Life is most unpredictable and so are we, the human beings. Life gives us loads of miseries at time, again sometimes it comes as a bed of roses. Though life is full of happiness and sadness, still the fact is that, none of us know what is going to happen with us in the coming days or even the upcoming hours. Why is our life so much erratic? What are the factors responsible for those uncertainties?

Although science has advanced so much that it can predict the upcoming tsunami, the features of the galaxy which are billions of light-years away from us and many more facts which were unknown to us few years back also, yet it is still now unable to foresee our future.

And where science has raised its hand and surrendered, pseudoscience i.e. astrology has advanced. Some people consider astrology as a false belief. They think that how it is possible that we can foresee our upcoming days by calculating the position of the celestial bodies? How are the celestial bodies capable of changing one’s life?

But is astrology really a pseudoscience, or some sort of science lies under all the calculations of astrology? I am among those people who believe that astrology has science in it. This mysterious science draws my mind from a long time back which had motivated me to find out the origin of astrology and many things more about it. Today I’ll share some facts about astrology with you all.

Origin of astrology

The origin of astrology dates back to the ancient cradle of civilization- Babylonia in the nineteenth century BC. Through the studies of Plato, Aristotle and others, astrology is highly regarded as a science. Though initially people used it to predict the weather, agricultural development, natural disaster war and so on, recently it has entered into our day-to-day life. We use astrology these days mostly to foresee our future.

Different schools of astrology

Today there are three main schools of astrology. They are:

Indian astrology– it is popularly known as Vedic astrology or “Jyotish”. The great sage “Parasara” developed the concept of Indian astrology. Though Indian astrology is known as Vedic astrology, but the interesting fact is that it is nowhere mentioned in Veda” but mentioned in “Vedanga”, which is a limb of “Veda”. Later, some eminent philosopher, like Satyacarya, Varaha Mihira did some incredible work on Indian school of astrology and wrote books on it. Till now the period of origin of Indian astrology is not clear. But according to some, it has originated within a period of 1200 BC to 2500 BC.

Vedic astrology has three main categories. They are:

1. Siddhanta– it is the study of arithmetic, algebra, trigonometry, astronomy and geometry. It helps to calculate the planetary positions of different celestial bodies.
2. Samhita– it is the study of the planetary site of the sun and other celestial bodies and their effect on natural disaster, war, hurricane, different geo-political effects etc.
3. Hora– it is a predictive astrology of a person which is further divided into the following sub-branches-

• Gola– it is the positional astronomy
• Ganita– it is the numerical analytical tools for analyzing the results of Gola
• Jataka– it is the natal astrology and it is a person’s horoscope
• Prasna– this is the answering of specific questions, depending upon the time the question is asked
• Muhurta– this is the auspicious time selected to start something
• Nimitta– they are the omens and presages
• Swar Shaastra- it is typically based on names and sounds
• Ankjyotisha- this deals with the relation between numbers and humans
• Nadi- it is the comprehensive study of the past, present and future of a person
• Streejaatak- it is the female astrology dealing with the female genitures
• Tajik Shaastra- it deals with the annual solar returns
• Nastjaatakam- it reforms the lost horoscopes

Chinese astrology- beside Indian astrology or Hindu astrology, one of the oldest schools of astrology is the Chinese school of astrology. According to some people, Chinese astrology has originated thousands of years back. It has entered China via the same silk route, which is the central Asian trade route through which Buddhism entered China from India. Chinese astrology depends upon the lunar cycle and takes twelve years to complete. It comprises five elements- Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth. Yin and Yang are the balancing, vibrant forces that keep the universe in a balanced situation every time at every level. Though it is mainly popular in east-Asia, still it is one of the most popular beliefs of the common people of the entire world and they consult Chinese astrology in their daily lives.

Western astrology- it is popular mostly in Europe and US. Western astrology originated in Mesopotamia during 2nd millennium BC. It developed long time after Chinese astrology. The Arabs brought western astrology to Greece.

There are two main branches of Western astrology. They are-

• Natal- this type of astrology deals with the nativity of a person
• Judicial- eclipse, lunation, ingress, or some specific moments in time is the basis of this type of astrology

Different astrologers in different part of this World follow different types of astrology to predict the future of a person or a nation. Many astrologers, fortune-tellers forecast the future of an individual though they do not give any written evidence on its authenticity. The so-called “scientific” people look at these astrological predictions as “quackery”.

But recently the scientists has established the science behind astrology. It is true that the tabloid-astrology which we sometimes see in the internet or tabloids as daily horoscope has no scientific basis which predicts that you are a scorpion and today you will get a lottery. But the calculations of an eminent astrologer cannot be denied who had predicted a long time back what is going to happen with you and the same thing is happening with you now. It is also a fact that if rotation of the moon has an effect on the oceans and seas and is responsible for the tides, then it will definitely have an effect on human life also.

The debate that astrology is a science or a pseudoscience will continue in the upcoming days also. But keeping in mind its historical origin, the correct predictions by some astrologers before the occurrence of the incidence and the scientific research, can we really say that all these are just a quack? Should we really show the spirit to deny the science behind astrology?

Source by Ananya Mukherjee