nothing discernible, so Saturn and death were inextricably linked - Saturn held knowledge of the mysteries of the Afterworld. (In fact one further planet is visible to the naked eye - Ouranos (Uranus) - but it is so faint (magnitude 5.5 at its brightest) and its motion so slow that it appears to have escaped the best attentions of the ancient stargazers. Indeed, modern science - in the person of William Herschel - did not discover it until 1781, when it was spotted through a telescope.)

If the planets are the star performers in the drama of life, the Zodiac around which they progress is the stage. The origin of the twelve Signs of the Zodiac is shrouded in the lost lore of ancient Mesopotamia. The creation by the Egyptians, around 6,250 years ago, of a twelve month calendar is certainly significant. The emblems of the changing seasons figure largely in the symbolism of the Signs.
       For example, Libra is the only Sign which doesn't have a living creature as its icon: it has instead a pair of weighing scales. Balance is the key, and the scales are portrayed in perfect equilibrium. The Sun entered Libra at the Autumn Equinox (literally: "Equal Night") when the Sun rises exactly due East and sets due West, and daylight lasts precisely twelve hours (our system of time measurement is another legacy from ancient Mesopotamia), the same time as the night. Again astronomical observations form the basis for the astrologer's art.
       The Babylonian tradition of astrology was first applied to individual people - as opposed to deities incarnate - around 2,400 years ago. Previously, astrologers had restricted themselves to matters of general interest, notably predicting the weather, and the danger of armed uprising - always greater in times of famine!
       Over millennia, innumerable amendments have been made to the Babylonian lore. For example, both Chinese and Indian astrology employ ideas absent from the original teachings, but which have become thoroughly integrated in those countries. Principal amongst these is a system called the Mansions of the Moon. Although it takes 27.32 days for the Moon to orbit the heavens and return to the same Sign, for convenience's sake the ancients regarded this as a 28 day cycle. They divided the sky into 28 divisions - Mansions - each with special significance and correspondence to the Lunar cycle. Although the Mansions are superimposed over the twelve Signs of the Zodiac, the two systems draw different conclusions, which are then compared and judged against each other.

In ancient Britain, independent astronomers working at the time of the first native farming culture - around 6,000 years ago - constructed tombs known as long barrows whose entrances were often aligned to the rising or setting Sun (as are most Christian Churches). There is every likelihood that such ancient exhibitions of our enduring fascination with the Sun - which disappears from view, apparently into the ground, and rises fresh as a daisy next day - is based on a hope or expectation of some form of resurrection for the deceased.
       It is notable that the Neolithic people and the subsequent Bronze Age folk both had excellent weather for observing the sky, and a wealth of tombs, processional ways and sacred sites, not to mention apparent Ley Lines, still bear silent testimony to the importance of the celestial calendar. The famous alignment of Stonehenge's Heel Stone with the Midsummer Solstice Sunrise (circa 2,400 BCE) is but one of many prehistoric monuments in the area which were carefully constructed along astronomical lines - commemorating both of the Solstices as well as the Equinoxes - the four dates forming the crux of the Mesopotamian Zodiac. Whether there was any sharing of a common tradition or if these dates were arrived at independently, there is no doubt that the observation of the basic astronomical facts of life has been a recurrent concern all around the globe.
       Certainly, native insular Celts lost their predecessors' advantage when cloudy weather overtook the British Isles. The great seasonal changes, the Equinoxes and Solstices ceased to be directly observable on a regular basis, so a calendar based on temperature, and the pastoral cycle, evolved. Midwinter became Imbolc (February 1/2, representing the coldest time of year), the height of spring became Beltane (April 30/May 1), Midsummer became Lammas (August 1/2, being the hottest time), and autumn is celebrated at the well known festival of Samhain (October 31/November 1). It is notable that these Cross Quarter Days are no longer synchronised with the Mesopotamian Zodiac, and represent a completely divergent mythological tradition, one better suited to prevailing environmental and social conditions.

Middle Eastern astrology, as we know it today, reached our shores in historical times via the civilisations of Greece and Rome. Two enduring features of the Western tradition are Aspects and Houses, both of which are extensively used in the casting of Natal Charts (also called Nativities). These Charts depict the positions of the planets in the Zodiac Signs at the moment of birth. Charts are drawn so that the Earth (i.e. the baby) is placed at the centre of the universe, encircled by the Zodiac.
       If the birth is at dawn, the Sun and the Sign it is in will be positioned at the Easterly, left-hand extremity, of the Chart (it is one of the apparent perversities of astrology that North is at the bottom, rather than at the top as on modern maps and charts). It follows that someone born at a different time on that day will have the Sun in a different position on the Chart and, because the twelve Houses are enumerated from the most Easterly point, the Sun will probably also be in a different House. Therefore, people born on the same day but at different times have very different astrological profiles.
       By and large though, those babies will share the same Aspects, which are simply the angles between the planets (as measured with the mathematical equivalent of a protractor). Signs, Houses, Aspects, combine to provide an outline of the state of heavenly affairs at the time of birth. These and other more complicated clues give the astrologer the raw data from which an interpretation is drawn. Usually this information is presented as a character profile, detailing specific pros and cons in the personality. Although this sounds like a job a computer could do - and some do try - the variables are such that a schooled and intuitive human mind is well worth the extra fee.
       The cheapest way to extract a forecast of the future is by tweaking the Natal Chart and vastly magnifying the movement (a method called progression). The best way is far more laborious and involves a direct comparison of the Natal Chart, on a day by day basis, with the progress of the planets through the heavens during the expected life span of the client (computers are particularly valuable in this number crunching exercise). The horoscopes in the newspapers and magazines, are based on rather weak, average effects of planetary movements. At least, they should be - some are pure invention.

