Astronomy and Astrology: Finding a Relationship to the Cosmos

In the Middle Ages, astronomia--one of the seven liberal arts--was as much about astrology as it was astronomy. Indeed, the two disciplines did not part company until the seventeenth century, when the materialistic worldview began to gain greater prominence. Where human destiny was once connected with the stars and planets, and spiritual, or soul, qualities were associated with the natural world, the cosmos began to be seen as merely a matter of gases, fire, and dead rocks.

Steiner brings a ...