Hi Director Michael and Esteemed Rabbis!
Is Astrology forbidden?
Can one research one's and other's astrological signs (ie, scorpico, taurus and so forth) and contemplate possible personality traits and compatibilities?
And are we forbidden to read our "horoscopes" in the newspaper etc.?
I have been avoiding astrology for over 20 years and telling others to do so because I thought it was "pagan".
Thank you, ProudNoachide
Astrology as a science or a tool for understanding one's personal characteristics and natural tendencies is not forbidden for Noahides. Our Patriarch Abraham was one of the great astrologers, until G-d removed him and his wife Sarah from the sphere of influence of the constellations.
What is forbidden for Jews is using astrology to be a forecaster, or conducting forecasts, of the times - meaning assigning that this time is a bad time for some activity, or this time is auspicious for some activity, and choosing to conduct one's activities by these forecasts.
The guidelines for Noahides regarding astrology are explained in "The Divine Code," Volume 1, p. 246-247.
The Dawn of Astrology. I think you're right about the Sumerians. Without expertise in the ancient cultures of the Tigris-Euphrates area, it is easy to lump them together as "Babylonians" or "Mesopotamians", which isn't correct.
Campion suggests that the earliest astrology from this area was what we might think of as predictive mundane astrology via omens. Interpreting natal charts for character insights seems to be a later development. The Chaldeans (Hebrew "Kasdim") of the Bible and of archaeological tablets forecast astrological omens for kings; and by extention, his kingdom would feel their effects.
rabbiyitz Wrote:Astrology as a science or a tool for understanding one's personal characteristics and natural tendencies is not forbidden for Noahides.
According to the Rambam, astrology is not a science, but itself a divination, whether forecasting events or "reading" one's character in constellations. Nothing of the sort is written in the stars, and it is a figment of the imagination to think it is. So the Rambam does not make the difference you make here between forcasting events or reading one's character, especially since reading one's "natural tendencies" preconditions what the stars are supposed to tell us to do!
Moreover in the Laws of Kings and Wars chapter IX, the Rambam writes: "Any type of idolatry for which Israel is put to death, so is a Ben Noah put to death. Any type for which Israel is not put to death [as is the case for astrology], neither is a Ben Noah. However, in spite of the fact he is not condemned to death,
it is all forbidden ... " (emphasis and parenthesis added)
The idea that astrology is not forbidden to Bnei Noah is based on the opinion that "Shituf" (associating the Name of God to anything else) is not forbidden to Gentiles, but this opinion was only expressed to placate the Church. The Law I quoted above denies that.
B"H
Your comments are based on Rambam's opinion on the issue of astrology. But the majority of the Rishonim Sages (Ramban, Rashba and others) disagree with Rambam's opinion on this point. They hold that astrology is not prohibited as idolatry for Jews (so therefore if practiced only as astrology, it is obviously not even a type of "sheetuf" - which is a belief in an *independent* intermediary power). The "Shulchan Aruch" (Code of Jewish Law), section Yoreh De'ah ch. 179, follows their opinion.
So therefore for a Gentile we cannot say there is any Torah-law prohibition to practice astrology. For more details and explanation of this subject, see "Sheva Mitzvot HaShem" (in Hebrew), section on "Avodah Zara" (idolatry), topic 11:10 and footnote 342. In English, see "The Divine Code," Volume 1, p. 246-247, topic 11:10 and footnote 342.