In the distant past, after much careful observation of nature’s laws aka astrology, ancient knowledge seekers developed the science known as the Religion of the Soul and Stars.
They had to protect their precious wisdom from enemies and information savages so they traced their understanding of nature’s laws as pictographs in the sky.
There, the constellations – God’s sky-art – picture the traits, characteristics, spiritual potential and role in universal society of the twelve zodiac signs. And as civilizations came and went the stars in the sky stayed as custodians and guardians of humanity’s Stellar Wisdom.
The Aquarian Age internet will tell you that the origins of the earliest constellations are likely to predate recorded history and that people used them for religious purposes: to relate stories of their beliefs, experiences and creation myths.
It won’t tell you that the 48 constellations convey practical and spiritual teachings; and when the Sun, Moon, Mercury and ascendant by their sign positions in your birth chart specify particular constellations that the practical and spiritual data they transmit attains personally relevance.
And it won’t tell you that the likely origin of the Stellar Wisdom was either Atlantis or Lumera and that while its original form was later modified it was present at the very beginning of the seven ancient centers of civilization – Egypt, India, Crete, Peru, Mexico, China and Chaldea.
The origin of the zodiac remains historically uncertain but its astrological divisions became prominent around 400 BC in Babylonian and Chaldean astrology.
Astrology’s story
Four thousand years ago celestial omens were studied by the Babylonians in order to determine the will of the Gods; and the Chaldeans, working with the ancient Stellar Wisdom, observed and researched the astrological influences affecting life on Earth, to a high degree of accuracy. And while their research methodology wasn’t as strict as today’s science demands in contemporary terms it matched the times in which it was conducted; and today their ancient astrological knowledge remains a powerful influence on modern Aquarian Age culture.
Then, from Babylonia, astrology spread to many countries and around the 3rd century BC it came to Greece. The Greeks replaced the Babylonian gods with their own and developed an elaborate theory of how the planets influenced human behavior.
They personalized astrology and developed the theory that events on Earth had their correspondence in the sky: As above, so below. And as Greek astrology spread throughout Europe Ptolemy’s book on the subject, Tetrabiblos, became the standard text during the Middle Ages.
At this time astrology did many things that science does today. It was a theory of causes that explained why things happened which probably started with the simple observation that the Sun influences people’s daily activities and its position in the sky influences the four seasons.
And because astrology provided a framework for apparently explaining unexplainable natural events, its popularity grew.
During the 15th and 16th centuries many of the royal courts of Europe employed official astrologers. In England Dr John Dee selected the time for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth I and in everything but title was the Astrologer Royal.
And towards the end of the 15th Century with the invention of the printing press astrology reached the general public through almanacs. These carried the same sort of predictions and advice which commonly appears in magazines and newspapers and on websites today.
At this time astrology had a great influence on all sections of the community even though it was strongly opposed by the Church.
The Catholic Church tolerated natural astrology which was concerned with the influence of the stars and planets on the natural world of minerals, plants and animals; but it did not approve of judicial astrology which was based on the belief that the positions of the stars and planets at the time of a person’s birth determined their character and, to a large extent, their fate.
The tricky question of freewill was answered with the claim that the stars incline rather than compel. And the Church, today, remains deeply suspicious of astrology even though certain Popes had private astrologers.
The real enemies of astrology, however, turned out to be astronomers; and when the French Academy of Science was founded in the 17th Century a ban was placed on astrology: and as science gradually unraveled the secrets of life and the universe, astrology became hopelessly out of date and fell into disrepute.
During the 18th century science drove astrology from the public mind, yet it continued to survive as a belief system and entertainment and even today it continues to influence large sections of the community despite discoveries that explain the workings of the human body and brain and its reputation as pseudoscience.
Science explains life
In 1843 it was demonstrated that electrical impulses generated by the nervous system allowed different parts of the body to communicate. Now, it’s known, that the nervous system is an internal communications network that enables an animal to adjust to change in its surroundings.
