Astrology Beliefs and Traditions

2723 Words11 Pages
Astrology beliefs and traditions Astrology is a group of systems and beliefs in which knowledge of the positions of celestial bodies and related information is to be useful in understanding, interpreting, and organizing knowledge about personality, human affairs, and other terrestrial events. The astrologers believe that the sun, the moon, and the five planets we can see with the naked eye influence our future. This idea goes back as far as four thousand years in Babylonia, where it was first used. Astrology is still the most popular means of fortune telling in much of the world today. In the U.S alone, 6 out of every 10 teenagers are said to believe in astrology. The Babylonians believed that the gods had influence in everything that happened to them. The most powerful of these gods were the seven they could see in the sky with their eyes. The Sun, the Moon, Venus, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter. The gods seemed to move around the earth day after day. They thought the earth must be in the middle of the heavens. By keeping a close eye on these “gods” the Babylonians believe a person could learn what a person’s future could bring. They did this very thing by making sky charts, or maps of the sky. If two planets came together at the same time a crop failed or a battle was lost, the astrologer blamed the gods. And if the same planet alignment happened again in the future they suspected trouble. In a way the Babylonian sky charts began to serve as horoscopes. Still, in the 16th century, a lot of people believed that astrology could help foretell and solve their problems. It was then regarded as a science and studied in many universities. It is no longer regarded as a science, in fact many scientist find the subject irrational and false. Astrologers were very relied on to tell what a person’s life held in the future, a part of an astrologers work
Open Document