There are two problems when writing about the history of astrology. One is that of length. Astrology has been of great importance in many cultures of the world since long before the invention of writing, and until at least the end of the 16th century. The second is verifiability. There are scores of books written by everybody from scholars to charlatans. Amid the shelves of books on the subject, there are only a few important and reliable sources.

One thing is for sure about the origins of astrology. Those who practiced it were extremely knowledgeable in astronomy. They had to realize the orbits of the planets, the moon and the stars. Which was far better than man during the Middle Ages.

Most historians believe astrology was being used to forecast future events around the 17th century BC. Assyrian kings at Nineveh are believed to have relied heavily on astrologists. Dated back to the 8th century BC, tablets found in Babylon temples recorded over 7000 astrological omens. Historians believe the growth of astrological theory took place in the Middle East rather than, say, among the American Indians of Wisconsin or among the Aztecs, who certainly had an equally keen early interest in the subject, because the Babylonians were better astronomers and mathematicians; they evolved a calendar, and by 500 BC were already moving towards the invention of the zodiac, that essential element in the personalization of astrology. It supposedly took the Babylonians centuries to produce a calendar reliable enough to enable them to predict eclipses and to work 'backwards' in order to figure out the celestial events of the past. They started by working out the duration of day and night, then of the rising and setting of the Moon and the appearance and disappearance of Venus. The very earliest calendars date a new month from the first appearance of a new Moon. But the fact that the interval between new Moons is irregular - on average, 29 days, 12 hours, 44 minutes and 3 seconds - meant that it was extremely difficult to devise a calendar in which each month began with the new Moon, but each year began at the spring equinox. (To do so, you have to declare an extra month every two or three years - and even then you will be one and a half days out every eight years.) In the Babylonians defense, they didnt have the aid of clocks. Historians believe that after an accurate calendar was created observation and the application of mathematics meant that planetary movements could be predicted leading to the invention of the zodiac.

In order to create the calendar and the zodiac, ancient man had to know that the sun revolved around the earth and that it took roughly 365 days to accomplish this. Then astronomers in Babylon, Egypt and China had to independently arrive at the idea of dividing the ecliptic into 360 degrees, easily divisible into twelve sections. This last fact is the most puzzling. To believe it is almost absurd. It is far easier to believe that all three cultures must have had a single reference point to start from. In the 19th century AD that reference point was found.

Long before the Babylonians, an ancient astronomer and prophet by the name of Enoch wrote down the basic principals of astrology around the 40th century BC. In his writings, Enoch states that the creator of the universe wrote out the entire history of the universe and earth in the stars. Enoch knew certain groups of stars made up constellations and knew the course of the stars, sun and moon. Enoch claims that man was taught these things by a group of fallen angels of which several he names. One is Kokabel who is said to have taught the knowledge of constellations and that Baraqijal taught the wisdom of astrology. However Enoch gained the knowledge, it is almost undeniable that he had it. It is interesting to note that at least two of Enoch's heirs lived in two of the regions that historians claimed astrology originated. Joseph was from the line of Enoch and lived as a king in Egypt. Daniel, another descendent, is recorded to have taught the magi of Babylon. These are the same magi that the Bible tells of that saw Christ's star and followed it to Jerusalem. The writings of Enoch were common knowledge before the Common Era but were lost for over a millennium until they were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls. His existence and those of his descendants can be found in writings from Africa, Egypt, Babylon Greece, the Torah, the Koran and the Christian Bible. If the writings of Enoch are true, it would explain how astrology could have been present on all parts of the world at the same time. It is much easier to believe that similar beliefs originated from a central point, then to believe that people on different ends of the globe created the same theology independently of each other.