The human nervous system, with its highly developed brain, generates electrical impulses which carry messages about the environment along nerve fibers, at speeds of 0.9 to 90 meters per second, to the brain where they’re observed to be interpreted and analyzed. All physical movement and behavior are apparently the result of the brain receiving, interpreting and transmitting information carried over electrical currents.
In 1883 it was discovered that growth disorders were caused by a lack of thyroid secretion; and in 1901 the adrenalin hormone was isolated. Now it’s known that the hormones secreted by the endocrine glands, along with the nervous system, regulate growth and various body functions and influence behavior.
The investigation into the laws of inheritance had started in 1857 when Gregor Mendal began studying the transmission of character in peas growing in his garden. His research findings were published in 1865. Now it’s known that genes inherited from your parents largely determine your body structure, eye color etc. and what you look like.
In 1895 Sigmund Freud with Josef Beuer published Studies on Hysteria and in March 1896 Freud coined the term psychoanalysis.
He didn’t invent the idea of the unconscious mind, but he certainly made it popular. From 1900 to 1905 he developed a topographical model of the mind, describing the features of the mind’s structure and function. He used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind: conscious, preconscious, and unconscious. Now modern researchers have proposed a neural processing model for the unconscious mind.
So, with all these discoveries acting like nails in astrology’s coffin the question remained what was astrology’s role in this thing called life.
The new age of science required a new evidence-based scientific astrology: Enter Elbert Benjamine and Hermetic astrology.
Elbert Benjamine and the new astrology
Based in Los Angeles, California, Elbert Benjamine unselfishly applied his intelligence and ability to discern the facts of astrology. From 1928 to 1948 he and a small group of dedicated researchers investigated thousands of birth chart and their case histories and gave the ancient Stellar Wisdom a scientific makeover in light of Aquarian Age neuronal activity, hormones, genetics and psychology.
He explained the spiritual teachings associated with the 48 constellations in easy-to-understand language using modern science and ancient myths.
He explained that your birth chart was a map of your unconscious mind aka astral body or soul and the consciousness or character you were born with was created and produced by evolutionary experience.
And he explained that in the chart the dynamic desire-urges that define your consciousness are mapped by the planets and their attitude-motivations are indicated by their sign associations.
Elbert took the ancient teaching regarding major progressions and applied it to thousands of charts to determine when and what events are likely to occur and then he discovered minor progressions and their role in timing minor and major events.
He then worked to develop a method to measure astral force so that the individual components of your birth chart could be measured and compared; and then he associated the endocrine glands with their planetary rulers and explained how you could monitor your mental and physical wellbeing and adjust your thought and food diet to accommodate changes in your not-conscious thought-cell activity and body chemistry produced by progressed aspects.
Today, in 2025, computer technology relieves you of learning the complex math associated with constructing your birth chart and calculating its astrodyne report and the start, peak and end dates of progressed aspects as they form. So, you can devote all your time to learning and understanding your birth chart: who you are and your life story that ensures the continual development of your intelligence and ability.
In the meantime, the old Piscean Age fortune-telling type astrology continues to have the astrological community and public at large in its firm grip.
Campaigns commenced by Elbert Benjamine back in the 1930s to educate the public about astrology have borne fruit and now most people know their Sun sign and many are aware they have a key sign profile: their Sun, Moon and ascendant signs.
But too many people, including the high-profile astrology critics, have yet to learn that the hallmark of astrology is the birth chart and the life story it depicts unfolds in response to progressed aspects.
So, neuroscience knows all about the brain’s electrical activity; endocrinology knows all about the endocrine glands and their hormone secretions; gene science knows all about the laws of heredity; and psychology knows all about the unconscious mind.
And Hermetic astrology knows all about the four-dimensional inner plane; the astral soul world; souls on developmental journeys; the role of psychokinesis in their consciousness development; the use of electromagnetic energy to facilitate conscious awareness of unconscious thoughts and feelings; and the birth chart that reveals a personal revelation regarding purpose and a human life that furthers the development of intelligence and ability through experience.
Astrology’s story continues. The best is yet to come. But there’s a lot of work to be done if humanity is to benefit from the ancient Stellar Wisdom and the personally testable facts of astrology.
Astrology for Aquarius – sharing our knowledge
