Today, the average person in any Western world culture knows their Zodiac Sun Sign placement (i.e. Hey baby! What’s your sign?) and millions read their daily horoscope as a source of momentary entertainment and amusement. And heck! Who knows? Maybe today will be your lucky day, and you'll finally meet that tall, dark stranger that your horoscope is bragging about.

From the very dawn of humanity (until today), people have looked to the heavens and the planets for guidance. Thousands of years ago astrology was, generally speaking, reserved only for members of royalty. There were good points to astrology being embraced by those in political power, and there were sadly enough several bad points. One of the best advantages was that an astrologer could often look forward to a nice, comfortable, civil service job in the palace.
One of the worst "difficulties" was when the astrologer inevitably made his/her royal benefactor angry. That was when the court astrologer most often literally lost his/her head over the matter.