I've seen at least one book in which Western and Chinese astrology are combined to produce a series of composite types, the Aries Rat, the Taurus Sheep and so on...the traits are broad enough that they could be regarded as both right. And there are many possible reasons for the idea of chronological grouping becoming pervasive; one possibility is the earnest desire to produce a solid and persuasive result for the king and thus avoid being executed. Another is that humans love patterns and systems and things they can observe and chart.
(It is, I grant you, if it exists, a tenuous thing at best; I know a fair bit about "star signs" from my reading, but I wouldn't even try to guess anyone's sign from just looking at them, and if I were to say "oh, of course she's a Gemini" when told, you would have to take my word that I wasn't just lying, either to you or to myself. Gather a hundred Geminis in a room and you would have a hundred very different people, and the common factor linking them all together would seem very vague indeed, if it seemed to be there at all.)
Maybe there were such other systems as you describe, and they didn't stand up to scrutiny whereas astrology did. Climate might be an influence; many of the differences between Northern and Southern English, or between Scots and English, could be ascribed to the differences in climate and landscape--people talk about "the soft south."
I don't know, and I'm not really that bothered. I happen to identify quite strongly with the set of traits associated with the sign Sagittarius (and, for that matter, with the Chinese Ram/Sheep/Goat) but whether that's because I'm predisposed to those traits or just a happy chance I haven't a clue. My only impulse in thinking about this is to find a way to credit our ancestors in this with the intelligence they clearly showed in many other endeavours, and make them seem a little less like credulous clowns who ignored reality.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2011-01-15 02:09 am (UTC)(It is, I grant you, if it exists, a tenuous thing at best; I know a fair bit about "star signs" from my reading, but I wouldn't even try to guess anyone's sign from just looking at them, and if I were to say "oh, of course she's a Gemini" when told, you would have to take my word that I wasn't just lying, either to you or to myself. Gather a hundred Geminis in a room and you would have a hundred very different people, and the common factor linking them all together would seem very vague indeed, if it seemed to be there at all.)
Maybe there were such other systems as you describe, and they didn't stand up to scrutiny whereas astrology did. Climate might be an influence; many of the differences between Northern and Southern English, or between Scots and English, could be ascribed to the differences in climate and landscape--people talk about "the soft south."
I don't know, and I'm not really that bothered. I happen to identify quite strongly with the set of traits associated with the sign Sagittarius (and, for that matter, with the Chinese Ram/Sheep/Goat) but whether that's because I'm predisposed to those traits or just a happy chance I haven't a clue. My only impulse in thinking about this is to find a way to credit our ancestors in this with the intelligence they clearly showed in many other endeavours, and make them seem a little less like credulous clowns who ignored reality.