Page 19 - Talented Astrologer • Volume 2 Number 1 • Winter 2019

Astrology is geocentric, placing the Earth at the center of the Universe, but Copernicus discovered that in fact, the planets revolve around the Sun.
Copernicus’ model of the universe was quite slow to gain acceptance. In fact, it took over 200 years for the Catholic Church to relax its position that anyone
who followed Copernicus was a heretic. Isaac Newton helped usher in the “Age of Reason” in the 17th and 18th centuries, and for the first time, astrology and astronomy became distinct entities.
Astronomy embraced the Copernican, heliocentric model of the universe, but thanks to thousands of years of unbroken tradition, astrology remained geocentric, concerned with the observable movement of the planets from a specific vantage point on the Earth.
During the 17th and 18th centuries, Western astrology fell into deep decline.
Astrologers began to edit and reject significant parts of the astrological cannon. Most notably, astrologers rejected any parts of astrology that came from the Middle East. Unfortunately, a significant part of Western Astrology comes from the Middle East, building on and clarifying the work of the Hellenistic astrologers. And rather than making new contributions to the practice of astrology (to replace the ideas that were being excised), the leading astrologers of the day spent most of their time taking pot-shots at each other.
This rejection of classical wisdom and lack of new insights led to the dark ages of astrology.
Astrology was no longer respected, and by the end of the 18th century, it was no longer taught in any university. No longer was there an established body of authority for astrology, nor was there any connection to thousands
of years of astrological knowledge. In its decline, astrology was kept alive by
enthusiastic amateurs who could put forth their own pet theories without any critical debate or analysis.
To confuse matters even further, during this time, two new planets
were discovered: Uranus in 1781, and Neptune in 1832. The few active astrologers at the time had to figure out how these new planets fit in the bigger picture. There was just one small problem.
The Outer Planets do not fit in the traditional system of Essential Dignities.
Astrologers today argue about which signs the planets rule, but Rulership is only one of five Essential Dignities. The Essential
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