Influences of the Forces of the Zodiac on the Cultural Development of Mankind

Book excerpt: A book that offers a whole new range of view points on astrology, astronomy and the cultural history of mankind. The author first describes the origin of the zodiacal images according to Rudolf Steiner's statements. Then he discusses why these images do not correspond either with the signs of the zodiac in traditional astrology or with the physically visible constellations of the stars, and what role the astronomy of the ancient Greeks plays in this. Another topic is the varying duration of the ages and what questions this raises for modern astronomy. Finally, using the example of European cultural development over the last thousand years, it is shown that each age is divided into twelve smaller cultural periods, which in their characteristics correspond exactly to the series of the forces of the zodiac.