A Note on Astrology

 

A NOTE ON ASTROLOGY:

Even the most cynical person in the world knows their birth sign. Most people like astrology. Most find it a harmless form of entertainment and will quickly read through the "Daily Horoscope" column in the paper even if they don't believe that the stars can influence their lives.

Astrology is far more complex than most people know. Your birth sign is just one element, and often not the most important element, in your chart. Only a skilled astrologer can really do a justice to a reading. If you're interested in an excellent professional reading check out www.fairyastrology.com or www.facebook.com/SolarisFairyAstrology .

There are many different systems of astrology. What is most interesting about the different systems is not their divergence but their similarity all across the world. Astrology no doubt has its deepest roots sunk into the soil of years before Man began settling the world beyond the Horn of Africa.

Chinese astrology, for example, works on the basis of twelve-year cycles, each year being represented by a Zodiacal animal. Most people know this from reading their place mat at The Bamboo Wok. What's less well-known is that though the circle of animals may repeat every twelve years, the sex and the "element" of each animal can vary --- You may be not only in the Year of the Dragon, but in the Year of The Male Water Dragon. Given the number of permutations of classical Chinese elements (Wood, Metal and Water), the variation in Yin and Yang (Female and Male) energies, the division of the year into four three-month trines in addition to four distinct "pillars," and the fact that each lunar month and hour of the day has its own similar subdivisions, Chinese astrology quickly becomes amazingly complex.

In Vedic (Indian) astrology, though the signs are essentially the same as those of our Western (or Tropical) system, the signs are unequal in their number of degrees. The Indian system is also called the Sidereal system.

The Tropical astrology system which we know best was first devised by the Sumerians and was refined time and again by the later Mesopotamians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, the Romans, and Court Astrologers of the Middle Ages. It is still undergoing refinement. Most of the major astrological stars are also major astronomical stars and are listed in the Nautical Almanac.

At first, the Zodiac was used as a calendar system --- the rising of a given constellation or star coincided with the rainy season or the dry season, or marked the best time to plant or harvest or shear the sheep. Since the stars seemed to be sending messages to Man, it made sense to enhance this cosmological telegraph system.

It was the Sumerians who divided the sky into twelve 30-degree signs. The signs corresponded to, but did not quite match, the actual constellations of the Zodiac (and some of the constellations varied from the ones we know today).

Over time, the Mesopotamians and their successors assigned certain characteristics to each sign, loosely based on the nature of the animal the constellation / sign represented, assigned each an element (Fire, Water, Air, Earth), each a polarity (Masculine / Feminine), and each a quadruplicity of cardinal, fixed, or mutable (the Cardinal signs represent the changes of the seasons, for example).

The astrological chart was eventually divided not only into 12 signs but also 12 houses, the boundaries of which do not necessarily coincide (depending on the system one is using). The Houses rule over aspects of the individual's interactions with others, and each is ruled by a corresponding sign.

Still later, the planets were assigned characteristics that made them analogous to certain signs. Every planet was assigned to a sign as its ruler, and this led to the further development of detriment (the planet is weakened), exaltation (the planet is strengthened) and fall (the planet's power is negativized).

To explain, let us take the Sun and Leo as our model (in astrology the Sun counts as a planet):

The Sun's Element is, unsurprisingly, Fire. The Sun's Polarity is Masculine. The Sun's Quadruplicity is Fixed. The Sun rules the sign of Leo The Lion. The Sun is exalted in the similar sign of Aries. The Sun is weakened in Aquarius, a water sign, and in its Fall in Libra (and it just so happens that Libra is the Autumn, or Fall, sign).

As the sign ruled by the Sun, Leo shares the Sun's Element, Polarity, and Quadruplicity. Leo rules over the Fifth House of self-expression. In whole, the sign of Leo reflects the characteristics commonly associated with the lion --- Rulership (as the King of Beasts), bravery, generosity, kindliness, optimism, loyalty, and honesty. Leos however can be vain, overdramatic, , demanding, arrogant, ego-driven, impatient, and domineering.

So someone who is born with their Sun in Leo has the attributes of the Sun and the attributes of Leo in abundance (a double dose, as it were), but these may be affected for good or ill, by the positions of the rest of the planets in the Signs and Houses --- for example, the person's Ascendant or Rising Sign (the Sign on the horizon at the time and place of their birth), in which Sign and House the Moon may be (and recall that they may be different), and so on.

The angles or "aspects" formed by the positions of the planets in the Signs and Houses also affect how they interact. The major aspects are ---

Conjunct (same sign) --- Positive or "Soft"
Semisextile (1 sign apart) --- Negative or "Hard"
Sextile (2 signs apart) --- Positive or "Soft"
Square (3 signs apart) --- Negative or "Hard"
Trine (4 signs apart) --- Positive or "Soft"
Quincunx (5 signs apart) --- Negative or "Hard"
Opposite (6 signs apart) --- Negative or "Hard"

Positive planetary aspects tend to reinforce each other; negative aspects confound or cancel each other out.

To "read the future" as it were, the astrologer first plots the birth (natal) chart, and using the knowledge gleaned from that, "progresses" the chart to a point in time. New aspects can be formed in the progression. An overlay of the natal and progressed charts gives yet more aspects, all of which a skilled astrologer can interpret.

This is just a basic summary of the more familiar elements of the art of casting and reading charts.

Does it work? Certainly, the ancients believed so, and so do many modern people. At the very least, astrology,though it may not determine your fate can act as an aid in you determining your own. And it's fun.