Traditional Astrology is the Astrology that was practiced from the Hellenistic Period till the Seventeenth Century. There are roughly three main periods.The first was the Hellenistic period that dates from the inception of Horoscopic Astrology, that is Astrology that uses the Ascendant as it’s key marker, This period lasted from around the first century BC and lasted until around the seventh century AD. The second period was the Medieval period, which included the Astrology of the Arabs and Persians, which in turn was derived from the Hellenistic Astrologers and was transmitted into Western Europe following the crusades. It lasted from around the Eighth Century until the Sixteenth Century. The final period was the Astrology of the Seventeenth Century, which was practiced in a lesser form up to the end of the Nineteenth Century, though much of the mechanisms for learning that were in place, such as university courses, were lost. The end of the Traditional Period is usually taken as the new style of Astrology introduced by Alan Leo at the turn of the twentieth century. Leo’s reforms went on to underpin the psychological approach of the mid to late twentieth century and also many variants and styles, giving modern Astrology little unitiy.

Since the last two decades of the twentieth century there has been an increasing interest in reconstructing the traditional methods and approaches. In part this was due to an interest in the origins of Astrology and in part due to some Astrologers becoming disillusioned with the modern fragmentation.

The argument in favour of the traditional approach is that it takes a more objective stand and sees prediction as it’s main purposes. As this blog continues I’ll be looking at some of the issues that divide the tradition from the modern and giving some examples of how these would show up in practice.