When did astrology really become a thing? Who invented it, and why do we still associate it with personality traits up to this day? Let’s dive into a brief origin of astrology.

Ancient Babylonian astrology is believed to have emerged around the 3rd millennium BC. While stargazing, Babylonians started to notice the movement of celestial bodies and connected them to how they affected life on Earth. Stars in the skies moved (to what we know now as planets), some stars also created patterns (today we call these constellations), and how the moon sometimes appears larger than usual, affecting the tides (which we now call apogee and perigee). By tracking the movement of these objects, they realized they could predict seasonal changes and eclipses. These early predictions would become the early foundations of astronomy.

The planets being seen as representations of their gods :Jupiter being Marduk, patron god of the city of Babylon,Venus was Ishtar, the goddess of beauty, fertility, and war,Saturn was Ninurta, the god of farming, hunting, and healing,Mercury was Nabu, the god of wisdom,And Mars was Nergal, the god of the sun and the underworld.

Babylonians carefully observed the movements of the sun, moon, planets, and constellations and interpreted the message the stars were carrying, as they believed it. They noticed that as seasons changed, different constellations would dominate the night sky. Twelve of these constellations would become what we know today as the zodiac.

Astrology has been accidentally invented, or discovered, by our ancestors merely by observing what was around them. It begs the question for how long has the universe been trying to send us a message before the Babylonians decided to decipher the night sky? However long that is, we are grateful for their huge contribution to what astrology has evolved to.