Parsis & Belief In Astro Sciences

Short answer: No, not in the oldest scriptures. Yes, in later religious literature. And in practice today, Parsis are divided.

That distinction matters, because “holy scriptures” means different layers to different Parsis.

1. The oldest scripture: The Gathas / Avesta

The core scripture is the Avesta, whose oldest and most sacred part is the Gathas — hymns attributed to Zarathustra himself.

• There is no astrology in the Avestan texts. Astrology is not found there, and entered the Zoroastrian world later through Greek influence, appearing in Pahlavi sources.
• Scholars note the same point for the ritual texts: the Avestan ritual texts contain no clear references to the five planets.

More importantly, the theology of the Gathas points against predictive astrology: Zoroastrian philosophy recognizes free will and a person’s individual and complete responsibility for her or his every thought, word and deed, it automatically rejects any suggestion that a person’s choice of thoughts, words and deeds were a result of movements of astral bodies in the skies.

In other words, if your thoughts, words, and deeds determine your fate, the stars cannot determine them for you.

2. The later Pahlavi texts: Where astrology enters

From the Sasanian period onward (roughly 3rd-7th century CE), astrology was incorporated into the religious and theological framework of Zoroastrianism.

Key texts here are not the Avesta itself, but later Middle Persian / Pahlavi works like the Bundahishn (Book of Creation), Denkard, and Jamaspi / Jamasp Namah. In those texts:

• There is a cosmic battle in the sky: good astral entities — the zodiacal constellations, sun, and moon — fight against evil astral entities — the planets and lunar nodes.
• Astrology was used by ancient Zoroastrians and their priests, the Magi, primarily as a method of measuring historical and calendrical time.
• The main doctrines documented include the horoscope of the birth of the world and of Gayomard, the first man.

So the later tradition does not treat astrology as neutral science. The planets were often seen as demonic / malefic, while the 12 signs of the zodiac were beneficent. Some traditionalist writers go further and claim that the Bahman Yasht, Jamaspi, Behram Yasht, Khordad Yasht, Bundahishn and other Zoroastrian scriptures are full of astrology. That reading treats those later texts as scripture on par with the Avesta.

3. What this means for Parsis today

There is no single Parsi position:

• Reformist / Gatha-only view: Only the Gathas are authoritative. Since they teach free will and contain no astrology, belief in horoscopes, kundli-matching, or planetary doshas is superstition, not religion.
• Traditionalist view: The Pahlavi texts, priestly tradition, and the role of the Magi as astrologers are part of the inherited faith. Consulting astrologers for muhurat, marriage, navjote timing, etc., is culturally and religiously acceptable, even if it is not in the Gathas.
• Middle view held by many priests: Astrology can be used for calendar, timing, and symbolic cosmology, but it should not override free will or moral responsibility.

Bottom line

If you ask strictly by the Avesta / Gathas: Parsis should not believe that planets control human destiny. If you ask by the broader Parsi religious literature including the Bundahishn and later priestly tradition: astrology is present, but largely as cosmology and time-keeping, with planets cast as forces of evil to be resisted by good thoughts, words, and deeds — not as a fixed fate. That is why you will find Parsis in India who will not marry without a horoscope match, and other Parsis who will tell you that is exactly what Zarathustra argued against.