Minderwiz
I've been wanting to do a thread on traditional Astrology for some time, both to explain some of it's ideas and approaches and to answer any questions about them. Over the last 20 years or so, and especially over the last 10 there has been an upsurge in interest, perhaps because of dissatisfaction with the current state of Astrology and it's heavy (indeed almost exclusive) Sun sign approach.
I'm not going to use this as a basis for attacking the current situation but more as a means of showing what went on before. One problem is that 'before' encompasses a period back to the dawn of recorded history, and there is no such thing as a 'traditional method' which covers such a time span. Astrology changed and developed over this period and by 'developed' I'm not implying any modern conception of 'progress'.
If the modern return to traditional roots is because of a feeling that Astrology has gone 'wrong', it certainly isn't the first time that such feelings have been expressed. Jean Baptiste Morin, in the Seventeenth Century thought much the same and tried to re-draw Astrology. Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Astrologers blamed the Arabs (who did much to save Astrology) for it 'going wrong' and indeed Dave has blamed the Greeks. I have no doubt that someone somewhere sometime blamed the Babylonians or the Egyptians. So I'm not claiming that Astrology was fine and in pristine condition before Alan Leo got his hands on it. Indeed in the Western world Astrology has had to be resuscitated more than once and there is no unbroken western tradition (unlike India). Each of those 'near death' experiences produced some losses. Whilst much of the material since medieval times has been recovered, we are not in such a happy situation when it comes to Hellenistic Astrology. The loss there is literally immeasurable, so we are by no means sure that the Hellenistic material we have today is representative of the diversity of what actually existed in those times.The good thing is that more is being discovered and translated and so our understanding is growing, even if it will never be perfect.
With those riders in mind, I will start to consider some of the beliefs, methods and structures. I may well dart between periods, but I want to get across some of the ideas, not write a history.
The usual starting point for any treatise, was to look at planets, signs and houses. By way of introducing those the next post will look at the types of planetary motion.
Please feel free to ask questions or post your own observations. Even if you are a beginner, the thread may stimulate you to think about what you are learning or simply provide some passing interest.
I'm not going to use this as a basis for attacking the current situation but more as a means of showing what went on before. One problem is that 'before' encompasses a period back to the dawn of recorded history, and there is no such thing as a 'traditional method' which covers such a time span. Astrology changed and developed over this period and by 'developed' I'm not implying any modern conception of 'progress'.
If the modern return to traditional roots is because of a feeling that Astrology has gone 'wrong', it certainly isn't the first time that such feelings have been expressed. Jean Baptiste Morin, in the Seventeenth Century thought much the same and tried to re-draw Astrology. Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century Astrologers blamed the Arabs (who did much to save Astrology) for it 'going wrong' and indeed Dave has blamed the Greeks. I have no doubt that someone somewhere sometime blamed the Babylonians or the Egyptians. So I'm not claiming that Astrology was fine and in pristine condition before Alan Leo got his hands on it. Indeed in the Western world Astrology has had to be resuscitated more than once and there is no unbroken western tradition (unlike India). Each of those 'near death' experiences produced some losses. Whilst much of the material since medieval times has been recovered, we are not in such a happy situation when it comes to Hellenistic Astrology. The loss there is literally immeasurable, so we are by no means sure that the Hellenistic material we have today is representative of the diversity of what actually existed in those times.The good thing is that more is being discovered and translated and so our understanding is growing, even if it will never be perfect.
With those riders in mind, I will start to consider some of the beliefs, methods and structures. I may well dart between periods, but I want to get across some of the ideas, not write a history.
The usual starting point for any treatise, was to look at planets, signs and houses. By way of introducing those the next post will look at the types of planetary motion.
Please feel free to ask questions or post your own observations. Even if you are a beginner, the thread may stimulate you to think about what you are learning or simply provide some passing interest.