History of Western Astrology Medieval and Modern Worlds The Medieval and Modern Worlds

Astrology is a major feature of contemporary popular culture, with recent research indicating that 99% of adults know their birth sign. In the modern West astrology thrives as part of our culture, yet it is a pre-Christian, pre-scientific world-view that continues to provide meaning for millions. Medieval and Renaissance Europe marked the high watermark for astrology, flourishing at all levels of society. It was a subject of high theological speculation, whilst also used to advise kings and popes, and to arrange an activity - from the beginning of a battle to the most auspicious time to have one's hair cut. It was applied to magic and medicine, could locate buried treasure and was regularly used to predict the Apocalypse. Nicholas Campion examines the foundation of modern astrology in the medieval and Renaissance worlds as the ancient and classical theories of the relationship between humanity and the stars adapted. Spanning the period between the adoption of astrology in the Islamic world and the subsequent transfer of Islamic science to Europe, to the rise of popular astrology on the web, Campion challenges the historical convention that astrology flourished only between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries. He examines the evidence for the survival of astrology in Europe following the collapse of the Roman empire, investigates the role of astral mysticism in the eighteenth-century 'counter-enlightenment' and considers the rise of New Age astrology, therapy-oriented, in the twentieth century, particular through the work of the psychologist C.G. Jung. Concluding with a discussion of astrology's popularity and appeal in the twenty-first century, Campion asks whether it should be seen as an integral part of modernity.