The story begins in Sumer… And in Egypt and Greece.
Astrology is generally thought to, as Benson Bobrick collects in his book “The Fated Sky”, arise when two Sumerian priests, endowed with certain reflection capabilities and sufficient time, began to draw correlations between the supra and sublunar events, frequently in both directions 1 .
Thus, for example, a scorpion sting that occurred at the end of October would be linked to the constellation/sign (NB: both realities are not identical) of Scorpio, an attack by lions at the end of July or – roughly – the first half of August, with the constellation/sign of Leo, an unusually high collection of fish in the Tigris and Euphrates rivers during the months of February-March with the constellation/sign of Pisces, and so on, something the heavens conspire conspicuously for…
In the great Sumerian epic “Epic of Gilgamesh,” it is not difficult to see the astrological connection. Indeed, the goddess Ishtar – corresponding to the astronomical and astrological reality of Venus – angered by the rejection of Gilgamesh, will not hesitate to send against the 2/3 divine Gilgamesh the Bull of Heaven. For anyone versed in “The Art”2 it is impossible not to relate Taurus – the Bull of Heaven – with the planet that is ruled by Ishtar/Inanna/Venus. It is my own conjecture that this confrontation took the form of a catastrophe that occurred at the end of April or the first twenty days of May, from which Gilgamesh would ultimately emerge victorious.
Together with these events, there is no less need to indicate that, in general, the content of all the predictions of this time are framed in what today we call Mundane Astrology, that is, the astrology that deals with events that involve peoples and entire nations.
As Benson Bobrick indicates, Natal Astrology is much later. The first natal chart that has survived to this day belongs to a child born in what is present-day Iraq, south of Baghdad and not far from the latter, who was born on April 29, 410 BC, although already in 1300 AC there is a Hittite translation of a Babylonian text in which predictions are made about a child based on the month in which it was born3 . Be that as it may, the fact is that this new orientation of astrology – which by no means annulled the previous one – multiplied to limits never imagined the scope and power of Astrology.
To the Uninitiated 4 in this art, it is assumed that astrological opinions are based on certain apriorisms, when the truth is that there is a formidable empirical basis. Indeed, astrologers have been collecting over the millennia the data from the natal charts of a huge number of people. Current astrological computer programs collect a dizzying number of natal charts whose purpose is none other than the instruction of new generations of astrologers. For me, for example, it was deeply instructive to see that, in the birth chart of Reinhard Heydrich, director of the Gestapo, born on March 7, 1904 at 3:00 p.m. in Halle, Germany, you can read each and every one of the guiding lines of his destiny. Indeed, its ascendant falls in the sign of Leo, whose ruler, the Sun, is in the VIII house, the House of Death. A “planet” (planets and luminaries) in a particular house indicates a deep interest in the things signified by that house. In the same way, Mercury, being a significator of House XI ( its cusp falls in Gemini), which is the house of wages, is found in House VIII, in Pisces, in its detriment/exile and fall, which must be understood literally. The payment for his “work” found him in death, in exile (or more properly, outside his country) in an action carried out by Jan Kubiš and Josez Gabčic as the final objective of Operation Anthropoid. Likewise, House X, that of the profession, and whose cusp is in the last degree – critical, anaretic, mortal – of Aries, is signified by a Mars that is in 7o15’21” of the same sign, well inside the House IX, that of Foreign Travel (among other meanings), which again links death, the profession and the foreign lands and with the same content. The natal chart can be found at https://www.astro.com
Egypt is also cradle of astrological knowledge. The zodiacs of Dendera and Esna are known, and Herodotus mentions that “long before his time (the 5th century BC), the Egyptians had learned to predict the character, destiny and day of death of a man by date of his birth” 5 .
Herodotus is known to hold that the notion of the gods, though not their name or form, had originated in Egypt as far as the Greek world is concerned. The profound impact and mutual relationship that both civilizations had is undeniable. Philostratus maintained that Greece already knew astrology in 1184 BC 6
Bobrick also points out the first documented case of Horary Astrology, due to a client who, worried about the delay of a ship, set out in search of an Egyptian astrologer from Smyrna, named Palco, and at 8:30 he asked him if the ship that he was waiting, coming from Alexandria, would arrive without having suffered any damage, and if so, when ” 7 .
So far, we have dealt with three of the four great astrological branches (worldly, natal and horary), but we will have to wait for the Pentateuch of Doroteo of Sidon (named for the same reason as the Biblical Pentateuch, as it contains five books) to have the first treatise Complete Electional Astrology, the last great branch of Astrology. Due to the particular interest of this branch, it will be the subject of at least one monograph on this blog.
References
1 Benson Bobrick. “Escrito en el Cielo. Una historia de la Astrología”. Ed. El Ateneo, pp 42-53 (2007) (Sp. Ed.: “The Fated Sky”, 2005)
2 “The Art” is how astrology is known among those of us who practice this knowledge. Incidentally, Freemasonry also refers to its praxis as “The Art”, as reflected in the “Anderson Constitutions” 1723. (” A Mason is obliged by his Tenure, to obey the moral law; and if he rightly understands the Art, he will never be a stupid Atheist or an irreligious Libertine ”).
3 Op. Cit. pp 35
4 Formally or informally.
5 Op. Cit. pp 35
6 Op. Cit. pp 36
7 Op. Cit. pp 38
Services
As in every publication, I indicate that I offer my astrology services. All kinds of astrology as long as it is strictly astrology. No tarot or similar. You can find me at +34 619 160 427, and temporarily until the creation of the email accounts in this domain, at Alfonso_h@mail.ru , where I will be happy to help you.