Astrology
Astrology has been around in one form or another for a very long time, even before mankind's earliest written records began. Around 5000 BC there was evidence of astrology and astronomy in stone circles in Great Britain and France.
The modern astrology of today began in Mesopotamia and Sumeria, where the celestial bodies and their relationship with crop planting were observe The seasons were important in their influence to bring about the best harvest, and the sun was worshipped for its effects on the land and crops. The phases of the moon were predicted to bring pattern and regularity, and a measure of time.

As astrology developed new techniques were introduced; the ten degree portions of the signs (decans), the association of the rulers of the days and the weeks to the planets. From Egypt came a collections of texts on magic, healing and astrology attributed to Hermes Tismegistus, the Greek equivalent to Thoth, the Egyptian god of learning. The Greeks went on to develop and complex scientific method of astrology. Philosophy, medicine, and religion all accepted this system. The idea of the Macrocosm and the Microcosm was born (as above, so below). Various parts of the body were associated with different planets and signs, and early religions used initiation through seven planetary realms as stages of the soul. As Christianity developed, astrology all but disappeared in the west. It was kept alive by Muslims, and some Jews in the books Sephir Yetzira and the Zohar which develop the Jewish mystical tradition known as the Cabbala. In the Renaissance, astrology/astronomy was once more acceptable but further setbacks occurred in the 17th century. At this time laws were passed which made fortune telling illegal. By the late nineteenth century, there was an interest in esoteric religions and Madame Blavatsky's Theosophical Society delved into astrology and the journey of the soul. Today, there is a huge interest in the subject and the Sun Sign columns in newspapers are a product of the twentieth century. This is often a starting point for the further study and understanding of a huge and enlightening subject.