Divination through the planets and stars October 15, 2008
Posted by egabriel in History of Astrology.Tags: advancement, ancient, astrology, astronomy, basis, charlatanry, deception, developing, divination, equinoxes, expression, fate, function, influence, knowledge, manner, planets, precession, proof, science, signs, stars, subject, suspicion, synonym, teachings, theory, wisdom, work, zodiac
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Under the Greeks and Ptolemy in particular, the planets, Houses, and Signs of the zodiac were rationalized and their function set down in a way that has changed little to the present day. Ptolemy’s work on astronomy was also the basis of Western teachings on the subject for the next thirteen hundred years.
Around 130 B.C. another ancient Greek astronomer Hipparchus created the theory of the precession of the equinoxes, for a knowledge of which among the Babylonians we find no definite proof; but such a single advancement in pure science did not prevent the Greeks from developing in a most elaborate manner the theory of the influence of the planets upon the fate of the individual. Ancient Greeks identified Babylonia or Chaldea with astrology. The expression Chaldean wisdom became among Greeks and Romans the synonym of divination through the planets and stars, and it is perhaps not surprising that in the course of time to be known as a Chaldean carried with it frequently the suspicion of charlatanry and of more or less willful deception.
Beyond Your Imagination 