Short History of Astrology In The Western World

Today, the average person in any Western world culture knows their Zodiac Sun Sign placement (i.e. Hey baby! What’s your sign?) and millions read their daily horoscope as a source of momentary entertainment and amusement. And heck! Who knows? Maybe today will be your lucky day, and you'll finally meet that tall, dark stranger that your horoscope is bragging about.From the very dawn of humanity (until today), people have looked to the heavens and the planets for guidance. Thousands of years ago astrology was, generally speaking, reserved only for members of royalty. There were good points to astrology being embraced by those in political power, and there were sadlyenough several bad points.

One of the best advantages was that an astrologer could often look forward to a nice, comfortable, civil service job in the palace. One of the worst "difficulties" was when the astrologer inevitably made his/her royal benefactor angry. That was when the court astrologer most often literally lost his/her head over the matter.The Roots/Greek ThoughtThe roots of Western Tropical astrology (the type of astrology most Westerners are familiar with today) date all the way back to ancient Mesopotamia (2300 BC). From there, perhaps as early as 600 BC, astrology began making its way into ancient Greece. Astrology's entrance into Greece coincided with the beginning of the first great Greek philosophers and with the rise of the Greek state and culture.Socrates - 469 to399 BCPlato - 427 to 347 BCAristotle - 384 to 322 BCThen Alexander the Great burst onto the scene beginning his famous conquests over much of the entire (then known) world. Alexander's conquests lasted between the years of 336-323 BC. Due to Alexander's powerful influence and control - and his having been tutored by the master philosopher Aristotle - Greek culture and thought was then spread throughout much of Alexander's vast conquered domain.In this process of "hellenizing" the world - Alexandria, Egypt became the established cultural center of ancient Hellenistic Greek thought and philosophy between the years of 323 - 31 BC. It was during this 300 year period of time that the study, development, and acceptance of astrology flourished among many of the prominent thinkers of the day... and it was during this period ofti......