"Iconoclastic as their theories were, these early astronomers didn't sever themselves from the ancient beliefs of their ancestors," Wang says, adding that some of the data they used to draw their conclusions had been recorded by generations earlier.

In his book, he writes, astrology saw its reputation dented in the Age of Enlightenment in the 18th century, when intellectuals in western Europe began to promote the idea of reason over norm, but it made a recovery in the next century following a long spell of peace on that continent. In the first half of the 20th century, astrology started to bloom in popular Western culture.

Mass media played a major role in promoting astrology, Wang says. R. H. Naylor, a British astrologer, started a newspaper column on the subject that was widely read, laying the ground for all major European and US newspapers to follow suit.

"From simple to complicated and then back to simple - that's the trajectory astrology has taken in the past few centuries," Wang continues. Before Naylor, various people had sought to do subtraction with astrology, but the Briton made the most drastic paring-down by focusing on the sun and disregarding all other components, he says.

This highly accessible version of astrology, known as sun-sign astrology, is the one most of us know today, although traces of ancient Greek culture can still be found.