BRIEF HISTORY OF ASTROLOGY

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Where Did It Begin?



The first people to tabulate the movements of the Sun, Moon and planets against the backdrop of the Heavens were astrologers. From this parent science grew the child we know as astronomy. Whether they like it or not, modern astronomers owe the origins of their craft to astrologers. The Sumerian people of five thousand years ago were the first practitioners of astrology known to accredited history, though it is clear many of the ancient peoples were keen and skilled heavenly observers – even if nowadays we don't understand how they made their observations, or how they used them.

The intent and function of the ancient practice of astrology has always been to divine a relationship between humankind and the natural world. The ancient peoples first used the science of astrology to make forecasts – predictions about the future – but soon developed the sacred art into a tool that could be used to understand the individual nature with its tendencies and abilities, weaknesses and strengths. They did this by making a map of the human psyche based on the map of the Heavens. They also used astrology for decision-making and guidance, working with the understanding that there are natural cycles and patterns to the operations of the universe that can be read by reading the relationships between its various moving and living bodies.

Just as there are beneficial times to plant, to sow, to harvest, to clear land, so there are beneficial times to plan, to review, to begin a new project and to marry. This does not mean that these events cannot take place without these auspices.

Quite the contrary! We can do as we like, but there will be a cost. The farmer who plants out of season will harvest a poor crop.

Astrology does not control our lives, but the heavenly movements symbolized in astrology help to shape us as they shape our circumstances. They do this in accord with the pattern of unfolding movements in the cosmos of which we are a part. Now, more than ever, we bear witness to the cost of trying to bend the seasons and the Earth herself to our will.

How high must those costs become before we begin to seriously analyze our relationship with the time it takes to do something and the expectations created by the technology of the modern era?

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The Modern Revolution
 


We live in a world that was to be revolutionized by the introduction of chemical insecticides and fertilizers.

Yet, while we have barely begun to come to terms with the damage inflicted on the Earth and the human constitution by the myopia of such thinking, we surge ahead like hyperactive children forever racing to the shop for more sugar-coated treats. Now, we're toying with cloned animals and human beings, and a diet of genetically-engineered food.

Isn't it time forward planning came to mean a time period of something more than the duration of a television commercial break?

And how safe is the high-speed technology of creation, destruction and dissemination in the hands
of a culture that has had artificial light for little more than a century and has still arguably not come
to terms with its impact on the human and animal community? How much are the current stresses on both individuals and societies in the modern era a function of the fact that artificial light has simply given us so much more time to fill. As a consequence, we race from one diversion to the next, sublimely ignorant of the possibility that darkness may have given more release to the human psyche than we realized.

These are not in themselves criticisms of technology so much as they are part of a critique of a style human behaviour evident in the modern world, one that tends to forgo serious analysis of long term impact for the sake of immediate gratification, profit or apparent release from boredom.

[Bianca]

The Chemical Trade



Once upon a time we searched for evidence that a new food or medicine did no harm before it was introduced.

Now corporations demand absolute proof of the harm such things do (usually by people dying) before they will consider taking them off the market. It is now considered mandatory to take a drug to deal with pain rather than simply treat the condition that causes the pain, based on the belief that in the modern world we simply do not have time to stop for nurture and healing.

We have pills and potions that can suppress the symptoms of almost any condition known to man, woman or beast, yet we still cannot allow ourselves the three things most important for the healing journey... rest, inner work and attention to the spirit.

Are we going to keep buying the lie that suppressing symptoms is more important than treating the cause because it takes less time? Are we going to end by having our children believe that taking painkillers and having warm milk on packaged breakfast cereal are genuine life choices?

'Get over it', 'Put it behind you' and 'Soldier on' are catch phrases that scream from every advertising campaign, be it mainstream or 'new age'. However, it's instructive to remember that the phrase 'Soldier on' is one that sends troops to the front line to be shot, coined by a commander-in-chief who never set foot in the trenches.

Why does everything always have to go faster? Why do we always have to put the bar higher? Why must profits always increase? How much of 'more', 'better' and 'higher' will ever be enough? If we keep seeking the unreachable pinnacle of the supreme achievement, will we ever know the sublime embrace of being in harmony with the web of life? Is a simple existence lived in tune with the cycles of nature somehow worth less than the life of a multibillionaire or an athlete who can run a hundred metres in less than nine seconds?

Enough questions! When will we take time to consider the answers?

