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Astrology
The pseudo-scientific study of the influence of
the celestial bodies on the Earth and its inhabitants and also the art and
practice of divining the fate or future of people from the juxtaposition of
the Sun, Moon, and planets.
Judicial astrology foretells the destinies of
individuals and nations, while Natural astrology predicts changes of weather
and the influence of the stars upon natural things.
Astrologer is a person
who practices astrology, predicting or determining the influence of the planets and stars
on human affairs.
The characters used in astrology to indicate the
12 signs represent natural objects, but they have also a hieroglyphic or
esoteric meaning that has been lost. The figure of Aries represents the head
and horns of a ram; that of Taurus, the head and horns of a bull; that of
Leo, the head and mane of a lion; that of Gemini, two persons standing
together; and so on. The physical or astronomical reasons for the
implementation of these figures have been explained in great detail by
Abbé Pluche in his
Histoire
du Ciel (1739–41), and
Charles F. Dupuis, in his
Abrégé de l’Origine
de tous les Cultes (1798), has endeavored to establish the
principles of an astro-mythology, by tracing the progress of the moon
through the 12 signs in a series of adventures he compares with the
wanderings of Isis.
Astrology appears to be one of the most
ancient of the surviving occult sciences, and evidence of a highly sophisticated system in
Babylonian and Egyptian cultures has
survived.
Popular astrology is concerned with the
reading of a horoscope chart cast for
the moment of birth — in some cases complex methods of progressing the planets of the
birth chart enable the astrologer to predict the future for the person for whom the chart
was cast.
The chart is interpreted in terms of the influence of the zodiacal signs and the various different
powers which the planets possess in these signs. A variety of different house systems is linked with interpreting the
directions in the person's life in which planetary and other influences will manifest
themselves.
The planetary effects are not considered only in terms of zodiacal placing (on
the basis that Mars in Leo is different from Mars in Cancer, for example), but also in
terms of the angles which they may or may not hold to each other; this realm of astrology
is the study of aspects.
Astrology today has permeated every activity of
modern life, from daily household activities to politics and stock market
speculation.
See
Horoscope,
Horary Astrology,
Zodiac,
Numerology,
Divination,
Casting Black Magic Spells,
Commanding Spirits,
The Tarot Store and
Divination & Scrying Tools and
Supplies.
Sources: (1)
Dictionary of the
Occult, Caxton
Publishing;
(2) Spence, Lewis,
An Encyclopedia of
Occultism, Carol Publishing Group.
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