What is Astrology?

1. What is Astrology?

Astrology is a science, not a sideline or fortune-telling device.  As professionals, we have taken an oath to treat astrology with the respect given a science, not entertainment. Sciences such as astronomy, meteorology, and alchemy came from the study of astrology in the ancient world. For those of you willing to learn the proper way to construct a chart and interpret it, I will point you in the right direction by covering the basics.  Even after 2000+ charts, I am still learning; it is a fascinating subject and I hope you will find it to be quite enlightening.  You will learn what connects us, separates us, motivates us, strengthens and weakens us.  You may even find out something rather hidden in your own planetary setup that you may need to understand in order to realize your dreams. Childhood behavior patterns that have followed you into adulthood, traits picked up from people and experiences you should be learning from, not repeating.

            I will go through the basics about the planets, signs, houses and aspects, as well as their influences, then chart construction and finally – analysis and interpretation. I hope you will be able to understand them better after I explain them to you. If you read your daily horoscope in the newspapers, magazines or online, this is called Sun Sign Astrology and is extremely popular around the world. A simplified, newspaper version of predictive horoscopes was invented in 1930, by an astrologer named R. H. Naylor. It deals with the 30-day zodiac sign the Sun was in when you were born and the only luminary that moves in a 24-hour period is the Moon, so the daily horoscope incorporates the fastest moving solar and lunar influences. It is also very general, because there are at least 5,000,000 people born under any given sign, so how can a couple of sentences be very accurate with regard to your life? 

            Basically horoscopic astrology is the visualization of the celestial bodies (especially planets) and their aspects at a certain moment in time. In other words, a chart is a map. Horoscope comes from a Greek word – horoskopos – which is also the word for ascendant – the first house in a chart. Although there are a few different uses of horoscopic astrology, the most popular application is natal astrology, where a chart of an individual is constructed using the date, place and time of birth in order to reveal certain characteristics, traits, talents as well as the strengths and weakness of the personality. Natal astrology is practiced in both Western and Eastern (Asian) systems. There are branches of horoscopic astrology such as electional, mundane and horary, and they deal mainly with events, subjects, business and politics. Natal astrology is the branch I will hope to explain to those of you who want to learn.

            It’s good to know how to calculate a chart manually; computers can sometimes make errors and that can throw off the accuracy a great deal, the wrong planetary placement or the wrong ascendant or rising sign can throw it off completely.  When calculating a natal chart, the birth time is important because it places your planetary make up into environments called houses.  I ask for the exact time from birth certificates as well as witnesses to the occasions.  This is essentially your key to the universe, so in order to have an accurate chart, the time has to be as exact as possible.  Some people have no idea of their time of birth and have no way of finding out, so a solar (Sun) chart is constructed, using either 5am or 12noon as the estimated time of birth. Natal astrology incorporates all the planets as well as the luminaries (Sun and Moon) at the time you were born, as well as the day and place. I want to suggest a free chart site that will calculate your data and give you some insight to your own Natal chart, but you have to register. It’s called Astro Theme: http://www.astrotheme.com/ and it will at least give you an idea of what your natal chart looks like. Look for the Natal Chart and Ascendant under Personality in the left hand margin of the home page. If you were born during Daylight Savings Time, do not knock off an hour, allow the software on Astro Theme to do it. I will introduce the Planets in my next article.