Post by M~Apollo on Jul 18, 2017 2:10:29 GMT
What Is Astrology?
from Joanna Martine Woolfolk
Mankind has always scrutinized the heavens, looking for guidance, omens, and meanings. The study of the Sun, the Moon, stars, eclipses, day and night, began well before recorded history.
There are reindeer bones and tusks of mammoths from the Ice Age that have notches carved on them picturing the phases of the Moon. These bones and tusks are dated between 25,000 and 10,000 B.C., and some scientists place them as long ago as 32,000 B.C.!
The path of the stars was recorded 6,000 years before Christ was born. As early as 2767 B.C., a horoscope was cast in Egypt by Imhotep, the architect of the great Step pyramid in Saqqarah. That horoscope still exists!
Ancient astrologers charted the movement of planets and stars, and made predictions about eclipses, upheavals, famine, and fortune. They developed calendars for marking and measuring the passage of time. You can still read star charts that were made by Egyptian astrologers in 4200 B.C..
In ancient societies, astrology and religion were inextricably linked . The astrologers were mainly priests. In fact, the Sumarian symbol for divinity was a star. Even the patterns that the stars form in the heavens were given names and worshipped as gods.
Not too surprisingly, the Sun was the most powerful god. The Sun gave warmth, light. nourished plant life , and made crops grow. Druids, Egyptians, Incas, Hindus were all Sun worshippers. In the ancient Hindu religion, Vishnu is the embodiment of the Sun, the symbol for life itself.
Hindu (5,000 a.c. to 3,000 B.C.: Hindus trace their religious wisdom back to seven ancient sages known as the Rishis. The word rishi means "to shine", and the original Rishis were the seven stars of the constellation Ursa Major (Big Dipper). Hindu religion literally began with the stars. Vishnu, the reigning god of Hinduism, is the Sun incarnate, their most divine being. Sometimes, when the world is in discord, Vishnu takes various forms and visits the earth. Some of the shapes he takes on are the Ram, the Bull, and the Lion, and carvings of these shapes are found on temple wall dating back 7,000 years. In modern astrology we still use those three symbols: Aries the Ram, Taurus the Bull, Leo the Lion.
The Hindu divided the sky into 28 equal parts, called the Lunar Mansions-each part representing a lunar cycle, in fact, is a basis of Eastern astrology. Western philosophy is founded much more on the solar cycle, As a result, astrologers often refer to the Western world as children of the Sun and to the Eastern world as children of the Moon.
The Indian zodiac has twelve signs, the same number our zodiac has. However, in India there is a concept not found in Western astrology . This is the doctrine of karma and reincarnation. Karma is the journey of the soul through various lives (incarnations). A person's karma is based on three things: 1)the influence in this life of acts committed in
previous lives; 2)the influence of one's present acts on the next life; 3) unrealistic acts. The practice of astrology in India is often linked to the discovery of what stage a person's soul has reached.
EGYPTIAN (3,000 B.C.-300 B.C.): Egyptian astrology was also bound up in their religion . The priests held the secrets of the heavens. Within a complicated hierarchy of gods and deities, each god had a specific power and ruled over a particular kingdom of influence . For example, Osiris was god of the dead. Isis was Osiris's wife and sister, protectress of the hieroglyphs and scribe of the gods. Many Egyptian symbols and deities reappear in the present-day occult study of the tarot cards.
The Egyptians were the first people to foretell a person's character by the date of birth. They also gave to each month, and each day, a special deity who ruled that day and that month.The River Nile was the focus of Egyptian life. The river made their barren region fertile and so it is not surprising to find the imagery of water used again and again in their mythology. The sky was a goddess named Nut, who was also an enormous river. Lesser gods crossed the sky-river in thieir individual boats. When an Egyptian pharoah died, he was provided with everything he needed for the journey across a great river into the afterlife.
