Astrological Symbols - History and Origin

History and Origin

Symbols for the classical planets, zodiac signs, aspects, lots, and the lunar nodes appear in the medieval Byzantine codices in which many ancient horoscopes were preserved. In the original papyri of these Greek horoscopes, there are found a circle with one ray for the Sun and a crescent for the Moon. The written symbols for Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, and Saturn have been traced to forms found in late Greek papyri. The symbols for Jupiter and Saturn are identified as monograms of the initial letters of the corresponding Greek names, and the symbol for Mercury is a stylized caduceus. A. S. D. Maunder finds antecedents of the planetary symbols in earlier sources, used to represent the gods associated with the classical planets. Bianchini's planisphere, produced in the 2nd century, shows Greek personifications of planetary gods charged with early versions of the planetary symbols: Mercury has a caduceus; Venus has, attached to her necklace, a cord connected to another necklace; Mars, a spear; Jupiter, a staff; Saturn, a scythe; the Sun, a circlet with rays radiating from it; and the Moon, a headdress with a crescent attached. A diagram in Johannes Kamateros' 12th century Compendium of Astrology shows the Sun represented by the circle with a ray, Jupiter by the letter zeta (the initial of Zeus, Jupiter's counterpart in Greek mythology), Mars by a shield crossed by a spear, and the remaining classical planets by symbols resembling the modern ones, without the cross-mark seen in modern versions of the symbols. The modern sun symbol, pictured as a circle with a dot (☉), first appeared in the Renaissance.

Symbols for Uranus and Neptune were created shortly after their discovery. For Uranus, two variant symbols are seen. One symbol, invented by J. G. Köhler and refined by Bode, was intended to represent the newly discovered metal platinum; since platinum, commonly called white gold, was found by chemists mixed with iron, the symbol for platinum combines the alchemical symbols for iron, ♂, and gold, ☉. Another symbol, was suggested by Lalande in 1784. In a letter to Herschel, Lalande described it as "un globe surmonté par la première lettre de votre nom" ("a globe surmounted by the first letter of your name"). After Neptune was discovered, the Bureau des Longitudes proposed the name Neptune and the familiar trident for the planet's symbol.

The astrological symbols for the first three objects discovered at the beginning of the 19th century —Ceres, Pallas, and Juno—were also created after their discovery. Firstly, they were listed as planets, and half a century later, renamed as Asteroids. Shortly after Giuseppe Piazzi's discovery of Ceres, a group of astronomers ratified the name, proposed by the discoverer, and chose the sickle as a symbol of the planet. The symbol for Pallas, the spear of Pallas Athena, was invented by Baron Franz Xaver von Zach, and introduced in his Monatliche correspondenz zur beförderung der erd- und himmels-kunde. Karl Ludwig Harding, who discovered and named Juno, assigned to it the symbol of a scepter topped with a star.

The modern astrological symbol for Vesta was created by Eleanor Bach, who is credited with pioneering the use of the Big Four asteroids with the publication of her Ephemerides of the Asteroids. Bach's symbol for Vesta is a simplified version of other representations of Vesta's altar. The original form of the symbol for Vesta, was created by German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss. Dr. Olbers, having previously discovered and named one new planet (as the asteroids were then classified), gave Gauss the honor of naming his newest discovery. Gauss decided to name the planet for the goddess Vesta, and also specified that the symbol should be the altar of the goddess with the sacred fire burning on it.

Pluto, like Uranus, has two symbols in use. One symbol, a monogram of the letters PL (which could be interpreted to stand for Pluto or for astronomer Percival Lowell), was announced with the name of the new planet by the discoverers on May 1, 1930. The other symbol, which was popularized in Paul Clancy's astrological publications, is based on the symbol for Mercury, with the circle and arc of Mercury trading positions. This symbol is described by Dane Rudhyar as "suggest the planetary character of the Pluto mind by the circle, floating above the open cup." Although, this meaning is readily debatable due to Blavatskian origins, rather than a properly traditional understanding, such as may be found in the hermetic sciences.

The symbol for the centaur Chiron, a key with the letter K (for discoverer Charles T. Kowal) was proposed by astrologer Al Morrison, who presented the symbol as "an inspiration shared amongst Al H. Morrison, Joelle K.D. Mahoney, and Marlene Bassoff."

The symbol for retrograde motion is ℞, a capital R with a tail stroke. An R with a tail stroke was used to abbreviate many words beginning with the letter R; in medical prescriptions, it abbreviated the word recipe (from the Latin imperative of recipere "to take"), and in missals, an R with a tail stroke marked the responses.