| Astrology |
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| Background |
| Traditions |
| Branches |
| Astrological signs |
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Astrology in Jewish antiquity (Hebrew: מזלות, romanized: mazzalot) is the belief that celestial bodies can influence the affairs of individuals and of entire nations upon the earth. This involves the study of the celestial bodies' respective energies based on recurring patterns that change by the hour, by the week, month, year or by several years (time categories). In each of these time categories one of the seven planetary spheres, or what are known as the seven classical planets: the Sun, Venus, Mercury, the Moon, Saturn, Jupiter, or Mars, along with the month's current Zodiac constellation, come into play and influence the sublunary world. At times, it involves a complex combination of several of these factors working together. In Judaism this belief is expressed by the biblical affirmation: "Do you know the laws of heaven / Or impose its authority on earth?" (Job 38:33), from which statement the Sages of Israel have inferred, "There is no single herb below without its corresponding star above, that beats upon it and commands it to grow."[1]
Complementary to the records of past civilisations, the corpus of Jewish literature has preserved many of the details instructive of the determining factors involved in rendering any astrological forecast,[2] although astrology in terms of modern science is understood to be a pseudoscience.[3][4]
- ^ Maimonides 1956, p. 164 (part II chapter X)
- ^ Friedlander 1916, p. 48, note 7
- ^ Bennett et al. 2007, pp. 82–84
- ^ Zarka 2011