At first, Egyptians divided the sky into 36 sections. ( The Greeks later called these sections dekanoi, meaning ten days apart, from which we get our words decan and decanate). These 36 decanates remain unchanged to the present day . Later the sky was assigned three stars to call its own, and each was given a boat in which to cross the sky. See how similar the twelve Egyptian sky gods are to our modern astrological signs:
Egyptian: Modern:
The Sheep Aries the Ram
The Bull Taurus the Bull
Two Men Clasping Hands Gemini the Twins
The Scarab Cancer the Crab
The Lion Leo the Lion
The Maiden Virgo the Virgin
The Horizon Libra the Scales
The Scorpion Scorpio the Scorpion
He Who Draws a Bow Capricorn the Goat
The Water Man Aquarius the Waterbearer
The Fishes Pisces the Two Fishes
The Egyptians believed the Sun, another powerful deity, controlled the waters of the Nile. The Sun brought the Nile to flood stage, providing needed irrigation to the surrounding coutryside and making the deserts fertile.
The Moon was also a special day. The Egyptians designated several gods to represent it. The famous Eye of Horus, sometimes worn as an amulet to protect against danger, was a picture of the Moon. When the eye of the hawk-god Horus was completely open, the Moon was full.
Venus had her honored place among the gods. The planet Venus is a brilliant , silvery star that at times is seen in the morning and at other times in the evening . She was pictured by the Egyptians as a two-headed goddess, each head wearing a different crown.
One of the most famous astrologer-kings in ancient Egypt was Ramses II (19th Dynasty)/ At his death in 1223 B.C. Ramses's body was placed in a sarcophagus covered with astrological symbols , and put inside a pyramid at Abou-Simbel. There the great pharoah lay, like Merlin, in his room of wonders. Some of the wonders are still being discovered . We have learned that Ramses's tomb was constructed so that on a certain date the rays of the Sun would find their way into the very pit of the grave . To this day, and on that very date they do. When Ramses VI ( a successor to the great Pharoah) died, a star map drawn in the shape of a seated man was placed on his tomb. Modern scientists discovered that by using this map, they can chart the journey of the stars for each hour of the night throughout the year.
Not until human beings are replaced by a civilization of machines run by a great computer are we likely to get any greater precision than that
Chinese(2800 B.C.-present): Life in ancient China revolved around the Emperor. His title was Son of the Heavens , and he was an absolute ruler. Confucius wrote of the Emperor:"The sovereign who rules by virtue is like the polar star. He stays motionless in his place while everything turns around him,". It was the Emperor who maintained good relations between the forces of heaven and human beings here on earth.
Some historians mark the beginning of Chinese astrology during the reign of the Divine Emperor Fu Hsi around 2800 B.C. The Bamboo Annals ( a manuscript found in a Chinese prince's grave in A.D. 281) tell about Emperor Yao, who named the 12 signs of the Chinese Zodiac and divided the sky into 28 Mansions of the Moon.
The Chinese zodiac differs from the zodiac of the West. There are 12 years, and each year is represented by a different animal. This 12-year cycle is sometimes called The Yellow Road of the Sun. The 12 animals are the rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, cock, dog, and boar. Legend tells us that when Buddha lay on his deathbed, he
asked the animals of the forest to come and bid him farewell. These 12 were the first to arrive. The cat, as the story goes, is not among the animals because it was napping and couldn't be bothered to make the journey.
Chinese astrology is not content to rest with a division into 12 animals . There are also five elements ( wood,fire,earth,metal,and water). A Chinese horoscope is divided into interlocking sets of the numbers ten and 12 (e.g.,ten Celestial Stem signs and 12 Terrestrial Branch signs). In addition, the ancient principle of Yin and Yang (negative and positive forces)is very much involved in charting a horoscope.
Astrology has been an integral part of everyday life in China. The new Communist regime, which prides itself on rationalism and materialism and derides astrology as mere superstition has made few in roads on the people's faith in the divinations of the horoscope . Not even the authority of the state has prevailed against astrology.
A Chinese person always knows his or her animal sign and will often give his or her age by naming the animal year in which birth occurred. Major decisions in life are still made according to astrology. This is especially true when the Chinese seek guidance about whom to marry and when. Astrology is also a guide as to when to conclude financial agreements, begin journeys, start building a new house, and even where to bury the dead.
Some modern astrologers have tried to combine Western astrology with Chinese astrology. They gave each person both an astrological sign and an animal sign. One becomes, a Gemini Tiger or a Libra Dragon.