[Bianca]

In Harmony with Time



Astrology is a tool through which we can learn to live and work in harmony with both the environment and with time itself. It is a tool by which cycles of time can be perceived in a way essentially different from knowing the date because we read the newspaper, or because it's only two hundred and three more shopping days till Christmas. Astrology is both an intuitive art and a sacred science that can illuminate something of our nature and purpose as beings.

Astrology will not make decisions for us.

We are the ones who must think and act.

But astrology can inform our choices and guide our hands by showing us what is possible and when it is possible. The essential point to remember is that astrology is a sacred art. Thus it can give us a sense of taking right action in a situation, moving in accordance with the patterns of a greater power or presence.

[Bianca]

The Wheel Turns



If the Heavens reveal that Neptune, the mystic planet, squares the Moon in your birth chart, you may gain greatly through attention to spiritual and creative matters. But, there will be frustrations or delay, especially with emotional and domestic matters. You will need to take things slowly, being cautious with major decisions, perhaps reflecting on the past and discerning lessons from the patterns there. You may be confused, tired or experience ill-health. Above all, you will not be able to forge ahead regardless of the consequences. No amount of positive thinking will alter this advice yet, if you follow it, you can gain in understanding. You can treat it positively but you cannot alter its influence. The challenge of Neptune is like moving through a fog. If you run, you'll fall or lose your way. But, if you feel the path ahead, opening yourself to sense or perceive things in a different way, you'll discover new parameters in your world and a new kind of journey. But, in doing so, you may have to give up goals or beliefs that were previously important to you as part of the journey of change.

So too, if Saturn moves into opposition with Venus in your birth chart, you'll need to re-evaluate where you are with money and relationships. You will encounter obstacles. You will be restrained from having what you want and may experience a separation or perhaps disaffection in primary relationships. You will have to take the views or actions of others into account. You will have to deal with the consequences of the past and past action. It doesn't matter how high you set your sights or how much you push yourself, you will still have to deal with such issues, negotiating in a careful and patient manner until the path ahead is clear.

These two are examples of challenging aspects. There are of course positive aspects that free us to enjoy, aspire and strike while the iron is hot. If Jupiter conjoins Venus or the Sun, you will forge ahead with joyful opportunity. If Uranus harmonizes with Mercury, your mind will be charged with excitement and new ideas. The point is that our best course is to act in accordance with the influences, not pretend they don't exist. Thus, astrology in the end is a paradigm that requires belief in order to gain its greatest rewards. 

[Bianca]

A basic acquaintance with astrology can prove to any open-minded person that it works, even if we don't

quite understand why. A deeper acquaintance will teach us that we are entering a paradigm of faith, not

in astrology as such, but in a connection with the Source of all-embracing consciousness from which we

come and to which we all must inevitably return.




On this journey, sometimes there will be suffering and sometimes joy.

To believe that theunabated happiness of having what we want is the right of all is a childish notion.




However, to know the joys of embracing each turning of the wheel, regardless of what it brings, is the way

to the enlightenment of the mind and the illumination of the spirit.

[Bianca]

                                     








The Sacred Science



Astrology is a sacred science. Its disciplined study reveals the right path by revealing the turnings of the wheel of life. To act as the Heavens reveal is to take right action, acknowledging the sacred in each moment. Some come to the art of astrology knowing these truths. Others come, fearful that somehow their lives will be taken over. However, if we put aside such fears, then astrology is one means, one of many, by which the greater truths are revealed. If we live in accord with their behest, we can experience a liberation of spirit through the knowledge that we fulfill our part in the patterns of the sacred dance.

One of astrology's greatest lessons is that some of the best things are worth waiting for. The best peaches come from a tree in the height of summer. No amount of impatience will change that. Another of astrology's greatest lessons is to teach us that the gravest consequences of any human endeavour will only make themselves clear in time. How long is a unit of time in this regard? We may not know now, but the future will certainly tell us. With the sacred art of astrology, we can read such a future before it occurs and make another choice.

Here endeth the lesson.

[Bianca]

Neil Giles is a storyteller, astrologer and historian. He is a novelist and journalist and has written for theatre, radio and television, as well as many articles for Astrology on the Web.

His passion for mythology and the ancient traditions has led him on a journey through Astrology, Tarot, the Runes and the Celtic Ogham Script as a seeker and personal reader.

He is the author of a number of works on Celtic and Teutonic spirituality, including Odin's Runes and The Oracle of the Trees.

