CONSTANTIA
Constantia, asteroid 315 (the 315th asteroid to be discovered, on September 4, 1891),
is approximately 8 kilometers in diameter and has an orbital period of 3.4 years. Its
name is a personified form of constancy, and is Latin for “steadfastness.” In a natal
chart, its location by sign and house indicates where one experiences or seeks con-
stancy. When afflicted by inharmonious aspects, Constantia may show inconstancy or
a false sense of stability. If prominent in a chart (e.g., conjunct the Sun or the ascen-
dant), it may show an exceptionally fair person or someone for whom constancy and
the seeking of stability and security are dominant life themes.Sources:
Kowal, Charles T. Asteroids: Their Nature and Utilization.Chichester, West Sussex, UK Ellis
Horwood Limited, 1988.
Room, Adrian. Dictionary of Astronomical Names.London: Routledge, 1988.
Schwartz, Jacob. Asteroid Name Encyclopedia.St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn Publications, 1995.CONSTELLATION
A constellation is a collection of stars that the ancients grouped together, identified
with a figure from mythology, and named after that figure. In astrology, the names of
the various signs of the zodiac are taken from 12 constellations intersected by the
ecliptic. The untutored eye has a difficult time discerning the relationship between
these star groups and the figures they are said to represent: Unlike the ancients, who
gazed upon a sky filled with legends, heroes, and heroines, we moderns look up to see
only a confused mass of tiny lights.CONTEMPORARYACADEMICSTUDY OFASTROLOGY
Like the field of new religious movements (NRMs), mainstream academic studies of
astrology are a comparatively recent development. While the scientific study of NRMs
has developed for approximately 40 years, the university focus on astrology as a behav-
ioral phenomenon developed only in the 1990s. The reflection of this novel innovation
is that there are few published works that approach the subject from a detached and
sophisticated perspective. The sponsorship efforts of the British-based Sophia Trust is
one attempt to remedy this situation and encourage production from within a range of
critical inquiries such as sociological studies of popular belief in astrology.
As a system of divination based on the positions of the sun, moon, planets, and
stars, astrology finds its origins in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. During the days of
imperial Rome, this astral method of divining flourished intermittently. Astrology
died out in western Europe in the fifth century C.E. under the combined influence of
the collapse of literacy and Christian hostility, but it survived in Syria, Persia, and
India from where it was reintroduced into the Islamic world in the eighth to ninth
centuries and from there to Europe in the twelfth century. Its popularity in the four-
teenth century French court gave it a fashionable appeal that encouraged its accep-
tance in England. While Bede and Alcuin were both interested in the sky, in England,Constantia
[170] THEASTROLOGYBOOK