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Western astrology is the system of astrology most popular in Western countries. In Western horoscopic astrology, it is based on an exact moment in time, such as a person's birth, in which various cosmic bodies are said to have an influence. In sun sign astrology, only the location of the Sun is considered. Most western astrologers use the tropical zodiac beginning with the sign of Aries at the Northern hemisphere Vernal Equinox always on or around March 21 of each year. Some Western astrologers use the Sidereal zodiac which uses actual star positions.
Origins
Western astrology originated in Mesopotamia during the 2nd millennium BC, from whence it spread to much of the world. Other systems of astrology were developed independently in China, in the Americas, and elsewhere. Premodern observers noticed that the annual patterns of the movement of the stars coincided with such events as the advent of springtime, changes in weather, and the migration of birds every year. Without knowing why these phenomena occurred together, other events were said to be affected by the cosmos as well. In medieval Europe, important political and military decisions were often made in consultation with astrologers. Believers in astrology use it primarily for making personal decisions or attaining information about an individual through natal astrology. Today, astrology has become distinct from astronomy and mainstream scientists in general dismiss astrology as a form of pseudoscience.
Horoscope
A horoscope or chart is based on a moment in time and shows where planets and various other cosmic bodies were positioned in relation to each other at that moment. The most prominent of these features is the position of the sun in relation to the signs of the zodiac. The signs used in Western astrology are based on the tropical zodiac and thus bodies are not in the actual constellation. From these planetary positions astrologers draw conclusions about the moment.
Interpretation
In Western horoscopic astrology the interpretation of a horoscope is governed by:- The angles formed by planetary bodies relative to each other, called aspects
- Major planetary bodies' positions relative to the astrological signs of one of the zodiac sytems,
- Major planetary bodies' positions in one of the systems of houses,
- Planetary positions relative to the horizon line (namely the ascendant/descendant axes, zenith/midheaven and nadir/imum coeli axes),
- The position of deduced astronomical entities, such as the Lunar nodes.
Some astrologers also use the position of various mathematical points such as the Arabic parts.
Sun-sign astrology
Newspapers often print astrology columns which purport to provide guidance on what might occur in a day in relation to the sign of the zodiac that included the sun when the person was born. Astrologers refer to this as the "sun sign", but it is often commonly called the "star sign". These predictions are vague or general; so much so that even practising astrologers consider them of little to no value. Experiments have shown that when people are shown a newspaper horoscope for their own sign along with a newspaper horoscope for a different sign, they judge them to be equally accurate on the average. Professional astrologers claim that a more complete, personalized horoscope is more effective, but critics claim that this is not the case (see external link to "The AstroTest" below).
Western sidereal astrology
There are two camps of thought among western astrologers about the "starting point", 0 degrees Aries, in the zodiac. Sidereal astrology believes that the starting point is at a particular fixed position in the background of stars, while tropical astrology (which is adopted by the vast majority of Western astrologers) believes that the starting point is when the position of the Sun against the background of stars coincides with the Northern hemisphere vernal equinox (i.e. when the Sun position against the heavens crosses over from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere) each year.
As the Earth spins on its axis, it "wobbles" like a top, causing the vernal equinox to move gradually backwards against the star background, (a phenomenon known as the Precession of the equinoxes) at a rate of about 30 degrees (one Zodiacal sign length) every 2,160 years. Thus the two zodiacs are aligned only once every 26,000 years, with the most recent alignment being about 2,000 years ago when the zodiac was principally established. This phenomenon gives us the conceptual basis for the Age of Aquarius, whose "dawning" coincides with the movement of the vernal equinox across the cusp from Pisces to Aquarius in the star background.
Western astrological glyphs
Glyphs made using the Astro Gadget font.
Planets
- Sun - Moon - Mercury - Venus (Female Sign) - Earth - Mars (Male Sign) - Jupiter - Saturn - Uranus - Neptune - PlutoSigns
- Aries - Taurus - Gemini - Cancer - Leo - Virgo - Libra - Scorpio - Sagittarius - Capricorn - Aquarius - PiscesAspects
- Conjunction - Opposition - Square - Trine - Sextile - Semisquare - Sesquiquadrate - Semisextile - Quincunx - Quintile - BiquintileOther
- Ascendant - Midheaven or medium coeli - North or ascending Node - South or descending Node - RetrogradeSee also
External links
- A brief history of Western astrology
- Astrology and Science - A series of articles in which believers and skeptics debate the merits of astrology.
- Online ephemeris for 600BC to 2400AD
- The Astrotest - An account of a test of the predictive power of astrology, with references to other experiments.
- Spiritual Astrology, The Educational Value of Astrology by The Rosicrucian Fellowship (Western Wisdom Teachings)
- Happiness in Medieval Astrology
"Western astrology"