Online Cultural Astronomy Astrology Degree :: Accredited Universities

The MA focuses on Cultural Astronomy and Astrology. We define Cultural Astronomy as the study of the application of beliefs about the stars to all aspects of human culture, from religion and science to the arts and literature. It includes the new discipline of archaeoastronomy: the study of astronomical alignments, orientation and symbolism in ancient and modern architecture. Astrology is the practice of relating the heavenly bodies to lives and events on earth. We therefore examine the relationship between astrological, astronomical and cosmological beliefs and practices, and society, politics, religion and the arts, past and present.

The MA is a hybrid of history and anthropology. As historians we pay attention to documentary evidence but are heavily influenced by recent trends in anthropology; this means that modern western culture can be subjected to the same academic scrutiny as pre-modern or non-western cultures, and by questions such as the requirement for the scholar or researcher to engage in practice as part of their study of practice.

The words astronomy and astrology have distinct meanings in modern English. Astronomy is the scientific study of the physical universe. Astrology is more akin to a study of the psychic universe. The split between the two, though, is a feature of modern western thought.

Both words are of Greek origin: astronomy means the ‘law’ of the stars, while astrology is best translated as the ‘word’, or ‘reason’, of the stars, so in the classical world their meanings overlapped. To the Greek scholar Claudius Ptolemy, writing in the second century CE, there were two forms of astronomy: one dealt with the movement of the stars, the other (which we would call astrology) with their effects or significance. From then until the seventeenth century, the two words were interchangeable. In ‘King Lear’, Shakespeare had Edgar refer to his brother Edmund, who had been posing as an astrologer, as a ‘sectary astronomical’.

Other terms Shakespeare might have used included mathematician (the astronomer Johannes Kepler studied astrology as part of his duties as ‘Imperial Mathematician’) or Chaldean (both astrology and astronomy were commonly traced to Chaldea, another term for Mesopotamia). Neither do most non-western countries employ different words to distinguish traditional astronomy from astrology.

In India both are jyotish, the ‘science of light’. In Japan they are onmyōdō, the ‘yin-yang way’. In China, the observation and measurement of celestial phenomena was inseparable from their application to human knowledge which, in turn, was divided into two, li, or li fa, calendar systems, and tian wen, or sky patterns. All cultures have ways of visualising the stars, many without a single name for the practice. The title of the MA, whose subject matter includes the beliefs and practices of pre-modern and non-western cultures, as well as contemporary worlds, is therefore necessarily ‘Cultural Astronomy AND Astrology’.

Entry Requirements

Initial inquiries should be directed to the Programme Director, Dr Nicholas Campion (n.campion@uwtsd.ac.uk). Please let us know your background, including any academic qualifications.

The normal entry qualification is a good first degree (2:1 or equivalent in UK grading) in an appropriate arts/humanities/social sciences area including History, Cultural Studies, Sociology, Psychology, Theology and/or Religious Studies.

Applicants with a good first degree in another discipline and/or substantial relevant background experience and evidence of relevant study will also be considered following suitable discussion with the Programme Coordinator.

Applicants with a 2:2 degree (in UK grading) will be considered for entry to a Postgraduate Diploma, and will be considered for progression to the MA after successful completion of the six taught modules.

Students with degrees from Universities outside the UK, which do not use the UK’s grading system, should contact the Programme Director, Dr Nicholas Campion (n.campion@uwtsd.ac.uk).

In line with the University’s policy, we are committed to consider applications from non-standard candidates without a first degree who can demonstrate their ability to take the course, on the grounds of prior personal, professional and educational experience. Please contact the Programme Director, Dr Nicholas Campion (n.campion@uwtsd.ac.uk).

We have two intakes a year, in October and February.

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The MRes Cultural Astronomy and Astrology (CAA) is programme that is divided into a 60 credit taught part and a Dissertation of 120 credits amounting to up to 30,000 words in total. The taught element is done via distance-learning, through the Sophia Centre for the Study of Cosmology in Culture and amounts to 3 taught modules chosen from the collection of modules on the programme, with a requirement that one of the choices be a Research Methods module. Since the programme is online there is no residency requirement and Students work from home.

The programme gives a grounding in theoretical and practical methodologies of research in relevant aspects of the subject area. After an initial discussion of the nature of astrology, astronomy and astrology, and of the meaning of ‘culture’, we consider various philosophical frameworks. The systems of thought proposed by Plato in the fourth century BCE provide a foundation for the entire western esoteric tradition, as well as for western astronomy and cosmology up to the seventeenth century, and provide a basis for much of the material studied in the MRes We introduce postmodern philosophy, which is believed by many commentators to provide a framework for astrology’s contemporary popularity, and Max Weber’s theory of enchantment, which is used to explain the appeal of myth, magic and divination; what is myth, and what s the nature of divination?

Entry Requirements

Normally we expect a good BA in a relevant subject. However, we would also like to see an example of recent academic writing. If you do not have such an example, or if your first degree is a BSc and did not require essay writing, you should submit a 3000 word academic essay on a topic in the subject area. Guidance is available on this. Essays or examples of academic writing should be sent direct to Nick Campion.

We can also accept students who can demonstrate suitable prior professional or educational experience. Please write to the course director. All students must meet the minimum English language requirements of the University of Wales Lampeter. Applicants whose first language is not English must have an IELTS score of 6.5 or its equivalent. Students who do not reach this level will be required to undertake further English as a Foreign Language study prior to commencing the course. Those students for whom English is a second language and whose BA or MA degree is from an English-language university will not be required to produce an IELTS certificate.

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