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The history of astrology's development spans the centuries, but the following should be a good guide:-

The term Chaldean can be misleading, but seems to have been of reference to astrologers in general. Abraham is said to have come from Ur of the Chaldees in Genesis (11:31) so we can deduce that the Hebrews in the second millenium BC regarded the Sumerians as Chaldeans.

Assurbanipal 669 - 625 B.C.
King of Assyria. His library held tablets and records of astrological significance displaying the observations of the planets and correlations to earthquakes, eclipses and other omens.

Berrossos 280 B.C.
A preist of Baal, Berossos founded a school of astrology on the Island of Cos

Thales 639 -546 B.C.
Studied astrology in Egypt and left nothing in writing. He is said to have predicted the eclipse which caused so much alarm in the battle between the Medes and Lydians - 28^th May, 585 B.C.

Pythagoras 569 - 470 B.C.
Geometician, mathemetician, astrologer and philosopoher. Studied astrology in Egypt, and is the originator of the Heliocentric idea of the Solar System.

Anaxagoras 500 - 428 B.C.
Another student of the Egyptians, but mistakenly believed that the Sun went under a flat earth every night.

Plato 429 - 348 B.C.
Philosopher, astrologer and geometician, Plato studied astrology under the Egyptians and sought the astrological knowledge of every culture in which he travelled. He was a follower of Pythagoras.

Euclides
Associate and fellow student of Plato, he was a geometician and astrologer, probably best remembered for his work in plane geometry.

Eudoxos 408 - 355 B.C.
Fellow of Plato and travelled to Egypt with him.

Hippocrates 460 - 359 B.C.
Physician and astrologer, he used astrological deduction in medical prognostication.

Aristotle 384 - 322 B.C.
Philosopher, held that the Earth was the centre of all things.

Hipparchus 190 -120 B.C.
May be regarded as the founder of observational astronomy. He calculated the obliquity of the ecliptic, and making use of the Chaldean eclipse tables, was able to evaluate the Moon's mean motion. He began cataloguing the stars after 134 B.C., and in so doing discovered the shift that has become known as the precession of the equinoxes.

Posidinus 135 B.C. - ?
A syrian, he founded an astrological school in Rhodes. Pompey and Cicero studied under him and he is said to have inspired the Astronomica of Manilus.

Claudius Ptolemy A.D. 100 - 178
Wrote the Almagest and Tetrabiblos. Beyond his own statement that he was a practical observer, it is difficult to understand some of his suppositions. In this writers view, his statements regarding which aspects to use appear to have held back progress of astrological understanding as a tool for human understanding for 2,000 years.

Julius Firmicus Maternus A.D. 300
Wrote eight books on astrology in which he surnmarised all the knowledge available in his day.

Proclus A.D. 411 - 485
Wrote a paraphrase of Ptolemy's " Tetrabiblos."

Johannes de Sacrobosco 1256-?
Professor of mathematics who wrote the first astronomical text book of the West.

Johannes Campanus ? - 1297
Chaplain and physician to Pope UrbanIV> to Campanus is attributed one of the earliest divisions of the celestial sphere into the house divisions.

Johann Muller (Regiomontanus) 1436- 1476
Viennese professor of astronomy who translated the "Almagest of Ptolemy" and printed some of the earliest ephemerides and books on trigonometry, and who is attributed the authorship of the system of house division which bears his name.

Nicolai Copernicus 1473 - 1543
Copernicus' greatest objective was to increase the accuracy of calculations by providing better tables. He accepted the views of Pythagoras of the heliocentric solar system and is popularised as the initiator of this idea, although modern astronomers name Kepler, who used the observations of Tycho Brahe - Copernicus' successor.

Jerome Cardan 1501 - 1576
Learned the astrology of the Arabians, and taught mathematics. Commentator on Ptolemy, and explained concisely the rational manner of Regiomontanus, but preferred a system of approximation which was later utilised by Placidus in constructing his house system based on the "fundamental proportion".

Michel de Nostrodamme 1503 - 1576
Physician, astrologer and prophet, born in St. Remy, France. It seems Nostradamus was gifted with precognitive psychic power as well as being versed in astrological deductive ability. Like most physicians of his time, he believed that the study of medicine must include the study of astrology.

