Astrology & Tarot

(see also What is Astrology)

Astrology is one of the most ancient of sciences and yet many scientists see the study of astral influences as nothing more than superstition.  Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-82) stated “Astrology is astronomy brought to Earth and applied to the affairs of men”.

During the 18th and 19th centuries its real aims became lost when popular astrological magazines, which were far from being serious publications appeared.  Astrology remained at its lowest ebb until towards the end of the 19th century.

All civilised societies going back through the aeons have been interested in the movement of the stars.  Is it any wonder that when man lived under the open skies that he would focus on the spectacular events in the sky and use them for guidance in his daily life. When ancient man saw these events in the skies, such as the rising and setting of the sun and moon, the stars dazzling in what would have been then a black sky, thunder and lightening and eclipses he must surely have been in awe and given these occurrences celestial meanings.

The importance early man attached to the movements of the sun and moon can be seen in the great megalithic sites in England such as Avebury and Stonehenge.  In recent years much evidence has been found to show that one of their principal functions was to the calculate movements of celestial bodies.

Even we in this age of enlightenment accept that the sun and moon exert a strong physical influence on our lives.  For our primitive ancestor this must have been far more apparent living beneath the starry skies.  The sun kept him warm in summer and its withdrawal in winter brought the cold and the need for fires.  Day changed into night, the seasons changed and the tides rose and fell.  We all know that the pull of the Sun and Moon causes the tides in our oceans and if the sun and moon have managed to pull billions and billions of water around the world imagine what effect they can have on our bodies when our bodies are made up of over 70% water.

The star is the ancient Sumerian symbol for divinity and the stars that filled the skies in that part of the world were the real founders of astrology. In their records that still survive we find the idea that planets represented gods. The writings show that these gods had the power to intervene or direct.  Mercury was considered a quick, cunning, bisexual god, with calculating wisdom.  Jupiter was a ruler of men and considered regal and Saturn thought of as quick tempered and cruel.  As these descriptions took hold so too evolved the basis of astrological lore.

Astrology takes the changing patterns of the planets and stars and uses them to understand human life and events on Earth.  Astrology as we now know it allows us either to gain understanding of the past or present or help others make the best use of future opportunities.  Astrology can be used as a tool to understand ourselves and others.  The potential for human development is revealed by the position of the stars and planets at birth but its expression is altered by the use of free will. To know thyself is the first step on the journey to discovery and enlightenment.

Astrology has always served to enlarge our understanding in many different ways, it affects us all in many different ways and it affects us individually.

See also, 'What is Astrology?' / Why Choose Isis Workshops

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