What Exactly Is Astrology?

Everyone has heard of it. But what exactly is astrology, and is it a subject worth studying? Is it a true science or just a long running fraud?

Astrology is a subject that has been studied for thousands of years in all parts of the world. It is based on the idea that by studying the positions in the sky of certain constellations of stars, it is possible to predict events here on earth.

Many people believe that astrology is a false science and a fraud. If they are right in saying that, then it is indeed very remarkable how astrology could have lasted for such a long time, even into our own age. This fact alone suggests that astrology cannot be lightly dismissed.

We said that it is is based on the positions of constellations, but it would be more accurate to say it is based on the study of which ever planet, including the Sun, is in a particular constellation at any given time. Of course, the planets are not IN the constellation. We are talking about the APPARENT position of the heavenly bodies as, from the point of view of the observer on earth, they appear to move across the sky. The reason they appear to move in relation to the stars is that they are relatively close to us while the stars are almost unimaginably far away. The ancients believed that the stars were fixed in place.

Because the planets of the solar system are arranged in more or less the same plane in space around the Sun, this means that from earth, they all appear to travel along a line or band across the sky. This band is called the ecliptic. It is this ecliptic area that contains those constellations that give their names to the 12 signs of astrology, collectively called the signs of the Zodiac. The names of the constellations were originally given as a fanciful way of describing what they looked like.

The 12 signs are Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces. In its apparent motion across the sky, the Sun enters each of these constellations once a year and stays there for a month before moving on to the next one. Most people know what their star sign is, even if they do not believe in astrology. The star sign of a person is actually the constellation that the Sun was occupying on the day that they were born. Astrologers believe that the Sun sign, as it is called, gives a general indication of someone's personality type. For many people, this is all they know of astrology.

If it was that simple however, astrology would never have got off the ground. It would be absurd to say that there are only 12 types of people. The Sun sign gives only a broad indication. It is the unique positions of the other planets that astrologers believe reflects the infinite variety of different people that are living on earth. Note that astrologers do NOT believe the stars or planets control a person, but that they reflect, in some way, their personality.

The planets that are used as indicators in astrology are those that were known to the ancient world. They are Mercury, Venus, the Moon, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. The planet Neptune was not discovered until 1781 by William Herschel, however many astrologers include Neptune in their calculations. Some have even included the planet Pluto, which was only discovered in 1930, although others believe that it is too small and far away to be of much influence. Interestingly, there have recently been moves among the scientific community to demote Pluto from its planetary status.