Wikiproject Astrology - Zodiac, Astrology, Western Astrology, Planets in Astrology, History of Astrology, Astrological Sign, Astrological Aspect (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 46. Chapters: Zodiac, Astrology, Western astrology, Planets in astrology, History of astrology, Astrological sign, Astrological aspect, Natal astrology, Essential dignity, Cosmobiology, Astrology in Germany and German-speaking Europe, Agricultural astrology, List of astrological traditions, types, and systems. Excerpt: Planets in astrology have a meaning different from the modern astronomical understanding of what a planet is. Before the age of telescopes, the night sky was thought to consist of two very similar components: fixed stars, which remained motionless in relation to each other, and wandering stars, (in ancient Greek: asteres planetai), which moved relative to the fixed stars over the course of the year. To the Greeks and the other earliest astronomers, this group comprised the five planets visible to the naked eye, and excluded the Earth. Although strictly the term "planet" applied only to those five objects, the term was latterly broadened, particularly in the Middle Ages, to include the Sun and the Moon (sometimes referred to as "Lights"), making a total of seven planets. Astrologers retain this definition today. To ancient astrologers, the planets represented the will of the gods and their direct influence upon human affairs. To modern astrologers the planets represent basic drives or impulses in the human psyche. These drives express themselves with different qualities through the twelve signs of the zodiac, and in different spheres of life through the twelve houses. How exactly the planets manifest themselves also depends on the aspects (or angles) that they form with each other in the sky as seen from Earth. Modern astrologers differ on the source of the planets' power. Some hold that the planets exert their influence directly through gravitational or another unknown other power. Others hold that...