For Neil, the storyteller's path reminds us that while the wisdom of the past still lives, we can take wise action now and in the future. Always a traveller, Neil has now returned to the glorious Southern Highlands of New South Wales, on the East Coast of Australia.


http://www.astrologycom.com/sacredart.html

[Bianca]

Mark Ponta
Hero Member

Posts: 661



      HISTORY OF ASTROLOGY III
« Reply #39 on: January 05, 2008, 10:36:29 am » Quote 

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Quote from: mdsungate on August 15, 2007, 01:35:23 pm

I’m not sure I agree with that.  There is the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.  According to Boyles Law, (I believe that is what it is called) there is an increased proportion to where each planetary orbit lies, and it works for all the planets ...


Hi mdsungate , Bianca,

actually it's called  Bode's Law .I used to be very interested in it. I had a theory that the ancient Egyptians developed their own equivalent of Bode's Law and that it was built into the pyramids   . I haven't thought about it for years.

I found out that there was a german theorist who published a theory in the first half of the 20th century that said the Pyramids represent planets... There's Earth = Khufu (that's been around for ages)  but this German figured Khafre and Menkaure were Venus and Mercury .... Interesting stuff but I'm sort of over it. Maybe one day I'll look into it again .

I never did get a hold of the german theorists book ... Maybe I should   

[Bianca]

                                              T I T I U S  -  B O D E   L A W





The Titius-Bode law (sometimes termed just Bode's law) is a hypothesis that the semi-major axes of planets in the solar system follow a simple rule. It was discredited with the discovery of Neptune in 1846.




Formulation



The law relates the semi-major axis, a, of each planet outward from the sun in units such that the Earth's semi-major axis = 10, with

a = n + 4
where n = 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48 ..., with each value of n > 3 twice the previous value. The resulting values can be divided by 10 to convert them into astronomical units (AU), which would result in the expression

a = 0.4 + 0.3 · 2 m
for m = − , 0, 1, 2,...[1]

For the outer planets, each planet is 'predicted' to be roughly twice as far away from the Sun as the next inner object.

[Bianca]

                                                        History
 




The first mention of a series approximating Bode's Law is found in David Gregory's The Elements of Astronomy, published in 1715. In it, he says, "...supposing the distance of the Earth from the Sun to be divided into ten equal Parts, of these the distance of Mercury will be about four, of Venus seven, of Mars fifteen, of Jupiter fifty two, and that of Saturn ninety five." A similar sentence, likely paraphrased from Gregory, appears in in a work published by Christian Wolff in 1724.

In 1764, Charles Bonnet said in his Contemplation de la Nature that, "We know seventeen planets that enter into the composition of our solar system [that is, major planets and their satellites]; but we are not sure that there are no more". To this, in his 1766 translation of Bonnet's work, Johann Daniel Titius added the following unattributed addition, removed to a footnote in later editions:

Take notice of the distances of the planets from one another, and recognize that almost all are separated from one another in a proportion which matches their bodily magnitudes. Divide the distance from the Sun to Saturn into 100 parts; then Mercury is separated by four such parts from the Sun, Venus by 4+3=7 such parts, the Earth by 4+6=10, Mars by 4+12=16. But notice that from Mars to Jupiter there comes a deviation from this so exact progression. From Mars there follows a space of 4+24=28 such parts, but so far no planet was sighted there. But should the Lord Architect have left that space empty? Not at all. Let us therefore assume that this space without doubt belongs to the still undiscovered satellites of Mars, let us also add that perhaps Jupiter still has around itself some smaller ones which have not been sighted yet by any telescope. Next to this for us still unexplored space there rises Jupiter's sphere of influence at 4+48=52 parts; and that of Saturn at 4+96=100 parts. What a wonderful relation!

In 1768, Johann Elert Bode, aged only nineteen, completed the second edition of his astronomical compendium Anleitung zur Kenntniss des gestirnten Himmels, into which he added the following footnote, initially unsourced, but credited to Titius in later versions:[2]

This latter point seems in particular to follow from the astonishing relation which the known six planets observe in their distances from the Sun. Let the distance from the Sun to Saturn be taken as 100, then Mercury is separated by 4 such parts from the Sun. Venus is 4+3=7. The Earth 4+6=10. Mars 4+12=16. Now comes a gap in this so orderly progression. After Mars there follows a space of 4+24=28 parts, in which no planet has yet been seen. Can one believe that the Founder of the universe had left this space empty? Certainly not. From here we come to the distance of Jupiter by 4+48=52 parts, and finally to that of Saturn by 4+96=100 parts.