Synastry is becoming increasingly popular. It is the comparison of one person's Chart with that of a prospective or actual partner. The result shows the compatibility between the Nativities: a skilled astrologer can provide innumerable examples of complementary traits and potential personality clashes - and, vitally, suggest ways to overcome them. Some businesses also use Synastry to evaluate mergers and take-overs based on "Natal" Charts calculated from each corporation's first day of trading.
       Some cautious businessmen even hire astrologers to determine the most propitious date to launch or otherwise inaugurate their company. Chinese and Indian astrologers are kept well employed calculating auspicious dates for everything from digging foundations to harvesting crops. For example, when Britain offered to give Burma its independence on January 6 1948 the native astrologers objected and forced a another, more propitious date - two days earlier.

But why do we still bother with an astrological system created in a country whose climate and culture is so alien to our own day to day experience? The answer is surely based on archetypes: e.g. Mars is the "Red Planet" and all humanity shares the instinctive reaction to the colour. The study of comparative religion has demonstrated the similitude of many diverse pantheons, whose members characteristically portray fundamental facets of human nature. Also, because all of science was habitually integrated with the "celestial" or "heavenly" science, astrology became a holistic system of classification. Its glory lies in its reputation and use as a repository of all knowledge, understanding and wisdom. It is only natural that Kabbalism and Alchemy, the mainstays of the Western Magical Tradition are inextricably linked with astrology.
       The very names of the days of the week bear the names of the five visible planets plus the Sun and Moon. Minerals too were reckoned as belonging to one or other of the planets or Signs. Birthstones are "lucky" gems, one of which is "yours" as a birthright: the choice of gem is dictated by the Sign the Sun occupies at the time of birth. The present-day list of gems has evolved over the millennia but seems to have been determined by reference to a template originating around 1,400 BC, and described in the Bible (Exodus 28).
       Medicinal herbs also partook of stellar characters - the Influenza, or 'flu, was so named because it was believed to be caused by the "influence" of malefic astrological configuration. The use of quicksilver iodide as a remedy for syphilis was discovered when physicians sought a "Mercurial" substance to counter the effects of the malefic planets.
       The effect of the relatively recent discoveries of the extra-Saturnine planets threw the old system into disorder. Predictably the first "new" planet, Ouranos, was accredited with iconoclastic properties, and is regarded as an instigator of revolutionary thought and action. In similar vein, Neptune and Pluto have been integrated into the tradition. Some avant-garde authorities are currently calculating the effects of planetesimals, asteroids, and even hypothetical planets.
       Traditionally, the Sun enters the Sign of Aries at the Vernal Equinox, but since that tradition began, the gravitational influence of the Moon has pulled the Earth's axis around (it takes 25,800 years to go full circle) and gradually moved the background of stars out of step with the seasons. The Sun is now seen to be entering the Sign of Aquarius on that date. All the other Signs are similarly out of step, so that although a traditional astrologer may confidently state that the child born then might have the Full Moon in Libra, the mother looking up from her bed of labour will see it shining in the constellation of Leo.
       A great deal of media interest has been aroused by and devoted to the impact of the dawning of this so-called Age of Aquarius, and some wiseacres regard this apparent inconsistency as proof that astrology is obsolete. But if we remember that the Zodiac Signs were originally drawn from observations of nature - from the seasons, we will recall that the day of the month of the season of birth is the important factor, not the position of the orb in the constellation (which was merely a convenient description whose use slipped into convention and thence, tradition). Therefore, although planets no-longer occupy the constellations which astrologers call Aries, Taurus, etc., they do still occupy the Signs of the same name.

The two greatest virtues of the astrological art are its ability to analyse the cosmos, and to suggest correspondences between disparate studies. Its use for predicting personal fortunes is of most value in that serves to preserve the corpus of ancient lore of which prediction is actually the merest tip of an occult iceberg. Finally, let us recall the sentiments of Paracelsus: "A wise man rules his stars, they must follow him, and not he them. Only the man who is still animal is governed by the stars..."