That was my question to Google (after I was asked a similar question by the Lady Friend).
The first search return was a
dense monologue on the denial and demonization of the feminine (and the non-Indo-European) in astrology, from the time of the Mesopotamians to today:
"The Repression of the Feminine in Astrology."I eventually said 'goodbye' to that article because I was put off by Jordan's erudite presentation, and because I've always intuitively asserted
the exact opposite of what she described about the numerological and conceptual role of odd and even numbers, and the "flowing" (trine and sextile) aspects. And, most of the texts that I've highly valued were written by women who downplayed or rejected some of the tenets of the historically "sexist and racist" astrology that Jordan described. And they did it without being so high-minded.
Anyhow...
I delved a bit further into the Centre Universitaire de Recherche en Astrologie site, and found several documents by
Patrice Guinard, whose broad research into the philosophical and historical development of astrology was rooted in his doctoral dissertation:
"Astrology is not born simply from the observation of the stars, but also from the astonishment of the ego before the spectacle of human diversity and the recognition of its otherness: why am I as I am, and not the same as this other? Astrological awareness does not proceed from a two-fold assessment composed of exterior observation and introspection, but rather from an experience of a broader nature, exterior-interior, psychic and cognitive: in a single stroke I understand my being, that of others, the external world and their common roots in the stars. One comes to astrology only by a sudden insight, rather like a revelation of a spiritual nature, followed then by an intuitive and intellectual recognition of the participation of every being in the cosmic order and the plenitude of the Universe.
"One does not learn astrology: one receives it suddenly, not only through the discovery of texts and practices which have been marginalized by an institutionalized knowledge which does not correspond to its aspirations, but above all because one has lived through a period where consciousness seeks, generally at the age of adolescence, to find a metamorphosis of its knowledge of the world and of itself. On the other hand, one is taught not to "believe" in astrology, not to consider this centuries-old knowledge of the human being as pertinent to the totality of human experience, and to repudiate the superstitious and dubitable practices it involves. Astrology is not a matter of mental belief, nor of experiential verification, but rather of psychic adhesion: there exists a reality which affects us and which is not adequately expressed by the systems of representation which surround it.
"To think astrology is to seek to define its status, to determine its foundations, its operative structures and its levels of articulation, to demarcate its limits and its arenas of application, to elucidate its anthropological perspectives. Astrology sets itself apart from the ensemble of religious, philosophical and ideological discourses by reason of its continuity, its ubiquity, its capacity to endure and regenerate itself despite norms and cultural modes. Going across ages and civilizations, it continually renews its conceptual patterns, taking from its immediate cultural milieu what is necessary for its perpetuation.
Despite the spiritual blindness and mental turbulence of the present age, astrology's object remains the same: the structuring relationship of the geo-solar environment to the psyche."
The CURA site contains articles on
the history of astrology; a treatise on
an eight-house chart system (rather than 12) that seems to provide a more unified and natural method for interpretation; and, like I said, many more texts and observations on
an array of astrological aspects.
If you want a quick, though perhaps oversimplified, astro-history:
"
Astrology developed from ancient times as primitive people looked to the stars for omens of events to come. The Sumerians who settled on the banks of the Tigris-Euphrates in what is now Iraq around 4000 BC were the first to use astrology in systematic form. They were the first literate peoples who developed writing. It is believed that they were immigrants from further east, toward present-day Afghanistan, and that astrology split even earlier: going east into China, forming the basis of a slightly different system, and west into the beginnings of what we use today in Western astrology.
Indian [Vedic] astrology also shares the same root knowledge, though with its own subtle variations.
"Astrology spread in a fascinating way from the Sumerians into the advanced Greek civilization (600 BC), where the philosophers like Plato held sway. From there it moved into Egypt, where traces of it can still be seen in the wonderfully colourful frescoes in the pharaoh's temples; and into the later Roman empire. The Sumerians probably also communicated their astrological knowledge to the Indian civilization of 2000 BC, where mathematics was also highly developed.
"When the Roman Empire crumbled, the sophisticated Arab mathematicians took astrology on board and developed it still further around 4 AD to 9AD. It came further west in a major way when the Crusaders, who lived in and absorbed much of the knowledge and culture of the Middle East for two centuries, returned to Europe in the 12th and 13th century. The Knights Templar were almost certainly instrumental in this [they had their hands in everything, it seems --Ed.]. At that point, the original Latin texts that had been translated into Arabic were re-translated back into Latin, which was the language of scholars in Europe.
"Again in the late 16th century, it was the mathematicians, such as Scotland's John Napier, who pushed back the frontiers of astrological knowledge. All the early astronomers, Galileo, Kepler, Tyco Brahe were astrologers. It was used extensively in medicine, agriculture and alchemy, which was the start of modern chemistry. At that point, astrology was taught in all the ecclesiastical colleges in Europe, and was used by all heads of state, Holy Roman emperors, kings, and even popes.
"Astrology fell into disrepute with the rise of science in the 17th century, going underground into the secret societies, like the Freemasons, Rosicrucians, Theosophists, who kept it alive. It has started to emerge again into public recognition in the late 20th century [that oft-invoked Age of Aquarius --Ed.].
"The five, main world religions -- Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity and Judaism -- all have [had] astrology as part of their belief system. Daniel, the Christian Old Testament prophet, was an astrologer. The bright star that [is said to have drawn] the Wise Men, who were Zoroastrian astrologers, to find Jesus in the Bethlehem stable was almost certainly a Jupiter-Saturn conjunction. The prophet Mohammed founded Islam in 623 AD, at the time of a triple conjunction of Saturn, Uranus and spiritual Neptune in Virgo. Many synagogues around from 16th century Russia to 20th century America have astrological symbols carved or inlaid into their structures. Buddhist priests laid down the exact astrological timing for the start of modern Burma in 1948.
"In recent times French wine growers, using Rudolph Steiner's astrological calendar, have successfully developed a system for planting and horticulture that has confounded critics by producing a better glass of wine. Organic gardeners now follow suit. Many financiers on Wall Street and elsewhere in the world's major money centres have regular astrological advice in order to guide their investments. Certain branches of psychotherapy, following Jung's ideas, also use birth charts to help patients understand themselves..."
