From the beginning of human history, individuals across cultures
and belief systems have looked to the sky for meaning. The movement
of celestial bodies and their relation to our human lives has been
the central tenant of astrology for thousands of years. The
practice has both inspired reverence and worship, and deepened our
understanding of ourselves and the world around us. While
modern-day horoscopes may be the most familiar form of astrological
knowledge, their lineage reaches back to ancient Mesopotamia. As
author Andrea Richards recounts in Astrology, the second volume in
TASCHEN's Library of Esoterica series, astronomy and astrology were
once sister sciences: the King's Chamber of the Great Pyramid at
Giza was built to align with constellations, Persian scholars
oversaw some of the first observatories, and even Galileo cast
horoscopes for the Medicis. But with the Enlightenment and the
birth of exact science, the practice moved to places where mystery
was still permitted, inspiring literature, art, and psychology, and
influenced artists and thinkers such as Goethe, Byron, and Blake.
Later movements like the Theosophists and the New Agers, would
thrust the practice into the mainstream. Edited by Jessica Hundley,
this vibrant visual history of Western astrology is the first ever
compendium of its kind, exploring the symbolic meaning behind more
than 400 images, from Egyptian temples and illuminated manuscripts
to contemporary art from across the globe. Works by artists from
Alphonese Mucha and Hilma af Klint to Arpita Singh and Manzel
Bowman are sequenced to mirror the spin of the planets and the
wheel of the zodiac. With wisdom from new interviews with
astrologers like Robert Hand, Jessica Lanyadoo, and Mecca Woods,
Astrology celebrates the stars and their mysterious influence on
our everyday lives. About the series The Library of Esoterica
explores how centuries of artists have given form to mysticism,
translating the arcane and the obscure into enduring, visionary
works of art. Each subject is showcased through both modern and
archival imagery culled from private collectors, libraries, and
museums around the globe. The result forms an inclusive visual
history, a study of our primal pull to dream and nightmare, and the
creative ways we strive to connect to the divine.
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