Where Do Zodiac Signs Come From? Here’s the True History Behind Your Horoscope
Unravel the mysteries of the zodiac as we delve into the origins of horoscopes. Discover the ancient roots of these celestial symbols and how they've shaped our understanding of personalities and destinies. Prepare to journey through time and space to uncover the true history behind your horoscope.
The Summer Solstice horoscopes
Although astrology is not itself a science, humans have been looking up at the stars to plan their lives for thousands of years
- Farmers used the skies as a calendar as long as the Ancient Egyptians
- Travelers used them as a compass to find directions
What’s the difference between astrology and astronomy?
For centuries, astrology (looking for signs based on the movement of the celestial bodies) was considered basically the same thing as astronomy (the scientific study of those objects).
- But its popularity relies on factors that numbers can’t compute, and the appeal of looking to the stars for answers has not waned – in fact, in recent years, it seems to have expanded.
- Even if astrology’s answers aren’t based on scientific study, the reason people keep turning to the sky does come down to the psychological phenomenon he calls the human tendency for “self-selection,” the search for interpretations that match what we already hope to be true.
Where did zodiac signs come from?
We don’t really know who first came up with the idea for looking at things in nature and divining influences on humans
- Some form of astrology shows up in various belief systems in ancient cultures
- In Ancient China, noblemen looked at eclipses or sunspots as portents of good or bad times for their emperor
- The Sumarians and Babylonians, by the middle of the second millennium BC, appeared to have had many divination practices – they looked at spots on the liver and the entrails of animals, for example
What are the 12 signs of the zodiac?
These Western, or tropical, zodiac signs were named after constellations and matched with dates based on the apparent relationship between their placement in the sky and the sun.
- The Babylonians had already divided it into 12 equal signs by 1500 BC
- Ptolemy, author of the Tetrabiblos, helped popularize these 12 signs
- Now astrologers do their calculations and forecasting based on where the planets and sun are relative to the twelve signs, not on where they are positioned in relation to the constellation(s)
- Astrologers say if the sun is in the sign of Sagittarius on the day you were born, then you’re a Sagitarius
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