Talk:History of astrology

Major overhaul and snipped text

I've given the article a substantial overhaul. There were two sections in the article that were unreferenced and I'm not sure they add anything of value as separate sections. I'm placing the text here for review and so some of the points can be returned to the other sections with references to support the comments.

Noted predictions

See also: Mundane astrology, Horary astrology, and Electional astrology

A favourite topic of astrologers is the end of the world. As early as 1186 the Earth had escaped one threatened cataclysm of the astrologers. This did not prevent Stöffler from predicting a universal deluge for the year 1524 – a year, as it turned out, distinguished for drought. His aspect of the heavens told him that in that year three planets would meet in the aqueous sign of Pisces. President Aurial, at Toulouse, built himself a Noah's ark – a curious realization, in fact, of Chaucer's merry invention in the Miller's Tale.

The most famous predictions about European and world affairs were made by the French astrologer Nostradamus (1503–66). (Derek and Julia Parker, Ibid, p201, 1990). Nostradamus became famous after the publication in 1555 of his work Centuries, which was a series of prophecies in cryptic verse. So obscure are the predictions that they have been interpreted as relating to a great variety of events since, including the French and English Revolutions, and the Second World War. In 1556 Nostradamus was summoned to the French court by Catherine de' Medici and commissioned to draw up the horoscope of the royal children. Although Nostradamus later fell out of favour with many in the court and was accused of witchcraft, Catherine continued to support him and patronized him until his death.

Historical figures

Throughout history astrologers have made their mark, including such figures as Ptolemy, Albumasur, Tsou Yen and Nostradamus.

Proponents

The influence of the Medici made astrologers popular in France.

Richelieu, on whose council was Jacques Gaffarel (1601–81), a noted astrologer and Kabbalist, did not despise astrology as an engine of government.

At the birth of Louis XIV a certain Morin de Villefranche was placed behind a curtain to cast the nativity of the future autocrat. A generation back the astrologer would not have been hidden behind a curtain, but would have taken precedence over the doctor. La Bruyère did not dispute this, "for there are perplexing facts affirmed by grave men who were eye-witnesses."

In England William Lilly and Robert Fludd were influential. The latter gives elaborate rules for the detection of a thief, and tells us that he has had personal experience of their efficacy. "If the lord of the sixth house is found in the second house, or in company with the lord of the second house, the thief is one of the family. If Mercury is in the sign of the Scorpion he will be bald, &c."

Francis Bacon abuses the astrologers of his day no less than the alchemists, but he does so because he envisions a reformed astrology and a reformed alchemy.

Sir Thomas Browne, while he denied the capacity of the astrologers of his day, did not dispute the reality of the science. The idea of the souls of men passing at death to the stars, the blessedness of their particular sphere being assigned them according to their deserts (the metempsychosis of J. Reynaud), may be regarded as a survival of religious astrology, which, even as late as Descartes's day, assigned to the angels the task of moving the planets and the stars.

Joseph de Maistre believed in comets as messengers of divine justice, and in animated planets, and declared that divination by astrology is not an absolutely chimerical science.

Kepler was cautious in his opinion; he spoke of astronomy as the wise mother, and astrology as the foolish daughter, but he added that the existence of the daughter was necessary to the life of the mother. He may have meant by this that the "foolish" work of astrology paid for the serious work of astronomy — as, at the time, the main motivation to fund advancements in astronomy was the desire for better, more accurate astrological predictions.

Opponents

Some distinguished men who ran counter to their age in denying stellar influences are Panaetius, Augustine, Martianus Capella (the precursor of Copernicus), Cicero, Favorinus, Sextus Empiricus, Juvenal, and in a later age Savonarola and Pico della Mirandola, and La Fontaine, a contemporary of the neutral La Bruyère.

India section

I note User:Isambard_Kingdom's addition of an 'unsourced' tag today. For the record, I almost removed the IP edit wholesale for that reason earlier, plus bad spelling, punctuation and unintelligible language. Just sayin. -Roxy the dog™ woof 12:16, 15 November 2015 (UTC)  Done I removed it. Isambard Kingdom (talk) 22:27, 21 November 2015 (UTC)

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A source for the history of astrology in the 20th century

The "History of Astrology" article currently contains nothing about the recent history of astrology.

There was recently an article in the March 2021 issue of "Career Astrologer" magazine, published by the Organization of Professional Astrologers, which gives an overview of the history of astrology in the 20th century. This article, "How Astrology's Philosophy and Public Image have Evolved since 1890," by Philip Graves, is on pages 14-21 here: https://www.opaastrology.org/2021MarchEquinoxPUBLIC.pdf

For the purpose of the "History of Astrology" article, is there any objection to considering Philip Graves's article a reliable source?

Other Choices (talk) 15:30, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

If nobody objects, I'll feel free to use the cited source in a new section on the recent history of western astrology. Other Choices (talk) 15:36, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

I was also thinking there should be more information about how the history of astrology has changed since the 20th century, especially since there is so much more exposure to the topic via media. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sityschoolgirl (talk • contribs) 13:21, 18 September 2023 (UTC)

Merge Discussion

I'm considering a merge. Specifically of Zodiac and Western astrology. As well as Astrology and History of astrology. It's being discussed on the Astrology Talk page here.