When originally published, the law was approximately satisfied by all the known planets — Mercury through Saturn — with a gap between the fourth and fifth planets. It was regarded as interesting, but of no great importance until the discovery of Uranus in 1781 which happens to fit neatly into the series. Based on this discovery, Bode urged a search for a fifth planet. Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt, was found at Bode's predicted position in 1801. Bode's law was then widely accepted until Neptune was discovered in 1846 and found not to satisfy it. Simultaneously, the large number of known asteroids in the belt resulted in Ceres no longer being considered a planet. It is now understood that no planet could have formed in the belt, due to the gravitational influence of Jupiter.

The discovery of Pluto in 1930 confounded the issue still further. While nowhere near its position as predicted by Bode's law, it was roughly at the position the law had predicted for Neptune. However, the subsequent discovery of the Kuiper belt, and in particular of the object Eris, which is larger than Pluto yet does not fit Bode's law, have further discredited the formula and made it moot in the eyes of astronomers.

[Bianca]

                                                                      Data





Here are the distances of planets calculated from the rule and compared with the real ones:

 

Graphical plot using data from table to the leftPlanet k T-B rule distance Real distance


Mercury 0 0.4 0.39

Venus 1 0.7 0.72

Earth 2 1.0 1.00

Mars 4 1.6 1.52

Ceres1 8 2.8 2.77

Jupiter 16 5.2 5.20

Saturn 32 10.0 9.54
 
Uranus 64 19.6 19.2

Neptune 128 38.8 30.06

Pluto1 256 77.2 39.44









1 Ceres was considered a planet from 1801 until the 1860s. Pluto was considered a planet from 1930 to 2006. A 2006 IAU proposal to define the term "planet" would have reclassified Ceres as a planet, but this resolution was modified before its ratification in late August 2006. The modification instead placed Ceres, Pluto, and Eris in the newly created category of "dwarf planet".

[Bianca]

                                            Theoretical explanations





There is no solid theoretical explanation of the Titius-Bode law, but it is probably a combination of orbital resonance and shortage of degrees of freedom: any stable planetary system has a high probability of satisfying a Titius-Bode-type relationship. Because of this, it has been called a "rule" rather than a "law". Astrophysicist Alan Boss states that it is just a coincidence. The planetary science journal Icarus no longer accepts papers attempting to provide 'improved' versions of the law. (Boss 2006:70).

Orbital resonance from major orbiting bodies creates regions around the Sun that are free of long-term stable orbits. Results from simulations of planetary formation support the idea that a randomly chosen stable planetary system will likely statisfy a Titius-Bode law.

Dubrulle and Graner have shown that power-law distance rules can be a consequence of collapsing-cloud models of planetary systems possessing two symmetries: rotational invariance (the cloud and its contents are axially symmetric) and scale invariance (the cloud and its contents look the same on all length scales), the latter being a feature of many phenomena considered to play a role in planetary formation, such as turbulence.

There are a decidedly limited number of systems on which Bode's law can be tested. Two of the solar planets have a number of large moons that appear possibly to have been created by a process similar to that which created the planets themselves. The four large satellites of Jupiter plus the largest inner satellite — Amalthea — adhere to a regular, but non-Bode, spacing with the four innermost locked into orbital periods that are each twice that of the next inner satellite. The large moons of Uranus have a regular, but non-Bode, spacing.

Recent discoveries of extrasolar planetary systems do not yet provide enough data to test whether similar rules apply to other solar systems.

[Bianca]

See also



Dermott's Law






Notes



^ Debris & Formation. Wartburg College. Retrieved on 2007-11-08.

^ a b c d Dawn: A Journey to the Beginning of the Solar System. Space Physics Center: UCLA (2005). Retrieved on 2007-11-03.

^ "Titius-Bode laws in the solar system. Part I: Scale invariance explains everything". F. Graner, B. Dubrulle Astronomy and Astrophysics 282, 262-268 (1994).

^ "Titius-Bode laws in the solar system. Part II: Build your own law from disk models",B. Dubrulle, F. Graner Astronomy and Astrophysics 282, 269-276 (1994).





References



The ghostly hand that spaced the planets New Scientist 9 April 1994, p13

 Alan Boss (October 2006). "Ask Astro". Astronomy 30 (10): 70. 

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titius-Bode_law"
 

[Volitzer]

What no Nibiru ??  What the hell ??