Valentine Naibod 1510 - 1593
Professor of mathematics who wrote many books on astrology including commentaries on Ptolemy, Alcabitius and Arabian astrology.

Franciscus Junctinus 1523 - 1580
Another translator of the Tetrabiblos and a collection of the aphorisms of all known astrologers with some 600 nativities.

John Dee 1527-1608
An outstanding figure, a scholar of St. John's College, Cambridge. A mathematician and astronomer who gave such work up for the then more lucrative art of astrology. Royal patronage gave him prestige. He calculated the maps of Mary Tudor and of Queen Elizabeth. He ruined his career by association with persons less worthy than himself and died in poverty.

In his mechanical workmanship, he was satisfied with nothing but the best. Instruments were designed by him in metal instead of wood, including armillae, mural quadrants and large celestial globes. He prepared and used more accurate tables than before, correcting those of COPERNICUS. His most fruitful work was on the motions of the planets, and especially of Mars, for it was by the examination of these results that KEPLER was led to the discovery of his immortal laws. After the death of King Frederic, the observatories were not financially supported and TYCHO BRAHE was received by the Emperor Rudolph II under whose patronage he worked in Prague with KEPLER as one of his assistants. He did not accept the Copernican theory that the Earth moved, saying, " the heavy and sluggish Earth is unfit to move, and the system is ever opposed to the authority of Scripture."

Francis Bacon 1561-1626
Born in London. Student of law at Cambridge. In 1619 he was Lord Chancellor of England and in 1620 he became Viscount St. Albans. He wrote " Astrologia Sana." He expressed the opinion that astrology had rule over the fate of Princes and peoples.

Galileo Galilei 1564-1642
Born Pisa. Contemporary of Kepler. His work dealt with terrestrial dynamics. Experiments with the pendulum gave the principle necessary for HUYGHENS to use in the middle of the seventeenth century, for the making of the pendulum clock, perhaps the most valuable astronomical instrument ever produced.

But it was chance that led Galileo to the originating of a new branch of astronomy. In 16og, he heard of a Dutch spectacle-maker who combined a pair of lenses to magnify distant objects. This led to the making of one of the first telescopes ever used and to the discoveries which made him famous. These were spots on the Sun, hills and valleys on the Moon, moons around Jupiter, Saturn's rings. He died on the day of Newton's birth. KEPLER'S grand discovery of the true relation of the Sun to the planets and GALILEO'S telescopic discoveries spread a spirit of inquiry throughout Europe and astronomy rose in estimation. He was also an astrologer and prepared horoscopes as is shown in two of his books.

Johann Kepler 1571-1630
Of all those who contributed to the advance of astronomical knowledge, this man's place would have been the most difficult to fill by any other. He was born in Wiel, in Warrtemberg, and joined TYCHO BRAHE in Prague.

Plato's demand for uniform circular motion was responsible for the loss to astronomy of good work during i,5oo years, until the insight, boldness and independence of KEPLER opened up a new world of thought and intellectual delight. He compared the Ptolemaic, the Copernican and the Tychonic theories. His three great laws contain implicitly the law of universal gravitation. Some astrologers may wish to know these. They are as follows:-

(1) That the planets describe ellipses with the Sun at a focus of each ellipse.
(2) That a line drawn from a planet to the Sun, sweeps over equal areas in *equal times.
(3) That the squares of the periodic times are proportional to the cubes of the mean distances from the Sun.

Even so, the meaning of these laws was not fully understood, until expounded by the logic of NEWTON'S dynamics. He was the first to suggest that a telescope made with both lenses convex could have crosswires in the focus, for use as a pointer to fix the positions of stars.

He was convinced that mundane events could be predicted by astrology, and, in an address, given at the request of King Frederic at the University of Copenhagen, he urged its value and importance to mankind and said, " We cannot deny the influence of the stars, without disbelieving in the wisdom of God." " Man," he said, " is made from the elements, and absorbs them as much as food or drink, from which it follows that man must also, like the elements, be subject to the influence of the planets." He also believed that man was not altogether bound by the influence of the stars, but the Creator had so made him that he might conquer that influence as there was something in man superior to it.

In 1577 he prepared a horoscope for the heir to the throne of King Frederic, The famous Wallenstein had horoscopes cast for him by Kepler. Though he was appointed Imperial Astronomer, he could hardly keep his family from starvation and died from a fever worsened by disappointment and exhaustion.

