Introduction

One of the aims of this paper is to describe the main ideas that transformed the Babylonian astral religion and science/technique of divination based on celestial omens into an operative system of thought. In this respect, we must observe the presence in the astrological system of the major philosophical ideas of Greek philosophy. In this sense, Western astrology:

1) Is the heritage of Babylonian astral religion and technique of divination, and assumed correlations between those astronomical references and terrestrial events, seen as manifestations of divine order.

2) Later, during the Hellenistic period, there was the addition of various Greek philosophical theories that developed a cosmological notion of the superiority of the celestial spheres, in accordance with universal principles and mathematical laws.

What is astrology? What are its philosophical and scientific bases? Is astrology a science? Is it a symbolic system? We can observe that – not only in general but also among educated people and astrologers – there is a poor and confused understanding of what astrology is. Normally astrology is mixed with a lot of other elements and beliefs, namely, religious and metaphysical. This paper intends to show how the original Babylonian astral religion changed under the influence of Greek Philosophy and how the Greeks rationalised and systematised those beliefs. I also will try to clarify some of the major cultural and philosophical basis of western astrological knowledge, and to critically analyse the assumptions and beliefs on which astrology is based as a system of thought.

In chapter one I intend to present a general view of the Babylonian origin of astrology, which led to a kind of practice that I call ‘macro astrology’. In chapter two there is a general survey of the major Greek philosophical ideas that transformed the original Babylonian astrology into a rationalised system of thought. Special references are made to Aristotle’s cosmological philosophy and Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos, the inaugural work of Western astrology. Chapter three shows how astrology lost its scientific and philosophical foundations in consequence of the seventeenth century scientific revolution. In chapter four I intend to analyse the present epistemological status of astrology showing, in particular, the differences between Greek astrology and contemporary astrology. The paper ends with a final reflection on the possible directions for an astrological ‘craft’ or ‘art’ that, at present, has neither consistent philosophical theory nor scientific evidence to support it.