Purposes of astrology The original purpose of astrology,

Purposes of astrology The original purpose of astrology, 

on the other hand, was to inform the individual of the course of his life on the basis of the positions of the planets and of the zodiacal signs (the 12 astrological constellations) at the moment of his birth or conception. From this science, called genethlialogy (casting nativities), were developed the fundamental techniques of astrology. The main subdivisions of astrology that developed after genethlialogy are general, catarchic, and interrogatory. General astrology studies the relationship of the significant celestial moments (e.g., the times of vernal equinoxes, eclipses, or planetary conjunctions) to social groups, nations, or all of humanity.

 It answers, by astrological means, questions formerly posed in Mesopotamia to the bāru.Catarchic (pertaining to beginnings or sources) astrology determines whether or not a chosen moment is astrologically conducive to the success of a course of action begun in it. Basically in conflict with a rigorous interpretation of genethlialogy, it allows the individual (or corporate body) to act at astrologically favourable times and, thereby, to escape any failures predictable from his (or its) nativity.Interrogatory astrology provides answers to a client’s queries based on the situation of the heavens at the moment of his posing the questions. This astrological consulting service is even more remote from determinism than is catarchic astrology; 

it is thereby closer to divination by omens and insists upon the ritual purification and preparation of the astrologer. Other forms of astrology, such as iatromathematics (application of astrology to medicine) and military astrology, are variants on one or another of the above.The astral omens employed in Mesopotamian divination were later commingled with what came to be known as astrology in the strict sense of the term and constituted within astrology a branch described as natural astrology. Though lunar eclipses apparently were regarded as ominous at a somewhat earlier period, 

the period of the 1st dynasty of Babylon (18th to 16th centuries BC) was the time when the cuneiform text Enūma Anu Enlil, devoted to celestial omina, was initiated. The final collection and codification of this series, however, was not accomplished before the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. But the tablets that have survived—mainly from the Assyrian library of King Ashurbanipal (7th century BC)—indicate that a standard version never existed. Each copy had its own characteristic contents and organization designed to facilitate its owner’s consultation of the omens.The common categories into which the omens of Enūma Anu Enlil were considered to fall were four, 

named after the chief gods involved in the ominous communication: Sin, Shamash, Adad, and Ishtar. Sin (the Moon) contains omens involving such lunar phenomena as first crescents, eclipses, halos, and conjunctions with various fixed stars; Shamash (the Sun) deals with omens involving such solar phenomena as eclipses, simultaneous observations of two suns, and perihelia (additional suns); Adad (the weather god) is concerned with omens involving meteorological phenomena, such as thunder, lightning, and cloud formations, as well as earthquakes; and Ishtar (Venus) contains omens involving planetary phenomena such as first and last visibilities, stations (the points at which the planets appear to stand still), acronychal risings (rising of the planet in the east when the Sun sets in the west), and conjunctions with the fixed stars.