ASTROLOGY TO ASTRONOMY

Today we make fun of astrology because it’s not science, but how did it lead to astronomy?

It’s certainly appropriate to say astrology was merged closely with astronomy. Even in antiquity, if you could separate them out, you would say both are just the basic gathering of the data and the manipulation of data to reach broader conclusions. People saw the seasonal behavior of the sun and stars, the tidal behavior of the moon. So it’s understandable that people in antiquity would come to the conclusion that what’s happening in the sky has an effect on Earth.

But this is what’s interesting. You can go to ancient Maya, whose people practiced astrology, to the Mediterranean, where astrology was rooted in Mesopotamia, which picks up stuff from Greece and Egypt, and then to China. Every one of those cultures puts astrological rules together in a different way. It’s the same sky but they read it completely differently. So if you could be a cross-cultural astronomer 2,000 years ago, you would know right away the jig is up because all these guys can’t be right. And they aren’t right. The rules of astrology are not physical laws. You have to recognize that for people today who invest in astrology, this is a matter of belief. Astrology is truly a matter of faith and I don’t believe terribly in criticizing people’s religion.