Arab and Persian Astrology

The Arab astrologers revived the learning of the ancient Greeks in astronomy, astrology, mathematics and medicine which Europe had forgotten. Damascus and Baghdad became the centers of learning in astrology.

The Arab astrologers revived the learning of the ancient Greeks in astronomy, astrology, mathematics and medicine which Europe had forgotten. Damascus and Baghdad became the centers of learning in astrology.

The knowledge of Arab astrologers was then re-imported into Europe, helping to start the Renaissance. The Kabbalistic lore of Jews and Christians embodied this which later became the substance of the astrology of the Middle Ages. The system was known as judicial astrology which is now regarded as pseudoscience. This gave rise to the system of astronomy which deals with the science of the study of the motions and the phenomena of the heavenly bodies. Later, under the influence of the Greeks, the scope of astrology was increased with the connections of all the known sciences like botany, chemistry, zoology, anatomy, mineralogy and medicine.

The planets were associated with particular colours, metals, stones, plants, drugs and animals. Thus the entire realm of the natural sciences was reformed into the astrology with the purpose of identifying what the future has in its store. Even the association of the planets with the parts of the body was responsible for predicting the fate of the individual. In the same way, the association of ideas was extended to the constellations of the zodiac which was later placed on par with the planets. The zodiac formed the prototype of the human body with different parts corresponding to the sections of the zodiac itself. The head was placed in the first sign of the zodiac, the Aries and the feet in the last sign of the zodiac, the Pisces. The other parts and organs were distributed in between these two extremes.

Medicine became an integral part of astrology with the human anatomy being connected with the planets, constellations and single stars. The influence of planets on diseases and problems in the functioning of organs was established. Various days were also assigned to the planets beginning with Sunday assigned to the Sun and ending with Saturday to the Saturn.

Astrology in the Jewish community

The astrology was referred as the wisdom of prognostication than as wisdom of star seeing or astronomy in Hebrew. In Jewish community, the astrology made a big impact and became predominant especially in the books of Kabbalah.