The origin of astrology could be traced in Indo-European cultures in the third millennium BCE when humans started to measure, record, and predict seasonal changes by reference to astronomical cycles and interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications.Astrology and AstronomyIn the early days, astronomy and astrology were believed to be only one science and were interchangeably used as to mean the same. This was largely due to the fact that astrology was accepted in political and academic contexts, and its concepts were built into other studies such as astronomy, alchemy, meteorology, and medicine as well as with religion. Our ancestors believed that everything that happens in the physical world is a direct consequence of the spirits and their deeds. This belief included not only the influence of the planets upon men (astrology), but also their orbits, rotation, and trajectories (astronomy), as well as their chemical composition or physical structure (chemistry and physics).Astrology vs. AstrologyAt the end of the 17th century, due to the emergence of new scientific concepts in astronomy, astronomy and astrology differentiated and formed two separate branches of science. Astronomy specialized in studying the physical movements of the planets and their chemical structure. On the other hand, astrology now studies the invisible energies emanated from the planets that influence people on an emotional and mental plane, which ultimately tends to shape their lives. At this time, astrology has lost its academic and theoretical standing.The Revival of AstrologyIn the 19th and 20th centuries, Astrology saw a popular revival as part of a general revival of spiritualism and, later New Age philosophy, through the influence of mass media such as newspaper horoscopes.Most cultural systems of astrology share common roots in ancient philosophies that influence each other; however, there are many that have their own unique methodologies. The most significant of these are the Western astrology, Hindu astrology (also known as "Indian astrology", in modern times referred to as "Vedic astrology"), and Chinese astrology. All of these have yielded great influence upon the world's cultural history.The most popular of these methodologies in the western world is what we call Western astrology. Western astrology is largely horoscopic. It is a form of divination that is based on the construction of a horoscope for an exact moment, such as a person's birth. In Western astrology there are twelve zodiac signs namely: Aries' Taurus' Gemini' Cancer' Leo' Virgo' Libra' Scorpio' Sagittarius' Capricorn' Aquarius and Pisces. According to the Western Astrology, there are nine main planets namely: Mercury -. Venus - Mars - Earth - Jupiter' Saturn - Uranus - Neptune - Pluto. These concepts are founded on the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies such as the Sun, Moon, planets, which are analyzed by their aspects (angles) relative to one another.Indian (or Hindu) astrology uses a different starting point to its 12 zodiac signs but retains the same names and meanings for the signs and shares many of the same traditional principles.Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy (theory of the three harmony, heaven, earth and water) and uses the principles of yin and yang and concepts such as the wu xing teachings, the 10 Celestial stems, the 12 Earthly Branches, and shichen a form of timekeeping used for religious purposes. It uses the zodiac sign of twelve animal signs and this is said to represent the twelve different types of personality.All of these 3 astrological methodologies have founded their bases on the study of the movement of Sun, Moon, Planets, and the Stars and their influence on the earth and its beings. Nowadays, Astrology's modern representation in western popular media is often reduced to sun sign astrology, which considers only basic relationships of planets to the zodiac sign of the Sun at an individual's date of birth.
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