The history of astrology is complex and, until fairly recently with such scholarship as Dr. Michelle Aroney and Patrick Curry and Nick Campion may have been rather sidelined by historians.

Astrology seems to court controversy but until the end of the 17th century, astrology was taught at such universities as Cambridge and Oxford, was used by the elite, the gentry, politicians as well as the populace extensively and was required knowledge for physicians. Almanacs were hugely popular in the 17th centruy and astrologers would offer medical advice such as when to let blood, when to take a purge, alongside predicting the weather and commenting on astronomical phenomena such as comets; also advising on the political wrangling of the times (some things never change!)

From Babylon in about 2,200 BCE to Greek and Roman astrologers such as Dorotheus of Sidon, Manilius, Firmicus Maternus and Claudius Ptolemy whose writings and works from the classical period were followed in the 8th and 9th centuries by Arabic scholars such as Abu Mashar and Al- Biruni to Ficino in the 15th century, Lilly, Ashmole et al., in the 17th century and the modern day brilliance of Rudhyar, Leo, Hone, Clifford, Campion, Tompkins and Houlding. This is to name but a few!

Astrology is about time, and it has survived time.

A low point was at the end of the 17th century when the elite and academics seemed to assign astrology to the realms of the occult in favour of Newtonian empiricism. I find this very ironic given that data collection -is astrology. The rise of puritanism and the death of such astrologers like Lilly and Napier (both of whom saw hundreds of clients from the gentry to the populace) did not help astrology’s cause either.

I am an academic with a research background as well as nearly 30 years in education, in schools, and I have always been an astrologer. Astrologers can read a birth chart and offer help and advice (not predict – that’s more for horary) based on the planetary signature seen there. An astrologer can get to the heart of the issue in minutes. I don’t know why it works but I know that it does.

I hope this article whetted your appetite, more to follow on the History of Astrology.