Astrology dates back to the beginning of recorded history. We have animal bones containing notches which may be lunar counters dating back to 30,000 BC and we see evidence of the ritual or sacred importance of the sky in what appear to be illustrations of the stars in the famous caves of Lascaux in southern France around 14,000 BC. No doubt our earliest ancestors found the sight of a full moon, a brilliant dawn or a dark, starry sky as awe-inspiring as we do, and we do not know exactly what use they made of such sights in their religion or their daily lives.

Astrology, as the use of stars and planets to predict future possibilities and work out how they might be avoided or enhanced, first appears in ancient Babylon and we have fragmentary evidence of its use before 2000 BC. Around the same time we see the flowering of a rich astral religion in Egypt, the use of the stars to time religious rites in India and the beginning of a quite distinct form of astrology in China, but our modern western astrology owes its origins to the Babylonians.

Other currents came in, including Greek philosophy, Egyptian and Persian religion and, very probably Celtic and other European traditions, and by two thousand years ago the technical and philosophical basis of astrology was established in the eastern Mediterranean - Greece, Egypt and the Middle East. Two hundred years later a similar form of astrology would have been practised from western Europe through north Africa to Persia and India.

Astrology has fallen in and out of fashion since then, and the Indian tradition has gradually diverged from the western, although the two are still recognisably connected. In Europe astrology declined after 400 AD, was rediscovered after 1000 AD and lost respectability again before 1700. It's current popularity dates back to the 1890s and 1900s, although its only since the 1930s that it has again become part of popular culture.

The discovery by westerners of Chinese astrology (and related practices such as Feng Shui) and the exploration of Native American cosmology and the lost astrology of the Aztecs and Maya of central America are adding depth and detail to contemporary astrology. With this comes a recognition that if so many people take astrology seriously now, while in the past it was such a central part of the prevailing world-view, it's history needs to be studied and understood.

This page is designed as a resource both on the history of astrology and for contemporary studies of its role and significance.

See An Introduction to the History of Astrology