The origin of astrology began over 5,000 years ago in the plains of ancient Chaldea and Mesopotamia, in what is now called modern day Iraq. The study of astronomy as well as astrology was first developed during this period. In fact, the term «Chaldaean» eventually became synonymous with the word «astrologer», especially among the Romans.

These ancient cultures noticed that certain planets and stars were overhead when they were doing various activities on earth. Jupiter was overhead or dominant in the sky when the culture, tribe or community was migrating, and Mars was dominant when they were waging war. Hence, these cyclical observations helped them know when to anticipate certain events in their communities, like the best times to plant, to harvest, to migrate or when to expect war. As you might expect, the ability to predict certain events gave ancient astrologers a lot of power in their community, but the more important issue is that it provided a semblance of order and organization in what probably felt like a rather chaotic existence at that time in history. By observing what was going on in their community and linking it to what was happening overhead, the ancients were in effect conducting an empirical study or scientific inquiry into the cyclical nature of human existence.

Astrology was never used for individual readings during this time, at least like it is today. Not until the Greeks came along thousands of years later did astrology become a tool to help individuals, even though the degree to which it actually helped them is questionable. Overall, astrology has experienced four major movements in its 5,000 year old history, and we call this initial period, the classical movement or classical era.

Ancient Chaldea was situated in the southernmost portion of the valley of the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Sometimes it extended to include Babylonia and thus comprised all of southern Mesopotamia. The Chaldaean’s were a Semitic people. Their empire flourished under Nebuchadnezzar II, but it declined rapidly thereafter and came to an end when Babylon fell to Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C.

Then the Greeks came along thousands of years later and began using astrology as a tool for individuals as well as entire communities. But as we all know, ancient Greek culture is full of references to the gods being in control of everything. In fact, the average greek citizen believed their lives were totally orchestrated by the gods and that they were truly at the mercy of the gods influences. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for this same consciousness to filter down into their astrology. Instead of god Mars and god Jupiter controlling your life, it quickly became planet Mars and planet Jupiter. Hence the beginning of what I often refer to as the fundamental or causal movement in astrology, which later became known as the traditional movement. So even though astrology had became much more personalized by the ancient Greeks, it had also become more fatalistic and causal. As you might expect, it did not take long for this more fatalistic Greek form to catch on. In fact, it became increasingly more and more popular, especially in western European times in the late eighteen hundreds and early nineteen hundreds. This popularity was probably due to the fact that it gave people a great excuse for why they are going through what they are going through. If they can’t blame mom, dad or their upbringing for their particular predicament, at least they can blame the stars. It is still somewhat popular today, and probably for the same reasons, for about a quarter of the astrologers in the United States still practice this more fatalistic or causal Greek form. After all, believing that something outside of you is the source of all your problems is a great way to avoid taking any responsibility for your life circumstances. Obviously, this perception is a real cop-out and not very empowering from an evolutionary perspective.

Fortunately, in the late nineteen thirties early nineteen forties, an attempt was made to begin to move away from this more fatalistic or causal Greek form, which in hindsight we now call the humanistic movement or third force. It was given this label primarily because it paralleled the humanistic movement in psychology, with people most of us have heard of like Dr. Abraham Maslow, Dr. Carl Rogers, Anthony Sutich and Dr. Stan Grof. Well, the same thing occurred in astrology, but in astrology humanism means the person is more important than the planets, that we have total free will, that we are not at the mercy of planetary energies, and more importantly, that the relationship between human beings and the planets is synchronistic rather than causal. Early 20th century astrologers devoted their lives to using astrology as a tool to better understand human personality and development. Unfortunately, it took a long time for this movement to catch on. I will never forget my experience in 1980 when I gave my first and only talk to the National Academy of Astrologers in Washington, DC. Shortly after I began to speak, some of the senior members of the academy began heckling me from the back of the room saying, «Oh, he’s one of those free will based believing humanists». Clearly, old forms take a long time to die, especially when they are hundreds of years old.

Right around that same time, in the late nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties, the fourth force in astrology began to appear, which we now call the evolutionary movement. This movement is actually a spin off from the humanistic movement. In fact, most of the evolutionary astrologers at that time were initially humanistic astrologers. And just like the humanists, they believed in the free will approach, the synchronistic relationship between the planets and human activity on earth, as well as in using astrology as a tool to understand human personality, but they went much further than that. While all these things are true, an evolutionist believes astrology is much deeper and more profound than simply being another way to assess human personality. To them, astrology is about human soul evolution. It is an incredibly effective tool to track the evolution of an individual’s soul from lifetime to lifetime. So when an evolutionary astrologer looks at your natal chart, they see a literal photograph of your soul’s essence at the moment of birth. They also see where your soul is in its emotional and spiritual development, how far it has come in its evolutionary journey, and why you are here. There is no other personality inventory, psychological test or technique which comes even close to being able to reveal this kind of soul level information, much less one’s spiritual purpose in life and when that purpose will unfold. Evolutionary Astrology is truly the most effective tool there is today to reveal and understand our pre-natal psychology, within the context of our evolving souls!