How did we find the different meanings and ways of interpreting all of the star signs and planets?

[Charles]

I’m new to the space, and I have this question that is bugging me:

How and where do we get the meanings of all the star signs and planets from?
What’s the history of developing the understanding that we now have?

Discussion

[StellaGraphia]

Millennia of observation and study.

If you want to really dig into it, try Chris Brennan’s book Hellenistic Astrology. It goes into some of the history, and will also provide you with titles and names of ancient texts and astrologers if you want to dig further. And of course, the book also teaches astrology.

There are a lot of free versions of ancient texts online. But you need to have some guidance in reading them, because some are bad translations that have later been corrected, for example. Some have only more recently been discovered and will either shed light on lost bits, or even make corrections on other texts. Not all of them are useful. That’s why Brennan’s book would be a good guide. You can also check out his site, [theastrologypodcast.com](https://theastrologypodcast.com) There are lots of episodes about the history, and book translations, etc. You could also look into [Project Hindsight](http://www.projecthindsight.com/), which he and Robert Hand and others worked on, to try to regain, retranslate, and make available the older texts.

There are lots of free downloads of ancient texts at this [skycript.co.uk page](http://www.skyscript.co.uk/texts.html). Again, care is needed in choosing what to read.

[bbotticelli]

This is a very complex topic. If you’re interested to dip your toes in it, The Astrology Podcast has several episodes dedicated specifically to planetary and sign meanings. Each one of those episodes is 3-4 hours long, and, imo, they don’t even dive that deep into the subject.

A really really short answer: Planets got their meanings from their appearance in the sky and movement pattern, Babylonian and Greek mythological associations, and hundreds of years of connecting earthly events with sky observations. Signs got their meanings from their image, diurnal/nocturnal duality, triplicity (elements), quadruplicity (tropical seasonal divisions). All of that comes from geometrical patterns embedded in Thema Mundi – a mythical chart of the world’s creation.

[chadofafrica]

I have been recommended the Astrology podcast twice now, so I will start there and see where it takes me.

Thank you for the information and explanation