The new defence of Astrology

[Susheel]

I think the purpose of astrology has been overlooked, it is basically a farming calendar guide, when to plant crops, harvest etc, and being part of cyclical year, was just an embellishment, but also a time marker, when you are born or die, the year for these folk started at the Spring Equinox, because that was when they could till the soil no doubt many esoteric practitioners would have pushed the influence of planets, and stars, they were superstitious, and always looking for signs, etc portents everywhere the word influenza derives from a comet sighting believing the comet brought maladies.

That wasn't astrology. That was merely people using the positions of the stars and planets to estimate the time for planting. Basically using the night sky as a giant calendar.

 

[RRBacon]

I think you're talking about something else entirely, that happens to have the same name. No farmer, ancient or otherwise, needed to know if Mercury was in retrograde, or whether the moon was in Jupiter.

Ok, but astrology and astronomy were interchangeable, and no doubt developed, by those with an interest in maths to do some alignments etc, and of course to develop a spiel to suck in the gullible ie most of the folk, but at it's basic coupled with Moon & Sun was just a planting guide, but even the ancients were keen observers, they would know their seasons and variations, it is why Astrology was incorporated into the church, all of little gods sciences. One big monopoly, I suppose a calculator would be a good analogy, lots of simple inputs, or for a bigger brain complex calculations. The other paradox only the rich could read.

 

[Little 10 Toes]

I think a better analogy is math and numerology. they both use numbers, but one is silly.

 

[arthwollipot]

Ok, but astrology and astronomy were interchangeable, and no doubt developed, by those with an interest in maths to do some alignments etc, and of course to develop a spiel to suck in the gullible ie most of the folk, but at it's basic coupled with Moon & Sun was just a planting guide, but even the ancients were keen observers, they would know their seasons and variations, it is why Astrology was incorporated into the church, all of little gods sciences. One big monopoly, I suppose a calculator would be a good analogy, lots of simple inputs, or for a bigger brain complex calculations. The other paradox only the rich could read.

I feel that astrology must have developed out of the natural observation of the skies for calendrical purposes. People started looking at the sky first, then over time all these associations were formed. It's like a Skinner box - do something when a thing occurs, and before long it never occurs to you to doubt that the thing occurring is what is causing you to do the something.

Also, it's important to remember that whatever the ancients were doing with their observations of the night sky, it bears very little resemblance to modern popular-magazine astrology, which is largely a modern invention.