Astrological beliefs in correspondences between celestial observations and terrestrial events have influenced various aspects of human history, including world-views, language and many elements of social culture.

Among Indo-European peoples, astrology has been dated to the 3rd millennium BC, with roots in calendrical systems used to predict seasonal shifts and to interpret celestial cycles as signs of divine communications. Until the 17th century, astrology was considered a scholarly tradition, and it helped drive the development of astronomy. It was commonly accepted in political and cultural circles, and some of its concepts were used in other traditional studies, such as alchemy, meteorology and medicine. By the end of the 17th century, emerging scientific concepts in astronomy, such as heliocentrism, were irrevocably undermining the theoretical basis of astrology, which subsequently lost its academic standing.

In the 20th century astrology gained broader consumer popularity through the influence of regular mass media products, such as newspaper horoscopes. However, most people can agree that newspaper horoscopes are a cheap immitation of astrology, which takes years of study and millenia to perfect.

Astrology's modern representation in western popular media is usually reduced to sun sign astrology, which considers only the zodiac sign of the Sun at an individual's date of birth, and represents only 1/12 of the total chart.

Astrologers believe the Sun, Moon, planets, and various cosmic phenomena all exert an influence as they travel near us through the Zodiac. Each planet also has archetypes, which when combined with the "nature" of the sign they are near, create energies that affect behavior on Earth, human or otherwise. The luminaries (Sun and Moon) are classified as planets for convenience, since the term "celestial body" is a quite a mouthful.