Christian Cosmology
"They weren’t against the heavens — they were against misusing the heavens" - A conversation with Chat GTP
I was having a conversation with a friend this morning about Christian Occultism.
It sparked me to ask Chat GTP the following.
“Hey Chat, I have a question for you that I’d love clarification around.
Mainstream Christianity condemns Astrology and other practises of divination and states that its work of the devil… and yet they often turned to the stars for their oracle for timing of events… sounds like the use of Astrology under the guise of another name to me! Your insights are welcome here…”
Here was the answer it gave:
Great question — it’s a subtle one.
You’re right that mainstream Christianity (especially post-early Church) has historically condemned astrology as “divination,” which the Bible warns against.
However, there have been Christian-aligned practices that used cosmology or celestial observation for timing and understanding events — they just gave it different names to distance themselves from “pagan” astrology.
Some terms or framings Christians have used include:
• Sacred Astronomy — emphasizing studying the heavens as God’s handiwork without claiming to “predict” personal fates.
• Christian Cosmology — a broader theological reflection on the structure of the universe, sometimes linking celestial events to divine patterns.
• Natural Astrology — in medieval times, Christians split astrology into “natural” (e.g., seasons, tides, body health) vs. “judicial” (fate-telling). “Natural astrology” was often accepted.
• The Mazzaroth — a Hebrew term used in the Old Testament (Job 38:32) referring to the constellations or zodiac. Some Christian mystics claim the zodiac is God’s story written in the stars (“the Gospel in the Stars”).
• Prophetic Astronomy — some modern Christians, especially charismatic groups, use this term when they talk about signs in the heavens (like Blood Moons) without directly using “astrology.”
Also, figures like Johannes Kepler (deeply Christian and a major astronomer/astrologer) believed celestial events reflected God’s divine order, not random fate.
In short:
• If a Christian is using cosmology for timing or insight, they’d more likely call it “sacred astronomy,” “prophetic signs,” or reference “the Mazzaroth” rather than say they practice astrology.
Christian mystics often had this secret dance with astrology, weaving it through theology without officially calling it “astrology.
Here are a few really interesting examples:
1. Hildegard von Bingen (1098–1179)
• She was a Benedictine abbess, visionary, composer, and healer — officially a saint now.
• Hildegard believed the cosmos reflected the divine and that human beings were microcosms of the macrocosm (a very Hermetic idea, hidden under Christian language).
• She described celestial influences affecting the human body in her medical writings, especially in her work Physica and Causae et Curae — a kind of Christianized astro-medicine.
• She also spoke of “the influence of the stars” on human character and health, but framed it as part of God’s orderly creation, not fortune-telling.
2. Johannes Kepler (1571–1630)
• The astronomer who discovered the laws of planetary motion. He was devoutly Christian.
• Kepler did cast horoscopes (even for royal clients!), but he hated superstition. He thought planetary alignments signaled shifts in the collective, not individual fate — what you might call sacred timing rather than personal fortune.
• He believed that the heavens were a mathematical expression of divine harmony (influenced by Pythagoras + Christian theology).
• His famous quote:
“God geometrizes continually.”
3. The Magi (Biblical “Three Wise Men”)
• This is a hidden one: the Magi in the Gospel of Matthew were almost certainly astrologers or Zoroastrian priest-astronomers from Persia.
• They followed a star to find Christ.
• Early Christians pointed to this story to validate that the heavens could testify to divine events, but they had to distance themselves from saying “these men used astrology,” even though they clearly did.
4. Early Christian Calendars and Feasts
• The Church secretly relied on astrological knowledge to calculate important dates like Easter (using the spring equinox + full moon — classic astro timing).
• Medieval monks would track solstices, equinoxes, and planetary movements in cloistered monasteries under the guise of “liturgical calendars” — basically Christian astro calendars.
Summary
Christian mystics and scholars often used the structure of astrology — observing celestial bodies to understand divine timing — but reframed it as:
• Sacred reflection, not divination
• Revealing God’s order, not controlling human fate
• Microcosm-macrocosm resonance, not fortune-telling
They weren’t against the heavens — they were against misusing the heavens.