User:Georgia125/sandbox

Hi this is my sandbox. This is where I draft content first

Zodiac
Astrology emerged in the 8th century CE as a distinct discipline in Islam, with mix of Indian, hellenistic Iranian and other traditions blended with Greek and Islamic astronomical knowledge, for example Ptolemy’s work and Al-Sufi’s Book of Fixed Stars. The practice of astrology at this time could easily be divided into 4 broader categories: Genethlialogy, Catarchic Astrology, Interrogational Astrology and General Astrology. However the most common type of astrology was Genethlialogy, which examined all aspects of a persons life in relation to the planetary positions at their birth; more commonly known as our horoscope.

Astrology services were offered widely across the empire, mainly in bazaars, where people could pay for a reading. Astrology was also valued in the royal courts, for example, the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mansur used astrology to determine the best date for founding the new capital of Baghdad. However, whilst horoscopes were generally widely accepted by society, many scholars condemned the use of astrology and divination; linking it to occult influences. Many theoligans and scholars also thought that it went against the tenets of Islam; as only God should be able to determine events rather than astrologers looking at the positions of the planets.

In order to calculate someone's horoscope, an astrologer would use 3 tools: an astrolabe, ephemeris and a takht. First, the astrologer would use an astrolabe to find the position of the sun, align the rule with the persons time of birth and then align the rete to establish the altitude of the sun on that date. Next, the astrologer would use an Ephemeris, a table denoting the mean position of the planets and stars within the sky at any given time. Finally, the astrologer would add the altitude of the sun taken from the astrolabe, with the mean position of the planets on the persons birthday, and add them together on the takht (also know as the dustboard). The dust board was merely a tablet covered in sand; on which the calculations could be made and erased easily. Once this had been calculated, the astrologer was then able to interpret the horoscope. Most of these interpretations were based on the zodiac in literature. For example, there were several manuals on how to interpret each zodiac sign, the treatise relating to each individual sign and what the characteristics of these zodiacs were.