An anti-astrological book remarks regretfully that it was evident that even scientific astronomers of the period found astrology a more profitable branch of the art. Kepler wrote that " for a hundred years past, this wise mother (astronomy) could not have lived without the help of her foolish daughter " (astrology)

Jean Baptiste Morin 1583-1656
Born Villefranche. Doctor of medicine, and student of philosophy, professor of mathematics at the Paris University. In 166o, he leamt astrology from a Scot named Davison. He was the author of many works, the principal one being " Astrologia Gallica." In the opinion of his contempories, he was the most outstanding astrologer of his time. He was the astrologer of Cardinal Richelieu, whose death he predicted within ten hours. He also predicted exactly the deaths of Gustavius Adolphus, of Louis XIII and of Wallenstein.

William Lilly 1602-1681
In the purely astrological field, men of a different class from the scientific astronomer had now been able to read the books translated from Latin and to experiment for themselves. In England, one of the best known was William Lilly. Being denied the continuance of his education as he desired, he went into domestic employment.

He learnt astrology and began to write and issue one of the earliest prophetic almanacs with considerable success.

In 1666, he was summoned to appear before a Committee of the House of Commons, appointed to inquire into the cause of the Great Fire of London which he had accurately predicted. He was cleared of any complicity with regard to this event. He then studied medicine and received a licence to practice. He is most famous as a practitioner of Horary Astrology. His maps which are all cast by the system of Regiomontanus, are in the book Lilly's Astrology edited by Zadkiel.

ELIAS ASHMOLE, the founder of the Ashmolean Library, took a great interest in these men and attended their gatherings in London.

Placidus de Tito 1603-1668
Born in Italy. - A monk and mathemetician at the University of Padua. To Placidus is attributed the system of house division named after him. In the Placidean System, the celestial equator circle is divided in thirty degree intervals starting at the Aries point, and these points are projected onto the ecliptic using house circles. The original cusps are then recalculated in a complicated adjustment cycle which continues until no further cuspal movement is perceived. Basically, the tables may be said to divide distance by time, showing how many degrees of the equator will pass the ASC or MC

Nicholas Culpepper 1616-1654
Physician, botanist and herbalist. He used astrological correspondences in this connection. In his words, " Only astrologers are fit to study medicine and a medical man without astrology is like a lamp without oil."

Elias Ashmole 1617-1692
Founder of the Ashmolean Library and contemporary and patron of William Lilly and cohorts

John Gadbury 1627-1704
Born in Oxfordshire. He was a pupil of Lilly and wrote Genethliacal Astrology and other books.

1631-1700. John Dryden
Born Northampton. Poet and astrologer. Buried in Westminster Abbey. Calculated precisely various accidents in the life of his son Charles and also his death by drowning in the Thames. Also the time and manner of his own death through a burn on his leg.

1646-1719. John Flamsteed
First Astronomer Royal. He prepared an election chart, which exists to this day, for the time of the laying of the foundation stone of Greenwich Observatory, the lasting reputation of which is a fine testimony to the value of such charts.

After the deaths of the great astrologers MORIN and PLACIDUS, astrology on the Continent deteriorated even more than before into superstition. In England, however, astrology flourished under WILSON, MORRISON (" ZADKIEL," born 1795), ASHMAND, COOPER, SIBLY (bom 1757)-bank director and translator of books by Placidus. At the end of the century, English astrology reached France where CHOISNARD, SELVA and others were seeking to bad it on a rational scientific basis.

Raphael 1795-1832 (R. C. Smith)
Raphael favoured the Placidean system of house construction so wrote tables of house division on that basis. He is largely responsible for their spread, since he issued Almanacs and Ephemerides of the time, so that for lack of any other, they are commonly used in the British Isles and in the U.S.A. today.

Alan Leo 1860-1917 (William Frederick Allen)
This man must be acclaimed as the father of modern astrology.
Working with his wife and a devoted group of friends, he travelled all over England, lecturing on astrology. He edited the magazine Modern Astrology and was an indefatigable worker as a professional astrologer. His major achievement was the writing of thirty books, in which he made a complete restatement of astrology. From now on, the emphasis lay on the study of the human being, events in his life being shown to be largely, though not entirely, consequent on his own character.
In 1915, he founded the Astrological Lodge of London, which still carries on the spirit of his teaching. The high principles of Alan Leo and his understanding of the ancient wisdom through theosophical teachings, gave pure astrology an ethical status and lifted it away from fortune-telling and commercialism. Through the world-wide ramifications of the Theosophical Society, his books and teachings spread to all countries.