Sent in by R~Ssuzy
from Joanna Martine Woolfolk
Mankind has always scrutinized the heavens, looking for guidance, omens, and meanings. The study of the Sun, the Moon, stars, eclipses, day and night, began well before recorded history.
There are reindeer bones and tusks of mammoths from the Ice Age that have notches carved on them picturing the phases of the Moon. These bones and tusks are dated between 25,000 and 10,000 B.C., and some scientists place them as long ago as 32,000 B.C.!
The path of the stars was recorded 6,000 years before Christ was born. As early as 2767 B.C., a horoscope was cast in Egypt by Imhotep, the architect of the great Step pyramid in Saqqarah. That horoscope still exists!
Ancient astrologers charted the movement of planets and stars, and made predictions about eclipses, upheavals, famine, and fortune. They developed calendars for marking and measuring the passage of time. You can still read star charts that were made by Egyptian astrologers in 4200 B.C..
In ancient societies, astrology and religion were inextricably linked . The astrologers were mainly priests. In fact, the Sumarian symbol for divinity was a star. Even the patterns that the stars form in the heavens were given names and worshipped as gods.
Not too surprisingly, the Sun was the most powerful god. The Sun gave warmth, light. nourished plant life , and made crops grow. Druids, Egyptians, Incas, Hindus were all Sun worshippers. In the ancient Hindu religion, Vishnu is the embodiment of the Sun, the symbol for life itself.
Hindu (5,000 a.c. to 3,000 B.C.: Hindus trace their religious wisdom back to seven ancient sages known as the Rishis. The word rishi means "to shine", and the original Rishis were the seven stars of the constellation Ursa Major (Big Dipper). Hindu religion literally began with the stars. Vishnu, the reigning god of Hinduism, is the Sun incarnate, their most divine being. Sometimes, when the world is in discord, Vishnu takes various forms and visits the earth. Some of the shapes he takes on are the Ram, the Bull, and the Lion, and carvings of these shapes are found on temple wall dating back 7,000 years. In modern astrology we still use those three symbols: Aries the Ram, Taurus the Bull, Leo the Lion.
The Hindu divided the sky into 28 equal parts, called the Lunar Mansions-each part representing a lunar cycle, in fact, is a basis of Eastern astrology. Western philosophy is founded much more on the solar cycle, As a result, astrologers often refer to the Western world as children of the Sun and to the Eastern world as children of the Moon.
The Indian zodiac has twelve signs, the same number our zodiac has. However, in India there is a concept not found in Western astrology . This is the doctrine of karma and reincarnation. Karma is the journey of the soul through various lives (incarnations). A person's karma is based on three things: 1)the influence in this life of acts committed in
previous lives; 2)the influence of one's present acts on the next life; 3) unrealistic acts. The practice of astrology in India is often linked to the discovery of what stage a person's soul has reached.
EGYPTIAN (3,000 B.C.-300 B.C.): Egyptian astrology was also bound up in their religion . The priests held the secrets of the heavens. Within a complicated hierarchy of gods and deities, each god had a specific power and ruled over a particular kingdom of influence . For example, Osiris was god of the dead. Isis was Osiris's wife and sister, protectress of the hieroglyphs and scribe of the gods. Many Egyptian symbols and deities reappear in the present-day occult study of the tarot cards.
The Egyptians were the first people to foretell a person's character by the date of birth. They also gave to each month, and each day, a special deity who ruled that day and that month.The River Nile was the focus of Egyptian life. The river made their barren region fertile and so it is not surprising to find the imagery of water used again and again in their mythology. The sky was a goddess named Nut, who was also an enormous river. Lesser gods crossed the sky-river in thieir individual boats. When an Egyptian pharoah died, he was provided with everything he needed for the journey across a great river into the afterlife.