Sepharial 1864-1919 (Walter Gorn-Old)
Born Birmingham. A most profound, prolific writer on occultism, on the Kabbala, and on astrology not only as understood in the west, but as taught by the Hindus and the Hebrews also.

Papus 1865-1921. Gerald Encausse
Born Spain. Writer on astrology and the Tarot.

Max Heindel 1865-1919
Born Copenhagen. Lived and worked in San Francisco. Wrote many books on astrology and founded the Rosicrucian Fellowship. Brandler-Pracht In 1905, he spread English astrology to Germany, where it was then studied historically, critically, theoretically, experimentally and statistically.

Cheiro 1866-1939 Count Louis Harmon
Lecturer, public speaker, war correspondent and editor; palmist, numerologist and astrologer. Did not confine himself to any one study of the 'occult'. Author of a dozen books on palmistry, numerology and astrology.

Paul Choisnard 1867-1930
Born at Tours. An artillery officer. Author of thirty astrological works, the best known being Langage Astral. He conducted much astrological research. Fomalhaut (Pseudonym of French astrologer) In 1897, in his book A Manual of Sfiherical and judicial Astrology on page 316 he prophesied the name and nature of the planet Pluto which was first discovered in1930.

Evangeline Adams 1868-1932
Astrologer arrested in 1914

Alice Bailey 1880-1949
Theosophist and exponent of esoteric astrology. With Djwhal Khul, wrote a treatise on esoteric philosophy encompassing several books on esoteric astrology still in use today.

C.E.O. Carter 1887-1968
British astrologer, born in Dorset, who's work followed that of Allan Leo, wrote many books on astrology and was President Emeritus of the Astrological Lodge of London and Principal Emeritus of the Faculty of Astrological Studies.

Marc Edmund Jones 1888-1980
Born St. Louis, USA, writer and pioneer screen play writer for motion pictures, he began his astrological journey in 1913. Founded the Sabian Assembly in 1922 and wrote many books on astrology. He is most famous for delineation of the chart patterns exhibited by planetary distribution and of course his legacy of the Sabian Symbols.

1890-1942. Vivian Robson
Born England. Practised and taught astrology. Wrote excellent and concise text-books.

Margaret Hone 1892-1969
Contemporary of C.E.O. Carter. Wrote "The Modern Textbook of Astrology" still one of the best books for beginners.

Dane Rudhyar 1895-1985
Astrologer, musician, artist, poet and philosopher, he was born in Paris, France and founder of modern humanistic astrology. In the 1930's, Dane Rudhyar began to reformulate modern astrology in terms of Jung's analytical psychology. He especially focused on Jung's idea that the psyche was a dynamic compound of opposing forces in equilibrium, and that the psyche was intrinsically motivated to evolve in the direction of psychic wholeness, a process Jung called individuation. Further he regarded astrology as symbolising the cyclic growth of an individual, but it was not until the 1960's that his views became regarded the 'new paradigm' of western natal astrology.

Cyril Fagan 1896-1970
Irish astrologer best known for his work in Sideral Western Astrology and what has become know as the Fagan-Bradley System.

Reinhold Ebertin 1901-1988
Developed the Uranian System. Recognised as the father of Cosmobiology.

Louis de Wohl 1903-1961


L. Edward Johndro
An electrical engineer and astrologer. Later he did research on very technical astrological mathematical formulae. He had a reputation has a highly technical astrological writer. He introduced the Vertex as an important part of the Chart. He postulated that there must be two Ascendant axes in the chart - one being magnetic (Ascendant/Descendant), and the other being electrical (Vertex/anti-vertex).

Charles A. Jayne 1911-1985
Astrologer, writer, teacher and lecturer, and who emphasized the importance of mathematics and astronomy in Astrology, took up the study of the Vertex. He wrote many essays and lectured in astrology. He is probably most remembered for his work on the Vertex, which followed that of Johndro and his delienation of the declinations.