At first, Egyptians divided the sky into 36 sections. ( The Greeks later called these sections dekanoi, meaning ten days apart, from which we get our words decan and decanate). These 36 decanates remain unchanged to the present day . Later the sky was assigned three stars to call its own, and each was given a boat in which to cross the sky. See how similar the twelve Egyptian sky gods are to our modern astrological signs:
Egyptian: Modern:
The Sheep Aries the Ram
The Bull Taurus the Bull
Two Men Clasping Hands Gemini the Twins
The Scarab Cancer the Crab
The Lion Leo the Lion
The Maiden Virgo the Virgin
The Horizon Libra the Scales
The Scorpion Scorpio the Scorpion
He Who Draws a Bow Capricorn the Goat
The Water Man Aquarius the Waterbearer
The Fishes Pisces the Two Fishes
The Egyptians believed the Sun, another powerful deity, controlled the waters of the Nile. The Sun brought the Nile to flood stage, providing needed irrigation to the surrounding coutryside and making the deserts fertile.
The Moon was also a special day. The Egyptians designated several gods to represent it. The famous Eye of Horus, sometimes worn as an amulet to protect against danger, was a picture of the Moon. When the eye of the hawk-god Horus was completely open, the Moon was full.
Venus had her honored place among the gods. The planet Venus is a brilliant , silvery star that at times is seen in the morning and at other times in the evening . She was pictured by the Egyptians as a two-headed goddess, each head wearing a different crown.
One of the most famous astrologer-kings in ancient Egypt was Ramses II (19th Dynasty)/ At his death in 1223 B.C. Ramses's body was placed in a sarcophagus covered with astrological symbols , and put inside a pyramid at Abou-Simbel. There the great pharoah lay, like Merlin, in his room of wonders. Some of the wonders are still being discovered . We have learned that Ramses's tomb was constructed so that on a certain date the rays of the Sun would find their way into the very pit of the grave . To this day, and on that very date they do. When Ramses VI ( a successor to the great Pharoah) died, a star map drawn in the shape of a seated man was placed on his tomb. Modern scientists discovered that by using this map, they can chart the journey of the stars for each hour of the night throughout the year.
Not until human beings are replaced by a civilization of machines run by a great computer are we likely to get any greater precision than that
Chinese(2800 B.C.-present): Life in ancient China revolved around the Emperor. His title was Son of the Heavens , and he was an absolute ruler. Confucius wrote of the Emperor:"The sovereign who rules by virtue is like the polar star. He stays motionless in his place while everything turns around him,". It was the Emperor who maintained good relations between the forces of heaven and human beings here on earth.
Some historians mark the beginning of Chinese astrology during the reign of the Divine Emperor Fu Hsi around 2800 B.C. The Bamboo Annals ( a manuscript found in a Chinese prince's grave in A.D. 281) tell about Emperor Yao, who named the 12 signs of the Chinese Zodiac and divided the sky into 28 Mansions of the Moon.
The Chinese zodiac differs from the zodiac of the West. There are 12 years, and each year is represented by a different animal. This 12-year cycle is sometimes called The Yellow Road of the Sun. The 12 animals are the rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, cock, dog, and boar. Legend tells us that when Buddha lay on his deathbed, he
asked the animals of the forest to come and bid him farewell. These 12 were the first to arrive. The cat, as the story goes, is not among the animals because it was napping and couldn't be bothered to make the journey.
Chinese astrology is not content to rest with a division into 12 animals . There are also five elements ( wood,fire,earth,metal,and water). A Chinese horoscope is divided into interlocking sets of the numbers ten and 12 (e.g.,ten Celestial Stem signs and 12 Terrestrial Branch signs). In addition, the ancient principle of Yin and Yang (negative and positive forces)is very much involved in charting a horoscope.
Astrology has been an integral part of everyday life in China. The new Communist regime, which prides itself on rationalism and materialism and derides astrology as mere superstition has made few in roads on the people's faith in the divinations of the horoscope . Not even the authority of the state has prevailed against astrology.
A Chinese person always knows his or her animal sign and will often give his or her age by naming the animal year in which birth occurred. Major decisions in life are still made according to astrology. This is especially true when the Chinese seek guidance about whom to marry and when. Astrology is also a guide as to when to conclude financial agreements, begin journeys, start building a new house, and even where to bury the dead.
Some modern astrologers have tried to combine Western astrology with Chinese astrology. They gave each person both an astrological sign and an animal sign. One becomes, a Gemini Tiger or a Libra Dragon.
Sent in by R~Ssuzy
